In Sides
Eddie O'Hanlon Thu, 16 May 1996
Internal Records: TRUCD10 828 767-2
1 10:26 The Girl With The Sun In Her Head 2 06:21 P.E.T.R.O.L. 3 06:28 } 4 06:01 } The Box 5 09:55 Dwr Budr 6 08:42 Adnan's 7 10:42 } 8 13:27 } Out There Somewhere?
Total Time: 72.04
The Hartnoll brothers have come a long way from the likes of Chime and Lush-3. Following the path to darker slicker techno, with Snivilisation almost predicting their next outing, they have finally made it.
This album is their best work yet. It has rhythm and melody as only Orbital can do it, but the tracks are more serious. The guys seem to have found a niche of their own; there is a subtle balance between chill out and percussion, falling on the side of smooth techno. Beats are still very much alive, but are more thoughtful and reflective. There is variety as the flow changes from track to track. Between, and within, tracks the focus shifts very subtley between melody, intrigate beat and the occasional soft female vocal sample. Every so often I'm reminded of their earlier work (especially Snivilisation), and how the earlier styles have been matured. The album is still Orbital; they have a distictive style. That gives them a solid platform to make music.
The Girl With The Sun In Her Head is a nice opening. Good solid track that begins the album much as Forever did on Snivilisation. A bit sadder though. Nice junglish beats, and catchy sequencing. P.E.T.R.O.L. is a faster, more Aphex type of track. Strange effects and industrial rhythms! The Box is a weird journey into electro-melody. It starts off as a simple melody-box type of tune, and develops into an excellent track (over two track indices). Dwr Budr is a lovely slick intelligent techno track. The bass rifts are top notch. The build up is provoking. The soft female voice is sad but truly good. The track is immediately likeable, but deep enough not to be just trance. To dance to this would be a waste (and I'm not sure you can)! Adnan's is nice. It has attitude, and feeling; a slow techno track that hits the spot. Out There Somewhere? is a 24 minute journey, and is just superb. Over two track indices it moves through strange, eerie and melodic. It is probably the best track on the album for me. The beats are intricate, the mood is chilled. Great track.
Best one yet from Orbital. My favourite album of the moment. Ambient content? Well, ambient belongs in it's description a lot more than dance. Shall we settle on dark techno chill. There is much here for the ambient listener whose not afraid of beats and sequences brewed the right way. Conversely, there is much to learn here for clubbers.
Out of Ten: 9.5 (where did the .5 go? Well, you can't just give 10's out like pints of Guinness. In time it may become a 10.)eddY
- You can email the author at edward.ohanlon@ucg.ie
Contextual notes:
This review first appeared on the ambient mailing list (see here for joining details.) The following preceeded the review in its original location.
Okay, this review took longer than anticipated. I've been too busy listening to the damn thing. There are a few versions of this album around Europe at the moment. But most importantly, the track list is the same for the album itself across the versions (no offense FSOL). The only difference is packaging or extra EPs. I got mine in a dark box with no EP presents inside (shit!). From what I hear on the list there are even more versions (imports, with EPs, etc.). But.... it should be normal price - it's the standard domestic price here, so you should pay at worst a "standard import" (is there such a thing?) price in the U.S.
I love this album. If you like From Within, Speedy J, or "Snivilisation" then it's a good bet. Here's the review.
[ Also: All In Sides reviews ]
