It's fair to say that the Orb never would have reached the British pop Top 40 without the influence and promotion of John Peel, who sponsored three sessions between 1989 and 1995. (There have also been two additional dates for other presenters.) Peel, a veteran of the late-'60s British music scene, appreciated the Orb's blend of futurism and folky traditionalism, seeing them not just as dance saviors but another dot in the line that connected pixilated popsters like T. Rex and the Incredible String Band (both of which Peel had been closely associated with). The Orb's first session was recorded in 1989, well before they had released an album, and it boosted the popularity of both the group and the ambient house phenomenon immeasurably…

"Ferengistan" is a term used in Central Asia to denote an imaginary place that represents the superficiality and materialism that too often characterize Western culture. So there's no real secret to the message behind this album by Toby Marks, aka Banco de Gaia. While the music is (thankfully) free of didactic lyrics, its instrumental tracks were written with serious matters of geopolitics in mind: one track has reference to a law recently passed in Mongolia, reinstating the use of surnames (a practice previously forbidden under Communist rule); the ironically titled "Harmonious G8" consists of eight overdubbed vocals, each an improvisation by a singer from one of the G8 nations; "White Man's Burden" requires little amplification. If you're not interested in the politics, you can just relax and enjoy the variously danceable and relaxing moods that Marks creates…

"Out of Control" was the third single from The Rolling Stones' album Bridges to Babylon. Credited to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, it was their second and final single of 1998…

TD's 1987 studio album for Jive Electro, "Tyger", was surprising, as once again it featured vocals, this time sung by guest artist Jocelyn Bernadette Smith from New York who joined composers Edgar Froese, Chris Franke and Paul Haslinger in Vienna and Berlin in February 1987 to transform a series of poems by the English mystic and painter William Blake (1757-1827) into songs.
In 1992 a different version was released in the USA with totally new cover artwork and a different track listing. While the title track "Tyger" was completely remixed, "Smile" was slightly faster (and hence shorter) than on the original release, and "Alchemy Of The Heart" was slightly abridged. Furthermore, the CD included the previously unreleased bonus track "Vigour".

Broken Mirror: A Selfie Reflection is a timely callout to the power of collaboration, of kindred spirits connecting in crowded rooms. More important, though, is this collision of two profoundly Southern artists, meeting to shed expectations of generation and genre, scene and situation and exchange truth, wisdom, and energy. The real world is more complicated than a pretty digital picture, bowdlerized of blemishes. As Broken Mirror: A Selfie Reflection reminds us, it can be more revelatory and transformative, too. For fans of On the Corner, Gil Scott-Heron, Can and Bitches Brew.

The Orb virtually invented the electronic genre known as ambient house, resurrecting slower, more soulful rhythms and providing a soundtrack for early-morning ravers once the clubs closed their doors. Frontman Dr. Alex Paterson's formula was quite simple: he slowed down the rhythms of classic Chicago house and added synth work and effects inspired by '70s ambient pioneers Brian Eno and Tangerine Dream. To make the whole a bit more listenable - as opposed to danceable - obscure vocal samples were looped, usually providing a theme for tracks that lacked singing. The group popularized the genre by appearing on the British chart show Top of the Pops and hitting number one in the U.K. with the 1992 album U.F.Orb…

Over the course of their extraordinarily accomplished discography to date, Django Django have constantly headed left where others have gone right. Described by The Guardian as “capable of making music that sounds close to perfection”, they are known for their genre defying eclectic sound and their new album Glowing in the Dark heralds, once again, the beginning of a thrilling new era for the band.

One of the first CDs released by TD's own label TDI in summer 1998 were the compilations Atlantic Bridges and Atlantic Walls, both featuring well-known material of the decade from 1988 to 1997. Atlantic Bridges includes tracks from the albums "Optical Race" (1988), "Lily on the Beach" (1989), "Melrose" (1990), "Rockoon" (1992), "Turn of the Tides" (1994) and "Tyranny of Beauty" (1995), "The Dream Mixes" (1995) and "TimeSquare" (1997).