It's been eight years since Orbital have released an album. With the release of 2004's Blue Album, however, the Hartnolls announced that they were disbanding Orbital. After the split, Paul began recording music under his own name, including material for the Wipeout Pure PSP game and a solo album (The Ideal Condition), while Phil formed another duo, Long Range, with Nick Smith.
Blue Album. Unsurprisingly, that wasn't the end of their partnership. Five years after the Blue Album, the Hartnolls announced their live reunion for 2009's Big Chill festival, as well as a 20th anniversary tour. The collection 20 followed in due course, as did a comeback single, 2010's "Don't Stop Me." This year, they have released their eighth full-length, Wonky, with a throwback sound inspired partly by its producer, Flood, and partly by Orbital's sound back in the early '90s. While I don't think they will ever be the same Orbital we fell in love with on the Brown Album or Snivilisation, Wonky's sound stands pretty close. It's good that they are still around in the age of Deadmau5 and Skrillex, showing the kids at the festivals how it used to be done, that electronic music has a distinct history. They make an attempt at a dub-step-esque style on the track Beelzedub and they manage to do so respectably, without sounding too much like a cheap knock off. They are, afterall, Orbital, if it's being done in dance music, they can acclimate well yet keeping their artistry.
Not realizing it, my album pick is New France, the song which has Zola Jesus guest singing on it, the same song as their single on Pitchfork. This is another cue as to how Orbital has kept up with the more radio-friendly song lengths and thinking ahead as what are more marketable songs. In this age, where a musician really needs to be able to break digital markets, this may be their way of staying relevant. Yet I do not feel anything about their history as music makers is compromised by making shorter songs. There's just more to love, rather than a few long songs.
Listen to New France here:
Email marta@alternativemusic.com to buy your copy of Orbital's Wonky.
06 June 2012
It's been eight years since Orbital have released an album. With the release of 2004's Blue Album, however, the Hartnolls announced that they were disbanding Orbital. After the split, Paul began recording music under his own name, including material for the Wipeout Pure PSP game and a solo album (The Ideal Condition), while Phil formed another duo, Long Range, with Nick Smith.
Blue Album. Unsurprisingly, that wasn't the end of their partnership. Five years after the Blue Album, the Hartnolls announced their live reunion for 2009's Big Chill festival, as well as a 20th anniversary tour. The collection 20 followed in due course, as did a comeback single, 2010's "Don't Stop Me." This year, they have released their eighth full-length, Wonky, with a throwback sound inspired partly by its producer, Flood, and partly by Orbital's sound back in the early '90s. While I don't think they will ever be the same Orbital we fell in love with on the Brown Album or Snivilisation, Wonky's sound stands pretty close. It's good that they are still around in the age of Deadmau5 and Skrillex, showing the kids at the festivals how it used to be done, that electronic music has a distinct history. They make an attempt at a dub-step-esque style on the track Beelzedub and they manage to do so respectably, without sounding too much like a cheap knock off. They are, afterall, Orbital, if it's being done in dance music, they can acclimate well yet keeping their artistry.
Not realizing it, my album pick is New France, the song which has Zola Jesus guest singing on it, the same song as their single on Pitchfork. This is another cue as to how Orbital has kept up with the more radio-friendly song lengths and thinking ahead as what are more marketable songs. In this age, where a musician really needs to be able to break digital markets, this may be their way of staying relevant. Yet I do not feel anything about their history as music makers is compromised by making shorter songs. There's just more to love, rather than a few long songs.
Listen to New France here:
Email marta@alternativemusic.com to buy your copy of Orbital's Wonky.
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