As David Cameron’s smug beach-ball face smarms into Number Ten with the new mate he was laughing at a few days previously another, much more seismic, coalition has been hatching in the secret countryside lab of Orb studio wiz Dom Beken as he gets down with the good Dr Alex Paterson to forage and sculpt a new project the pair have been hatching like ferocious mega-tooled roosters and diligently pain-staking hens, now busting into the world with a huge flurry of clucking and crowing. H.F.B. ostensibly stands for High Frequency Bandwidth but also, as each track title attests, applies to the song in question. Their sound is a lustrous bed of Isaac Hayes cool grooves, deepest hiphop and dubbed-out sonic whoopee dunked in the opium chamber. First blast from their surreal salvo comes in the shape of three EPs, released at bi-weekly intervals since last month, all boasting another magic ingredient in the energised shape of MC Dynamax, European connection for both Afrika Bambaataa’s Zulu Nation and Ice T’s Rhyme Syndicate, adding his unearthly rhymes to a track on each EP – Harmless Feather Bed, Hill Film Blues and the monstrous Hundred Forty Billion from EP2, the most immediately grabbing track with its haunted melody and extra-terrestrial sparkle-bed. Juliet Russell and Simone Niles bolster Mr Paterson’s chant vocals on the euphoric High Five Brother like Labelle in a floatation tank. Orb fans attracted by Alex’s name will love the deliriously intoxicating cable laid in their in astro-skids but everybody can now appreciate that the whole point was always encompassing all great music, including proper hiphop and the soothing effect of sweet soul music. Undoubtedly the year’s most unusual, surprising and mindblowing sounds cape. Incubation is over, there is magic wafting out of the hen-house again.
5 Out Of 5
Reviewed By: Kris Needs
