Ok. Last shitty assignments are in, I'm a free man, I do what I can baby, I do what I can, oh yeah oh y- never mind. Last few weeks, I have been going to a suburban garage where the proprietress jabs me with electrified needles, burning needles, and gives me whopping back bruises. It's great! Apparently I'm a long term case (8 months of doing crap all about my health can't have helped) but I can feel some of the benefits already; more energy, less pain, better relaxation, better pain control and a brighter healthier outlook on life. You know, you should join us in Acupunctopia. You would feel happier there. We supply all you could ever need Why would you want to leave? It's bliss. Join us. Join usssss...
Can't remember what I was going to write, so I guess I'll do an album review.
Orbital - Snivilisation (1994)
This album is greater than the sum of its parts. By '94, Fueled by mass public demand for music to listen to while on shrooms in a forest glade and ever-improving techonology, electronic music was splitting and crossfertilising at dizzying speed. Band's styles were undergoing seismic shifts in the space of a few years (compare Experience the Prodigy with Music For the Jilted Generation, and compare that with Fat of the Land) as keyboards and drum machines were superseded by computers and an attendant library of tricked out ne plus ultra software tools. A new type of electronic music was surging through, 'Big Beat'* embodied by acts like the Prodigy, the Chemical Brothers, Propellerheads, Fat Boy Slim-
-Crap. I sound like this guy.
What does all this have to do with Orbital?
Well, they didn't do that. You won't hear crunching breaks or fat bass lines, mad samples and spaced out guitar lines on Snivilisation. It's basic elements are the same as every previous Orbital album: basic drumachine beats, synths, one or two samples. That's it. Somehow, despite this, it's a massive head-trip, beyond the sum of its component parts. Odourless, colourless and fatal it'll sneak up on you as you are locked in a battle of wits with the Man In Black** (now there's a contender for dumbest metaphor of the Year) drawing you into the blissed out neverworld of perfectly orchestrated patterns and melodies. Warm, balanced and breathy, spaced-out, expansive and sci-fi, organic and digital, united at last with a sly social message.
Whatever they did later, with this album and it's predecessor the Brown Album (1993) the Hartnoll brothers showed anyone who cared to listen just how rich electronic music can be, using just the basics.
16.7/17
*Blah blah, unrepresentative of diverse acts, genres whatever - electronic music has twice as many sub-subgenres than rock, jazz and metal combined, oversimplification is the only way to avoid generic catatonia.
** Sourced from this site. Ever wondered Humperdinck's bow skill levels? Spent restless nights trying to calculate Fezzik's combat skill vs ranged modifiers? This guy has solved all your problems. I love the internet.
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