In Sides

Since 1989, when they released their first single, Orbital's Hartnoll brothers have represented a less beat-heavy side of techno. Rather than rhythmic brawn and hyperkinetic RPMs, Orbital's music was driven by modern compositional style owing to Glass and Reich, with Eno's spacing thrown in for good measure, and electro-pulses providing the only things seeming beat-worthy. Theirs are sound sculptures consistently apart from their contemporaries--more melodic, more contemplative and soundtrack-like.
1996's IN SIDES, their fourth full-length release, is a fine representation of Orbital's sonic environment, and a great place to jump into the ways of the Hartnolls, if only because it's their cheeriest album. Bright melodies carried by shinny, happy keyboard textures enlighten a good deal of IN SIDES, most fruitfully on the expansive second part of the closer "Out There Somewhere?" where they keep streaming in like sun beams through sonic windows. As counterpoint, there's the needling mystery of tracks like "The Box", which marries an edge-of-your-seat piano score to some fuzzed-out guitars and lo-fi breakbeats.|