at a glance...

Hometown: Sevenoaks, England
Year Formed: 1990

Members:
Paul Hartnoll
Phil Hartnoll

Notes:
Orbital made their name in the early '90s rave scene with singles like "Chime" and "Belfast" and performances at huge outdoor raves. They became the first successful live techno act, playing to huge festival crowds and selling out untraditional venues like London's Royal Albert Hall. After four albums and a technofied version of "The Saint" theme, they are one British techno's true crossover phenomena.

I've had this album in my possession for about a week and a half, and in that span I must have listened to it about 75 times. It's brilliant.

There are moments of pure joy on this record; the kind of moments when you want to pull all your friends into the room and make them listen as they nod their heads and say they like it but don't really understand yet. One of those moments is the transition from the first track, "Way Out ->" into number 2, "Spare Parts Express." Another is the track "Nothing Left 2."

This album is dancier and darker than In Sides, their previous release. It has a closer affinity to Orbital 2 (aka The Brown Album), the definitive Orbital record. I played this for my girlfriend, who is a newcomer to Orbital, and she remarked how weird it was. That distinctive Orbital sound doesn't seem weird to me anymore, but I suppose it is - it's the weirdness that makes their music endure. Each track is in constant transition, transforming itself around a central theme but never falling into the repetitiveness that plagues so much dance music. These guys worked hard on this record. I notice something new almost every time I listen to it.

On the other hand the cover art sucks, but I suppose everybody's gotta have some problems.