My previous comparison was quite random even though they made the same style of music. I feel that FSOL vs Orb is more comparable considering they were british groups who got popular in the early 90's with signature tracks like Papua New Guinea and Little Fluffy Clouds.

Last edited by Mattsanity on Apr-23-2020 at 21:54

The Orb made two classics albums in Ultraworld and UF.Orb and then went to shit when Thrash got sick of Alex Patterson and was thrown out of the band. Since then they've made a bewildering multitude of albums that go from "pretty good" to "load of shite". The problem with The Orb is that they've always been a loose collective and the ringmaster Patterson doesn't really much musical talent of his own, so their sound and quality has varied wildly down the years depending on who he's had in the studio.

The FSOL have, if anything, put out an even more wildly varied body of music than The Orb, considering they reinvented themselves as a psychedelic rock band for a few years around the early '00s. They've also been the same two collaborators though - Brian Dougans and Gary Cobain - and the quality has remained consistently quite high right up to the present day. Some of the albums in the Environments series are just as good as Lifeforms or Dead Cities in my opinion, and they've also done a massive amount of stuff under various aliases, everything from abstract techno to weird stoner funk. It's also worth pointing out that the "singles" they released in the '90s were practically mini albums in their own right.

So yeah, only one winner for me - FSOL all day long.

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Mixes:
> Back To Deep [Deep Trippy House]
> Terra Nova [Modern Progressive Trance]
> Rough & Ready [Modern Trance]
>A Different Energy [Good Modern Trance]
> The Edale Mix [Panoramic Beats]

IMO they both smell

quote:

Originally posted by planetaryplayer IMO they both smell

I understand you're a luke slater guy...

detroit #1 now and forever

the orb.

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J The Orb made two classics albums in Ultraworld and UF.Orb and then went to shit when Thrash got sick of Alex Patterson and was thrown out of the band. Since then they've made a bewildering multitude of albums that go from "pretty good" to "load of shite". The problem with The Orb is that they've always been a loose collective and the ringmaster Patterson doesn't really much musical talent of his own, so their sound and quality has varied wildly down the years depending on who he's had in the studio. The FSOL have, if anything, put out an even more wildly varied body of music than The Orb, considering they reinvented themselves as a psychedelic rock band for a few years around the early '00s. They've also been the same two collaborators though - Brian Dougans and Gary Cobain - and the quality has remained consistently quite high right up to the present day. Some of the albums in the Environments series are just as good as Lifeforms or Dead Cities in my opinion, and they've also done a massive amount of stuff under various aliases, everything from abstract techno to weird stoner funk. It's also worth pointing out that the "singles" they released in the '90s were practically mini albums in their own right. So yeah, only one winner for me - FSOL all day long.

I heard Papua New Guinea influenced the San Francisco Dance Scene in the early 90's with the Hardkiss brothers founding their label in 1991.

quote:

Originally posted by Kilixpree the orb.

cool

The Orb was instrumental for me getting into electronic music back in the early 90's so I'll always love em for that. But like SYSTEM-J said, their albums can be real hit-or-miss. I liked Okie Dokie It's The Orb On Kompakt out of all their post-90s ones.

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I quite liked COW / Chill Out, World!, myself.

According to Discogs, I have about the same amount of Orb releases as I do FSOL releases. On the other hand, Last.fm states I've scrobbled FSOL 2.3x more than Orb. Thus according to this empirical evidence, I prefer FSOL over Orb.

Can't argue stats, man!

(though really, that's more due to FSOL albums have more 'tracks' to scrobble than Orb albums do)

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Everyone has an opinion. Mine just happens to be a little more informed than most.
Electronic Music Critic: Near-Daily Ruminations Of Music I Own, In Alphabetical Order!
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