Orbital - Wonky

Absolutely fantastic.

The build on One Big Moment is just masterful, I love how they keep adding more and more layers an then suddenly there's one chiming synth line over the top that changes the melodic complexion of the track altogether. I wish they'd taken a bit more time with it actually, if there's one mild criticism I might have of this record it's they could have been a bit more patient with the pacing of some of the tracks, Where's It Going? in particular could have a much slower build and a longer outro.

But this is already above Middle of Nowhere for me, which sagged quite badly in the middle with I Don't Know You People and Otono.

True but the highs ("Spare Parts Express", "Know Where To Run", "Nothing Left") on Middle of Nowhere probably were higher for the reason you cite - the build on those tracks is at once astonishing and yet totally inevitable sounding. There's a slight "radio edit" quality to the tunes here.

Though it's not really a bad thing that with nearly every track I'm thinking "oh, that ended too soon."

At the same time I'm not sure many of them actually need to be much longer - its only really the first and last tracks that would benefit from it really.

Conversely Beelzedub feels longer than it actually is and not in a bad way particularly, because there are so many sections to it and all of them feel exactly the right length. Also I love that you're sitting listening to the drill and bass bit and wondering if it could get any more gleefully ridiculous and then they throw the Kirk Hammett guitars in there as well.

Also, Distractions is a really astonishing piece of music.

Flood probably had a hand in tightening the structures and keeping the song short.

Duh @ StanM reposting that Maida Vale thing and not even noticing until now. Wtf, dude.

glad i listened to this, i doubt i'd have bothered without the leshurr hook. i think it sounds pretty dated in places and "beelzedub" got serious side-eye from me, but "straight sun" is amazing and the leshurr track is easily the best - that build!

This is pretty good! It does feel a bit like it's missing that final mysterious ingredient to take it to "really great", but In Sides didn't click for me until I had it on the Walkman (lol 90s) for a coach journey through brilliant sunshine and scenery, and this one sounds like it's going to go well with summertime walks, so I'm hoping it'll really hit me then.

Though I do kind of prefer my Orbital with no hints of the 21st century, so I'll admit I prefer it if I skip Beelzedub (second half with the breaks is ok tho) and the Lady Leshurr track. I am aware this says more about me being a corny indie fuck than about the album.

you guys are getting me hella psyched here!
title cut sounds great.

ne-v-er

I like how this album is a bit of a parental rebuke of Scuba.

"Straight Sun" is amazing, yes.

another one hour thing:

― StanM, Sunday, 1 April 2012 02:35 (Yesterday)

this is a DJ set btw not a live session

3 hours till I get to buy this.

Anyone heard the second disc of the 2CD version? (Five live tracks). I'm currently debating which edition to order.

i doubt i'd have bothered without the leshurr hook

http://media.bigoo.ws/content/gif/music/music_139.gif

I don't really think much of this sounds dated at all actually - the exception being Stringy Acid and that at least is consciously so. Also even if it were some old acid house record I'd still probably lose my shit if I heard it in a club.

I'm surprised Straight Sun is getting so many props, it's one of the weaker tracks for me, feels a bit Orbital by numbers and could maybe do with a bit more melodic development. I'm not mad keen on Zola Jesus's eurohouse bluster on New France either, the rest of the track is good but I keep thinking how amazing Alison Goldfrapp was over the top of Orbital tracks and it doesn't compare.

xp- I'd think a lot of fans already own a bunch of live versions of those tracks, so I personally wouldn't spend money on it. Orbital have yet to really release a great live album, like Underworld, Daft Punk, and now the Chemical Brothers have - I mean the Live in Glastonbury comp had some great performances, but it was basically a glorified bootleg.

The three UK CD re-releases of Satan had b-sides which made up a really great live album- but yes, no dedicated release does this.

"Anyone heard the second disc of the 2CD version? (Five live tracks). I'm currently debating which edition to order.

― Jeff W,

I just bought the 2CD version. It was only £2 more than the single disc one so wasn't that difficult a decision.

And if anyone wanted to complete their Orbital back catalogue on CD then surely this represents value for money:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Original-Album-Series-Orbital/dp/B005DEVGUQ/ref=ntt_mus_dp_dpt_2

Yeah, this seems pretty ace.

Yeah, this is really fucking good.

They're almost as good as they were in the first part of their career, it's as if time has become a loop

i like "beelzedub", just don't fit in the album

hm, not on spotify. wonder if that's a long term thing or?

It's now available in Europe http://spotimy.co.uk/albumpage.php?album=5059

The three UK CD re-releases of Satan had b-sides which made up a really great live album- but yes, no dedicated release does this.

― good luck in your pyramid (Neil S), Monday, April 2, 2012 1:59 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The live version of "Impact" on this is sometimes my favourite Orbital thing ever.

I was right to be excited. As someone said upthread only disappointment is that the tracks aren't longer. So may great Orbital touches, favourite so far the breakdown in 'Straight Sun' then kicks in again with the little 'chime' at 4:25.

it's streaming on NME too. Didn't have time to check it out yet, dig the first two singles though.

been listening to snivilization and insides all day

Anyone heard the second disc of the 2CD version? (Five live tracks).

Haven't heard the CD, but I think I was probably at the actual show, and based on that I'd say buy it

People confused by Beelzedub being by Orbital must be mental; it's like some amazing amalgamation of the really fucking nuts space alien terror of Out There Somewhere Part 1 and Satan. Obviously.

Given this two listens and maybe i should hold my tongue till it's bedded in a bit more but so far my impression is good, not great. Matt is otm upthread with There's a bit of almost everything they're good at, and it feels very much like revisiting past glories, "hi guys this is why you loved us in the first place" (despite a bit of dubstep wobble and latest flavour of the month young brit mc of choice). Which is fine, it just doesn't really feel that fresh. I know, it's a lose-lose situation, if they'd come out with something radically new sounding they'd be criticised for abandoning their sound.

Perhaps my actual complaint is that although it's mostly successful at revisiting those past glories, it never quite reaches the heights of anything on in sides. Which is asking a lot i know.

I'd resigned myself to it not getting near In Sides. I don't want another In Sides; I'm not sure I'd know how to deal with it. I'm not saying this is amazing yet; but I am enjoying it more than I'd dared hope I would.

The tightness of it, which as pointed out above, might be partly due to Flood, is a really odd thing to get your head around.

I'm interested as to how that Lady Leshurr collaboration came about actually, do they share a record label or something? She's really not the MC you'd expect an ageing 90s dance act to plump for (ie she's actually good).

I remember reading something where they said they'd played the track to someone (can't recall who) and said "we think we need a vocalist, something modern" and they recommended Lady Leshurr? Unless I'm confusing the provenance of that with the Zola Jesus track.

ZJ's throaty warble is reeeeeaaallly rubbing me up the wrong way right now.

I really, really like it!

http://www.factmag.com/2012/03/16/orbital-on-comebacks-envying-the-chemical-brothers-working-with-flood-and-zola-jesus/

“It was a similar thing with Lady Leshurr – we’d already been playing the track out, and we were going to go with it as an instrumental, and then I suddenly thought, if we were to have a female rap just after the bass drop, that could be interesting…so I really wanted to try it. Finding a strong, staccato kind of female rapper is quite difficult – there’s not that many out there, or at least not many in my sphere of listening. So again, we put the feelers out, and a friend said listen to Lady Leshurr, and we heard her and were like wow, she’s like a machine gun! Both of them came down to the studio in the last week of recording and did their thing there and then.”

My first impressions: the first coupla tracks are a wee bit underwhelming, but then the album increasingly gets better. Excellent from 'Distractions' onwards. Experienced major flashbacks while listening to 'Stringy Acid'; I bet they had huge grins on their faces as they put that one together.

Zola Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring sounds like Umbrella-Rihanna on her feature

After listening to the whole album at work this morning, myself and office-mate (also a fan) have just been playing through all the random Orbital tracks I've got on my iPhone, which is a smattering of stuff from their whole career, plus all of In Sides and Wonky. And the Wonky stuff is sounding really good next to everything else.

Zola Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring sounds like Umbrella-Rihanna on her feature

Or Katy Perry.

sigh, wish this would arrive already

until then I'll just play Paul's solo album. which was ignored by nearly everybody. but it's really quite good!!

I've not got the case with me and can't remember which oen it was, but I was intrigued to see in the liner notes that the bulk of the tunes were written by one brother.

Rambling thoughts after 24-hours - http://sickmouthy.com/2012/04/03/orbital-wonky/

Phil only has writing credits on Beelzedub and Wonky.

thanks for that - now I'm really stoked. I think that captures a lot of what makes these guys stand out amongst all their contemporaries. I'd say many of the same things about Underworld, too.

this thread and Sick Mouthy's blog post got me all excited for this, but apparently its not out in the U.S. yet.