The Orb - Orbus Terrarum

[seraph]

THE ORB - ORBUS TERRARUM

1995

ISLAND

 

1. VALLEY

2. PLATEAU

3. OXBOW LAKES

4. MONTAGNE D'OR

5. WHITE RIVER JUNCTION

6. OCCIDENTALISM

7. SLUG DUB

 

Here is the third album by The Orb and it is by any means their best effort still. It was made back in 95 but hell it sounds like nowadays producution. It was way ahead of time and it is one of the best ambient / dub pieces of artistry. This album has such crazy range of harshness and gentle melodic structures that it leaves you wonder wheter these guys WERE normal during production. Heh...This kind of esotheric, earthy feel throughout the whole album is very well sensed and you actually feel like you are travelling thru the Earth without a map, that was perfectly drawn on the cover. It is like a fantasy roll play journey where you have to accomplish some mission. There are some screaming psychedelic noisy madness - MONTAGNE D'OR , the best piece on this album I still find as one of their best songs. It is so psychedelic and mesmerising that it really makes you wonder, how did they achieved this...I absolutely love every single track here...Favourites : ALL ....11/10

[Gargouille]

Don't know the orb... but it looks amazing... I'll try!

[grahf]

Big kudos to seraph to posting reviews of all these classic Orb and FSOL albums. In my opinion, this is the Orb's densest, most inaccessible album... but in many ways their most accomplished as well. This album is a journey... when you're listening to it in an altered state it feels SO much longer than it actually is. By the time Plateau is finished you feel like the album could be over, but oh no, it's just beginning. Takes some endurance to listen all the way through.

 

 

1. Deep bizarre bassline here... the first time I heard this track, I thought some jerk with a big car stereo system was blasting hip-hop outside my window... nope, it's just the Orb.

 

2. "and now folks, for an old familiar favorite..." Imagine flying over a lush jungle plateau, with bizarre alien birds joining you on your flight, and you might get some of the feeling of this track. At least, that's what I visualize when I listen to it. Sounds and melodies and basslines come soaring at you, then echo into the background. There's so much going on that you can't possibly dissect it all; just kick back and listen to the whole soundscape. One of my favorite Orb tracks of all time, for sure.

 

3. Oxbow Lakes... A slightly bubbly, aquatic theme here. Weird piano melody going on. Less "beautiful" and floating than Plateau, things are getting more dissonant here.

 

4. Starts out slow and ambient, but by the middle of the track there are some intense waves of sound coming at you. And then a little past the 8 minute mark it goes absolutely bonkers with some crazy distorted breakbeats. My stereo can barely keep up with all the bass frequencies here. Definitely the most intense track on the album. Good way to scare a chillout room.

 

5. Phew, tired now, back to ambient. We start with a sample from a self-help tape (?). Listen carefully now - there's a distorted vocal sample in the background that repeats itself in the beginning and end of the track - do you hear it?

 

6. Kinda groovy... True to the name, it has a "western" feel, with some voice samples of redneck americans. ;-)

 

7. Some goofy samples about slugs eating all the lettuce open this, the final track. At 17 minutes long, this track doesn't worry too much about structure or progression. It drifts along, revealing itself slowly.

 

This album sounds nothing like any music I have ever heard. No other chillout music comes close. No other Orb album even comes close. Truly unique.

[Klaxer]

Very impressive work!

10/10

[Bahamut]

Yes Plateau is awesome. Subtle, deep and detailed... with great atmospheric sounds that all fit together so well. Instant ambience. One of my favorite ambient tracks.

[longloststar]

Best album I've ever heard. What beauty, what an accomplishment.

[Guest antic]

This album is a journey... when you're listening to it in an altered state it feels SO much longer than it actually is. By the time Plateau is finished you feel like the album could be over, but oh no, it's just beginning.

Noticed that too

 

Anyway, it is a lovely album - so organic, yet very alien and trippy with a lot of surprising elements / arrangement ideas. It's great how they can change the mood / meaning of a whole track with just one sound. And you've got to love that slug samples in the last tune!

 

10/10 from me.