It wasn’t planned. It came to me as
I waited. I could kill off ambient house music. In some sort of sound terrorist
intervention smash up the stage and call the whole thing off. I hadn’t planned
any of it but reading Bill Drummond lately has made me question why I should be
here in the first place. I mean doesn’t Ambient House really belong back in the
late eighties/ early nineties? I’m sick of this ambient house with its nods and
appropriation of ‘world music’ and its offers of meditation and enlightenment.
I’m sick of its dreamy dirge like nothingness that just drifts through me and
over me without demanding that I listen. I’m sick of Eno and his crew lauding
it over us all with his nods to minimal space and open thinking and no drums.
I’m sick of all the colours and symbolism associated with a genre that has
risen up out of experimental music and become a byword for really being the
sounds in-between things.
I want ambient house to die.
I had travelled down by train early to
get to the Southbank – no real reason to leave earlier than usual. I hadn't
anyone to meet. Concerts are normally solidarity affairs for me. Even though
I’m bursting with trivia and facts and want to discuss possible setlists and
always hope to meet the artist in some sort of acknowledgement that I care and
they care too.
I used to do this when I wrote a
fanzine – made the untouchable possible and talked to people. Now crippled by
age and a lack of energy I simply imagine all the things that could happen.
And it happened at The Orb tonight at
the Queen Elizabeth Hall.
Not interviews with artists nor hook
ups just the simplicity of crowds letting go and finally feeling alive. It was
clear that we weren’t out of it and certainly weren’t discussing what we were
on. But there was a sense of abandon – well in the space between Row A and the
stage. It all went off there.
But back to killing off ambient house
– ambient music altogether. The KLF (that’s Bill Drummond and Jim Cauty)
deleted their back catalogue at the end of their period of fame. They stopped.
Literally pulled the plug and refused to make their sounds available. In
essence they died. (Which is ironic considering they came back after 23 years
as an undertakers)
The Orb haven’t done this.
They have continued to evolve in
modern times.
Releasing long player after long
player. Which means they are creating something beyond the tags, the genre, the
label they are often given. They are
creating sounds beyond the (little fluffy) clouds and at the edge of space.
I will not call them an ambient house group.
I will not call them an ambient house group.
A long time ago Jim Cauty was part of
The Orb. In fact I watched Alex and Jim trying to create sounds with a DAT and
decks in a corridor whilst Primal Scream played. Ketamine had zoned the whole place – no one could move - there are
flashes of them sat under a table and in all honesty at that point we could
have called the whole thing off. There’s only so much extended reverb we can
take – especially in that state. Ambience was a state of mind – not a
soundtrack
But Alex carried on regardless.
And I am glad that he has.
There’s a lot of Punk Rock in the good
Doctor – in The Orb. I think they mean it maaaaan.
So my fantasies about killing ‘ambient
house’ subsided over the course of the evening. I entered the brutalist modernism of the Queen
Elizabeth Hall (the building that boat tours on the Thames call a ‘carbuncle’
alongside the Royal Festival Hall and the National Theatre – mainly because
they paraphrase would be King Charley – but also because they have no soul and
don’t live in London) I was early and there was a fella done up in a ‘universe
and planets print suit’ – I never spoke to him. But he was the real deal. He
was Ambient in textiles.
And then The Orb tonight were a revelation.
Thomas Felhman wasn’t there as far as
I could make out. This was just Dr LX and a young fella and a bassist. But that
was actually enough. I’ve seen The Orb countless times and like The Rolling
Stones (so I’m led to believe) they can be a hit or a miss – even with a
‘burger’ or two. Which makes them
unpredictable. Which is how it should be really – otherwise they might as well be
a covers band. Which is odd because as I made my way home and ventured across
the road in Blackheath there was a band playing in the Railway Tavern – they
were playing Blur’s Song 2 – the singer was enunciating the Whoo Hoo – but as
Whoo Yeah – it was flat as fuck. Perhaps I should turn my energy to killing
that off?
But I was happy though because what happened tonight was The Orb simply nailed it.
But I was happy though because what happened tonight was The Orb simply nailed it.
They made sounds that pulled at every
element of being. Alex is simply the master of ceremonies. Curating (yes I said
it) and dropping samples that lift people and places to higher states. Alex is able
to conjure up an atmosphere with his wizardry at the decks – because that’s
what it is. He plays samples – manipulates them and takes the crowd with him.
He makes us follow in his dubbed out glory and uses machines to layer bliss
amongst us all. And the audience weren’t tired all ravers who would be better
off sitting down than moving a few limbs – the QEH crowd were a mixture of old
and new – not so loved up as before but ready and willing to get on the orb bus
that would carry them to orblivion. Obviously, I was part of the older set
and as ‘Perpetual Dawn’ kicked in and we all gave way to getting down with it –
it was heartening to see some people staying put – dodgy hips I presume. But
they were smiling.
The Orb arrived with no fanfare. Following a spaced out, dubbed out and clubbed
out set from who knows – it wasn’t clear – but it was enjoyable – The Orb
arrived. Suddenly they were on and
making sounds and ‘No Sounds Were Out of Bounds’ this evening – yet vocals
were. No guests - no additions. Just
Alex and that fella and a bassist when required (if that fella is Felhmann then
he is the new Dorian Gray) The audience were sat – respectful and appreciative.
To be fair I wasn’t out of my seat from the beginning. But LX was casting his
magick he was casting a spell in reverb and dub that we could not resist. There
were snatches of this and that. Early sounds mixed with the new. And then out
of the ambience came Towers of Dub – this incredible powerful repetitive
calling. Heavy bass and dogs barking – the ultimate in dance friendly sounds.
Yet we stayed put – to be fair I had lost it at that moment – I may have even
closed my eyes in the sway (hey hey hey) I hadn’t heard 'Towers of Dub' that
powerful in years. It was incredible and you could feel the will of the audience. Waiting for the right time to get up and get down with it.
The Orb journeyed further following 'Towers' with 'Star 6,7,8 and 9' I was well and truly enthralled. I had decided that killing ambient
house would not be possible this evening. There was clearly a place for it –
well a place for this – as I said I think The Orb are creating something fresh
and different and I didn’t want to ruin the evening for everybody else. Besides
the magick had worked – I was swaying – putting my arms in the air and
generally getting wide-eyed loon like. It was a mild mannered rave up for the
middle class masses all washed and suitably booted and home by half ten but within
those hours we were enthralled by The Orb soundsystem. Tune after tune declared
their sonic prominence at the top of the pile – crafting huge pulsating
monsters from decks and FX. And the crowd got more heady and decided that
dancing the evening away was required. From the 'Back Side of the Moon' Alex and Co. created a sonic mix of bleeps and yelps and dubbed out dissonance to rock
the masses, with new new grooves from the latest long player mixed in with the
perennial crowd pleasers. I thought it was going to go off when that Millie
Ripperton refrain drifted from the speakers as Alex mixed and chopped 'A Huge Ever Growing
Pulsating Brain That Rules From the Centre of the Ultraworld' to wild abandon.
And then finally as the curfew reigned in and with twenty minutes before ‘game
over’ Joni was asked what were the skies like when she was young.
And she told us.
The skies had little
fluffy clouds in them and ran on forever.
You knew it was coming
but a song that is over 30 years old was still presented in a new form. It
still had an impact. The Orb had won. The Queen Elizabeth Hall was awash with
grins and arms aloft – ok so we were older and weren’t going to last much
longer than 10pm but it was joyous and fun. Fifteen minutes of fluffiness. The Orb are an electronic group who offer up
a sound that is both comforting and challenging. A sound that is relevant and
nostalgic. It’s a sound that is thirty years in the making – The Orb make
sounds were no sounds are out of bounds – they do not make ambient house.
They are music makers of the finest quality. Just don’t call it Ambient House.
The Orb Sounds can be found here: https://www.theorb.com/
Here's the full rendition of Little Fluffy Clouds from QEH 30th March, 2019 - thanks to Willy Billiams for filming it.
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