Orbital (also known as Orbital 2 or The Brown Album) is the eponymous second studio album by English electronic music duo Orbital, released on 24 May 1993 by Internal and FFRR Records. The album peaked at number 28 on the UK Albums Chart.
This album sounds how I imagine a tofu + dragonfruit salad would taste. It's literally nothing. This is a toddler playing with FL Studio presets for an hour. I think listening to white noise is a more thrilling experience than this.
Oh bloody hell, here we go, more fucking electronic garbage. Seriously, this is my 330th album so far and my 27th of the electronic genre. That's too many! I realize that 27/1001 is only about 2% market share for genre, but like goddamn, even that is too much for me. I do not want this on a train, I do not want this in the rain. I will not put this music in my brain.
When an album starts out with a track that repeats ‘where time becomes a loop’ for nearly TWO MINUTES, you know you’re in for a banger of an album 🙄. Hot garbage.
th*t w*s fucking p**nful
Pour ne rien vous cacher, cet album m'a donné envie d'ingurgiter plusieurs cachets d'ecstasy et de danser au milieu d'une foule de personnes baignées dans leur sueur.
I'm sure there is a through line from Brian Eno, to Orbital, to the techno I listened to college and beyond. There was a moment while listening to this that I kind of wanted to go back and listen to Brian Eno again to see how it compared to this. But I quickly thought better of it. Unlike Eno, Orbital builds and layers in a way that feels rewarding. (I think, again I'm kind of blocking Eno out and I'm not ready to undo that.) Yes, sometimes certain segments drag on too long, but overall I liked Orbital. It was vaguely familiar at times, but I couldn't figure out if I'd heard this or just similar early house/electronica. Happy to have this on as background music.
Where time becomes a loop Where time becomes a loop Where time becomes a loop Where time becomes a loop Where time becomes a loop Where time becomes a loop Where time becomes a loop Where time becomes a loop Where time becomes a loop Where time becomes a loop Where time becomes a loop Where time becomes a loop Where time becomes a loop Where time becomes a loop Where time becomes a loop Where time becomes a loop Where time becomes a loop Where time becomes a loop Where time becomes a loop Where time becomes a loop Where time becomes a loop
I thought this list was supposed to contain music albums, not just noise probably generated when one of the guys fell asleep on the sound machine
As a fan of Steve Reich (thanks Miles) I liked the phased intro and outro songs. Generally a great album and a step on the way to "Chill Lo-Fi Beats to Study and Relax To" playlists so I'm a fan. Glad to hear this album.
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy was one of my favorite shows. The original one. I've been writing reviews so I don't have much time to watch the new one, but I hear it's good. Though I never listed to Orbital in the 90's this is a huge throwback for me. My pacifier and glowsticks, oversized pants, pigtails, pumas and DANCING! Oh, how I loved Special K and dancing. Anyway, this is a huge throwback and I did enjoy listening to this. There's a lot of repetition and beats as you'd expect from 90's rave music and There's a lot of repetition and beats as you'd expect from 90's rave music andThere's a lot of repetition and beats as you'd expect from 90's rave music andThere's a lot of repetition and beats as you'd expect from 90's rave music andThere's a lot of repetition and beats as you'd expect from 90's rave music andThere's a lot of repetition and beats as you'd expect from 90's rave music and I liked this but probably won't listen to it again unless I get nostalgic or eat more Special K.
Long, sure enough, and repetitive to boot. But Orbital produce an album that's impossible to take in as anything but a piece, and that piece is compelling. Alright, Halcyon stands on its own, but that's an all-time track, even better than the album it sits in. I'm not sure whether phased or continuous listening is best for Orbital 2, because the recording is clearly phased but self-contrasting.
This was like being at a rave without drugs. The first track was excruciating. An exercise in futility.
Sounded astonishing at the time and holds up well.
Solid beats, interesting progressions. Often embarrassingly 90s.
Killer dancey electronic album. Love the intro and Impact in particular. This list desperately needs more electronic music but I'm happy that this is included at least.
The first wholly great dance album of the rave era - 91 is pretty early to make a complete masterpiece. Halcyon is a thing of wonder.
Absolutely love this, just pure bliss. It was a happy day back in 1997 when someone pressed this into my hands at uni. Obviously had some familiarity with Orbitals before that but it didn't extend much further than Chime, The Box and Satan. I didn't even know Belfast at that point. Anyway, got a hold of this work of genius and I didn't look back. Walk Now... is admittedly annoying, but the rest of the album is basically perfect, so despite not liking one track it's getting 5 because of all the bellends giving it 1.
The repetitive sample tracks on this are a little annoying, and please tell me I'm not the only one who thought I was having problems with my headphones to start with? But the central sonic voyage of "Orbital 2" is mind-blowing, and I prefer it to the overrated "Insides."
It's great. How did they make all these sounds? Was going to mark down for a bad car journey with Mike, but it's brilliant. One of the first albums that hit me away from guitars...
If you don't remember Halcyon + On + On from the intro of Hackers (1995), add that film to your list.
Classic
It's February 1994 and I am at a spontaneous illegal rave on a beach near La Perouse. I am dancing in the ocean the water up to my thighs. The sun is just coming up on the horizon as the cops come to tell us to move on. Apart from a few sculls of goon on the drive there mind is not altered in any way, just vibing to the beats and rhythm coming off the sound system. I'm not sure if even anything off this album was playing that night, which was mostly local doof DJs but listening to this album evokes the memories of that night. I still love listening to the Orb, this album threading the sacred ground between anthem and come down music. Best played through my headphones at a volume not right for my damaged ear drums.
This album has a hard time getting off the ground. Begins with some Steve Reich type phasing, which I thought was going to break out into a beat, but never did. Then, the second track goes into another hard panned intro section of its own and doesn't drop a beat until it's 1:44 in. Once I got past my initial frustration with the prolonged opening, I enjoyed the rest of the album well enough. I like that they walk a line between more atmospheric headphone music and meatier dance material.
Very hypnotic early dance. Loops that wiggle round in unexpected ways and keep you more involved than the 6-10 minute runtimes for each track should.
I thought this album was surprisingly cool. A lot of the early to mid 90s electronica stuff doesn't age super well, especially the techno. This album is a lot more varied, and consequently has a much more modern feel than a lot of its contemporaries. Despite the complexity baked into the album, it still works great as a dance album too. This is definitely an album that I'm going to come back to 4/5
Shocked this is 1993. I kept thinking about Prodigy’s Firestarter. That was 1996. So this is really novel stuff for that time.
Maybe I need to give this another listen, but it didn't strike me as particularly amazing. I paid more attention to the spotify recommendations after this album.
I’m noticing a trend with 90’s Electronic albums. The album covers are terrible, the albums themselves are always too long, they’re boring. I listened to the entire thing and I don’t think I am any better for having done so. 2 stars
It's bad when the first song has me looking at the time left to make sure I don't have to listen to it for too long; "Time Becomes" is a terrible opening song to this album. The repetitive lyric thing gets old real quick, and I was dismayed when it happened again in the second song, which actually had some interesting beats, and the final song. As the album went on, however, I found my attention waning; the songs and the beats just didn't grab me, certainly not enough to enjoy listening for over an hour. Perhaps it's just dated, because I can see why people would have liked it at the time; I just can't get into it now. "Halcyon and On and On" was probably the best song on the album.
Well Loop de fucking Loop! Laaaange samples som hvis man lige havde fået Dee-Jay til sin PC i 90erne Utrolig kedeligt
More fucking bog UK techno that goes for an hour. I don't just hate this album, I hate anyone who actually likes it. 1/5.
Nope
I started to play this album and forgot I was listening to something since it's like staying 1 hour in an airport. After 4 or 5 albums here with this kind of electronic music and/or ambient songs, I think I got what the thing with these songs is: Somehow, they are almost transgressive, but they are highly dependent on some kind of deep knowledge of music history and musical structure that it's virtually impossible for regular people to really GET it. All in all, still, I'm not too fond of it. "Halcyon + ON + ON" is the only song that almost looks like real music here.
Why, just fucking why? What is wrong with Dimery that he gets off on electronica so much. 99.99% of electronica is just absolute shit. And the 0.01% that is worth listening to he just doesn't include on the list. Somebody with actual good music taste needs to remake this book. I think the only way I'd enjoy this is if I was on molly or a shit ton of coke at a club while also being like 10 drinks deep. Or in other words, I would need to be a literal monster to enjoy this absolute steaming pile of shit. What a waste of 65 minutes of my life.
amazing...halycon on and on is a classic. studio masters before digital studios
Tarda unos minutos en despegar, pero cuando lo hace, verga. Larga vida al ravé.
Fantastic
very cool
Asides from the first track, this album is superb.
Again, I forgot how much I enjoyed Orbital. At over an hour, this album flew by perfectly.
Alt-Techno with Class
One of my all time favourite albums
Amazing. Loved every track!
Awesome.
Surprisingly good throughout.
Loved it
This album defines "90s electronica" for me and is a stone cold classic as far as I'm concerned.
This shit slaps. I loved it. I think it may because I listened to it while working, but this is perfect background working music.
Um eletrônico bem legal, cheio de elementos diferentes e alguns vocais melódicos.
LOVE IT
I loved it - a fantastic sound kaleidoscope! Couldn’t be happier floating away on a river of techno.
I can't tell one song from the next but that's ok. I was engaged and entertained throughout.
Did I really need to listen to another album of electronic music, especially from a repeat artist, before I die? I think not. Did I enjoy it, nonetheless? Yes, I did.
Greatness
A classic of Electronica, Orbital 2 contains some of their best work including HALCYON+ON+ON. Besides the obligatory beats and samples (the first song samples Worf from Star Trek TNG, current at the time), Orbital 2 includes the type of driving rhythms more associated with EDM. A pioneer in 90s electronic music, Orbital helped create the template for modern Electronica in large part with this album.
Really great early techno album. Had a lot of elements that would absolutely be used in later techno music, especially in the 90s
4.75
3,7 für den immer noch schönen Trip. Ist zwar durchaus gealtert - aber auch nicht schlechter als Leftfield, und erzählt dabei die schönere Geschichte! Außerdem sind Lush und Halcyon immer noch Top Hits.
beep boop beep boop vrrrrrrooooooo vrrooooo vroooo. 7.5.
Bloody brilliant!
Ya vi que esta va a ser una ultra-unpopular opinion, pero el disco realmente me gustó. Cierto, tiene cosas muy raras empezando por la primera y la última canción, pero me parece una propuesta muy atrevida y original para la época. Me resulta muy interesante que UK fuera la cuna de esto a la par del Britpop y el Punk, pero a la vez como que también encaja. Su música me recuerda a The Prodigy, pero también a música electrónica más “reciente”, como Paul Van Dyk y Moby. Por la época en que salió este álbum y el éxito que tuvo, creo que se podría asumir que el álbum tuvo influencia importante sobre el género de la electrónica. Identifico algo más en la música de este disco, y sé que decirlo va a ser controversial: siento que aplica una fórmula similar a lo que años antes hizo Pink Floyd (Wish you were here / Animals), sólo que con electrónica en lugar de rock: las canciones toman una melodía base y realizan una progresión sobre la misma, logrando extender la duración sin aburrir, pero hay que estar poniendo atención. En la página de Wikipedia hay una cita de una reseña que dice que “este album se beneficia tras escucharlo múltiples veces”, y coincido. Lo escuché tres veces en total, y cada vez lo disfruté más.
didnt relise it was this album. i like it alot
Lovely stuff start to finish - Halcyon and on and on being an absolute standout track
8/10 pretty cool, daft punk vibes
A very strong electronic album and a blueprint for their later work (which is even beter).
Lovely stuff start to finish - Halcyon and on and on being an absolute standout track
Classic house
Pretty revolutionary and unique
I enjoyed the weird glitch like soft electric tone of the album. Not a background album
Techno, or edm in general, has been an underrepresented genre on the list, but this is great. Good music to listen to while working. Although I'm not a fan of first and last tracks, it's just a wanky, unnecessary steve reich knockoff
Cool
90s masterpiece that probably didn't age very well but i'm completely incapable of judging it with anything approaching objectivity. Halcyon still rules.
I love electronic music of the early 90s. This wasn't an amazing album, but it's pretty good, and a fun listen.
Groovy tunes.
3.75
this feels like a time machine i love it. damn do these synths sound incredible and the use of phasing and looping throughout rips. awesome discovery for me!!
funky i like the worf song
Definitely worth the money - with tracks lasting between 5 and 10 minutes, you get a whole lot for your cash.
Enjoyed it - it’s a bit long over all and it sounds a tiny tiny bit dated - but fair enough. I guess it would have done better without the first AND last track - they’re fine on first listen but then they become tedious.
6/22/2022 - ALBUM #146 Today's Album: "Orbital 2" by Orbital - This album has to have one of the best attention grabbers so far. The opener Time Becomes is a looping sample of a man saying, "where time becomes a loop" in each audio channel. It begins with it playing in both channels together, but as it repeats, one channel begins to delay behind the other and the space between them grows until eventually they line back up with each other. It sort of reminds me when you're looking at car blinkers that are going at different rates and watch as they line up and separate again. It really brings the whole theme of the album together as a lot of the EDM dance loops that this album features will build up elements just to break them back down and end where they began. The end of the album also ends with a similar idea, but with this one one channel says "Output Rotation" and the other ways "Input Translation". These bookending songs are a fantastic day to make this album feel like a cohesive idea and make the name of the band make a lot of sense. The music in between these tracks are pretty excellent too, being a collection of dance loops that really do a great job of building, climaxing, de-escalating and rebuilding while still keeping the listener's attention. No musical idea sticks around for too long before something else comes in to switch things up. I also love how much diversity is on this record, the Lush collection of tracks are these really clubby dance tracks with heavy synths and bass, Impact is this kind of breakdown track with a lot of washed out pianos and some really dreamy and unintelligible vocals. Remind takes that techno edge and totally runs with it with these robotic synths. Walk now sound a bit basic at first, but some of the switch ups they do sound pretty insane. I like more mellow piano sample loop that holds the track Monday together and the progression is just really satisfying. The last musical track here Hylcyon ends things off perfectly by getting really ethereal with these long drowning dream synths and some beautiful meditative vocal samples. Overall, this album really blew me away for an EDM project and I am surprised more people don't talk about it. Give this one a listen if you want some really solid study beats or just want to float away for a little bit. It's also really great for dancing! Highlights: Planet of the Shapes, Lush 3-2, Impact, Walk Now, Monday, Halcyon and On and On Score: 8.5/10 Elaborate and well-executed EDM with tons of personality
This is a great electronics album. Groundbreaking for its time
Svaka nostalgía. Þægilegur bakgrunnur, svona í seinni tíð.
Fantastico!
оочень долго слушала этот альбом, почти месяц жила с ним и не знаю, что ставить сейчас такое ощущение, что я слушала два разных альбома, один из которых мне не зашел, а другой наоборот очень понравился будем считать, что это 4,5
Very 90s, but enjoyable, hypnotic techno.
Mira, este disco no estuvo nada mal. Si lo hubiese escuchado en el año en que se lanzó no lo habría entendido. En ese tiempo tenía la cabeza metida en el Rock y muy pronto en el Grunge. Tal vez si hubiese nacido antes o, en otro país, lo de Orbital me habría parecido mucho más esencial. Lo loco de este disco, como algunos otros de este mismo listado, es que suena tan actual como si hubiese salido en este década. Es asombroso.
Good background work music
A great relisten
bem tri o fadinho eletrônico, envolvente
Our last two albums used the word "halcyon": on yesterday's it was the album's title and on today's it was a song title. I guess most musicians and definitely most songwriters have a better vocabulary than the average Joe. Call me crazy, but I think most of the members of the last two bands have a vocabulary that's even better than David Lee Roth's. This is a very good techno album.
I don't think I've listened to this album in full until now, but I have listened to some other Orbital albums, and I've seen them live once too. I think their music is best heard in a live setting, but I still really enjoyed this for the most part. The only tracks I didn't enjoy were "Remind" and "Walk Now". The intro and outro are also a bit long for what they are - quirky experiments. Orbital's sound still stands out to me as unique in the early 90s electronic scene, it's amazing to see the diversity and innovation that was going on in these years. When "Planet of the Shapes" kicked in, I felt like I had to strap in for the ride. I do prefer Snivilizaton, but that might just be because I'm more familiar with it.
Cool electronica style. More compelling than most I have heard of this genre.
I enjoyed this a lot. Some weird wobbly bits but generally really solid. Don't get the global reviews slagging it off at all. Halcyon and On and On is a genuinely beautiful track.
pretty cool but also pretty backgroundy, i bet it’s pretty fkn wkd when you’re really high in a giant club or something
Erg plezierig.
these chaps have revolutionized british music by almost entirely removing the vocals. this is Good Music, especially for background listening.
Pretty good. I wish songs weren't so long. I wish they explored the ideas they introduce more
Creaking with age but the force is strong with this one
Very good electronic music
Murdering your wife isn't as much fun as this record makes out. From the first note it bangs on about just murdering your wife when you next see her. Every song finding a new way of getting the message across and really drilling it into you. Murder your wife. Murder your wife. FINE! I'LL MURDER MY WIFE!