Cargo Records

EP: One

Heavy Funk Bass, Hairy Fuzzy Balls, Hope Fun Baby, Hippy’s Full Brunch, Heavenly Fried Bananas, Hideous Face Bends, Highlands First Bank, Hydrogen Fart Bomb, Hen’s Breath Fixation, Hitchcock’s First Blunder…or a technical term regarding aural expansion developments called High Frequency Bandwidth.

These initials are important. ‘All our song titles fit the letters H. F. B.,’ says Dr Alex Paterson, who has embarked on the new High Frequency Bandwidth project with Dom Beken. The two men are about to make some Huge F***ing Broohaha with their mission to inject some original hiphop innovation, sonic anarchy and earth-level raunch into the electronic foragings they’ve become known for with, for starters, The Orb.

Alex is, of course, The Orb: for 20 years the ultimate embodiment of the acid house spirit, before and beyond, from early avant electronic and ambient to the furthest galaxies with major success. The Orb recently released acclaimed album The Dream while currently enjoying a flurry of reissues which now make all their albums up until 2001’s Cydonia available in deluxe form.

It cannot be overlooked that Dom’s studio, where the pair cooked up their intoxicating sonic stews, is the old projection room at Ealing Studios, legendary home of classic British comedy, horror and war movies since the 1930s. With the ghosts of Will Hay and Charles Hawtrey stalking the corridors, some spirit of mischief can’t fail to seep into the air, mixing with Dom’s live playing and production flights steered by the Head, Feet and Bonkers noise ratios of the good Doctor.

They will be taking it to the stage by the end of the year. Meanwhile keep an ear cocked for High Frequency Bandwidth.