Orbital

This debut album from London's "bleep and bass" pioneers, the Hartnoll brothers, collects most of the thumping, home-made tracks that had been tearing up the underground "orbital raves" of London (from which they took their name) for the previous two years on vinyl. Their spine-tingling signature anthem "Chime" is here, along with the moody techno and Star Trek samples of "The Moebius". Meanwhile, "Desert Storm" and "Oolaa" shake and shimmer like dance floor hallucinations. For some listeners these old-school mixes of electro beats, sampler loops, and knob twiddlings will bring on a chemical rush of nostalgia. Others will just want to dance like it's 1991 and marvel at how influential this album obviously was on the vast output of electronica that followed in its wake.
From the Enya-esque vocal drowning in the whirlpool of sonic love on "Belfast" to the scintillating grid lines and chill-out ambient gliding of "Midnight", this release proves Orbital was setting trends from the get-go. One of the first major techno releases to come out of the UK, this release (also known as "the Green Album") showed England could make techno tracks as brilliant as those coming out of the U.S., and then some.|

The U.S. version of Orbital's debut album serves as a good primer to the group's early history, including standard versions of the early singles "Chime," "Omen," "Satan," and "Midnight," in addition to two B-sides which showed Phil and Paul's first stab at varying their Kraftwerk-inspired sound. "Belfast" (from the "Satan" single) is a warm, mid-tempo synth track inspired by Depeche Mode; "Choice," at the other extreme, is an aggro-house piece with vocal samples (e.g., "Wake Up!") that recall socially conscious punks like Crass. ~ John Bush