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Recording:
  Speicher 14  
 
Artists:
  The Orb and M. Mayer  
 
Label:
  Kompakkt  
 
Release Date:
  16.Decmeber.2003  
 
Reviewed by:
  PostLibyan  
         
 
Rating:
   
         
 
Review:
 

The Orb will have a new album out any second now, and as a sort of appetizer for the new release, there have been a few Orb tracks released here and there lately. Most of them are really hard to track down in the USA, but i did manage to find this 12".

The Orb only occupy one side of this release, with one of their least exciting songs in a while. It's called Master Blaster, and it starts out with a recycled sample from A Huge Ever-Growing Brain... then descends in an awfully generic current ravish beat. Really, the song sounds generic and normal, like the stuff i can hear in any cheesey dance club, even here in Atlanta.

The other side of the disc features the song X by M. Mayer. This is a generic mid-tempo electronica song. It sounds a lot like the rest of the stuff that is coming out of Germany these days. That is, kind of like Ulrich Schnauss, or the songs on Morr Music's Blue Skied an' Clear compilation. It's not bad, but it really doesn't do anything to advance the genre either.

Overall, i have to admit that i am somewhat disappointed here. I expect better from The Orb. I would, however, prefer to wait until i hear more from Herr Mayer before i judge his work. I hope that X isn't his best song though.

So unless you are a real die-hard Orb fan, or someone who really enjoys the current rave scene, then you probably want to avoid this release.

 
         
 
Related Links:
 

Cydonia, the previous full-length from The Orb.
The Orb in concert supporting Cydonia in 2001.
Recently The Orb appeared on Kompakt's Pop Ambient 2003 compilation.

 
         

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