| DJ Sets ::Orbital (PAUL HARTNOLL &
PHIL HARTNOLL)
On September 4 Orbital release their
stunning new album "The Altogether". This is brothers
Paul and Phil Hartnoll's sixth collection and the much-anticipated
follow-up to 1999's "The Middle Of Nowhere" -- their
third consecutive Top 5 LP. The ongoing Orbital experiment
is now enjoying its eleventh year of success and, with "The
Altogether", the brothers demonstrate no signs of compromise.
They continue to operate according to their own set of rules,
outside the confines of current musical fads and trends. This
time they have produced a concise album of mostly short electronic
"songs" which, on occasion, feature the vocal talents
of their friends Naomi Bedford and David Gray.
Also present in sample form is a host of unlikely cameos
courtesy of US "metal" band Tool, Gothic-rockabilly
headcases The Cramps and the Bananamen, erstwhile "Doctor"
Tom Baker, Steve Ignorant of Anarchist punk outfit Crass and
the sadly missed genius of Ian Dury (to name but a few).
"The Altogether" is made up of eleven very distinct
pieces of music. So diverse, in fact, is the album that each
track is almost entirely different from one to the next. The
sounds range from shockabilly with post-Gabba undertones of
the blistering opener "Tension", to the claustrophobic
heat of the sleazy "Pay Per View" ('cheap thrills
for bimbos and himbos in a Go-Go slopshop'), to the aching
melancholia of "Illuminate", to the cyber-surf music
of "Waving Not Drowning".....
Even before Orbital were commissioned by the BBC to record
the music for the "Doctor Who Night", the Hartnolls'
breakbeat-led version of the theme had become an integral
part and one of the highlights of their live set. Two years
later and after repeated requests from fans, disappointed
that it could only be heard at gigs, Paul and Phil decided
to re-record the track and include it on the album. The final
track, "Meltdown", is a version of a piece of music
commissioned for the South Bank Centre's festival of the same
name in the year it was curated by Scott Walker. Here it appears
in its ten minute incarnation, whilst the full seventeen minute
version will be made available on the DVD release.
The album was produced by Orbital and Mickey Mann and was
recorded over the space of a year at Orbital's London studio.
Final mixes were carried out at The Strongroom where further
mixes in 5.1 SurroundSound were completed. The 5.1 mixes are
intended for the DVD release.
Never a band to follow convention on any level, "The
Altogether" displays Orbital in uncut form, operating
at full-throttle and shouting "this is what we are and
what we do". It's the sound of a band supremely confident
in their abilities, still unafraid to try out new things,
and as such, this album can honestly claim to be Hartnolls'
best yet.
