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Music

We Were Meant to Interview Both of the Orb But We Fucked It Up

We're sorry we don't know how to use a dictaphone properly.

The Orb are Alex Patterson and Thomas Fehlmann. I was meant to speak to both Alex and Thomas about their latest album on Kompakt, Moonbuilding 2703 AD. I did speak to both Alex and Thomas about that album. They were both warm, pleasant, interesting interviewees. I enjoyed speaking to them. There was one slight snag, though. It turned out that I'd forgotten to record my conversation with Alex. I remember us talking about Manuel Gottsching and birdwatching but you'll have to take my word for it.

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What we've got, then, is half an Orb interview. Which, it turns out, is no bad thing. Thomas Fehlmann joined the Orb around 20 years ago, now, so it's not like we've spoken to the stand-in bassist on a Queen tribute tour or anything. Anyway, for those of you who were still in the womb when Fehlmann and Patterson joined forces, the Orb were formed in the very late 80s by Patterson and KLF memeber Jimmy Cauty. They were chillout room kings, dub-fiends and appreciators of ambience. Albums like The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld and U.F.Orb are classics of the genre. For a nation absolutely billied off high grade MDMA, they were saviours, oral cans of Coke and silky pillows for nasty comedowns.

Fehlmann joined in 1995 and has become a permanent resident in the Orb's blissful little cloud ever since. Earlier this year, Patterson and Fehlmann hooked back up with Kompakt, who'd released Okie Dokie It's The Orb on Kompakt a decade ago now. The resulting record, Moonbuilding 2703 AD, is stunning blend of classic Kompakt-ian minimal clang, and the Orb's signature take on warped, trippy ambience. It's arguably the best artist album the label's released for a few years, and we cannot get enough of it.

So sorry, again, everyone, that you can only read half of an Orb interview below. I could probably recall Alex's answers if you buy me enough pints…

Alex Patterson and Thomas Fehlmann

THUMP: You're based in Berlin, Alex is in London. How often are you face to face?
Thomas Fehlmann: Given that we're now touring it's quite often. At least once a month. If we're looking into how we work together, which has become a little more rare unfortunately, there's probably about a month and a half between us seeing each other. For six weeks we follow our normal lives. When we get together in Berlin to work in my studio we shut ourselves off from the outside world and really dive into the working process. We always work together. We never exchange files via email or anything. The social experience is important for the process.

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How important is it to you guys that an Orb record is a shared experience?
Massively. We really dive between the studio and the kichen. Those are our two main rooms. We talk about general interests in there, observations of life, and drink a lot of tea, and really get into it in the studio. Tracks have a different life and a different feel when we're together.

Who's the best cook out of the two of you?
Hmmm. I have to say that I'm the cook. It's my kitchen and my stuff and I know what I'm doing there. You'd have to ask Alex about my cooking.

You've been part of the Orb for 20 years now. How easy was it to slot in? Do you feel as much of an essential part of the Orb as Alex is?
On a practical level I share the duties of getting the music together. In the earliest days I didn't co-write all the stuff but that changed quite early on, from the third album on I was always around, permanently part of the process.How does that feel? For me, it was a lovely development in that when I first joined and wasn't a permanent member I could follow my own interests, could work on different projects..they called me the orbiting memeber of the band, which is quite sweet. It was me not physically being in London but the communication process has radically changed in the 20 years, so these days we've found a nice way of working together. It keeps us on our toes when we are togther. We don't get fed up with one another, it feels fresh. It's a very good way for grown ups to work togtether.

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Absence does make the heart grow fonder then?
Oh yeah! It just keeps it fresh. It's good to be able to close the doors now and then and to digest things on your own. it's a positive situation for a group.

Does the stature and longevity of the group ever feel pressurizing?
We're still the odd ones out! By that I mean that you never expect a peaktime floorfiller from us. We were always chekcing out the fringes of dance music. So therefore the search for our music was mainly a search for what tickled us most. You want to know when the pressure was on? When we had Lee "Scratch" Perry in the studio with us! We had to come up with new ideas on the spot because he'd finished the tracks we come up with for him in half a day. We surprised ourselves by showing that we could work under that kind of pressure and come up with 20 beats to work with in a few days. It was good to put that pressure on ourselves.

What's it like hanging out with Lee?
Well, there was a lot of thinking about it before hand, and as it goes, it was all very different from how we expected it would be. The crucial point was that he very quickly acclimatized to our way of beatmaking, our rhythms, and we were super surprised by how spot on and groovy he come across with his toasting over it. He basically sat back and never wanted to interfere with the mixing desk. He very much focused on his philosophizing and the books he brings along. He likes to make a bit of an installation as soon as he enters a room. We recorded with him in the coutnryside and had bonfires every evening and he was very creative with the wood we were burning. Very early on he started dividing the wood between stuff we could use for the fire and bits he wanted to keep for sculptures. When we did this record, there was a guy makign a documentary about it, which comes out later this year. It's about Lee, not us, but there's footage from our sessions in it.

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You're back on Kompakt. As a solo artist you're firmly associated with that label, but this is the Orb's second outing on it. Who approached who?
It was a mutual thing. Alex and I were thinking about our dream label and we wanted something which has human contact. We'd had good experiences in the past with them — they pay their royalties, the release things on time — and we like their musical sympthties and sensibilities. By that I mean we like the way they've made ambient music such an important part of their history. Alex, as a big fan of the Pop Ambient series, and we felt honoured that they'd recieve us with such open arms. The personal contact and the ability to talk to someone you know, is key — you need a personal, artistic relationship as well as a business one.

Are Kompakt still as impactful as they were, say 10 years ago?
I can't answer that! I look at the label from a very close up angle. I just know that we've played recently with Michael (Mayer) and Wolfgang (Voigt) and they're still incredibly dedicated to their music. They're happy to be independent.

What does ambient music still do you for you as a veteran?
What do I get from ambient music? I get the opening up of time. You'll listen to something and wonder why it has to stop after ten minutes when it could go on for another twenty. It slows down daily life. It warms the heart and brings you into another dimension. it relaxes you, sets you at ease. It's open. It's free. It's multifunctional.

Moonbuilding 2703 AD is out now on Kompakt. The guys are also heading on a UK tour with Dave DK this November.

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