Orbital - Classic or Dud?

Would love an Orbital poll

I’d probably vote for the Radiccio Halcyon, the Jovi/Carlisle Halcyon, and for the Opus III version of Its A Fine Day in my top 5

didn’t realize the opus III version was a cover! and the same year they released their version there was a guy called gerald remix of the original

Halcyon was the same year, too!

and a Cantonese version!

anyone into that vibe may wanna check this out from my buddy George Clanton. he basically remixed one of his own tunes into Opus III with some version of the Halycon bass line

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb4QFKqUKVs

here's the 50-80 year old members of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop joining Orbital live to play the Dr Who theme in 2017:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqlK-bK8P2M

i would do a poll

The thing I always dug about Orbital's sound is that it was the next step in many ways of what the Germans were doing in the 70s with all that arpeggiation and weaving it in and out. Not to get all Geir, but Orbital really does have a good touch on melody and a big reason their music has hung on.

Hop onto the “next poll” thread and plant yr flag forks! Open voting tomorrow, the momentum is there

halcyon and poll and poll

I meant i would vote! I just moved but I'd be happy to pick this up when things get quiet.
Never understood the ILM poll queue, my inclination would be to just start one.

The queue is so that only one major ballot poll is running at once, it’s just that nobody in the queue is leaping to start one atm (or generally these days.)

i don't have the knowledge to describe this stuff but the wobbly pitch bendy(?) stuff on that record is so emotive

hearing the voices bend like that on that OTS1 legitimately scared me when I first heard it, it was as though the 'human' element of Orbital's work was also getting sucked into a black hole

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB8BSA45rMQ

- October 2021 : Orbital 30 with pre-Chime & remixes
- February 2022 : new album

https://superdeluxeedition.com/news/orbital-tell-sde-of-archival-reissue-plans/

More about the new stuff and a fairly clear statement about forthcoming reissues.

Cool, was getting worried about them given that the 30th anniversary thing was supposed to come out 2 years ago and then they just…didn’t mention it again

Hoping these reissues are gonna be released in the US, they’re so long overdue

the hartnoll quarantine stuff is... something.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nocnu67zwdY

extremely into this actually

it has this intimacy to it, and it does a really good job of portraying the constricted mental state the pandemic puts you in, but it does it all in a light playful way. totally what i needed tonight.

there's a track called Secret Hairdresser, A+

and i mean, only appropriate that it outstays its welcome a bit

i like them alot better than the orb but again i mostly their singles but they have alot of good b sides too!

The thing I always dug about Orbital's sound is that it was the next step in many ways of what the Germans were doing in the 70s with all that arpeggiation and weaving it in and out. Not to get all Geir, but Orbital really does have a good touch on melody and a big reason their music has hung on.
― earlnash, Sunday, 16 May 2021 01:10

It's funny, I know more people who prefer Orbital to latter period Autechre. But Orbital sound quite kitschy. I guess I'm firmly of the school that too much melody is the antithesis to funk, unless you're composing homophonically as opposed to in cordal polyphony.

30 years today we released our first album! We will share some stories today on the Green album but please RT/reply with your favourite track + any fond memories you have.#green #orbital pic.twitter.com/S5oP9w8RNu

— Orbital (@orbitalband) September 30, 2021

ANNA remixes of Belfast now out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH-N-0GWQcc

Would happily listen to that for an hour.

𝕾𝖆𝖙𝖆𝖓 , 𝖜𝖗𝖎𝖙𝖙𝖊𝖓 𝖇𝖊𝖋𝖔𝖗𝖊 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖉𝖆𝖜𝖓 𝖔𝖋 𝖈𝖍𝖎𝖒𝖊.

𝕹𝖊𝖛𝖊𝖗 𝖕𝖑𝖆𝖞 𝖎𝖙 𝖇𝖆𝖈𝖐𝖜𝖆𝖗𝖉𝖘 𝖆𝖋𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖒𝖎𝖉𝖓𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙.

Satan (30 Something Years Later Mix)https://t.co/gINIpgfvZ5 #Orbital #30something #Satan #Techno #IDM pic.twitter.com/EuLtbrX4tc

— Orbital (@orbitalband) December 8, 2021

First Orbital tune I ever heard, good to see it still getting work done. This is a decent mix.

yeah this is the version they've been playing live since 2017 at least. rules pretty hard

weird - the signed posters (including download of those shows) from 2017 & 2018 are not sold out?

https://liveherenow.co.uk/products/exclusive-2017-limited-edition-art-print-signed
https://liveherenow.co.uk/products/exclusive-signed-limited-edition-u-s-style-art-print-inc-download-of-the-2018-london-show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGfOoMVufgw

Eli Brown remix of Chime out today but all a bit business texhno.

i have the altogether dvd but i am wondering why they do not have a collection of all their videos on dvd yet still?!

Score for The Pentaverate (movie-cut-into-a-series for Netflix): https://orbitalsoundtrack.bandcamp.com/

Not overly impressed with most of these 30 year remixes.

The ANNA ambient mix of Belfast was ace but most of the others just sound like phoned in business techno.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0019cc8

here's a mix showcasing a bunch of new tracks. seems like they've found their rave side again. there's a cover of Kraftwerk's "Numbers" and one track extensively samples "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls. everything is edited pretty tightly on this broadcast but if this is any indication the new album is gonna be a lot of fun

listening to Thirty-Something now. not a bad way to spend 2.5+ hours but this band's constant focus on early material irks me. I think like 2/3rds of the running time is dedicated to the singles on the first 2 albums. outside of 3 minutes of "Where Is It Going?" all the new mixes are from the first 4 albums. they have plenty of quality material after that! oh well. the new single "Smiley" is pretty great at least.

Nothing important about their output / legacy occurred after 1996. They are right to focus on that material since everything after has been poor retreads of previous ideas. Orbital stand to only weaken their legacy by continuing to put out music. Also, that stache is awful and I'm pretty sure one of the brothers is a drug addicted asshole with minimal talent. At least he comes off that way in interviews.

^bad take

Wonky was great, and it was from 2012!

Wonky was great, and Middle of Nowhere and Blue Album even more so

"Tiny Foldable Cities" was a strong single from a few years ago. Rest of the album didn't quite live up to it though.

Will probably listen to 30 Something tonight. I like the concept and it was inevitable after two proper best-ofs already.

I liked Wonky and Blue Album. Some songs on those albums anyway. I still think there was nothing new or exceptional in comparison to what came before those two. But hey, if you have a different opinion, that's great. Billions of opinions in the world, and mine is one of them.

I could buy them being a legacy act after Middle of Nowhere, but that album is not merely great but important in the context of their career overall - “Spare Parts Express” and “Nothing Left” arguably form a pinnacle of certain aspects of their whole deal.

ya for me Middle of Nowhere is their most exciting album, those first 3 tracks especially, what a rush

Altogether & Blue both have their moments. I agree they were pretty out of ideas by then. But Wonky was a real return to form. it's true that it doesn't really add much to their sound but I think it captures most of what's good about them in a relatively short period of time

Monsters Exist is fairly spotty - it occurred to me recently that this was probably supposed to follow the modernized Orbital approach of Wonky but they switched directions halfway through. I think the bonus tracks are the remnants of what the album originally was gonna be.

It's cool that Diversions is on Spotify but wish all of their 90s EPs were up esp. Radiccio, The Box three-parter and the Satan Live triple set. Some of the new remixes are alright e.g. Lone's TGWTSIHH

it took me years to really appreciate Middle of Nowhere and realize it's closer to In Sides than Altogether and the last great album they put out. it's like something changed. plenty of good tracks in follow up albums, sure, but something was gone. Monsters i can't even bring myself to listen to, and i tried to the point where i just started hating it.

Thirty-Something is nice but i wish they really got into their old catalogue instead of just the same tracks they play live each time.

does anybody else have issues with the last track on second CD skipping? i contacted the distributor and they sent me a replacement CD and it's ("like a cry for survival!" - lol this is playing as i'm typing this) it's got the same issue. oh well, there are 3 more versions of Belfast!

I feel Middle of Nowhere was their last truly "great" album, but oddly enough the Don't Stop Me / The Gun Is Good single from 2010 is as good as anything they released in the early/mid 90's imho and it's crazy to me these two tracks dropped out of nowhere just sounding truly classic and nothing else they've dropped this century (weird to type that) comes close for me.

Maybe it's my deep deference to Zardoz, but The Gun Is Good would be in my top 10 of Orbital tracks... seriously.