Bicycles & Tricycles

The Orb’s discography is sprawling and preposterous, with gems and foolishness often crammed together. The early 2000s are generally not considered their glory days, but this album from 2004 (there is actually a 2003 Japan-only version with generally better versions of the tracks, but as this is the readily available one and still very fine, let’s go with it) says otherwise. It veers all over the shop, from wonky proto-beat-scene hip hop, through totally off-key dub, glam-stomp Kompakt schaffel-techno, the astounding maximalist drone-breakbeat techno of “L.U.C.A.,” before coming to rest with “Kompania” and “Dilmun,” two of the most gorgeous interstellar ambient tracks in The Orb catalogue. It should be a mess, but remarkably it holds together and has weathered very well indeed.