bicycles and tricycles

Tried out the first three tracks of the new Orb album in MVC at lunchtime; odd that it's actually been so long since I listened to them that I'd kind of forgotten what they sound like, although I remember now. Of the three tracks only one really jumped out at me. The first, Orb is made me think of Groove Armada, consisting as it does of a laidback hip hop beat (played on live drums), a naff trumpet sample and moody, swishy synths. The next, Aftermath was much better; a brittle, fairly ordinary hip hop beat (which in fairness later twists into a much more appealing techno clatter) and string sweeps and a just lovely vocal from Soom-T, a really odd, juddering rap with bursts of near-patois and an accent which swings from New York to her native Glasgow. The Land of Green Ginger isn't a new song and I've heard it before, and it's kind of old-school Orb - an arpeggiated synth-riff which sounds great when it twins up, towards the end, with the tinny electro beat, but the vocal samples and ambient noodles are just so irritating. I'll have a listen to some more in my lunch hour tomorrow; so far my impression is that it's more beat-y than previous efforts, but a bit aimless thus far - at times it had me thinking of pre-Endtroducing MoWax stuff; head-nodding and well produced but ultimately thin.