Good _________ To You All! (please feel free to create any possibility you would like in the blank space provided). This message comes in peace. And at times in pieces. However this message is mostly to brighten the hearts and minds of all the haters! It just gets me when people get so trapped on the way something "should" and not just enjoy it for what it is. First we'll take this list. I've been a lurker, an occasional poster, an active member, and other wise coherent list member for lo' these 6 years. Ever since I've had email, I've been a member of this list. If the archives go back that far, I remember posting notes as Qube4D@aol.com~! And every other incarnation of my freaking screen name, internet handle, or alter ego since. At first I did respect this list for keeping to the subject matter at hand. I've been on other music lists that the topics wandered so much it was hard to get information from it, unless you just listened to the conversations and participated in them. Let me clue you in on something. ALL CONVERSATION (especially on the inernet) IS AT ONCE BANAL AND ENLIGHTENING. It just depends on what you're listening for. With that said, while I respected this list for staying on topic, It didn't take a fleet of email nazis to police it to keep as such. And at this point, with little else to be discovered about the classic orb, and with not entirely a ton of shit to talk about the current incarnation of our beloved band, it seems a little ridiculous that we have to just bitch about us not talking about the orb, or all of us shifting through the ever more frequent flame wars that have been erupting over the last 2 years. When it comes down to it, there is no reason why list members, who share something so beautiful in common as the Orb, can't just get together and just converse peacefully on ANY TOPIC. I mean, I've always been the kind of person that has said: "A friend in the ORB, is just that - a FRIEND" Speaking of the Orb, this brings me to the other Group of Haters, those that slag Bad Orb. Now, I really am not going to waste my breath by trying to convince anyone that they should dig this record label. Hell, those that don't probably wouldn't dig half the stuff that's been released past 1994 (as far as chill-out, spaced-out, electronic music). I GET IT! You didn't like anything past Orbvs or maybe it was Orbilivion, or hell, the last good album for you was U.F. Orb's 2nd disc that you paid another list member $40 for the right to own, because it was the original big life release and had the 40 minute blue room mix. I GET IT! You prefer classic Orb, classic rock, classic Ambient! I GET IT! You prefer a different Orb. Does that make the Orb bad, or invalidate Lx's other works? Does it invalidate other list members because they actually did like Orblivion or actually listened to Cydonia, or better yet, Own the whole Bad Orb catalogue and drop phat left-field beats from Lx & Co. in every heart felt DJ set they get the chance to mix? You see, that's just fine. Wherever you're at with the Orb is fine. For me, nothings changed, they are still one of the few artists that I will buy sound unheard, and not give a fuck. If it's not the best thing they've done, then maybe it gets played less than some of their other stuff in *my* CD player. However, I will have to say this one thing, though: If you've heard "BOB 12 - The Orb - Daleth of Elphame" and didn't like it, then just give up now. That's as close to the classic Orb as it gets in my opinion. I get it! The band has changed and evolved and the sounds are going to come out different, but this record is about as much of a throw back as we're ever going to see, probably. So, If you heard BOB 12, and didn't groove on it, you might as well, Turn up ABTU and climb in your bathtub and drop the hair dryer in while it's running, because there will never be another album like your favorite Orb album. And you're never going to hear that album the same way you did that time you and your friends were doing mushrooms in your parent's living room while the walls melted and everyone freaked out as Montage D'Or climbed the backside of your skull and your smile could have only gotten wider if there were actual girls in your bedroom naked at the time it happened. Instead of holding on to how you've been ORBed in the past, just LET GO and let yourself be surprised all over again. You can't wait for the ORBing, and just cause you've been ORBed in the past doesn't mean you know what it's like. Did that communicate? But to tell you the truth, I wouldn't even rate the ORB in my Top 10 right now. Hell they haven't been up there in a while. I haven't bitched about it, I'm just into what I'm into. (kid 606, cex, nobukazu takemura, prefuse 73, ovuca, bola, si begg, cylob, venetian snares, doormouse) but who cares right? I'm not worried that the Orb may have slipped, and that others, inspired by Lx & co and Richard D James, and Tom Middleton and all the early pioneers of modern intelligent electronic soundscapes - are out there forging new ground for us to explore. It all just comes down to what we're comfortable with exploring for ourselves. Me? I choose to be the giant locust of music, devouring one genre after another until I'm left with Minnie Ripperton and some sample of "shine on you crazy diamond".... Shout Outs to all who have made this list what it really is, Smiley, JC, Thrash, Joe from FL., Glenn (Liquid W), Orbette, Anthony, Dr. Winston O'Boogie, The crazy Swedish guy that I can't remember then name of that did the MP3 tree and that I traded with a couple of times back in the day!, Vince, Gavin, Scott in Washington State (how's life with your beautiful wife? I really need to come up and visit you cats!), Alan Evil, BBBRROOO, that crazy illuminist in Alaska!, and all the other beautiful people on this list past, present, and future. don't hate the player - love the hater, -eric (xenlab) Qube4D, zenlab, Q's zenlab, etc..etc...et c...