Six Degrees
2007
The Dream
About This Album
The Orb's 2005 classic on the Kompakt label -- aptly titled Okie Dokie It's the Orb on Kompakt -- easily proved that Dr. Alex Paterson and company could hang with the techno avant-garde of the new millennium, taking the minimalist blueprint of many who had followed the Orb and delivering a great record within that context. The follow-up The Dream is just as good, but in a completely different way. Ironically, it sounds more Orb-like than any other record they've done. (There's a certain inverse surprise in following the least likely record with the most likely.) The Orb's return to the green fields of sample-laden ambient-dub may not be welcome to all, but it's clear they've applied a few lessons learned from the Kompakt LP -- it's one of the best-produced of the Orb's career. Paterson returns not just with his own lofty production smarts, but with one of the other best British producers of the past 20 years, Youth, back on board for the first time since the dawn of the group. (The third member of this Orb is Dreadzone's Tim Bran.) The single "Vuja De" has everything in its right place: a bruising technoid bassline, clattering dubwise piano chords, and even an anthemic Eastern-styled female vocal that arrives at just the right time and works surprisingly well, despite its inherent poppiness.
Track List (try tracks 1,4,5,6,8,9,11,12,14 and 15)

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