Ozric Tentacles and The Orb

Somerset psych-rockers Ozric Tentacles are a must see act for any fan of the surreal & cerebral as their live show is mind warping as these musicians are real masters of their craft. With a sudden influx of psychedelia in the UK & US charts with the likes of Tame Impala, Temples and Glass Animals to name a few all making waves with their own brand of distortion, Ozric Tentacles are one of the original acts to bend convention. Having never been supported by a major label, the band have still gone on to sell over a million worldwide having first gained their cult fan following on the UK festival scene, particularly Glastonbury. They only ever released one single, 'Sploosh' which is perhaps their most commercial hit yet this song is never used as their big finale due to the fact fans have their own personal favourites and the band know which of their heavily instrumental songs are likely to get the crowds swaying the psych tones.
The veterans are returning to the UK next month for a substantial run of dates hitting cities including London, Edinburgh & Birmingham to select a handful. For the fans of the obscure and anyone interested in where the influences of the psych rock revolution 60's affected later musicians, Ozric Tentacles are one not to be missed.

The Orb are a fascinating band. They have always been ahead of the curve in terms of implementing new technology in their recordings and have been consistently interesting in editing together sounds from completely different sources. For instance they have created songs in which an acid house bass line functions seamlessly next to manic sermons on Revelations. They can even beautifully piece together a random Rickie Lee Jones interview with an excerpt of a modern classical piece by Steve Reich as they have done on “Little Fluffy Clouds”. Anything is fair game. There are no limits to their sound and the broad scope of possibility evident in their music is completely riveting. Their live performances are absolutely worth seeing as well. Sure you might hear complaints about lack of “live instrumentation”, but those who assert this seem to miss the point of the Orb. Most of the sound sources from the band’s live performance are prerecorded. But these sounds are manipulated, contorted, wetted with effects pedals into material completely original and unheard.
In a sense their instruments are their computers, samplers, and effect interfaces. They are just as apt to generate equally thrilling sounds out of these sources as they are with the standard setup of guitars, bass and drums. Anyways the point of going to hear a live show is about the whole experience and this experience is unforgettable. The crowd is floored by the performance and often engages in trance dancing and other means of self expression. The light show is subliminal, but corresponds nicely to the music. Also the Orb always bring interesting videos to back their music. It is one thing to hear the Orb on a computer with headphones, but quite another to hear them blasting up their music at a club with hundreds even thousands of erratic fans.