The best bits of Middle of Nowhere are maybe my favourite Orbital if I'm really honest.
― Tim F, Monday, 16 April 2012 13:13 (1 year ago) Permalink
yeah, that first half is really something, and the singles on the second half pretty much rule too
― you can expect punches, kicks and even worse (frogbs), Monday, 16 April 2012 13:14 (1 year ago) Permalink
"Spare Parts Express" / "Know Where To Run" / "Nothing Left 1" / "Nothing Left 2" for me.
"Middle of Nowhere" is very fine too and I actually really like "Style", but the other tracks are next level.
― Tim F, Monday, 16 April 2012 13:18 (1 year ago) Permalink
lol I think I'm the only person on Earth who really digs "Otono"
― an independent online phenomenon (DJP), Monday, 16 April 2012 14:14 (1 year ago) Permalink
I like "Otono", but it's definitely third tier on that album.
― Tim F, Monday, 16 April 2012 14:53 (1 year ago) Permalink
Always wanted to hear the Pooka albums actually, I actually have the single for "City Sick" somewhere for some reason, and I remember a friend told me their second album was fantastic.
― Tim F, Monday, 16 April 2012 14:54 (1 year ago) Permalink
This Pooka? Shift is pretty interesting, especially for its time (2001), esp the track "One in a Million". My understanding is the sometimes IDMish backing is very much an outlier in Pooka's catalog.
― The Painter of Blight™ (Sanpaku), Monday, 16 April 2012 18:12 (1 year ago) Permalink
Wonky is on US spotify today; cracking it open now!
― boy, was that Dan Fielding hungry for some cake! (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 19 April 2012 16:15 (1 year ago) Permalink
one big moment is LOVELY, totally vintage
― boy, was that Dan Fielding hungry for some cake! (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 19 April 2012 16:21 (1 year ago) Permalink
I just picked up green, brown, and snivilisation w/in the past month or two and they're all v good! It's strange that I have five (!) of their albums now and yet still feel like I'm just getting into them
― Time, a group with Jam and Lewis (Stevie D(eux)), Thursday, 19 April 2012 16:24 (1 year ago) Permalink
total first world problems but can I say how irritated I am that the US domestic release of this is an iTunes exclusive
― I need new, hip khakis (DJP), Friday, 20 April 2012 14:12 (1 year ago) Permalink
^^^^ otm, super annoying
― heated debate over derpy hooves (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 20 April 2012 14:15 (1 year ago) Permalink
If you guys want to paypal me I can post you CDs from the UK?
― Sick Mouthy (Scik Mouthy), Friday, 20 April 2012 14:16 (1 year ago) Permalink
hmm, maybe? let me check how much ordering from amazon.co.uk would be
― I need new, hip khakis (DJP), Friday, 20 April 2012 14:16 (1 year ago) Permalink
ha the special edition from amazon.co.uk will cost me $20 with shipping, so I'm gonna go that route; thanks though!
― I need new, hip khakis (DJP), Friday, 20 April 2012 14:19 (1 year ago) Permalink
I think "Wonky" is my favorite song of the year so far
― I need new, hip khakis (DJP), Friday, 20 April 2012 16:27 (1 year ago) Permalink
It had been bugging me for ages what 'Wonky' reminded me of and it's actually 'Jump And Shout' by Basement Jaxx, the combination of insane build and an MC who's simultaneously on top of the build and part of it.
― Homosexual Satan Wasp (Matt DC), Friday, 20 April 2012 16:28 (1 year ago) Permalink
when are Orbital and Underworld going to synch up their schedules and do a joint tour that I can fly over to the UK to see
― I need new, hip khakis (DJP), Friday, 20 April 2012 16:38 (1 year ago) Permalink
mmm hmm
― boy, was that Dan Fielding hungry for some cake! (forksclovetofu), Friday, 20 April 2012 16:40 (1 year ago) Permalink
This is extremely enjoyable. I like the experimentation with more analoguey noises.
― I wish to incorporate disco into my small business (chap), Friday, 20 April 2012 17:08 (1 year ago) Permalink
kind of hard to believe that "Stringy Acid" didn't exist before this album came out, i'm already retroactively inserting it in my mid-late 90s memories
― hot slag (lukas), Tuesday, 8 May 2012 16:34 (1 year ago) Permalink
apparently it was an outtake from those days
― frogbs, Tuesday, 8 May 2012 16:35 (1 year ago) Permalink
I'd like to qualify my earlier endorsement by saying that the brostep track is dreadful. All other tracks are good, I particularly like New Fance and Where is it Going?
― I wish to incorporate disco into my small business (chap), Tuesday, 8 May 2012 16:36 (1 year ago) Permalink
This album was pretty cool first time I heard it, but I'm just not drawn in enough to really love it. everything's in place, but i dunno.....
― Scary Move 4 (dog latin), Tuesday, 8 May 2012 22:33 (1 year ago) Permalink
saw them on Saturday and they were incredible, seemed to have slashed much of the new stuff out of the set for Australia sadly - though what was there sounds very much of a piece with the old material in that setting.
SO MANY forty-somethings off their faces around us!
― ┗|∵|┓ (sic), Wednesday, 9 May 2012 01:45 (1 year ago) Permalink
I want them to release a real live album so badly
― frogbs, Friday, 11 May 2012 14:55 (1 year ago) Permalink
like the UW 3-disc Live in Tokyo set if possible, something more than just an hour
those screeching synths in the end of "One Big Moment" would sound so massive live, c'mon boys
― frogbs, Friday, 11 May 2012 14:57 (1 year ago) Permalink
This album was pretty cool first time I heard it, but I'm just not drawn in enough to really love it. everything's in place, but i dunno.....― Scary Move 4 (dog latin), Tuesday, May 8, 2012 6:33 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Scary Move 4 (dog latin), Tuesday, May 8, 2012 6:33 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
yep
― caulk the wagon and float it, Friday, 11 May 2012 15:10 (1 year ago) Permalink
album is a con that makes me doubt all of my orbital love ever, but this remix has a nice bit in the middle
https://soundcloud.com/orbital-4/where-is-it-going-steve-mac
credited to steve mac and phil
― hot slag (lukas), Friday, 24 August 2012 17:01 (8 months ago) Permalink
3 months pass...
huh
― hot slag (lukas), Friday, 24 August 2012 17:02 (8 months ago) Permalink
What do you mean by "album is a con"?
― everything, Friday, 24 August 2012 17:04 (8 months ago) Permalink
i don't hear a lot of spontaneous life in most of these tracks, which is especially jarring given what they're trying to do. doesn't even sound rote, sounds contrived. not going to be a convincing argument if these tracks actually create joy for you.
i like "never" though.
― hot slag (lukas), Friday, 24 August 2012 17:15 (8 months ago) Permalink
I'm increasingly feeling that this album is content rather than music. I still quite like it, and think its their best since Middle of Nowhere, but I don't love it.
― Sick Mouthy (Scik Mouthy), Friday, 24 August 2012 17:16 (8 months ago) Permalink
>album is a con that makes me doubt all of my orbital love ever
If you'd said this about 90% of The Altogether I might have understood, but wrong target with this one - the great tracks on here still sound great to me, and I've *hammered* this album.
― that mustardless plate (Bill A), Friday, 24 August 2012 21:26 (8 months ago) Permalink
I'm with Bill, this album still sounds pretty f great to me
― frogbs, Friday, 24 August 2012 21:54 (8 months ago) Permalink
yeah, it holds up good for me too.
― The muted sensation feels amazeballs. (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 25 August 2012 01:04 (8 months ago) Permalink
I'm increasingly feeling that this album is content rather than music
This is a meaningless statement.
― Matt DC, Saturday, 25 August 2012 11:36 (8 months ago) Permalink
Only cos I didn't add context; my feeling is actually drawn partly, I think, from the same feeling that caused you to say that New France was "so obviously there for the radio", which you may not have meant as a pejorative, but which I inferred as such.
― Sick Mouthy (Scik Mouthy), Monday, 27 August 2012 13:45 (8 months ago) Permalink
Yo this album is great!!
― the mandy moorhols (Stevie D(eux)), Tuesday, 28 August 2012 03:58 (8 months ago) Permalink
Yeah, finally (at last) heard it today myself and love it.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 28 August 2012 05:10 (8 months ago) Permalink
Sorry Nick I still don't know what "content rather than music" means.
― Tim F, Tuesday, 28 August 2012 05:16 (8 months ago) Permalink
Did some scribbling to try and explain. http://sickmouthy.com/2012/08/27/four-tet-and-some-thoughts-on-music-as-content/
― Sick Mouthy (Scik Mouthy), Tuesday, 28 August 2012 05:44 (8 months ago) Permalink
Ah, I read this as you complaining that it's too functional (within the parameters of how Orbital's music functions).
This strikes me as a particularly odd criticism to make of Orbital (and also Talabot) - I hope I don't sound condescending when I say it sounds like a criticism made by a person who doesn't listen to (or appreciate) much actual dance music.
It's not so much "how dare you complain that music is too functional" - more that I think when you listen to a lot of music that is pretty explicitly functional in that manner then its functionalism no longer exists at the opposite end of a continuum from art/creativity/etc. for its own sake - hence saying "it's too functional to be art" begins to seem as nonsensical as saying "it has too many beats to be art".
More generally I think the idea of wanting music to "transcend its purpose" is a really bad one, not because music should not transcend its purpose but because the idea that it can and should is only propogated by people who are wary of (and hence do not have a good handle on) the alleged purpose to begin with.
What I would say, and I think it gets at roughly the same ballpark feeling, is that Wonky feels like an album purposely designed to "tick all the boxes" for an Orbital box except the box of "creates at least one new box". Its problem is that it's precisely as functional as Middle of Nowhere, and as such feels like a retreat into safe territory.
― Tim F, Tuesday, 28 August 2012 06:56 (8 months ago) Permalink
More specifically the entire idea of transcension here is really saying "I think this purpose is better than that one."
― Tim F, Tuesday, 28 August 2012 06:58 (8 months ago) Permalink
Oh I don't dance these days and I don't DJ and I'm the first to acknowledge that (and there's nowhere round here where I could dance to this kind of music anyway); that's not been a barrier to me enjoying huge amounts of dance music, though, and especially and particularly Orbital in the past (and also plenty of stuff that was compared to Talabot when Fin came out, which piqued my interest). I'm not saying one "purpose" is better than any other, just that one isn't mine, and there's not enough "whatever it is" to quite satisfy what my purpose might be.
― Sick Mouthy (Scik Mouthy), Tuesday, 28 August 2012 07:11 (8 months ago) Permalink
Yeah that's fine, I just think the content vs music opposition makes it seem like you're drawing a more concrete distinction than that.
― Tim F, Tuesday, 28 August 2012 07:30 (8 months ago) Permalink
Yeah it was a bit flippant putting them as opposite ends of a dichotomy; the Cistene Chapel ceiling was a commission and arguably "content", and huge, huge reams of other great art of all mediums and genres and stripes.
― Sick Mouthy (Scik Mouthy), Tuesday, 28 August 2012 07:57 (8 months ago) Permalink
Maybe you're just expecting something out of it that others aren't; I for one am happy to get nothing more than just a pile of great tunes
― frogbs, Tuesday, 28 August 2012 15:07 (8 months ago) Permalink
Orbital, at least for me, has a specific feeling of being composed, more so than most sequenced, functional dance music. It's a ridiculous statement on its face, to feel more composed than the next act with quantized beats and layers of samples that build up and roll off like clockwork, but it's the most succinct way of expressing that quality of their music.
This isn't a problem when it works - I appreciate Tim's point about it being a continuum, rather than an opposition. It applies just as much to the Orbital albums I love as those I don't. But when it doesn't hit, that feeling of functional composition is grating.
― hot slag (lukas), Tuesday, 28 August 2012 15:24 (8 months ago) Permalink
hot slag otm.
― Sick Mouthy (Scik Mouthy), Tuesday, 28 August 2012 17:02 (8 months ago) Permalink