Orbital have always had a bit of an image problem. Whilst that might sound ridiculous in an electronic music world where 95% of the artists can walk down any street unbothered, brothers Phil and Paul Hartnoll don’t fit in.
Admittedly, they don’t have the residual cool of some northern European guy in sunglasses who couldn’t give a fuck how long you had to queue at Berghain, although equally including a cover of Belinda Carlisle’s Heaven Is A Place On Earth in your live set loses cool points faster than you can say Swedish House Mafia.
None of that matters though, because released originally in 1993 their second album (Ubiquitously known as the “Brown” one) had been made not for ravey punters, but for the “Freaks and weirdos” they felt were their own after several years of pit-performing. The first to be recorded outside of the home studio in which they recorded early touchstone Chime, it was idealistic, human and full of ideas, from the blissful cloud topping of Halcyon + On + On to Impact (The Earth Is Burning)’s stark environmental warning.
It led almost directly to them beginning their annexation of Glastonbury, a place where cache is less of an asset than the ability to embrace a vibe and go with it. Orbital have always had an image problem, one that is as much the key to their enduring success as albums like this brilliant one.
You can read a full review here.
The Voice Of Unreason 