Release Date: November 11th, 2011
Imagine waking up in an alley. The lighting is dim; streetlights are barely visible through a sheet of fog. The air is freezing cold, and your head is pounding like the bass inside of a Scandinavian nightclub. The Orb may not be solely responsible for this kind of auditory experience, but its music is at the root of a million just like it.
DJ Alex Paterson (alternately known as Dr. Alex Paterson, although there appears to be no evidence of such a degree) got his start feeding the auditory needs of the London club scene in the late 1980s. He and The Orb’s ever-rotating list of co-members pushed the boundaries of club music, using unconventional instrumentation and techniques to draw the crowd into an alternate reality where loops echoed for miles in the foggy abyss of drug-addled minds. And in the 20-something years since then, not much has changed.
The Orb’s hypnotically transcendent music is as groovy as ever, and C Batter C proves just that.
The record opens on an 18-minute psychedelic journey titled “Battersea Bunches Original Soundtrack.” It was produced to do as the title suggests, acting as a soundtrack for a video installation at London’s Battersea Power Station. And oh, what that installation must have looked like: the idea that anything could visually match the drug-addled soundscape of tuba loops, church bells and train whistles is mind-blowing, to say the least. It’s almost impossible to imagine the amount of acid necessary to truly appreciate the immensity of what is going on. Unless, that is, your name is Wayne Coyne. (Sorry, Wayne.)
“Meandering through the Emerald Turf” is third on the record and undeniably one of the most disturbing cuts C Batter C has to offer. Samples of seabirds and ocean waves are violently interlaced with dense beats as the song builds into a harrowing progression of anxious railway cars and vacuous darkness. Alfred Hitchcock would be proud.
The final track on the album, “Batter C Bunny’s Munching Orbular Marrow Mix,” (No, we don’t know what the hell “munching orbular marrow” is, either) is so off-the-wall that it works, masterfully building off a ghoulishly militaristic loop before erupting into a volcano of echoes. The effect is a dizzying respite. It’s comforting, at least by Orb standards.
Such is the world of C Batter C: a rollercoaster of liberating highs and paralyzing lows. The listener is merely there; this is The Orb’s show. This album is not meant to cater to the masses, but this is the point. The Orb makes music for a niche audience. This audience, a small, albeit highly devoted group of house music fans, will not be disappointed.
The Orb – C Batter C tracklist:
- “Battersea Bunches Original Soundtrack”
- “To Battersea With Bunches” (HFB Remix)
- “Meandering through the Emerald Turf” (Gaudi Remix)
- “Brixton Hundreds” (David Harrow Remix)
- “Latchmere Allotments” (Nocturnal Sunshine Remix)
- “Red House, Brown Dog” (Being Remix)
- “Beyond the Legend of the Battersea Asparagus Triangle” (Autolump Remix)
- “Batter C Bunny’s Munching Orbular Marrow Mix” (Thomas Fehlmann)
