Enter The Kettle

Enter The Kettle is the second album on Alex Paterson from The Orb’s new label Orbscure. It’s primarily a duo LP with him and old friend Fil Le Gonidec, who together are OSS. OSS have played at Glastonbury, Fuji Rock, supported Kraftwerk and played chess with Robbie Williams, who also stole their speed. They were originally known as Orb Sound System – a half DJ / half live version of The Orb, which could gig more nimbly than the main machine. Early shows saw reggae-heavy selections and sometimes featured toasters, but seeing as they never actually had a soundsystem, can’t play out at the moment and have made a record – it’s currently just OSS, which now stands for On Sum Shit. Loosely speaking, on Enter The Kettle, the hard-edged metallic clang comes from “hardcase Yorkshireman” Fil, whilst Alex’s soft southern influence brings dubwise steppers, ambient house and trademark surrealist humour. The pair first met whilst both working as roadies for Killing Joke. Fil later lived for a period in Chicago above H-Gun Labs – base to the legendary video makers of the same name – whose credits later included the Orb’s ‘Toxygene’ video, which starred Chris Connelly from Murder Inc (and Finitribe / Revoting Cocks / Ministry). Fil roadied for Murder Inc, but was poached by the Orb who had started to take-off and flew him back to the UK, as they needed a reliable merch seller on tour. Alex has always liked Fil’s levelling, non flakey and dependable character. Fil has helped Alex out of a few tight spots on the road. He is one of the few people able to calm Jaz Coleman. Fil went on to feature on the albums FFWD, Orbus Terrarum, Bicycles and Tricycles, Orblivion and Orbsessions Volume 1. He has played live with The Orb many times, and also released industrial techno as Autolump on BadOrb and Mike Coles’ Malicious Damage. Other guests on the album include official-other-half-of-The Orb Michael Rendall, plus Jah Wobble, Roger Eno and George Holt – whose credits include Depeche Mode and Erasure. Like Chicago and also like the duo, the album has both a north and southside. The artwork is an alchemist’s kettle painted by Martin Grover. The sleeve design is by Mike Coles. The logo is by Simon G.