The Orb - Moonbuilding 2703

  On 6/19/2015 at 4:20 PM, mokz said:

Also I'd like to remind to people who like Orbus Terrarum and Pomme Fritz to check out the FFWD project which was Fripp, Fehlmann, Weston and Paterson. At least on the level of Orbus Terrarum IMO.

 

Completely missed FFWD until a few weeks back but it's a fantastic album, one of Orb et al's best IMO

Have you heard Cauty's Space album? It was meant to be an Orb debut of sorts with Paterson and Cauty, but Cauty pulled out (more gossip?) and edited out all the Paterson stuff. It sounds like Ultraworld with everything except the samples stripped out. It's not really a good album, but still interesting for the history aspect etc

Had many wonderful times with the FFWD as a college student with too much free time on his hands.

I have the Space album as a single mp3 stashed somewhere but haven't really listened to it that much. What I remember hearing is Cauty getting angry at Alex and claiming that Alex is only a DJ while Cauty himself is an "artist". As I understand three albums were created by that break up process: The Orb's Ultraworld, The KLF's Chill Out and the Space album. They all use material from the Cauty and Paterson collaborations in Trancentral and Land of Oz.

Space album with Paterson's contributions:

Moonbuilding's pretty decent, probably my favourite of the 'Fehlmann solo album + some Alex samples on top' trilogy so far.

I would love to jave Fehlman's point of view instead of some guys on a forum. Why is he still collaborating with Alex, if Alex is such an asshole with no integrity? Thomas has a career outside The Orb, he could be doing whatever he wants. But he sticks to The Orb. He's been collaborating at least since 1992 with Alex. That means more or less 25 years of collaboration with the worst asshole on earth? What is he, a masochist? Nah, I'm sure he has his own version of who Alex is and what he contributes to The Orb.

He's probably collaborating because The Orb is a brand name. Guaranteed source of revenue outside of his own solo work. I reckon the relationship is Fehlman does pretty much everything but Alex owns the name. The last few albums have basically been Fehlman albums with a few cheesy samples (Alex).

Alex did record the sounds of plants rustling for the Dave Gilmour collaboration album - so that's something.

  On 6/20/2015 at 5:58 PM, fumi said:

He's probably collaborating because The Orb is a brand name. Guaranteed source of revenue outside of his own solo work. I reckon the relationship is Fehlman does pretty much everything but Alex owns the name. The last few albums have basically been Fehlman albums with a few cheesy samples (Alex).

I see what you mean and of course, as a long time fan of The Orb and Fehlman, it's easy to tell that Fehlman has taken over the sound of The Orb at some point. This happens in most "bands" out there tho: there is one or two guy(s) composing mostly everything and the others will do their parts according to his/their vision. Nothing shocking here. That's how music is being made. You need a leader with a vision, you need a prime time composer. But what if Alex is sitting in the studio and commenting on what Thomas did? What if he is saying: Nah, I don't like how this part sounds, can you do this or that to it so that it sounds like that? Or nah, let's take this out and bring this back in. Etc. This is already collaboration. On a basic level, sure, but you would be surprised how many of the "big" names of music do just that. But I can't believe Alex is NEVER in the studio with Thomas when they're recording a new album. This whole discussion against Alex Patterson reminds me of how some people were saying to Steve Jobs that he can't code, that he's not an engineer. Who cares? That wasn't his job at Apple and yet, without him, there would have been no iPod, no iPhone, no iPad. In other words, without Alex, whatever he is doing in the studio, there would have been no The Orb albums. And the guy (ex-member) who is saying that Alex stole everything from him, never made another good album in his entire life. Weird.

Back to something positive: wow, the new album sounds great!

For those who want to know Fehlman a bit more, this is an amazing interview with him. The guy is very intelligent and articulate. You can tell he is passionate about his work.

  On 6/20/2015 at 6:49 PM, MassfreeKid said:

 

  On 6/20/2015 at 5:58 PM, fumi said:

He's probably collaborating because The Orb is a brand name. Guaranteed source of revenue outside of his own solo work. I reckon the relationship is Fehlman does pretty much everything but Alex owns the name. The last few albums have basically been Fehlman albums with a few cheesy samples (Alex).

I see what you mean and of course, as a long time fan of The Orb and Fehlman, it's easy to tell that Fehlman has taken over the sound of The Orb at some point. This happens in most "bands" out there tho: there is one or two guy(s) composing mostly everything and the others will do their parts according to his/their vision. Nothing shocking here. That's how music is being made. You need a leader with a vision, you need a prime time composer. But what if Alex is sitting in the studio and commenting on what Thomas did? What if he is saying: Nah, I don't like how this part sounds, can you do this or that to it so that it sounds like that? Or nah, let's take this out and bring this back in. Etc. This is already collaboration. On a basic level, sure, but you would be surprised how many of the "big" names of music do just that. But I can't believe Alex is NEVER in the studio with Thomas when they're recording a new album. This whole discussion against Alex Patterson reminds me of how some people were saying to Steve Jobs that he can't code, that he's not an engineer. Who cares? That wasn't his job at Apple and yet, without him, there would have been no iPod, no iPhone, no iPad. In other words, without Alex, whatever he is doing in the studio, there would have been no The Orb albums. And the guy (ex-member) who is saying that Alex stole everything from him, never made another good album in his entire life. Weird.

 

Yeah, that's true. I don't think the relationship is quite as straight forward as I said in an earlier post. Problem is, I just don't hear much of the Orb in their past few albums. But maybe that's more complicated too.

  On 6/20/2015 at 6:06 PM, fumi said:

Alex did record the sounds of plants rustling for the Dave Gilmour collaboration album - so that's something.

 

Lol, it looks like they just sent him out of the way. "Go record some .. plants or something."

Actually I've done this myself. Going around with a Zoom and recording breaking branches and shit..

Loving this album very much!

  On 6/21/2015 at 4:43 AM, fumi said:

 

  On 6/20/2015 at 6:49 PM, MassfreeKid said:

 

  On 6/20/2015 at 5:58 PM, fumi said:

He's probably collaborating because The Orb is a brand name. Guaranteed source of revenue outside of his own solo work. I reckon the relationship is Fehlman does pretty much everything but Alex owns the name. The last few albums have basically been Fehlman albums with a few cheesy samples (Alex).

I see what you mean and of course, as a long time fan of The Orb and Fehlman, it's easy to tell that Fehlman has taken over the sound of The Orb at some point. This happens in most "bands" out there tho: there is one or two guy(s) composing mostly everything and the others will do their parts according to his/their vision. Nothing shocking here. That's how music is being made. You need a leader with a vision, you need a prime time composer. But what if Alex is sitting in the studio and commenting on what Thomas did? What if he is saying: Nah, I don't like how this part sounds, can you do this or that to it so that it sounds like that? Or nah, let's take this out and bring this back in. Etc. This is already collaboration. On a basic level, sure, but you would be surprised how many of the "big" names of music do just that. But I can't believe Alex is NEVER in the studio with Thomas when they're recording a new album. This whole discussion against Alex Patterson reminds me of how some people were saying to Steve Jobs that he can't code, that he's not an engineer. Who cares? That wasn't his job at Apple and yet, without him, there would have been no iPod, no iPhone, no iPad. In other words, without Alex, whatever he is doing in the studio, there would have been no The Orb albums. And the guy (ex-member) who is saying that Alex stole everything from him, never made another good album in his entire life. Weird.

 

 

Yeah, that's true. I don't think the relationship is quite as straight forward as I said in an earlier post. Problem is, I just don't hear much of the Orb in their past few albums. But maybe that's more complicated too.

 

I'm guessing it's probably something like this too.

Moreover, it's additionally possible that fehlmann is somewhat resilient to bad personalities; maybe he doesn't care much overall about not just credit and egos, but also division of labor, so long as shit gets done. In my own line of work I've encountered people who push other's away due to fame- and credit- seeking, but then there are people that work with them and (a) don't get perturbed by the silly stuff, and (b) occasionally gain in the way described above (some useful feedback/criticisms).

All this said, this album sounds much more orb-y than "okie dokie", which to my ears was purely fehlmann's berlin techno interests (though admittedly I haven't listened to it much and an commenting out of my depth; please correct me...)

No, this one is the most Orbish of the Fehlmann records. Certainly the heavier use of breaks blended with the Kompakt-style beats gives it a much more rounded sound.

At 4min21sec, during Lunar Caves, they sampled Aphex's Bucephalus Bouncing Ball. Funny reference. :)

From a long time fan of The Orb, I think this is their finest output in a long while. A problem I have with The Orb is their inconsistency. I discovered them with Pomme Fritz, Orbus and Orblivion, three albums I could just put on and enjoy from a to z, so everything after always felt a bit hit and miss, even downright cheesy and bad at times, except Okie Dokie of course, which I loved. But this new album is very consistent, at least for me, even more so than Okie Dokie. As someone else pointed out, this sounds more The Orbish than Okie Dokie, which was clearly 98 % Fehlman. This is not a Thomas Fehlman album, it's a bit more chaotic and unpredictable. The space themes, the rare and well chosen spoken samples, the seamless flow from one theme into another… it's like going back to Pomme Fritz and Orbus in some strange way, but with a deeper and larger vision of techno and beat music, and a great production that sparkles. Honestly I had lost faith in The Orb, I never thought they even could come back with an album like this. All the best to them, they just proved me wrong. It's now a fact: Kompakt seems to be the only label that knows how to get the best out of The Orb.

The starting of Moonbuilding 2703 AD, the fourth track… now that is groovy, isn't it?

I think 'Moonscapes' is the best track on the new LP.

Anyone know where that absolutely beautiful loop at 12:40 on the final track comes from?

Slightly off topic, but did any one download the archive of Orb live recordings shared by Maggie Thatcher on the forum a few years ago? All the links are dead, and the wiki is inactive.

"You’ll probably have a dream about me tonight, man, and you’ll wonder where it all came from."

Anyone notice they use Eno's 'Bloom' iOS app at 9:42 on the last track?

  On 6/25/2015 at 6:55 AM, kichiguy said:

Slightly off topic, but did any one download the archive of Orb live recordings shared by Maggie Thatcher on the forum a few years ago? All the links are dead, and the wiki is inactive.

IIRC it never was fully completed, at one point there were somewhere around 1 or 2 dozen you could actually download (though loads more dates listed on the wiki for which recordings were presumably forthcoming). TBH they lost their luster rather quickly after reading Kris' rant, as he rightly points out that Alex would usually go full 'tard with the vocal samples when performing live.

Will have to get around to checking out Moonbuilding based on the recs here having always dug Fehlmann's Orb & solo stuff. I'd basically written off the Orb brand at this point, what with so many gimmicky releases as of late.

I had a big bunch of Orb live shows years ago but deleted them because I never listened to them and needed the space.

Alex's DJ sets are ok. Might still have some stashed up somewhere. Thursday Teatime or whatever they were called. And Breezeblock appearances.

  On 6/25/2015 at 3:38 PM, fumi said:

Anyone notice they use Eno's 'Bloom' iOS app at 9:42 on the last track?

Nope, I hadn't! I love to spot iOS apps on records, I guess they will become more and more present over the years.

It's cool that Thomas is handling a couple of interviews about Moonbuilding. You can tell he's technically in charge but that Alex has his part into the process.

**

In a way, it was almost like having too many ideas for your own good, because you couldn’t replicate them all exactly at the time you had them.

Yeah, the cooking just took too long for the ideas to stay in the picture! (laughs) I often feel that Alex was being held back, because he was mainly coming from the corner of the studio where the DJ setup is, and sometimes his ideas didn’t get across to the guys at the desk. He had so much waiting time. Today, I’m the one adapting to the speed of his new ideas. To be honest, I feel our whole work has benefited from that option.

Would you say that, after 20-plus years of collaboration, you guys have a good shorthand for how you work together?

Oh, we’re actually impressed that things are still exciting for us when we go into the studio. We don’t have to kick ourselves to get going and say, “OK, we have to go to work.” The fact is, Alex lives in London and I live in Berlin. But most of the time, Alex comes over to Berlin to record, and then we really lock ourselves away from the outside world to just focus on the work. We treat it as, you know, “OK, this week is production time,” and we’re not distracted by our day-to-day lives. That’s something we learned was the most fruitful process for us.

Source: http://www.digitaltrends.com/music/interview-thomas-fehlmann-the-orb/

And in this French interview, Thomas goes further into how he and Alex compose music together, They both bring ideas to the table. They always do it together. No parts are pre-composed: they discover it together in the studio. I might translate a paragraph or two for the skeptics.

Source: http://www.tsugi.fr/magazines/2015/06/22/orb-interview-ecoute-nouvel-album-10574

There was another new interview with Thomas but I can't find it now... He was saying exactly which DJ machines Alex is using when they're composing,

What I would like to ask Thomas, tho, is: what did you think of Kris' rants? What would you say to those people who think that Alex Patterson is using you to hide the fact that he can't compose shit? I'm tired of how a single rant can ruin a person's reputation.

  On 6/23/2015 at 12:40 AM, MassfreeKid said:

At 4min21sec, during Lunar Caves, they sampled Aphex's Bucephalus Bouncing Ball. Funny reference. :)

It could just be some random string synthing, but ..... at around 10:00 in "Moon Scapes", is that the string synth at the start of Pet Shop Boys' "West End Girls"?

There's so much tweaking and other layers that it could be many things, even just a basic string synth, but ...