''Orbital'' (also known as ''Orbital 2'' or ''The Brown Album'') is the second studio album by English
electronic music
Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...
duo
Orbital, released on 24 May 1993 by Internal and
FFRR Records
FFRR Records (sometimes credited as Full Frequency Range Recordings) is a dance music label previously run and founded by English DJ Pete Tong. Originally the dance music label of London Records, FFRR is currently a sublabel of Parlophone, ...
. Like the duo's debut album, the album was officially untitled.
The album peaked at number 28 on the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...
.
Album
On ''Orbital'' the duo aimed to make more atmospheric music than the dance raves of their first album. They used more complex rhythms and denser arrangements on the appropriately named pieces entitled "Lush" but still proving themselves capable of making quality pop music on "
Halcyon + On + On", with vocals from
Kirsty Hawkshaw
Kirsty Hawkshaw (born 26 October 1969) is an English electronic music vocalist and songwriter. In addition to her work as a solo artist, she is known as the lead vocalist of early 1990s dance group Opus III, and her collaborative work with oth ...
of
Opus III.
The album begins with "Time Becomes", which uses the same speech sample by the actor
Michael Dorn
Michael Dorn (born December 9, 1952) is an American actor best known for his role as the Klingon Worf in the '' Star Trek'' franchise. He has appeared more times as a regular cast member than any other ''Star Trek'' actor in the franchise's hist ...
in ''
Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (Time squared - season 2 episode 13, Worf - 20'30 : "There is the theory of the Möbius. A twist in the fabric of space where time becomes a loop") which opened their first album. The piece uses
phasing
A phaser is an electronic sound processor used to filter a signal, and it has a series of troughs in its frequency-attenutation graph. The position (in Hz) of the peaks and troughs are typically modulated by an internal low-frequency oscil ...
, a technique popularized by
Steve Reich
Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer known for his contribution to the development of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, a ...
, in which two identical samples are repeated at slightly different speeds. The brothers enjoy aural puns, and the use of this sample again, as well as the muffled intro on "Planet of the Shapes" with intentional addition of record static and crackles, followed by the sound of a needle skipping grooves then scratching across the record, was meant to trick fans who bought the vinyl edition into thinking their copy was less than perfect.
The second song on the album, "Planet of the Shapes", contains a sample from the movie ''
Withnail & I
''Withnail and I'' is a 1987 British black comedy film written and directed by Bruce Robinson. Loosely based on Robinson's life in London in the late 1960s, the plot follows two unemployed actors, Withnail and "I" (portrayed by Richard E. Gran ...
'' ("even a stopped clock gives the right time twice a day"). "Impact" samples a line from "a French film dubbed into English" with a "conspiracy, alien plot" that the band no longer remembers the name of.
Meat Beat Manifesto
Meat Beat Manifesto, often shortened as Meat Beat, Manifesto or MBM, is an electronic music group originally consisting of Jack Dangers and Jonny Stephens that was formed in 1987 in Swindon, United Kingdom. The band, fronted by Dangers (the only ...
were an influence on the album, after Orbital toured with the group in the United States ahead of recording it. The breakbeat on "Impact" was provided by Jack Dangers and "Remind" is an instrumental re-recording of Orbital's "Mind the Bend the Mind" remix of "Mindstream" by
Meat Beat Manifesto
Meat Beat Manifesto, often shortened as Meat Beat, Manifesto or MBM, is an electronic music group originally consisting of Jack Dangers and Jonny Stephens that was formed in 1987 in Swindon, United Kingdom. The band, fronted by Dangers (the only ...
, which removed all elements of "Mindstream" from the piece. The remix and final work was inspired by the Fabio Paras remix of React 2 Rhythm's "I Know You Like It".
"Walk Now..." samples the sound of a Sydney
zebra crossing
A zebra crossing (British English) or a marked crosswalk (American English) is a pedestrian crossing marked with white stripes (zebra markings). Normally, pedestrians are afforded precedence over vehicular traffic, although the significance of ...
alert and a
didgeridoo
The didgeridoo (; also spelt didjeridu, among other variants) is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgeridoo was developed by ...
, which were both recorded after a trip to Australia to perform at an illegal rave named Welcome 92.
Critical reception
The album received widespread acclaim. In the UK, ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' praised the record, saying, "The techno album is a doughty brute to master. Only a few have managed it successfully
..but Phil and Paul Hartnoll have done it twice... The expression 'intelligent ambience' is bandied around to describe spacey dance music with undue regularity, but ''Untitled'' actually satisfies the description. Scientific and terrific."
''
Q'' also recognised that the duo had made a second successful album, saying, "Like their first album, Orbital's current effort is a finely balanced combination of muso trickery and astute dance tracks... Again, like the latter, it benefits from repeated listening."
''
Select'' stated that "the marvel is that they create such vastness in your ear from micro-minimalist ingredients", and described the record as "infinitely inventive, unique in its conception and electronically sexy".
''
Melody Maker
''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...
'' claimed that "This new album (untitled, like the first) puts them firmly back in the firmament". In a reference to the most talked about band at the time of the album's release,
Suede
Suede (pronounced ) is a type of leather with a fuzzy, napped finish, commonly used for jackets, shoes, fabrics, purses, furniture, and other items. The term comes from the French , which literally means "gloves from Sweden". The term was firs ...
and their sexually ambiguous frontman
Brett Anderson
Brett Lewis Anderson (born 29 September 1967) is an English singer best known as the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the band Suede. After Suede disbanded in 2003, he fronted The Tears with former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler in 2004- ...
, and including a pun on "
Anarchy in the U.K.", the debut single by the
Sex Pistols, the review concluded, "As warm as plasma and as eerie as ectoplasm, Orbital's (out-of-)body-music is the true sound of Androgyny-in-the-UK."
''
Vox'' observed that "this collection sees Paul and Phil Hartnoll drifting still further into the heart of the machine, touching upon the sometimes fragile soul of Techno", before declaring that "Orbital are still leading the field".
Accolades
This album is included in the book ''
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'' is a musical reference book first published in 2005 by Universe Publishing. Part of the ''1001 Before You Die'' series, it compiles writings and information on albums chosen by a panel of music critics ...
'' alongside their 1994 LP ''
Snivilisation
''Snivilisation'' is the third studio album by British electronic music duo Orbital, released on 23 August 1994 by FFRR Records.
The album peaked at number 4 on the UK Albums Chart, and had sold over 80,000 copies in the United Kingdom by Apr ...
''. Along with 1996's ''
In Sides
''In Sides'' is the fourth album by British electronic group Orbital, released in the UK on Internal on 29 April 1996. The album's title is a reference to the fact that the original vinyl LP release of the album was as a 3-LP vinyl box set, wi ...
'', it was also included in ''Q'' magazine's "90 Best Albums of the 1990s". In 1996, ''
Mixmag
''Mixmag'' is a British electronic dance and clubbing magazine published in London. Launched in 1983 as a print magazine, it has branched into dance events, including festivals and club nights.
History
The first issue of ''Mixmag'' was prin ...
'' ranked the album at number nine in its list of the "50 Best Dance Albums of All Time". In 1999, Ned Raggett ranked the album at number 21 on his list of "The Top 136 or So Albums of the Nineties".
Track listing
# "Time Becomes" – 1:43
# "Planet of the Shapes" – 9:36
# "
Lush 3-1" – 5:39
# "Lush 3-2" – 4:40
# "Impact (The Earth Is Burning)" – 10:27
# "Remind" – 7:57
# "Walk Now..." – 6:48
# "Monday" – 7:05
# "
Halcyon + On + On" – 9:28
# "Input Out" – 2:11
On cassette, "Planet of the Shapes" was re-titled "Planet of the Tapes" and placed as the first song on side two, before "Walk Now..." in the track listing; the track is identical.
The title "Planet of the Shapes" is also a reference to the 1968 film ''
Planet of the Apes
''Planet of the Apes'' is an American science fiction media franchise consisting of films, books, television series, comics, and other media about a world in which humans and intelligent apes clash for control. The franchise is based on Frenc ...
''.
Use in other media
"Halcyon + On + On" and parts of "Lush 3-2" were used in the 1995 ''
Mortal Kombat
''Mortal Kombat'' is an American media franchise centered on a series of video games originally developed by Midway Games in 1992. The development of the first game was originally based on an idea that Ed Boon and John Tobias had of making a v ...
'' film soundtrack. The 1995 movie ''
Hackers
A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who uses their technical knowledge to achieve a goal or overcome an obstacle, within a computerized system by non-standard means. Though the term ''hacker'' has become associated in popu ...
'' also used the track "Halcyon + On + On". The ending of the movie ''
Mean Girls
''Mean Girls'' is a 2004 American teen comedy film directed by Mark Waters and written by Tina Fey. The film stars Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Lacey Chabert, Amanda Seyfried (in her film debut), Tim Meadows, Ana Gasteyer, Amy Poehler a ...
'' uses the song "Halcyon + On + On" in the final scene.
References
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
1993 albums
FFRR Records albums
Orbital (band) albums