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.

Techno, it is often said, has a short shelf life. As the makers of dance music push out the boundaries of their sound, the work of earlier pioneers can sound painfully dated after just a few years. Orbital, who have been making full-bred techno for eight years, put such luddite doubting to rest. Spend some time with 1993's Orbital 2 (AKA the Brown Album) and you'll realize you're in the presence of an enduring classic.

Maybe the reason tracks like "Lush" and "Halcyon + On + On" sound so fresh is that they're not overly reliant on studio wizardry. For all Phil and Paul Hartnoll's championing of progressive technology, their strengths are those of the traditional composer: a terrific grasp of melody, rhythm and dynamics. The sprawling, 10-and-a-half-minute "Impact (The earth is burning)," shows just how well they put these tools to use. Rhythmically, it maintains a frantic groove across several distinct movements, each packed with enough melodies to fill most albums. It even manages to posit an environmentalist manifesto without employing traditional lyrics or sounding pompous in the process. Impressive.

Orbital continue to put out great records 1996's In Sides was as good as any dance album of the last two years but the Brown Album remains their definitive work. A techno classic.