Orbital. Now more pop than ever before.
After several listens I’ve found three really good tunes on
Orbital’s new album. “Funny Break (One Is Enough)” is a classic Orbital-song with beautiful cyclical vocals by new star Naomi Bedford. “Doctor?” is the brothers’ techno version of the Doctor Who theme, a favorite from innumerable live sets, finally down on plastic. “Meltdown”, the last track on the album, is an epic masterpiece with clear rave vibes. The tune’s got it all: slow HEAVY bass, at least two different breakbeats, piano loops, samples of type writers, sirens, telephones, smashed glass… and a build-up so filled with energy that it’s next to impossible to sit still, you just gotta dance.
The rest of the album does have a few golden moments, but
they are overshadowed by an all permeating feeling of cheesiness. For some unfathomable reason Orbital have taken the tinny sounds of eighties hi-nrg pop and tried to turn it into nineties rave. The result is thin and unengaging. Dated, even though the record’s brand new.
Also irritating is the fact that all of “Meltdown” isn’t
included on the CD, only the DVD version has the complete 18 minutes of the original. A case of some greedy label boss that couldn’t keep his hands in check, or what? Let’s hope the whole tune surfaces on some future single.
