Cooking Vinyl 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: ***B-STOCK: Slight split on top of outer sleeve, slight creasing to outer sleeve, record unopened and in perfect working order***


Hype and awe abound over this Orb side project, with Oss having been resurrected last year several decades on from its initial stint as a hybrid live / DJ project from Alex Paterson and his longtime collaborator Fil Le Gonidec. This new album is a mere 8 track weirdo's favourite, straight from the brains of this techno-toned, post-dub power duo, from the psytech clicks and claps of 'Wow Picasso' to the worse-for-wear machinations of 'No Speed Limit'. Grab this special coloured vinyl edition while you can.

Review: Orb offshoot project Sedibus has proved popular with fans for two reasons: it reunites Alex Paterson with Andy Falconer, who worked extensively with the Orb between 1990 and 1994, and the music they make recalls some of the pair's best moments of that period - albeit with a quite different instrumentation. Seti, the pair's sophomore album, has been described by their label, Cooking Vinyl, as "ambient unplugged". That only tells half the story. While it does boast all manner of acoustic instruments - sitar, guitar, piano, tabla and other percussion - it also features Paterson's trademark spoken word snippets and the dreamiest of electronic chords and aural textures. With beautiful, immersive and typically lengthy compositions, it feels and sounds like a grown-up version of the Orb's mightiest early 90s work.

Review: When will Alex Paterson, the Dr, run out of ideas? Here joined by fellow originator of The Orb, Andy Falconer, the pair's Sedibus project takes all of the serenity of the legendary UK electronic act and then walks it up onto the nearest mountainside in the middle of the night, sets up camp, and invites you to join in a stargazing odyssey. You can almost feel the cosmos appearing around you as the work unfolds. Just like the great blanket of stars, energy and matter above, there's complexity here, even if it often feels deceptively simple. Layers, textures, passing noises, background harmonies, all these elements subtly create this deep and incredibly immersive soundscape that pulls you in like a black hole, before showing you what the spread, retreat, and expansion of energy might sound like.