Phil Hartnoll of Orbital is playing with his new project, Long Range (accompanied by Propellerheads drummer Will White!), at Galway’s Life festival the weekend after next. Should be interesting judging from the snippets up on his myspace and the free download from his own site. His brother Paul Hartnoll already has his own album out, beats and pieces of which can be heard here. As you can see from the title however, this post is a shameless pretext to present a nostalgic selection of Orbital tunes. What follows are the last tunes off the first five LPs.
First up is “Belfast”, an endearing old school tune with that sublime opera sample. Apparently the track was named after the heady days of their first few gigs in said city, and so it’s probably a homage to this scene more than anything else. After this we have “Halcyon + On + On”, supposedly a poignant tribute to tranquiliser dependency, to be found on the Brown (or second) album. This beautiful track again makes use of wonderful synth melodies & pads and ethereal female vocal samples from Opus III’s Kirsty Hawkshaw. “Attached” is the last track off Snivilisation, an unlikely yet equally enthralling song that shuffles and flourishes over 12 and a half minutes. “Out There Somewhere”, the second part of a mammoth song on 1996’s Insides, is a similarly lengthy affair. It has a tense tone of uncertainty that shifts towards a euphoric fanfare of sounds at the end of the song. The last tune is “Style”, from the excellent Middle of Nowhere, an intriguing number full of strange blips and squelches, but laden with feeling like the rest of the songs on offer here.
Orbital have a new Live at Glastonbury: 1994 – 2004 CD/DVD set out now. Buy Orbital CDs on Amazon.
Visit the official Orbital website.
MP3s
[audio:https://nialler9.com/mp3/Belfast.mp3][audio:https://nialler9.com/mp3/Halcyon_+_On_+_On.mp3] [audio:https://nialler9.com/mp3/Attached.mp3]
Orbital – Out There Somewhere (Part Two).mp3
[audio:https://nialler9.com/mp3/Out_There_Somewhere_ Part_Two.mp3] [audio:https://nialler9.com/mp3/Style.mp3]
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005 . He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Cara Magazine, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, founder of Lumo Club, club promoter, event curator and producer of gigs, listening parties & events in Dublin.
Belfast…what a tune. Named after a particularly great night in the city’s Art College called ‘Sugar Sweet’ run by David Holmes
Belfast…what a tune. Named after a particularly great night in the city’s Art College called ‘Sugar Sweet’ run by David Holmes
My own Orbital Best Of (a mix of my own creation), been heavily rotated on my mp3 player for many a moon now, contains all of the above…
I shall never forget the silence after their farewell gig at Oxegen three years ago. Amazing stuff.
My own Orbital Best Of (a mix of my own creation), been heavily rotated on my mp3 player for many a moon now, contains all of the above…
I shall never forget the silence after their farewell gig at Oxegen three years ago. Amazing stuff.
Long Range played for Breakology about 6 months ago in Crawdaddy, it fairly musical but tough in parts breaks, Phil also did a DJ set which consisted entirely of Orbital tracks, so the Life Festival shall also be treated to what is essentialy a live Orbital show (well it’s not live and only half of them are there but it sure feels like a live orbital show
Long Range played for Breakology about 6 months ago in Crawdaddy, it fairly musical but tough in parts breaks, Phil also did a DJ set which consisted entirely of Orbital tracks, so the Life Festival shall also be treated to what is essentialy a live Orbital show (well it’s not live and only half of them are there but it sure feels like a live orbital show
[quote post=”433″]I shall never forget the silence after their farewell gig at Oxegen three years ago. [/quote]
My own personal favourite was the gig in the point in 2000 I think?? after middle of nowhere but before the altogether. They opened with funny break which was really subdued and i got a bit worried, but then they played lots of shit off middle of nowhere, and a few older ones and the place quickly went mental. Theyre always good, but somethin about that show was particularly mental…
interesting choices niall, especially the blissed out ‘attached’ and ‘style’ which was derided by some luddite orbital fans as too poppy! 😉
the two ‘style’ EPs are well worth getting, some terrific remixes
[quote post=”433″]I shall never forget the silence after their farewell gig at Oxegen three years ago. [/quote]
My own personal favourite was the gig in the point in 2000 I think?? after middle of nowhere but before the altogether. They opened with funny break which was really subdued and i got a bit worried, but then they played lots of shit off middle of nowhere, and a few older ones and the place quickly went mental. Theyre always good, but somethin about that show was particularly mental…
interesting choices niall, especially the blissed out ‘attached’ and ‘style’ which was derided by some luddite orbital fans as too poppy! 😉
the two ‘style’ EPs are well worth getting, some terrific remixes
[quote post=”433″]interesting choices niall, especially the blissed out ‘attached’ and ’style’ which was derided by some luddite orbital fans as too poppy! ;)[/quote]
It was Mike’s Post… credit where credit’s due and all that…
[quote post=”433″]interesting choices niall, especially the blissed out ‘attached’ and ’style’ which was derided by some luddite orbital fans as too poppy! ;)[/quote]
It was Mike’s Post… credit where credit’s due and all that…
Good post Niall, it’s always wonderful to get prodded into listening to something old but great.
Mike – amazing gig alright, it stands out even after all these years. Have to agree with John Cav though, the farewell performance at Oxegen was special.
Good post Niall, it’s always wonderful to get prodded into listening to something old but great.
Mike – amazing gig alright, it stands out even after all these years. Have to agree with John Cav though, the farewell performance at Oxegen was special.
Only two of us went to Orbital that year, everyone else in our posse went to the Chemical Brothers in the dance arena… They’ve regretted that decision ever since.
No disrespect to the Chems now. It’s just that they’re not looking like calling it quits any time soon.
Only two of us went to Orbital that year, everyone else in our posse went to the Chemical Brothers in the dance arena… They’ve regretted that decision ever since.
No disrespect to the Chems now. It’s just that they’re not looking like calling it quits any time soon.
why am i only reading this now? halcyon on and on and on- i didnt know it was about tranquiliser dependancy- i think i ought to get some of them! woooooo! i never got to see them live put that life gig when he dj’d- or rather- pelvic thrusted his way across stage- was enough to make me sourcream my earballs.
why am i only reading this now? halcyon on and on and on- i didnt know it was about tranquiliser dependancy- i think i ought to get some of them! woooooo! i never got to see them live put that life gig when he dj’d- or rather- pelvic thrusted his way across stage- was enough to make me sourcream my earballs.
[quote post=”433″]he dj’d- or rather- pelvic thrusted his way across stage[/quote]
It was a big disappointment for me. He spent 30-45mins setting up and arguing with the stage manager only to knock out some fairly lacklustre beats and strut around the stage! I’d like to know if other performances have been like that, i’d hope not….
[quote post=”433″]he dj’d- or rather- pelvic thrusted his way across stage[/quote]
It was a big disappointment for me. He spent 30-45mins setting up and arguing with the stage manager only to knock out some fairly lacklustre beats and strut around the stage! I’d like to know if other performances have been like that, i’d hope not….
yeah his gig with this so called band of his was completely crap, no doubt the result of over indulgence and years of worship, but i’ve always wanted to check orbital out, and the dj set he played after was just as arrogant, but with betta chooons, aii mike, shut yer face:)
yeah his gig with this so called band of his was completely crap, no doubt the result of over indulgence and years of worship, but i’ve always wanted to check orbital out, and the dj set he played after was just as arrogant, but with betta chooons, aii mike, shut yer face:)