As you’ll have noticed if you’ve been reading this project, I was pretty late with getting into the whole dance music thing, as a closed minded rock fan, I just couldn’t get my head around it. I dabbled with industrial and bands like PWEI and Sheep on Drugs, but straight up dance music? That was not for me. Then I discovered The Box by Orbital and fell under its spell. The four track ep was great and the vocal version sounded goth as fuck. I loved it.
So I thought I’d get In Sides and unfortunately, I hated it. And that was that, I walked away from the band. Well apart from Satan. That’s a song that’s going to be played at my wake, but that’s a different story.
You know, I honestly can’t remember why I decided to buy The Middle of Nowhere. It got great reviews but I have no idea why I put my money down and took a punt. And at first I didn’t think much of it. There were a few good songs on it, but it left me fairly cold. However, I used to work with a strange Cork man called Ronan back in my TV3 days, and we’d play CDs while prepping ads and programs for broadcast. Ronan, really like the theremin in Way Out →, everytime it came on, he turned and grinned at me the way only a strange Cork man can. And after a while, despite or maybe because of this strange man, I came to realise just how good this album was.
Way Out → is such a strange opener. A theremin, trumpets and a wordless female vocal all combined with the brother’s signature clockwork percussion really makes something wholly unique. A lot of people have been inspired by Orbital but no one else actually sounds like this. I Don’t Know You People gets a lot of stick for being Big Beat, but it’s dark and kinda evil and was catnip to someone trying to get into dance music. Cold and evil was just my thing and it still holds that delightful dash of menace that benefits the album as a whole.
The second half is where Orbital really flexes how they are the best at what they do. That controlled euphoric techno, while still holding that edge the first half wields so expertly. This isn’t Lotus Eater music, it will challenge you as well as give you something to dance too. (But not in an IDM kind of way.)
Otoño features Pooka on vocals, which gives an almost Bjork feel to the lyrics, but the music could only be Orbital. Nothing Left is built using snippets of vocals that they had left over from previous sessions with Alison Goldfrapp and even in cut up form, she raises the boys to another level.
The closer, Style, may be one of the sweetest songs the brothers have ever produced, built off a Stylophone and sample from a forgotten 80’s pop act called Dollar, it’s a song that just shouldn’t work, but is somehow one of Orbital’s best singles. Even the bagpipe version is good!
This is the dance gateway for me. I went to see the boys on this tour and it blew my mind, and brought me into the dance world. It’s not the obvious choice, but it’s the album I’ve connected with first and will always remind me of my early dance years.
https://lynkify.in/song/i-don-t-know-you-people/VnYYSVk7
The ways of exile 