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Orbital (band)
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Orbital are an English electronic duo from Sevenoaks consisting of brothers Phil Hartnoll and Paul Hartnoll whose career lasted from 1989 until 2004 and have now reformed in 2009. They took their name from Greater London's orbital motorway, the M25, which was central to the early rave scene and party network in the South East during the early days of acid house . One of the biggest names in British electronica during the 1990s, Orbital were both critically and commercially successful, being particularly known for an element of live improvisation during their shows, a rarity with techno acts.
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Orbital are an English electronic duo from Sevenoaks consisting of brothers Phil Hartnoll and Paul Hartnoll whose career lasted from 1989 until 2004 and have now reformed in 2009. They took their name from Greater London's orbital motorway, the M25, which was central to the early rave scene and party network in the South East during the early days of acid house . One of the biggest names in British electronica during the 1990s, Orbital were both critically and commercially successful, being particularly known for an element of live improvisation during their shows, a rarity with techno acts. They were initially influenced by early electro and punk rock.
Career
Early years
In 1989, Orbital recorded a track called "Chime" on their father's cassette deck. It was released on Oh Zone Records in December 1989, and re-released on FFRR Records a few months later. The track became a rave anthem, reaching number 17 in the UK charts, and earning them an appearance on Top of the Pops, during which they wore anti-Poll Tax t-shirts.. A few singles and EPs followed, and their first self-titled album, a collection of tracks recorded at various times, was released in late 1991.
In late 1992, the Radiccio EP barely reached the UK top forty, but it included probably their most well-known song, "Halcyon". The song featured a backwards sample of Kirsty Hawkshaw from "It's a Fine Day" (a chart hit for Opus III earlier that year), and B-side "The Naked and the Dead" was similarly based on a line from Scott Walker's rendition of Jacques Brel's song "Next". "Halcyon" was dedicated to the Hartnolls' mother, who was addicted to the tranquiliser Halcion (Triazolam) for many years..
The duo's popularity grew rapidly with the release of their second album, titled Orbital 2, in 1993. The album featured complex arrangements and textures, and opens with the two-minute track "Time Becomes", which comprises nothing more than two slightly detuned, looped samples of a Michael Dorn line from Star Trek: The Next Generation, "...where time becomes a loop" being played simultaneously through the left and right channels, respectively (until one cycle of phase difference has happened). This same sample was used at the beginning of "the Mobius", the opening track in the previous album. This audio pun was intended to make listeners believe that they had bought a mis-pressed album (Orbital 1 packaged as Orbital 2). The album reached #28 on the UK album charts, staying in the top chart for fifteen weeks. "Halcyon" was remixed for the album, as "Halcyon + On + On". The version played live has also gained notoriety amongst fans for containing a complete mashup of diverse samples including "You Give Love a Bad Name" by the band Bon Jovi, "Heaven Is a Place on Earth" by Belinda Carlisle, and most recently "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" by the band The Darkness. The first two albums are commonly known as "the green album" and "the brown album", after the colour of their covers..
1994 breakthrough
Orbital won a NME award for Vibes Best Dance Act early in 1994, but it was their headline appearance at the Glastonbury Festival on 25 June 1994 that brought them most attention. Q magazine classed it as one of the top 50 gigs of all time, and in 2002 included Orbital in their list of 50 Bands to See Before You Die. Orbital gave an improvisational element to live electronic music as the brothers mixed and sequenced their tracks on the fly, wearing their trademark head-mounted torches behind banks of equipment. Orbital were one of the few electronic acts invited to play at Woodstock '94.
The third album, Snivilisation, was released in August 1994. Alison Goldfrapp provided vocals on a couple of the tracks, including the single "Are We Here?". This track also included a sample from "Man at C&A" by The Specials. Among the remixes of "Are We Here?" was "Criminal Justice Bill?" - four minutes of silence, a reference to the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, which was in part intended to clamp down on the rave scene which had given birth to Orbital. The other track with Goldfrapp vocals, "Sad But True", was remixed for the Times Fly EP, the band's only release in 1995..
The single "The Box" was released in April 1996, reaching number 11 in the UK, and its parent album In Sides, released in May 1996, became their second Top Five album. It revealed a less obviously dance-oriented sound than previously, and had more in common with soundtrack music. In Sides has since come to be considered one of their most critically well-regarded works. As with the previous album, there was a vague theme of ecological disaster and dissatisfaction with society..
The following year, the duo contributed to film soundtracks (The Saint, Event Horizon) and enjoyed the biggest singles of their career, with a live version of "Satan" and their reworking of the aforementioned The Saint theme both reaching number three in the UK. 1997 also saw the inclusion of the In Sides track "Out There Somewhere (Part 2)" in the long-awaited game series relaunch Test Drive 4.
Later albums
1998 saw a return to the studio to work on their fifth album The Middle of Nowhere. This was released in 1999, becoming their third top five album, and was a return to a more upbeat style, with Alison Goldfrapp returning on vocals, and included the single "Style" featuring the stylophone.. In 2000 the single "Beached" was released from the soundtrack to the film The Beach, mixing the brothers' musical style with a melody by Angelo Badalamenti and the words of Leonardo DiCaprio from the film.
2001's The Altogether featured guest vocals by the Hartnolls' brother-in-law David Gray, a sampled Ian Dury, and a version of the Doctor Who theme. It was to be their last album for FFRR, and had a mixed critical reception. The following year, Work 1989-2002 collected various singles from "Chime" onwards.
Orbital split up in 2004. They played a final series of gigs from June through July 2004 at the Glastonbury Festival, the T in the Park Festival in Scotland, the Oxegen festival (formerly known as Witnness) in Ireland, and the Wire Festival in Japan, concluding with a live Peel Session gig at Maida Vale Studios in London on 28 July 2004. The release of their seventh and last original album, The Blue Album (which, unlike the untitled previous green and brown albums, was actually named "The Blue Album"), coincided with this final wave of shows. The album featured Sparks (on "Acid Pants") and Lisa Gerrard (on the final single, "One Perfect Sunrise").
Following the break up
Paul Hartnoll continues to record music under his own name, including tracks for the new Wipeout Pure game for the PSP. He released his first full length solo album, entitled The Ideal Condition on the ACP record label in June 2007.. Phil Hartnoll formed a new electronica duo, Long Range, with Nick Smith. Their debut album, Madness and Me, was released on their own label, Long Range Recordings, on 6th August 2007.
In 2008, as Long Range, they signed to commercial management company Angel Artists, which also represent musicians such as Dave Ball (of Soft Cell), The Grid, Paul Dakeyne & Icehouse Project. He lives in Brighton with his three sons, Louis, Milo and Conrad. Orbital released a two-CD/DVD compilation Orbital: Live at Glastonbury 1994-2004 on 11th June 2007. The collection contains over two hours of music recorded during the group's performances at the festival over the course of a decade of appearances there.
On 21st November 2008, Orbital announced they would be reforming to play a gig together called "20 years after Chime" at The Big Chill Festival 2009. They precede this show with a headline performance at Rock Ness 2009 in June .
On 26st January 2009, Loopz announced confirmed dates. "The Orbital reformation gathers momentum with headline shows now confirmed for Manchester and London this September." .
Political commentary
Orbital sometimes incorporated political and environmental commentary into their music. The track "Forever" on Snivilisation samples a by Graham Crowden from the 1982 Lindsay Anderson film Britannia Hospital, in which he lambasts humankind for its destructive ways; and the track "You Lot" on the Blue Album, features a confrontational, partially vocoded anti-genetic engineering sample from Christopher Eccleston, originally from the TV two-part series The Second Coming written by Russell T Davies.
They recorded "The Girl With The Sun In Her Head" from In Sides using Greenpeace's mobile solar power generator CYRUS. They named an early record "Belfast" after playing live in the city of Belfast at the height of The Troubles in 1990. Other album track titles suggest environmental concern such as "Kein Trink Wasser" ("no drinking water" in German) from Snivilisation and "Dwr Budr" ("dirty water" in Welsh) and "P.E.T.R.O.L." from In Sides.
Selected discography
Albums
Singles/EPs
| Title | Year | UK Singles Chart | U.S. Hot 100 | U.S. Club Play |
|---|
| "Chime" | 1990 | 17 | - | 23 | | "Omen" | 46 | - | - | | "Satan" | 1991 | 31 | - | - | | "Midnight" / "Choice" | - | - | - | | Mutations EP | 1992 | 24 | - | - | | Radiccio EP | 37 | - | - | | "Halcyon" | - | - | 33 | | "Lush" | 1993 | 43 | - | - | | "Are We Here?" | 1994 | 33 | - | 38 | | "Belfast" | 1995 | 53 | - | - | | "Times Fly" | - | - | - | | "The Box" | 1996 | 11 | - | - | | "Satan" (re-recording) | 3 | - | - | | "The Saint" | 1997 | 3 | 104 | - | | "Style" | 1999 | 13 | - | - | | "Nothing Left" | 32 | - | - | "Beached"
(In collaboration with Angelo Badalamenti) | 2000 | 36 | - | - | | "Funny Break (One is Enough)" | 2001 | 21 | - | - | | "Illuminate" (12" Only) | - | - | - | | Rest/Play EP | 2002 | 33 | - | - | | "One Perfect Sunrise" / "You Lot" | 2004 | 29 | - | - | |
Compilations
Orbital are sometimes confused with The Orb, a similarly-named band that has also been very influential in the realm of electronic music. In its early days, The Orb (and William Orbit) often did remixes of other artists' songs and called the result an "Orbital Mix", but these remixes have nothing to do with the band Orbital. The Orb stopped this practice after Orbital became popular, in order to prevent any further confusion.
Featured songs
- Hackers (1995) Soundtrack Vol.1 • "Halcyon + On + On" (shortened version) • used as the film's theme
- Hackers (1995) Soundtrack Vol.2 • "Speed Freak [Moby Remix]"
- Mortal Kombat (1995) • "Halcyon + On + On"
- Johnny Mnemonic (1995) • "Sad But True"
- Event Horizon (film) (1997)
- The Saint (1997) • "The Saint Theme"
- A Life Less Ordinary (1997) • "The Box" and "Dwr Budr"
- Spawn (1997) • "Satan" (with Kirk Hammett)
- p (1998) • "P.E.T.R.O.L"
- Human Traffic (1999) • "Belfast" • Played when the ravers are driving back from the house party and the sun rises over Cardiff (Viewed from above).
- The Beach (2000) • "Beached"
- Groove (2000) • "Halcyon + On + On"
- CKY2K (2001) • "Halcyon + On + On"
- FreQuency (2001) • "Funny Break (One Is Enough)- Weekend Ravers Mix"
- xXx (2002) • "Technologicque Park" (original to this film) • Orbital appear in the film during the night club/rave sequence
- ER (episode: "Insurrection") • "Frenetic"
- BBC 40th anniversary celebration of Doctor Who (2003) • Doctor Who?
- Keen Eddie • (original to this programme) score for first episode (2003)
- Haggard: The Movie (2003) • "Doctor?" • Played while Valo and Falcone tape faeces to Glauren's garage door
- Mean Girls (2004) • "Halcyon + On + On" (not on soundtrack)
- It's All Gone Pete Tong • "Frenetic (Short Mix)"
- Wipeout • various
- Forza Motorsport 2 • "Nothing Left"
External links
- - official web site*
-
- - profile with band bio, discography and album reviews.
- at Last.fm
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