The Orb are the last act standing from the magical moment in British music when house, dub, and ambient collided with a mischievous sense of humour. The Orb virtually invented ambient house, providing a comedown soundtrack for early-morning ravers. Main man Alex Paterson’s formula was quite simple: slowing down the rhythms of Chicago house and adding synth work, effects inspired by 1970s ambient pioneers and looping obscure vocal samples to provide a theme for tracks.

Paterson launched The Orb with KLF’s Jimmy Cauty, releasing The Kiss EP (1988) in tribute to New York’s ground-breaking radio stations. He then hijacked Minnie Riperton’s ‘Loving You’ for the epic ‘A Huge Pulsating Brain That Rules From The Centre Of The Ultraworld’ (1989). The Rickie Lee Jones-heisting ‘Little Fluffy Clouds’ (1990) was followed by the landmark debut album The Orb’s Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld. After the single ‘The Blue Room’ disturbed the charts and Top Of The Pops with the infamous chess-playing appearance, U.F. Orb entered the UK album charts at number one in 1992.

Paterson has been the only permanent member of The Orb, working with telepathic sonic lieutenants like Killing Joke’s bassist Martin “Youth” Glover and Swiss-German producer Thomas Fehlmann, and welcoming onboard Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour and reggae legend Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry. His latest forays have been achieved with soundmaster and musician Michael Rendall. Following 2023’s Prism, the upcoming album Buddhist Hipsters, released on 10th October via Cooking Vinyl, features collaborations with Steve Hillage, Roger Eno, Youth and others. Its first track ‘Arabebonics’ is an Eastern-influenced, orchestral hip hop drama, with its title invented by rapper Rrome Alone, who lends vocals to the track.