Orbital - Wonky

Has anyone been tracking Orbital's progress of their new album? Being a huge fan of their stuff (even the [admittedly weaker] last album) I've been noting their updates with much excitement.

For those that haven't seen their youtube video diary entries here's the first one -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAyjhOS6Pd8

With the rest available here - http://www.youtube.c...er/loopzorbital

So now they've released the first full track from the album and I'm not sure what to think:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCi1CurRAVg

Absolutely nothing about it (the video nor music) seems to interest me in any way, it's not terrible but there's nowt in it really that great either. Hopefully some of the other tracks are a bit more involving, but this just seems so bland and by numbers - even the video would seem unadventurous if released 20 years ago. Maybe I'm being overly critical or my tastes have shifted over the years but anyways, the new album and upcoming UK tour - what you thinking ?

More details here -

http://orbitalofficial.com/

just heard 'never' on 6 music and i'd agree with your reaction or lack thereof.

I like the melody of the voice and how it builds up. Pretty emotionally strong in the beginning. I do think the sound design sounds pretty bad though. Their older stuff had a bigger grittier sound I reckon.

It's all very catchy and as Coax says, it builds up really nicely, but they've gone for that slightly cartoonish sound again which makes it sound... a bit dated.

didn't think much of it at all. turned off about half way through. pretty pants radio muzak track really. and yeah the video... very dated!

what is going on here!?

i had a lot of respect for these when they called it a day back in 2004.

They produced some of the best electronic music during the 90's. Things started to tail off and they called it quits.

That was a good way to go.

And then, a few years passes and ....

Its a shame cos I loved Don't Stop Me/The Gun is Good and was getting pretty excited about the idea of them back together. Now I am listening to Never and going 'fucks sake'. Still worth seeing live though.

It's far better from the EP they released since they started making music again

Actually, now that I've got over the fact that it's not a retread of old ground (fortunately, to be honest) and had the chance to listen to it a bit more I really rather like it. It's a lot better than the ghastly "Blue Album" and has an uplifting quality to it that works beyond the rather strange production.

Flood is producing the new album apparently. That's really quite strange.

I preferred Blue Album to The Altogether, which really was appalling other than Funny Break and Shadows. One of the new tracks you can hear on their video diary is pretty good, quite mid-90s Orbital sounding with that nice chunky production. Never, however, is utterly pointless. Sounds like a demo before they wrote the main bulk of the track. Don't Stop Me was good though, so my hopes aren't entirely1 lost.

  On 10/27/2011 at 10:46 PM, Jamesqdot said:

Flood is producing the new album apparently. That's really quite strange.

Excuse my ignorance but what does it mean to 'produce' an album - Is it to do with the financing or anything, or is there some sort of compositional/mastering involvement as well?

  On 10/28/2011 at 12:05 PM, mcbpete said:

  On 10/27/2011 at 10:46 PM, Jamesqdot said:

Flood is producing the new album apparently. That's really quite strange.

Excuse my ignorance but what does it mean to 'produce' an album - Is it to do with the financing or anything, or is there some sort of compositional/mastering involvement as well?

I've always been under the impression that it was similar to a film producer but with more direct influence on how it sounds. I think the term is more relevant and easier to understand for pop music: a writer and singer would need a producer to bring in session players into the studio and decide overall how the song will feel and sound when it's finished.

I beg your pardon, I got it wrong sorry. Flood has been confirmed as the mixer of the new album. That's a bit less strange, but still a surprise.

Thought some of the beatless sections had a Plaid vibe to them... Quite enjoyed the new track but it's still nowhere near In Sides, etc. Booked tickets for the RAH show though - that should be pretty mental

After listening to the clip, the term "middle of the road electronica" comes to mind. What a snorefest.

Yeah so far it seems pretty dull. I think they were always doing stuff that was verging on being "middle of the road" but then always pushed it into areas that were strange and engaging and poignant. They lost it all on the Altogether, since then, everything they do just sounds like something anyone could have done.

The music in the background of their latest update video sounds a lot more promising -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZrtIPyrxwo

Though all the way through I kept worrying that it was about to drop into some Skrillex-esque cringe-fest ...

I actually thought this one was worse. Autotuned sounding female vocals and practically an RnB-ish beat. Beginning to lose hope in this record (actually, that fucking dubstep-meets-Pendulum version of Satan they previewed last year was the beginning of losing hope). Why is it guys like Underworld and Orbital reach the 20 year point in their career and suddenly start aping modern trends?

Update - Now with a release date ("Early" April 2012) and name ("Wonky")

Please don't be as bad as I'm worried it'll be .....

  On 1/17/2012 at 5:07 PM, mcbpete said:

Update - Now with a release date ("Early" April 2012) and name ("Wonky")

 

Please don't be as bad as I'm worried it'll be .....

Snivilisation

In Sides

The Middle of Nowhere

....Wonky

Wonky

that track is a disaster, if it was just an ambient song with no beats it could work but as soon as those drums hit im transported to some sort of Realtiy show credits vibe... wow

i feel like i just watched grandfather shit his diaper

I have fond memories of Orbital. Back in the day they were legendary. I think they were the third live show I went to as a teenager (after Sisters of Mercy and Anthrax!). Awesome.

I may avoid this altogether

Orbital still know their way round a melody, but the sounds they use these days sound pretty cheesy to me. That track sounds kind of unfinished TBH, though it's partly redeemed by them driving past my house in the video.

Wonky. Jesus.

I recently found a CDr with loads of early Orbital stuff on it... 2 Deep, Open Mind, Deeper, Omen, LC1, God how awesome were they back in 90/91? What the fuck happened guys?

The fucking dubstep-meets-Pendulum reworking of Satan they've done is going to be on Wonky. They've called it... Beelzedub. Yeah, well done guys. You've already used that pun on Beelzebeat. What is it with artists who paved their own original sound suddenly going 'hold on we need to do dubstep and dnb'? First Underworld, now Orbital. Still, nothing like recording a fourth version of Satan, is there? Christ.

The Box EP was the first CD I ever bought, so things like this really hurt.

To make things better, they've posted this picture: http://api.ning.com/files/wAW0kziOTAAdN7xm5LzYg4oLDXST9lIPrHtEB3GfnZgIX0CdZcIsLenvYJ4kMote10KLLCyrJ3NIOIIRXwPddYXAg1uyVBVk/0221_a.jpg