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Orbital were an English techno duo formed in 1989, consisting of brothers Paul (born 19 May, 1968) and Phil Hartnoll (born 9 January, 1964). The name was taken from the raves that occurred in the late 1980s near the M25 orbital motorway that circles London. They were initially influenced by early electro and punk rock.
Career In 1989, Orbital recorded a track called "Chime" on their father's four-track tape recorder. It was released on Oh Zone Records in December 1989, and re-released on FFRR Records a few months later. The track became a rave anthem, a UK Top 20 hit, and a benchmark for the rest of their career. A few singles and EPs followed, and their first self-titled album was released in late 1991. This was a collection of tracks recorded at various times, and included In late 1992 the Radiccio EP barely reached the UK top forty, but it included probably their most well-known song, "Halcyon". The song featured a backwards sample of Kirsty Hawkshaw from "It's a Fine Day" (a chart hit for Opus III earlier that year), and B-side "The Naked and the Dead" was similarly based on a line from Scott Walker's rendition of Jacques Brel's song "Next". The duo's popularity grew rapidly with the release of their second album, also titled Orbital, in 1993. The album featured complex arrangements and textures, and reached The third album Snivilisation was released in August 1994. Alison Goldfrapp provided vocals on a couple of the tracks, including the single "Are We Here?". This track also included a sample from "Man at C&A" by The Specials. Among the remixes of "Are We Here?" was "Criminal Justice Bill?" - four minutes of silence, a reference to the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, which was in part intended to clamp down on the rave scene which had given birth to Orbital. The other track with Goldfrapp vocals, "Sad But True", was remixed for the "Times Fly" EP, the band's only release in 1995. The band became known for their live shows, wearing their trademark head-mounted flashlights behind banks of equipment, and giving an improvisational element to live electronic music as the brothers mixed and sequenced their tracks on the fly. They were one of the few electronic acts invited to play at Woodstock '94. One of the highlights of their career was their headline appearance at the Glastonbury Festival in 1994. Possibly as a result of this show, Q Magazine included them in their list of "50 Bands to See Before You Die". After a quiet 1995, single "The Box" was released in April 1996, reaching 1998 saw a return to the studio to work on their fifth album The Middle of Nowhere. This was released in 1999, and was a return to a more upbeat style, with Alison Goldfrapp returning on vocals and the single "Style" (incorporating stylophone sounds). In 2000 a single was released from the soundtrack to the film The Beach, mixing the brothers' musical style with a melody by Angelo Badalamenti and the words of Leonardo DiCaprio from the film. 2001's The Altogether featured guest vocals by the Hartnolls' brother-in-law David Gray, a sampled Ian Dury, and a version of the Doctor Who theme. It was to be their last album for FFRR, and had a mixed critical reception. The following year, Work 1989-2002 collected various singles from "Chime" onwards. Orbital split up in 2004. They played a final series of gigs from June through July 2004 at the Glastonbury Festival, the T in the Park Festival in Scotland, the Oxegen festival (formerly known as Witnness) in Ireland, and the Wire Festival in Japan, concluding with a live Peel Session gig at Maida Vale Studios in London on July 28, 2004. The release of their seventh and last original album, The Blue Album (which, unlike the untitled previous green and brown albums, was actually named "The Blue Album"), coincided with this final wave of shows. The album featured Sparks (on "Acid Pants"), Lisa Gerrard (on the final single "One Perfect Sunrise"), and a speech by Christopher Eccleston from the TV miniseries The Second Coming. Paul Hartnoll is continuing to record music under his own name, including tracks for the new Wipeout Pure game for the PSP. Phil Hartnoll is concentrating on forming a new electronica duo, LongRange, with Nick Smith. LongRange will have a fairly similar sound to Orbital. In October 2006, Orbital's official site confirmed that the group would have a release in the near future,and then just recently in November, it was announced that the album will contain live audio from the Glastonbury Festival and will be released early next year according to LOOPZ. Soundtracks Orbital remade the theme tune to the 1997 film The Saint; the song "The Box" also appeared in that film. "The Saint" is featured on some editions of In Sides, their fourth album. They made a version of the Doctor Who theme tune, featured on The Altogether and was also used to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the programme, being the background music for various clips on DVD's released in 2003. They also created the original soundtrack for the film Octane, and collaborated with composer Michael Kamen on the soundtrack album of the film Event Horizon. Orbital created the song "Technologicque Park" for the film xXx in which they actually appear during the night club/rave sequence. A shortened version of Orbital's song "Halcyon + On + On" was the theme to the 1995 film Hackers and was featured in the soundtracks for 1995's Mortal Kombat, 2000s Groove, 2001's CKY2K, and 2004's Mean Girls. Their song "Sad But True" was used in the soundtrack to Johnny Mnemonic. The song "P.E.T.R.O.L" from the album "In Sides" appears in 1998's Pi. Some of their music has also been used as soundtracks for differing versions of the game "Wipeout", latest "Wipeout Fusion" The song "Beached" (in collaboration with Angelo Badalamenti) is featured on The Beach Soundtrack. Trivia Albums Singles/EPs See also | ||||||||
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