Awakening Old Worlds: Dreadzone vs The Orb at Project House 

As the current decade sees a resurgence in electronic music and a craving for nightlife unrecorded by the iPhone, we turn to the 90s for inspiration. Groups like The Orb and Dreadzone were the blueprint for authentic experimentation in the pre-millennium electronic scene, developing their sounds through live mixing and performance. 30 years on, we are forced to look back in awe, until nights like tonight, when we get to live in their sound for a little while. 

Tonight, amidst the relentless rain of Storm Claudia, Project House is the perfect refuge. People lean out of the open double doors, peering into the wet darkness as if into a gaping black hole. We are at the bar when a wave of sound and light starts up at the other side of the warehouse. Cutting through the crowd as fast as Rowan’s brimming pint allows us, we end up planted somewhere in the middle. On stage, The Orb begin their set, mixing their pioneering ambient house sound with some funkier elements. Between the colourful psychedelic patterns projected behind them and their masterful fluctuation of tempo, the room slowly becomes mesmerised. Bodies push past us to the light and colour like the possessed in a zombie apocalypse. Their gritty baselines have a physical sensation to them. Halfway through the set I realise I’ve forgotten my loops (boooooo), but I am in luck – the bartender holds a small plastic package out to me like a fun fair prize. The blue wire and huge yellow foam pads render them not the most discreet of ear plugs but hey, at least I’m matching The Orb’s alien freak a little more.  

When we return to the crowd, ‘Arabebonics’ from their latest studio album Buddhist Hipsters (2025) plays. The track’s sitar strings provide the perfect groove for the hip-hop vocals to sit in. As the set progresses, it leans more into the duo’s older aesthetics. Alien-like figures and dolphins merge into one another on screen as The Orb tread a more acid sound. Just as the set is orbiting its end, they begin to mix in the iconic ‘Little Fluffy Clouds’ off their debut album Adventures Beyond The Underworld (1991). The track’s reminiscent monologue must have a deeper resonance for audience members who first heard it in the clubbing days of their youth. Outside, the impenetrable grey of the storm looms. But in here, there are only little fluffy clouds – on screen behind the decks, hiding in the hazy synths and developing out of the looping vocal sample that plays.  

The intermission period is brief and busy; people disperse for refills, others secure better spots. We are now in the second row and watch the stage slowly fill with instruments. When Dreadzone come on, they are met with a warm welcome. Drummer Greg Roberts is centre stage, joined by bassist Leo Williams and vocalists Earl 16 and MC Spee. Also on stage are Blake Robert (Greg’s son) and Bazil. The band begin with ‘Life Love and Unity’ off their 1995 album Second Light, an upbeat track which blends electronic beats with reggae. When the song comes to a close, MC Spee speaks to the crowd as the ‘music army’, pointing his skull-adorned stick with pride. He asks who has seen Dreadzone before, to which there is a loud cheer. When he asks who is seeing them for the first time however, there is a similar level of energy – both amongst the young people cheering and their proud accompanying parents. This aptly leads into a lively performance of ‘Music Army’ off Dread Times (2017), which sees MC Spee breaking out into robotic dance moves and encouraging the crowd to do the same. ‘Keep It Blazing’ off the same album follows, an irresistibly dancey cut – those who weren’t moving yet certainly were now.  

The band maintain this energy with a lively rendition of ‘Rise Up’, an uplifting blend of electro-dub, followed by ‘Conqueror’ off their latest LP Nine (2024). The track’s sturdy bassline gives their classic dub sound a neat pocket to sit in. Each song is met with an ecstatic reception – even a track which the frontman tells us is from a 1995 live album, only available on vinyl. As the set nears its end, the band please with a performance of ‘Iron Shirt’ which samples reggae-royalty Max Romeo’s ‘Chase The Devil’, a fitting nod to the genre. 

Chants for an encore begin before all members have walked off stage. The band return with a performance of ‘Captain Dread’, a track which combines a sea-shanty sound with mystical electronic beats and an ‘ahoy’ refrain. The eclectic mix sounds like what you would hear in a under-the-sea inspired stage at Boomtown. A dub-submarine. The crowd cheer as MC Spee steers us to shore with his mighty skull-headed oar. 

As per the effect that live music tends to have on me, since Friday evening I have been deep diving into the respective discographies of The Orb and Dreadzone. In particular, I keep revisiting Dreadzone’s ‘Zion Youth’, a mesmerising electronic reggae cut, and The Orb’s ‘Spontaneously Combust’, a 10-minute mammoth of a track accompanied by a disconcerting monologue which reminds me of ‘Little Fluffy Clouds’. I’ve not heard either played outside my headphones yet, but as I walk the wet streets of Leeds in November, they provide the perfect ambience. 

Words by Mariella Patel