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Album reviews Music

THE ORB

Rating: NNNNN


Perhaps realizing that no one was buying his half-hearted attempts to keep up with the beat scene, Alex Patterson has returned to the psychedelic dub plates that made the Orb interesting in the first place.

Cydonia, for better or worse, is as close to a classic, UFOrb-style Orb record as you’re going to get in 2001. Patterson laces big, watery beats with space echo, phantom phone calls, disembodied voiceovers and, for a change, live vocalists. His dubby vision of gurgling headphone music is as sweeping and pleasant as ever. The problem is his motivation for coming back in the first place. Cydonia has all been done before, most of it by Patterson himself. Ripping off your own back catalogue is no way to stay relevant.

Cydonia, for better or worse, is as close to a classic, UFOrb-style Orb record as you’re going to get in 2001. Patterson laces big, watery beats with space echo, phantom phone calls, disembodied voiceovers and, for a change, live vocalists. His dubby vision of gurgling headphone music is as sweeping and pleasant as ever. The problem is his motivation for coming back in the first place. Cydonia has all been done before, most of it by Patterson himself. Ripping off your own back catalogue is no way to stay relevant.MG

THE ORB Cydonia (Island) Rating: NNN

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