The sequel to
History of the Future
covers
the Orb
's post-
Island
, 2002-2012 antics on an assortment of labels, including
Cooking Vinyl
,
the End
Malicious Damage
and, perhaps the most appropriate partner of all,
Kompakt
, a Cologne-based label whose development owes much to the group's
Thomas Fehlmann
.
The Orb
's 2010 collaboration with
David Gilmour
excepted, this touches upon the significant releases from
Bicycles & Tricycles
through their meeting with
Lee "Scratch" Perry
, and it mixes highlights with deep cuts as a way to appeal to fanatics and those who don't track their multitude of releases. In standard two-disc form,
History of the Future, Vol. 2
adequately exposes the variety of output from the period: airy hip-hop ("Aftermath," featuring
MC Soom T
), sludgy dub ("Codes"), hard shuffle-tech ("Cool Harbour"), weightless ambient ("Baghdad Batteries," "Glen Coe"). Select remixes come from a handful of well-regarded peers like
Dabrye
Deadbeat
, and the duo of
Ricardo Villalobos
and
Max Loderbauer
. The three-CD/one-DVD version, tucked inside a clamshell box instead of the DVD-style packaging of the first volume, furnishes a dozen additional tracks, including the crucial 1989 track "Suck My Kiss" and
Fehlmann
's previously vinyl-only remix of "Dolly Unit." Promotional and live clips from 2009 through 2014 fill out the DVD, and there's a substantial booklet, almost as thick as the packaging of the standard edition, that contains track information and dozens of full-page photos. ~ Andy Kellman