Music > Live Reviews

OZRIC TENTACLES & THE ORB

EPIC Studios

05/12/24

THE ORB make music I enjoy and the visuals tonight are some of the best I have seen here, which given the high standards of the venue Is high praise indeed. (And I suspect that the projections may have been gifted to The Orb by Ozric Tentacles). Unfortunately, however, the set Alex Patterson and Michael Randall deliver just doesn’t connect with me. I don’t wanna sound like a miserable, moaning old Luddite and I know the music should do the talking but the whole two-blokes-pressing-buttons-and-twiddling-knobs thing is just not visually entertaining. How long it takes before I check the time is one of the measures I use to judge how good a set is. With the Orb tonight it was seven minutes in. Look, I can see the craft in what they do, I do like the music but, in my world at least, it is something to listen to through headphones, not at Epic Studios on a dank and dingy Wednesday evening. 

In stark contrast, OZRIC TENTACLES are very much a band that I really enjoy live but not so much on record. Tonight was another superb display of their trademark psych-jazz-fusion-dub-Arabic-dance-ambient-prog-new-age-space-rock. When playing guitar, sole remaining founding member Ed Wynne riffs like a mutha, solos with the best of them. He and Silas Neptune provide the keys and synth squelches that are so pivotal to the Ozrics sound. Pat Garvey pounds the drums like a jackhammer but puts in plenty of virtuoso touches. Saskia Maxwell adds flute flourishes and more keys. Corey Wallace is possibly the smiliest bass player I have ever seen and adds a deep, dubby element to the mix.

For me, it isn’t all perfect. Some of songs are a minute or two too long. The more ambient moments are a touch dull. Some of the guitar work is just too widdly-squiddly, technique over feel. That said, I can’t fault the musical talent that is on show from every member of the band. The visuals are absolutely stunning. Above all, Ozrics make me smile.