POLLosophy? Technology! - Orbital: Snivilisation poll

this album rules

Having a hard time deciding between Forever, I Wish I Had Duck Feet, Sad But True, Kein Trink Wasser and Attached.

CONDEMNED FOREVER

xpost:

Yeah, I agree, this a great record, but even though it's considered one or Orbital's finest works I still can't help but feel it gets a bit overlooked because of the excellence of the albums that immediately came before and after it. Perhaps the relatively dark nature of the material and some of the stranger tracks like 'Philosophy By Numbers' puts some listeners off? One thing I did notice about this album, listening to it recently, is that it sounds quite trebly compared to nearly all of Orbital's other albums - it kinda gives the record a bit of a "metallic" feel, I think. I'm looking at all the tracks you have in contention, DJP, and I can't disagree with any of 'em... in fact, if I'm to be honest, my shortlist is near enough the same!

I've gotta say though, I must be the one of the few who actually really likes 'Quality Seconds', even though there's no way I'll be voting for it.

I was initially going to poll The Middle of Nowhere or Wonky, both of which I feel are incredibly underrated, but then I saw this hadn't been polled yet so it had to be this one!

Oh I ADORE "Quality Seconds", I just am not voting for it

i overlooked it for a while bc brown album and in sides are incredibly rich yeah, and also this one kinda has a bad title and sleeve, but i go to it and middle of nowhere almost exclusively lately if i'm in the mood for orbital

i'm gonna vote for "kein trink wasser"

It's either Are We Here? or Forever but I'm going with the former because of the frankly astonishing live version I saw a few years back.

"Keine Trink Wasser" has to be the highlight for me. "Attached" sounds a bit Orbital by numbers but KTW is just something else... even now, hearing makes me feel just a little like I've discovered a brand new colour.

― ledge, Wednesday, 2 January 2008 23:52 (7 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Still true. Don't tell me it's a cheesy combination of a repetitive piano motif and, well, Orbital by numbers.

First three tracks and Science Friction are also top notch.

Every single track on this is great. "Science Friction" was the one I never connected with but on another listen I really dig it. Think I'll go "Are We Here?" because it's the longest.

'Science Friction' is, like the rest of the album, fucking ace on headphones... that panned bass!

"Are We Here" for the reasons I set out in the Orbital vs Leftfield thread.

One thing that really struck me recently listening to the various albums in close proximity is how much Snivilisation and In Sides sound like (albeit in different ways) prior Orbital X lots of close listening to Coil's Love's Secret Domain.

Kein Trink Wasser.

I Wish I Had Duck Feet for the flute / synth melody plus some of the best beatwork they've done

After careful thought, ended up going with 'Sad But True', but god that was hard.

Y'know, as much as I love In Sides, I think I may actually prefer this album over it. It's such an excellent headphones album, this.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

so i picked up the first four orbital albums in an effort to educate myself about this group, but i haven't listened to this one yet. bad artwork + stupid track titles are not drawing me in. maybe i'll give it a listen now ...

Aw come on, I don't think the artwork is that bad!

first track is cool, sometimes sounding like black dog and sometimes like model 500 with the electro beats and tinkly piano solos.

mostly this group reminds me of a more straight-ahead black dog

wow, "quality seconds" is dire.

'Quality Seconds' usually gets singled out as being a dud track on this record, but personally I like it a hell of a lot... it's the Hartnoll's tipping their hat to their early punk tastes.

"science friction" is quite dope

hard to pick a winner, they seem to blend together

What do you think of "Are We Here".

I think of it as sort of (contemporaneous) A Guy Called Gerald meets Moody Boyz.

Kein Trink Wasser, a masterpiece.

I think you could compare (especially this era of) Orbital to the Black Dog, esp. stuff from the latter like "Psil-Cosyin". The big difference to me is a certain compositional strictness to Orbital and contrasting looseness to the Black Dog, who apart from the marvellous off-kilterness rhythmically are much more inclined to meander, to go on sudden left turns, to explore a certain "wrongness". Even when they want to sound hard or dirty, Orbital never sound "wrong".

"Compositional strictness" sounds like a diss but Orbital render it a creative tool by combining it with perverse maximalism. So a tune like "Spare Parts Express" easily covers as much ground as "Psil-Cosyin", but its charm lies in how inevitably each moment leads into the next, it's simultaneously always transitioning and never transitioning. A lot of care and skill and craft goes into making the perverse seem natural.

I mean you could diss them for that too, the middlebrowness of their perversity - their epics as the Salvador Dali landscapes of techno.

haha when I had this album as a teenager 'quality seconds' was the highlight! not sure about now. votes kein trink vasser'

It could have been any one of several, but I voted for 'Forever', which just has this great sense of weirdness and mystery and 'something great is coming'about it.

I fucking love the way that 'Forever' transitions into 'I Wish I Had Duck Feet'!

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

This may just be my joint favourite Orbital album these days, alongside The Middle of Nowhere ... I'm listening to again now and it still hits my pleasure centre in the same way as I did when I first heard it.

*it
*I=it

I have played the first two tracks from this album (you're right about the transition) more than a thing else in their catalog, and that's saying something.

That moment roughly 9 or 10 minutes into 'Are We Here?' ...

“sad but true” is the greatest song of all time

picked up a copy of this on vinyl over Christmas, a bit of a score as you don't see them around too often. SBT is great but Kein Trink Wasser is even better

"are we here" covers so much ground in fifteen minutes, feels like a world unto itself

this is my favorite orbital album?

I know it's been mentioned in this thread but holding out until 2/3rds of the way through to drop the "main melody" is absolutely genius, I can't think of another track that manages to hold out quite like that one

nowadays I think "Attached" is the one that sends the most shivers down my spine. still sounds terrific even 25 (!!) years later

'Attached' might be my favourite these days

snap!!

this is my favorite orbital album?

it's this one or In Sides deffo

They really were unbeatable from Orbital 2 until The Middle of Nowhere. I listened to Snivilisation earlier cuz of this thread and I couldn't pick a highlight - it really is a strong listen end-to-end.

Reading back over this thread I was disappointed to see that no one picked up on my Orbital = Dali comparison.