How to Be a Flea on The Back of a Dragon

A decade after they delivered Okie Dokie It's the Orb on Kompakt on…Kompakt, Alex Paterson and Thomas Fehlmann return to the stalwart Cologne label with an album bearing a less sportive title and it sounds like serious sci-fi business. The standard edition consists of four tracks, each one between nine and 15 minutes in length. Not one of them is humorously titled "Captain Korma" or "Komplikation," unless "God's Mirrorball" triggers a recollection of the first Tad album. Unlike Okie Dokie, this is all new, not an amalgamation of tweaked, previously released tracks and new material. Lest this be seen as the Orb's "most mature work to date," within seconds of the opener, a mild-mannered voice from a colorful documentary about Sumerian gods intones, "If you believe in evil, then you probably need a whack on the back of the neck with a big fucking stick." After four-and-a-half minutes of ambience that intensifies in gradual fashion, a fluid, sturdy beat and light chime-like accents enter to set the tone for the remainder of the 50-minute program.