The Orb

The Orb are an English electronic music group known for spawning the genre of ambient house. Founded in 1988 by Alex Paterson and KLF member Jimmy Cauty, the Orb began as ambient and dub DJs in London. Their early performances were inspired by ambient and electronic artists of the 1970s and 1980s, most notably Brian Eno and Kraftwerk. Because of their trippy sound, the Orb developed a cult following among clubbers "coming down" from drug-induced highs. The Orb has maintained their drug-related and science fiction themes despite personnel changes, including the departure of Cauty and other Orb members Kris Weston, Andy Falconer, Simon Phillips, Nick Burton and Andy Hughes. Paterson has been the only permanent member, continuing to work as the Orb with the Swiss-German producer Thomas Fehlmann and, later, with Killing Joke's Martin "Youth" Glover and Tim Bran of Dreadzone.

Alex Paterson prides the Orb on manipulating obscure samples beyond recognition on their albums and concerts; his unauthorised use of other artists' works has led to disputes with musicians, most notably with Rickie Lee Jones. During their live shows of the 1990s, the Orb performed using digital audio tape machines optimised for live mixing and sampling before switching to laptops and digital media. Despite changes in performance method, the Orb maintained their colourful light shows and psychedelic imagery in concert. These visually intense performances prompted critics to compare the group to Pink Floyd.

Orb (comics)

The Orb is the name of two Marvel Comics supervillains who are primarily an adversary of Ghost Rider.

Publication history

The first Orb debuted in Marvel Team-Up #15 (November 1973) and was created by writer Len Wein and artist Ross Andru.

Fictional character biography

Drake Shannon

Drake Shannon was born in Wheeling, West Virginia. An accomplished motorcycle stunt rider, he owned one-half of the traveling motorcycle stunt show which would later feature Johnny Blaze (who would later become Ghost Rider). The other half of the show was owned by Blaze's mentor, Crash Simpson.

While the partnership was initially amiable, the two men grew apart and eventually an intense rivalry developed. Neither wanted to work with the other, but neither wanted to sell their half of the show. To settle the dispute, the two men agreed to a lengthy race, with the winner receiving full ownership of the traveling show.

After many miles of neck-and-neck competition, Shannon deliberately swerved towards Simpson in an effort to force Simpson to crash. However, the maneuver caused Shannon to lose control of his motorcycle. While Simpson managed to remain upright and continue on with the race, Shannon slid 25 yards on his unprotected face. The accident left him hideously disfigured.

U.F.Orb

U.F.Orb is the second studio album by ambient house/techno group The Orb. It was released in July 1992 and reached #1 on the UK Album Chart. It featured an edited version of The Orb's single "Blue Room". Noted graphic design group The Designers Republic designed the cover art.

Background

Orb member Kris Weston integrated his technical and creative expertise with Alex Paterson's Eno-influenced ambience on U.F.Orb, creating "drum and bass rhythms" with "velvet keyboards" and "rippling synth lines".U.F.Orb reached #1 on the UK Albums Chart to the shock of critics, who were surprised that fans had embraced what journalists considered to be progressive rock. Heavily influenced by The Orb and U.F.Orb in particular, many trip hop groups sprang up emulating The Orb's "chill-out blueprint".U.F.Orb expresses The Orb's fascination with alien life with its bizarre sound samples and in the album's title itself. The album's single, "Blue Room", is itself a reference to the supposed Blue Room of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, which was heavily investigated as a possible UFO evidence holding room.