The Orb Album: “Bicycles & Tricycles”

You'd think that when a group was as well known as The Orb, their releases would come out at roughly the same time all over the world, but that wasn't the case with Bicycles And Tricycles. Released in Japan almost a year ago now, it has certainly taken its time in getting out to the rest of the world. Although I admittingly have lost some interest in the group over time (and especially with their last full-length Cydonia), The Orb will probably always be one of those groups I have to sort of peek in on and keep track of simply because they were one of the first modern electronic artists that I really found myself loving and pulling me further into the genre.

Other than a couple tracks, Bicycles And Tricycles is basically what you've grown to know and love from the group, too. Thick basslines gurgle and rattle while somewhat dub-influenced beats help to rattle the speakers even more while trippy melodies pan and flange and occasional spoken samples creep up in the mix. The disc opens with the stellar "Orb Is," a track that opens with washes of muted trumpet before cracking off into a delicious groove that twists and growls for the rest of the track. The following "Aftermath" is one of the big offenders, though, as the group once again thinks they can work things out by adding a vocalist to the mix and instead the track feels entirely out-of-place on the disc. While the instrumentation on the track is pretty swell, female rapper Me Soom T simply clutters the track and takes it to mainstream land without adding much of anything.

"The Land Of Green Ginger" is another in the long line of tracks that seemingly uses lost samples from a kids record as a backdrop for creating tripped-out tracks with recontextualized words that end up playing right into their hands. Although the group doesn't do anything groundbreakingly new over the course of the rest of the release, they manage to do things quite well. "Gee Strings" is a straightforward track that's more on the dancey side but manages to keep some surprises while "Tower Twenty Three" is one of their deep, dubstatic tracks that never seems to get old when they do it as well as they do. One of the only other major stumbles on the release is when they sample themselves on "From A Distance" and package it in an obvious surrounding of overbearing beats and once again try to encorporate vocals (and once again it just doesn't work too well). In the grand scheme of Orb albums, it lands as slightly better than their last effort Cydonia, but not nearly as good as classics like Orbus Terrarum.

(from almost cool music reviews)

A nice return to form for the Orb. I was kinda surprised at the quicker pace through out. Compared to the classic stuff I think the bpm is up a bit, but hey it is 2004! Some real dub-like treatments which we didn't see on Cydonia. I'd even say I like this more than Orblivion. Give the Dr credit for hanging in there and keep trying things. Think of many from his era, who have given up and moved on!

One expects great things from exceptional groups, so there is sense of anticipation to meet or exceed one's expectations on a new release. At the time, when this disc came out I was really looking forward to listening to their new music. I listened and was let down, really let down, listened again and was surprised at what I missed before. It has it's great moments, it is just not a cohesive great disc. The bar and standard may have been set too high but regardless I was still somewhat dissapointed. Take "Aftermath," the song has potential, has moments but never takes off to the heights of say "Puffy Little Clouds." Instead we are treated to hip-hopish urban sounds, a female on the mic who sounds like she just got off the plane from France or someplace, far removed from the psychedelia-electronica of signature Orb. There is hope on certain tracks that their vision hasn't been completely blurred for commercialization and that the experimental tripped-out beats are still there."Hell's Kitchen" and "The Land of Ginger Green" demonstrate the power of the Orb to maintain their original creativity and cutting edge staying power. The dub and ambient elements found on several tracks also give up that all is not lost. This disc is not as good as some of their old material but it is good nonetheless.If you like the Orb you may be somewhat disappointed but there is enough good material here to salvage the disc and hope for the future. Take a chance, the Orb always seems to, just not like before but artists always seem to evolve with or without their fans. I don't think they will win over any new fans with this disc, they will keep most of their old fans and just remain status quo, which is sad for fans, considering they were so out there and cutting edge. They may have evolved to their max.

OK, so first off... BRASH-Full of fresh raw vitality

NOW! With that said, This is the most awesome Orb album in YEARS! I was unsure of their most recent work, on account I thought it seemed forced... that is until this album came out. It should go down as one of the Orb's finest hours! A whole new and unclassifiable genre of music is, once again, created by the Orb. The album blends Trance, Ambient, borderline Hip-Hop, Acidy beats with masterfully placed samples, to create a once in a lifetime masterpiece. I really tried to find a highlight to this album, but the whole thing is

1) So hard to peg into one category, and thus difficult to say X is better than Y

2) So good that one song can't be picked

Any one who has ever been to a party (read as rave) will love it, and for anyone who likes the Orb... You owe it to yourself to get every version of this album you could find. There's just enough remixes on each to make them ALL worth having.

It's so good to hear any Orb after so long. I think this CD is the logical step after the 'Bless You' compilation. Its obvious that Patterson still has his finger on the pulse of the underground-their time spent in the company of the Kompact roster has served them well. Some of the tracks sound a little dated which has more to do with getting the album out two years late than the songs-they just were beaten to the punch. And I agree with another reviewer- "Aftermath" is absolutely awful. The 'rap' is cringe-worthy. However,I disagree with those that don't like "From A Distance". I think the track is infectious and quite a bit of fun. There are some in-jokes on that one for Orb fans-they sample themselves and finally kill that damn rooster from 'Fluffy Clouds" at the end. Overall,I'd say it's good not great and I expect the next one will be amazing.