Reviews (page 3 of 8)
Shout out to the samples of Australian pedestrian crossings
Some excellent as always white lotus style background music
Loved it! Took me back to my 20’s
This album isnt for everyone. BUT DAMMIT ITS FOR ME!
Far out
wat een vibe, nightride bak
I see its place in music history now thanks to this project. Somewhere between Throbbing Gristle and Fatboy Slim. It's Daft Punk before they came around and refind the sound.
Beeps and boops. Input Out walked so One Million Dollars could fly.
The soundtrack to Hackers
Tight electronic album.
I felt like I heard somebody whispering “it’s hacking time” while wearing a leather trench coat while listening. 3.5/5
Loved it. The precursor to a lot of what I listen to now. I love the loops and the crunchiness.
Electronic music of depth and sophistication, Orbital feels orchestral to me, with distinct movements and sections which gives the music a richness other electronica just doesn’t touch. Halycon and On and On might be their masterpiece.
Halcyon and on and on
HACK THE PLANET!! Halcyon is an all time banger. This track through a VHS tape is the sound of my childhood
I woke up at seven in the morning and decided to put this on while tossing and turning. While I did doze off from time to time, I do believe that Orbital 2's ability to be a great soundtrack for warm and comfortable situations while remaining consistent in its musical experimentation may have been beneficial to my experience. Although it would soon be overshadowed by other albums in its genre throughout the decade, Orbital 2 is still pivotal. Favorites: Planet of the Shapes, Lush 3-2, Impact (The Earth is Burning), Walk Now..., Halcyon and On and On.
I first heard Orbital when the track (from this album) Halcyon and On and On played during the ending scene of the original Mortal Kombat film, but aside from that and Orbital’s cover of the Dr Who theme (check it out it’s good) I’ve never actually explored further into Orbital’s back catalogue. This gets bonus points for using a clip from Star Trek about the theory of the mobius, otherwise track one is largely superfluous, and track two wasn’t the Orbital I was expecting. I think this album gets going when you start the first of the Lush titled tracks, but without doubt for me the highlight is Halcyon.
Electro Techno.
I’ve got nothing but love and respect for dance floor forefathers like Orbital, whose pioneering efforts helped shape one of my most-listened-to genres today.
Very cool techno/ house album. Definitely enjoyed this trippy one 😁
Rating: 7/10 Best songs: Lush 3-2, Halcyon and on and on
Really enjoying this, good background music.
Experimental in a genuinely engaging and interesting way. Can see how this set the tone for a massive portion of modern electronic music, well worth a re-listen
I like this sort of thing.
Chill house music. I like
An hypnotic experience.I played it while working on some stuff. It helped me focus on what I needed to deliver. I felt energized and motivated, like “hey boss, is there more work to do?” type of thing.
Kyllä tää on jalo tanssipläjäys! Kunnon meno! 4/5
Täähän oli selvästi parempi kuin Snivilisation, jossa oli mun makuun liikaa kepeää idm-kikkailua. Tää oli kunnon tanssimusaa ja toimi vielä hyvin levynä.
I've said before on here that electronic music is a real weakness for me when it comes to musical knowledge, so I was happy to see this album pop up. Have seen Orbital's name mentioned with praise a few times but never really checked them out. Clearly this was a mistake, as this album is insanely fun to listen to. I was just vibing out the whole time to the repetitive beats, almost hypnotized by it. They layer on enough additional sounds throughout the tracks so they don't get boring even at their fairly long length. Soon as it was over i was already eager to replay some of the songs.
Trippy, fun and relaxing 4/5
What a nice surprise
Nice electronica. Songs are pretty good, but too long.
The first half of the album is giving keyboard sample sounds. I was going to rate this a 2 until I heard the second half the album specifically Monday and Halcyon On and On are bangers 👌🏼
Sounding a little housey early on, but was actually pretty pleasant as it went on. Soft 4
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while or something -Connor L
A mesmeric journey to early 90s melancholic optimism.
Electronic, psychedelic, intense
What the fuck, do I like techno now?
Easy car listening. Background ambient. Monday is the start of good gettings. Halycon on and on, of course is amazing.
78 recommendations ago, I heard Orbital for the first time. I liked most of the previous album. Orbital 2 has a similar challenge. I like most of the music. There is a quantity of repetition in a few tracks that pulls me out of the listening experience. Like the last album, the electronic music sounds rooted in a past period, but still good. There wasn't as much spoken word to overlook in these recordings compared to the previous album, which helps earn a better rating than last time. I could listen to Orbital again. Rounding up to 4 stars.
Ravey goodness. Holds up well.
i may even tap my little toe a bit to this one
Very Boyz Noize. Good for coding.
Enjoyed this one.
Very good, some great beats, lively
Tää oli hyvä! Tuo mieleen 80-luvun lopun ja 90-luvun alun Amiga-pelit, good times.
An enjoyable and creative techno album. The sampling on this album is relatively sparse but used in an effective way and the group does a good job affecting various moods and atmospheres through their innovative (for the time) use of different beats and rhythms.
Good background music for work.
A retro calming journey, you can see why it was a pioneering album
Great album.
Much much better than Snivilization. I didn't like all of it, but for the most part it was able to take my attention and balance the line between fun and smart. Just squeaks out a fourth star.
Electro Techno
BL: haven’t heard of Orbital but will listen AL: this is my favourite EDM album I’ve listened to, the ambient and jungle 90s movement produced some really good stuff. FT: “Lush 3-2”, “Walk Now…”, “Monday” 4/5
sheeesh opgeslagen heerlijk werk album
Apparently I liked this quite a bit more than Snivilisation. Or maybe it was just the perfect soundtrack for a brisk lunchtime walk on a sunny spring day.
Good atmospheric jams
Honestly, after I found the intro annoying, I didn't expect to like this as much as I did. Being released in 1993, I feel like you can hear the influence a record like this has on the late 90s/early 00s, in terms of the dark, bass-heavy music these guys were putting out. Favorite tracks: "Halcyon and On and On", "Walk Now..."
I loved it. Caroline, not so much.
where time becomes a loop. not actually a bad album considering it doesn't have any of the big ones on it. i've seen oribital at one of their many 'last gig ever' things, i'm sure they'll be retiring for years to come.
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!
Very good electronic music
Creaking with age but the force is strong with this one
Pretty good. I wish songs weren't so long. I wish they explored the ideas they introduce more
these chaps have revolutionized british music by almost entirely removing the vocals. this is Good Music, especially for background listening.
Erg plezierig.
pretty cool but also pretty backgroundy, i bet it’s pretty fkn wkd when you’re really high in a giant club or something
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.
Cool electronica style. More compelling than most I have heard of this genre.
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.
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.
bem tri o fadinho eletrônico, envolvente
A great relisten
Good background work music
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.
Very 90s, but enjoyable, hypnotic techno.
Enjoyable overall; the bookend vocal loops really annoyed me but I’m not taking track 1 and 10 into consideration when rating this. Didgeridoos, tampuras and Paul McGann unite. September 15, 2022
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
Fantastico!
Svaka nostalgía. Þægilegur bakgrunnur, svona í seinni tíð.
This is a great electronics album. Groundbreaking for its time
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
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.
Definitely worth the money - with tracks lasting between 5 and 10 minutes, you get a whole lot for your cash.
funky i like the worf song
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!!
3.75
Groovy tunes.
I love electronic music of the early 90s. This wasn't an amazing album, but it's pretty good, and a fun listen.
90s masterpiece that probably didn't age very well but i'm completely incapable of judging it with anything approaching objectivity. Halcyon still rules.
Cool
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
I enjoyed the weird glitch like soft electric tone of the album. Not a background album
Pretty revolutionary and unique
Classic house
Lovely stuff start to finish - Halcyon and on and on being an absolute standout track
A very strong electronic album and a blueprint for their later work (which is even beter).
8/10 pretty cool, daft punk vibes
Lovely stuff start to finish - Halcyon and on and on being an absolute standout track
didnt relise it was this album. i like it alot
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.
Bloody brilliant!
beep boop beep boop vrrrrrrooooooo vrrooooo vroooo. 7.5.
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.
There are a couple of tragedies that come with this album. First, is that most electronic music should really be listened to live w a bunch of other people for it to fully click. The next, electronic music has become pervasive in every genre of modern music, and thus, there is some really fucking good modern electronic music that this has to match up to. That being said, this album is fire. It climaxes at a different pace than a lot of other albums, building it's energy across tracks rather than trying to resolve it in singular songs. The sound fonts it chooses are really fun too. I love that PLANET OF THE SHAPES starts sounding like some kid's remix of sm64's shifting sandlands. IMPACT has the really fun car horns, that flow surprisingly well into the spacey track that follows. Granted, I dont know too much about the history of electronic music, but I would not be surprised to find out that this influenced a lot of dance music to follow. 3.5/5
Loungy and boring. I guess there is a time and place for this stuff but I’m never at that place ———- Actually I was at work and that was definitely a place where it kinda worked. Its entrancing and droning which is then quite appropriate.
5/10 Best songs: Halcyon+On+On An ambient trance/electronica album from the early 90s. It definitely works best as background music than something you're focusing all your attention on (because there just isn't much of interest here). I do like the album in general, but I doubt I'll actively listen to it again.
Like most of the albums from this list, this feels like "generic <DECADE> music". I don't hate it, I don't love it, I feel nothing. I don't even feel particular appreciation towards any innovation in the electronic music genre, if there's any. Because I don't give a shit about the electronic music genre. Deeply, deeply indifferent.
Bangers. Halcyon + On + On will always have a soft spot in my heart. Perfection.
Propulsive beats and dissociative repetitions - it's all about ambience but is more energetic than ambient. Dense textures, shifting rhythms, alternatingly spacey and then overwhelmingly tight.
I’m exactly the right age for this, but the wrong tribe. I never embraced dance music and clubs instead preferring sweaty clubs and indie discos. Listening to this on headphones, instead of in a club diminishes the power but that power is tangible. You do get lost in the groove and the repetition grabs you and takes you with it
Ok
I like this a lot more than the other Orbital album we had. A few so-so tracks make this a round down from 3.5. Played a couple of extra tracks from the 35 track, 4 hour bonus edition and enjoyed them as well.
It was fine but very not for me. However, should I ever find myself hacking in 1990s London, I’ll know what to put on.
Low energy electronic background instrumental music. Blah blah blah.
“Halcyon and On and On” is one of my all-time favorite songs. Such an intricately-composed, gorgeous pool of sound- transcendent stuff. The rest of the album, while ahead of its time, tends to run a bit tedious. The two “Lush” tracks and “Impact” are both good, but the whole album probably could have been an EP.
Not really in the mood for an electronic album when this came up. Got bored with it early on but enjoyed the second half of the album.
Vibey, nice for that type of mood.
Good for what this is
Would’ve been a four if not for the first and last tracks. I almost gave up before it started.
This was fine to get some work done to but I can't say any of it actually grabbed me. Very much bleeps and bloops in the background
not as good as Joni Mitchell’s Blue
This is colloquially called "The Brown Album"?? Jesus Christ I almost laughed out loud when I read that. What an absolute legendary choice for a nickname. The music is pretty cool, though. "Planet of the Shapes" has some really good beats that hold your attention. "Lush 3-1" instantly reminded me of the Mortal Kombat soundtrack with that hyper-energetic, driving electronic rhythm. "Remind" sounds exactly like 00s trance music, which makes it feel kind of ahead of its time considering this record actually dropped all the way back in 1993. The whole album is a massive wall-to-wall electronic trip. I can totally respect how groundbreaking this ambient techno style was for the early 90s club scene. My delineation between a 3 and a 4 is...would I go back and listen to this again multiple times voluntarily? I'm on the fence with this one so I gave it a 3 but it's a strong 3/borderline 4.
One hour of this is a bit much. Halcyon+On+On is quite enough. Time Becomes is a really bad way to open your album.
I quite enjoyed this album but, overall, I didn't feel hooked or blown away by it. Maybe there was a little bit too much time spent circling round sound effects and holding you in suspense for some music to start. Also, the ryrhmic sections are a little too techno/EDM for my tastes, the beat often quite simple and repetitive which gives it a plodding feeling, although in a nightclub this might land differently. Pretty good but I was left feeling like it's probably not as good as some people think it is. Just too much repetition of simple beats to score top marks.
Solid EDM/techno music. Made fine background music in the work commute.
Decent. 3/5
It had a fun beat, and I could definitely see myself dancing at a club to it. Is it something I'd listen to at home though? I don't really think it is.
Perfectly fine electronic music. Nothing that stood out and nothing that made me wish it was over.
3/5
It's an early 90's techno album that is also moonlighting as a more atmospheric electronic beast. I was only 12 when this came out so it passed me by. Probably sounded great in a field off your tits, and it sounds pretty good today at work, not off my tits. Fair play. Best Tracks: PLANET OF THE SHAPES; Lush 3.1; HALCYON + ON + ON;
Vind dit best cool, maar uiteindelijk gebeurt er net te weinig interessants voor 4 sterren. Kan me voorstellen dat dit waanzinnig is als je into techno bent.
Basic techno for the most part. Michael Dorn on the first track was pretty fun.
Really cool electronic music! I see the idea and development from track to track. Considered as piece of ART
Okayy. But its background music
Esta bueno, muy cool y eso q no soy de escuchar mucho este estilo
Este disco de “ The Orbital” ? Tienen de mejores….
Good enough electronic. Didn't mind it. The intro and outro were dumb, but the actual tracks were inoffensive and tight.
Orbital, otro duo, toda un celebridad. Marcaron el paso de Madchester (808 State) al Techno y lo que vino después (The Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim...) El nombre viene de una autopista de Londres, que era la ruta de la escena rave y del acid house. Tienen más cosas que sólo la musical. Conciencia de clase, ser pionero en grabar solo con energía solar... Segundo disco, sin título, pero de enorme repercusión. El inicio con Time becomes no aporta gran cosa, más allá del phasing Lush tampoco. Es Techno-Trance, no me va. Impact se me hace demasiado larga y pesada Remind sí es un gran tema. Es un regrabación instrumental del remix de "Mind the Bend the Mind" de Orbital de "Mindstream" de Meat Beat Manifesto Walk now, no me gusta. Monday, sí. Halcy+on+on sigue la buena racha. Con la voz de voz de Kirsty Hawkshaw, es otra remezcla l de su canción de 1992, Halcyon. Tienen otros dos álbumes en el listado, con uno, cualquiera de ellos, bastaría.
Ambient. Background. Ok.
It was fine. Very experimental and cool 😎 and it was very nice to chill and vibe to, but it’s just not my thing. Overall, I’d give it a 3/5
Ok, so The Orb and Orbital are two different bands?!? I liked the first couple of tracks that were goofing on loops. Most everything after that felt like a super long ad for a car I would never want to own. I think I like The Orb more, but in any case, this is music for raving not for sitting down and listening to.
It's (mildly) interesting that the project editors decided to have two Orbital albums in the collection, especially since they didn't include Orbital's debut, and also because Orbital's musical range isn't really wide enough to differentiate their albums all that much (at least these two). Just as I wrote with "Snivilisation", I enjoy their music overall, but more as background music than an active listening experience. It's hard to pick out any highlights on the album--especially since the tracks largely blend into each other, and are effectively all instrumentals--but somewhat counter-intuitively it feels like their longer (9+ minute) tracks have the best balance and progression, despite that this album is too long by half. I also enjoyed the amusing and *very* British flea-market video to accompany "Lush 3-1".
Better than expected (admittedly I had very low expectations as a very much non EDM/ techno fan). Has elements of ambient. The simplistic computer drums annoy me a bit but I get that ravers high on drugs can't handle anything more complex. Probably deserves a place on the list.
A bit annoying at times. 3.5
Background music. More like a videogame soundtrack
Este album tiene la misma edad que yo. Al escucharlo pensaba en que, cuando yo nací, la gente de mi edad probablemente estaba escuchando esto, y me dí cuenta que después de tanto tiempo nada ha cambiado. O que todo cambio demasiado. La verdad es no pensé en nada y sólo quería completar la reseña con tonterías.
Mejor de lo que esperaba. Creí que iba a sonar anticuado y hay algunos temas que son bastante atemporales. Mi impresión con la música electrónica es que casi puedes saber qué sintetizadores y samplers estaban de moda en el momento en que se grabó un disco. En este caso no es así. Interesante.
Definitely not an album to listen to straight through, and not really for me, but I don't mind it?
Groovy tunes to clean to.
Halcyon + On + On
Interesting
Pretty cool
time becomes a loop
These types of albums are always an hour long for some reason and they absolutely do not need to be.
It’s fun and some great stretches, but kind of annoying sometimes. Maybe not a sit down listen through type album, but worth a spin when you’re in the mood.
Decent electronic set
I think I'd really enjoy ketamine.
Mortal Kombat song couldn't save the album from ultimately being mid. Intro and outro annoying. Halcyon is a banger though.
Very 90’s but fun. Driving beats
Quite enjoyed this one. Nothing in particular stood out but the vibe was good.
это непонятно и иногда даже неслышно
Not bad as far as background music goes, except for the first and last "song," which were just unnecessary.
Ooh! Mortal Kombat song!
Opening and closing tracks actively awful. The rest is OK.
HALCYON + ON + ON and LUDH 3-2
Pretty good Dance album. More on the trippy and atmospheric side of techno rather than the heavy and pummeling one. There are some good progressions happening here but I wish they'd happen a bit more often, though. Of course it sounds very dated, as electronic music tends to, but I find it charming and nostalgic, even if this was before my time. Key tracks: Lush 3-1 Remind Halcyon + On + On
HALCYON + ON + ON is banger
Most of it was pretty good, but there was some bullshit in the opening and closing track. My favourites were Lush 3.1, IMPACT and MONDAY.
Trance-ish, rhythmic, spatial
More experimental, at least at the beginning, than their following record Snivilisation. And the music at the beginning suffers. It's ridiculously repetitive, with the opening track being symbolic of what's to come (see appendix below). At least what's being repeated is kind of entertaining, if only in a mind-numbingly goofy way. The track PLANET OF THE SHAPES does better with its soundscaping tendencies – that second section (when the percussion drops out) is kind of mesmerising. But that melody on the synths gets old after the first eight or so minutes. Lush 3.1 is where the album really picks up: the high, floaty synths pack a punch, and the music doesn't overstay its welcome. LUSH 3-2 has a different title format to Lush 3.1 for some reason, and the track is also a big step down in general. IMPACT (The Earth Is Burning) is decent for the majority of its ten-minute track length. Where it really picks up is near the end, when intricate, otherworldly synths start playing a shockingly great series of interweaving melodic lines before transitioning into REMIND, another rock-solid track. WALK NOW and MONDAY suffer from the same repetitiveness as Time Becomes and LUSH 3-2, though I will give a special mention to the ringtone-like synth sound on Monday. It gets old really quickly, sure – but for the first 20 seconds or so, it's pretty compelling! Then there's the big single, the poppy HALCYON + ON + ON. And honestly, I understand the appeal. Reminds me of Björk, and for that reason alone it's one of the best songs here. Appendix: 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 loo output rotation (input translation) / output rotation (input translation) / output rotation (input translation) / output rotation (input translation) / output rotation (input translation) / output rotation (input translation) / output rotation (input translation) / output rotation (input translation) / output rotation (input translation) / output rotation (input tra 3/5 Key tracks: Lush 3.1, IMPACT (The Earth Is Burning), HALCYON + ON + ON
Fine. A few good parts here and there. A lot of it sounded dated. Good for video game music, meh for an album.
I enjoyed this album. Halcyon + On + On was the only song I’d heard before (in Hackers) but I’d always liked it. Solid overalll.
it’s aight
I was not previously familiar with this album but I know the artist. This is a sort of ambient dance music, I guess it is Techno. It is pretty interesting. I like music like this to have on in the background while working. I am not sure if I would ever sit down to listen to music like this, but I appreciate being able to put it on while working on something.
Halcyon and on and on is a 5, the rest of the album, a 2.
Not my thing but I sort of liked it.
Some nice melodies here, lot of boring repetition that a lot in the genre suffer from, halcyon was nice, idk 2.5ish round up
(64/100)
Pretty good electronic, didn't seem to wear out it's welcome
I’m not a house music guy, but I can tell this is good
The one thing that bothers me most is artless repetition so I struggled not to quit at the very first track. This does not bode well. I hear touches of Devo in these early tracks. The sound is good, though I am not a huge EDM fan. The last track had similar repetition so if you can't stand that, stay away.
Ambient music with a pulse and some grit. Generally I prefer my electronic music with some vocals which is why _Halcyon + On + On_ was by far my fave track here. The rest was good too, though it did occasionally labour the point and it's too long but it's something I might listen to in the right mood.
It’s a 3. I mean, I did genuinely like it. The issue with this album is that whenever it hits the peak of “vibes”, it just keeps going for twice as long as it needs to. Electronica is paced at its best when you can put the listener in a really nice spot, and then go to the finish, leaving them simultaneously satisfied & yet wanting more. The issue with actually giving them more is that, unless you’re a master of knowing how to really keep progression from feeling stale (like say, a Fatboy Slim, an 808 State, a DJ Shadow, etc), then it’s very easy to come down from that “really nice spot” and just feel sort of bored by the time any given track ends. That’s this album’s fatal flaw; it flows really nicely between tracks, with good starts & good finishes, but for the vast majority of the album, the actual middle/core of each track just goes on for far, far too long. This is an issue Orbital would largely avoid on “Snivilisation”, save for the last track there, so I guess they learned from this album’s faults. Past that, I think it’s just a little too obviously dated to 1993; with a lot of these tracks lacking vocal samples & some of the same vibes as their UK house contemporaries, the MIDI synths here are left to carry the load, and they just don’t carry them that well. There’s some good melodies & moments here, occasionally feeling like a really good base for a Fatboy Slim instrumental, but without the extra heft & energy (see: rock elements) involved, they just never reach that higher point that electronica requires to put the listener into more of a fever pitch. As I said though, I liked it, and I do think a much more trimmed version of this album that cuts the fat would flow really nicely; if they could get this down to 40-45 minutes (probably possible), I really think it would be more warmly received. As it stands, it’s just at a 3 for me, and that’s probably its ceiling. At least Worf was here. That was kinda neat.
Engrossing
It's alri, not rushing back to listen to it
Some alright edm but no real take offs with the builds
The back half is really good. Like halfway through this thing started to really quick for me, and I found myself lost in a web of simple melodies and grooves that together made up a world. Simple but effective
Another by these guys. I think I prefer the other one, Worf sample notwithstanding.
It is very interesting. Intro and outro show how creative they are. The album felt too long for me, but despite that I enjoyed parts of it, their music is catchy and it feels intelligently produced.
Alright electronic music. Not terrible, not spectacular.
One long track of long track of sound of souunnd.
Started strong, then I got bored, then I really liked it again, then forgot about it. I think that makes it a solid “3”
Damn Dimebag owes a lot to Eddie.
Kinda unexciting which was a bit expected for an hour long video electronic album but I didn’t hate it either. It had its highlights fs but its lowlights too.
Good music to work to. As a Sydney resident, I enjoyed (and saved to a playlist) Walk Now
Interesting
This album is cool and groovy and works nicely as ambient background music but somehow makes me feel uneasy. There's no euphoria.
The album certainly got off on the wrong foot just repeating “time becomes a loop“ over and over, but I found the rest of the album interesting. It wasn’t my favorite techno album, but I could get into it.
enjoyed this quite a bit, very 90’s electronica
3 - decent electronica album
Good but need to be in a club
Wtf early ass house music but kinda cool
I'll give this a 3, because I've given other similar albums to those a 3. But, going forward, I'm going to dock similar albums a star, because I just don't know what they are bringing to the list. None of the similar techno albums we've had a bad, per se, but they are interchangeable in the extreme.
Somewhat dated but largely unobjectionable electronica.
Nothing not to like about this album. And it's really great to work to.
Eh. It's alright. Just not my thing. 3/5.
Strange, but okay vibes. 3 stars
Was aware of orbital, but won't have listened to any by choice before. Totally what I was expecting, and it's pretty good as background music. Probably won't ever be more than that to me, but that's ok 2.5 but 3
Techno
where time becomes a loop... where time becomes a loop... where time becomes a loop... That's not nearly as bad as reviews and ratings make it look. Time Becomes or Input Out are irritating, but there's a kind of junk beauty in it. It reminds me of donation messages to streamers with repititive sounds, lol. Besides that, I had a great time with this album. Moreover, I listened to it twice! I don't know electronic music very well. I guess it's not a masterpiece for the ages, but I like it, especially for background listening. Output rotation (Input translation) Output rotation (Input translation) Output rotation (Input translation) 3/5 —————————————— Liked: — WALK NOW...
Few good electronic beats
My least favorite Orbital album. Why is this one the one they chose? Ugh
Yesterday I listened to a Korean drone noise album that had a single 1 hour long song with a horn sample that looped through the whole song and I loved it. And that was easier to get through than 2 minutes of "time becomes a loop". I am 700+ albums into this list and can't believe how much British electronic music is on this list. If you are just starting this list there are like 40 albums that sound JUST like this and they are always an hour or longer. This album did very little for me, there were a couple of moments I enjoyed but for the most part everything just feels very dragged out. If I got this album 500+ albums ago I think I would have been more generous, but I have heard far too many albums that sound just like this that I couldn't really be bothered. I do think this is one of the better British electronic albums though. Low 3.
3/5
Really got into it at some parts, fell out of it at others. I could see this being awesome in some clubs in the 90s
Solid. The start of a great run.
Favorite Track: HALCYON + ON + ON
This will Remind you to Walk Now…
When the robot A.I. invasion happens, at least we know their musical culture will be accepted. They've been preparing us for years! You've been warned!
When it started I thought what the hell is this. By the end I had a good time with this album.
Impressive in its composition, but not really my sort of thing
Not bad. Typical electronic music.
I liked this quite a bit and it finished strong.
3.5! hovered at "nice, into it" with occasional dips into "annoyingly repetitive"
I wanted to give this a 2 because it's really not for me, but I'm pushing it to a 3. Although it's not my style, something in it made me not hate it, and that's actually a pretty good effort.
Sure, good vibe stuff but didn't really do much for me
Do I know this song Halcyon and On and On? Another album that is fine, but could easily be replaced by the SNES Donkey Kong Country soundtrack. Might re visit.
I don’t understand why so many people hate electronica (though I don’t think this one is good either)
This was okay. Not the best I've heard, but not the worst.
This one landed in an odd spot for me. It’s clearly thoughtful, clearly influential, and definitely easier on the ears than the abrasive distortion-fest of Cross. There’s a sense of patience and architecture here, like Orbital were actually trying to build something instead of just bludgeoning you with synths. But the problem is time. In 1993, this probably sounded futuristic. In 2025, it mostly sounds like the DNA of every electronic track that came after it. A lot of these textures feel like “default patches” now—not because Orbital were boring, but because everyone has borrowed their vocabulary so heavily. I respect the craft, but it doesn’t feel novel anymore, and it’s hard to un-hear that. Still, it’s a more enjoyable listen than I expected. The atmospheres are pleasant, the grooves are steady, and when the melodies peek out (especially on the famous Halcyon + On + On), you can absolutely hear why this left a mark. I just don’t love it as a full album in the present day. It’s a solid, respectable listen—good background immersion, historically important—but not something I’m going to reach for regularly. A comfortable three.
Bra kok på plata her, men igjen ikke helt opp min gate.
When it comes to looping, you can easily lose me if it goes too long. After a while, I may even get annoyed and frustrated. I don't do well with repetitive noise that has no variance or build. This album felt frustrating for most of the way. It worked better as background noise while I was doing chores. I'm sure it's much more enjoyable at a rave or club. However, when Halcyon + On + On started, it really clicked. It's too bad it was the last track because that song really grabbed me. I wish the rest of the album shared a similar sound.
Kind of pretentious BS but better than most electronica popping up on this list. This eventually falls into a good groove.
Techno has gone straight downhill from here
A bit repetitive and tedious - but could be great music to disassociate to, noting it down for next time I need to enter the loop of mindless numbness.
This really isn't my thing, probably will revisit later and maybe like it, but way too repetitive
Listening to this at work was about as appropriate a setting for the music as listening to death metal at a wedding. That being said it was an interesting vibe throughout. Lush 3.1 was my favorite song. Probably won’t be a regular listen, but I could definitely see coming back to it once or twice.
I mean. It’s fine.
Track #1 is beyond dogshit, and I assume that many stopped listening afterwards. Bad choice though because this album isn't even too bad. It contains a lot of stuff that reminds me of the og Ratchet & Clank soundtracks by David Bergeaud. So if you've played these games, you're in for a treat. Other than that, it's not like I'd intentionally listen to it, so it fits pretty well as background music. And one more important thing: even with "Time Becomes", it's still better than Elvis Costello 🤣
Great electronic music to mow to. I’d imagine it’s good in the club, if I was that type
Other than the first and last tracks, there are some fun songs here that at worst get slightly annoying, but it was more manageable in my opinion than other electronica albums on this list.
1993. Selected Ambient Works de Aphex Twin es de 1992. Music Has The Right To Children de Boards of Canada es de 1998. Por contextualizar un pelín la música electrónica que empezaba a asomar en ese momento y la que vendría unos años después. Algunos temas están chulos, pero no podía dejar de pensar en esos otros discos que me gustan más, y en lo difícil que es envejecer para la música electrónica a partir de cierta fecha. Se me hizo un pelín repetitivo y predeterminado, aunque creo que es más una cuestión de expectativas porque me esperaba algo más IDM o experimental en vez de techno. No me entró del todo bien pero le daré otra oportunidad.
Decent background music.
cool electronic
Meh
This ok. Not really my thing
I like electronic a lot - I'd wish this list would feature a lot more. But this album? Aphex Twin had better ambient, and Prodigy's experience better dance tracks, both 1 year earlier. Sure the both Lush songs are great (I like the slow buildup), but the rest of the album? The voice samples were annoying (Propellerheads nailed that a lot better - of course a lot later), and Walk Now/Monday are clearly subpar songs. Overall I don't see why this album belongs on this list.
So many of these electronic albums remind me so much of old ps1 games. This one wasn’t too bad, a few catchy tracks.
is there any autechre on this list
I don't even know what I heard. I think I'm going crazy now 7/10
One or two songs I got into, the rest were a bit meh
Not my jam. I think I get it though, and it is actually quite listenable, but beyond that it's just "there". It gets a small star rating bump because I caught myself bopping my head to some tracks, but that was it. The definition of OK.
Let’s get this out of the way - this is very long, and it’s very repetitive. Normally I would mark those as major negatives, and whilst they still aren’t positives, I feel like this album benefits from both of them. This isn’t really an album you listen to, but as ambience I think it works really well, and I was surprised that I quite enjoyed it. I always thought I hated EDM, but clearly some is right in my groove - Chemical Brothers and this lot seeming to be there. It’s not getting a huge mark, and I’ll likely never listen to it again consciously, but I wouldn’t turn it off. 3 stars, but a high 3 stars.
Certainly was electronic music
Right down the middle on this one. Didn't like or dislike it. It was not terrible and I don't remember anything about it.
Nice.
Orbital 2 took me on a journey. The first song was extremely repetitive for being so short, but the immediate next song was fascinating: psychedelia with influence from South Asian music. I vibed to the whole album because of the second song; I could not have come back around on Orbital 2 without "Planet of the Shapes." Good working music.
Yeah, we get it; "where time becomes a loop". Aside from that annoying track 1, the album picked up quite a bit and I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. Don't get me wrong; I love techno and dance music, but a lot of these techno albums of the early 90s were slogs for me, personally, due to repetitiveness. This album somehow escaped that for me, anyway. They live up to the name "Orbital", as they seem to have a lot of earthy and even sci-fi themes cascading through the song titles and minimal lyrics. And like any good space age listening, it's a tad bit industrial, too.
Rave fuel. Sweat and strobe lights. Spins: 2 Playlist Additions: - Lush 3.1 - IMPACT (The Earth Is Burning) - HALCYON+ON+ON
Electonic, repetitive
this was cool. it was a lot of pure techno just to sit here and listen to on headphones but it was pretty good at least
The Good: We know what to score to give the album… The Bad: What if we like to give it a higher score, do we change the album name? The Ugly: For those who didn’t like it the album would be called Orbital Shit… EMD… it be what it be. Having said that, oddly enough, I found that this album worked perfectly as background sound while you are working on a project… and for this I would almost go so far as to give the album a 4* score… almost. My main gripe with this album, and similar works, is that they tend to suffer from too many extended mixes—I don’t want to listen to a rhythm pattern for 9 minutes long… It could have been a 4* album had the play length been shorter...
And again the wrong Orbital album. You’re just doing this to spite me, right?
it was fun electronic. Chill electrobeats to work out/study to
Quite repetitive so not too bad to have on while working. Not my usual type of thing but enjoying it more than I thought I would.
Forgot the fucking thing was playing most of the time. Intro was a little cool though (I think I'll bump this to a 3)
I thought some tracks were quite engaging and interesting, and found others more monotonous. Cool atmosphere overall. 3.5
Cool electronic rave album. Much more interesting than the Orbital book that is floating around right now. This sounds fairly modern for being released in '93. Like planet of the shapes and halcyon+on+on a lot. Very easy to listen to and quite danceable.
Techno/Electronica (EDM?) record. I don’t find it terribly groundbreaking or original, having listened to Delerium, FLA, The Prodigy, etc. for years. It was a pretty big hit and is considered influential in the genre, which I’m not a huge fan of and don’t follow
Sounds like techno to me. 3/5
Album really flows from one song to the next, not my usual taste in music but enjoyed the album.
Love the 90s dance club music. Really like the sitar in there. A little bit repetitive, but that goes with the territory. I don't know if this paved the way for 90s dance music, but makes sense if it did. The weird whispery singing in one of the songs creeped me out a little...actually, now I like it.
Favorite Track: Lush 3.1
I don't typically care for repetitive EDM music. But this is better than OK while I'm working and not needing to pay full attention. Was this some OG EDM?
Decent at far as house-techno goes. Easy to have on in the background, not necessary to engage with, fully.
Thought the time loop thing at the start was a good bit, but then it went for another minute or so and just became annoying. The outro was annoying too. Overstaying a welcome is pretty much the overarching theme of this 65 minute long album. Lot’s of songs that could have 3 or 4 minutes instead of 7 or 8. Despite that, I actually almost enjoyed it at times. Felt like I was listening to the background music for some indie space-themed RPG.
Halcyon is still a brilliant song. Rest ok 3/5
I'm not a fan of songs that are too long or too same-y. But it's certainly closer to the kind of electronic music that I do like than all that's come before (on this site).
De los primeros de electrónica que escuche.
Good for background music if I need to focus on work or something. Otherwise don't see myself listening to this on its own.
good album from a band that get much much better bit later . 3
Very brit-electronica. Very of its time. Not my speed.
Sounds like one long DJ set. Too long. Hard to tell where a song stops and a new one starts. It was obviously made for dancing, not for listening. It's very repetitive. Not very melodic. It probably sounds exactly as intended. Favorite song: impact.
Weird start
When it's not endlessly repeating a phrase this is fun to listen to.
I really enjoyed this. I'm on a bit of a retro electronic music phase at the moment, Autechre and the like. Considering this was made in the early nineties, roughly the same time R.E.M. were releasing Out of Time and Automatic for the People, this is surely a fairly groundbreaking album, even if it's not the most interesting. There are definite shades of Autechre here; you can hear some of these sounds on Amber which is a couple of years later, so the line of influence from stuff like Orbital to Autechre and through the electronics of the 2000s is probably fairly clear at least from a newbie listener.
I actually liked the first and last track i suppose its some fancy way of saying rhythm is more complicated than we think
After Boards of Canada, I was not extremely excited to get into another early electronic album. This one, however, is a little more my speed. I had friends who made electronic music in the early 00s, and this feels remarkably similar to what they were making even a decade later. I guess that's triggering a sense of nostalgia in me, even though I've never listened to this particular album nor do any raving in the 90s.
Hypnotic 90s dance/techno. Neat synth instrumentation and layered beats that flow seamlessly. Did it need two entire tracks entirely consisted of a phase shifted vocal loop though? Nah
New rule: When it's an album people primarily listen to chemically altered, the chemical(s) must be provided lol This could have been a 5 ⭐
Drags for too long at times, but interesting album nonetheless
Honestly, kind of boring
Yet another dip into the endless well of mediocre 90s British electronic music.
Me lo esperaba peor. No acabo de entender a la gente fan del techno, pero pensaba que sería más insoportable. No ha estado tan, tan mal. Pero que no me pongan mucho más tecnho ni ambient techno ni cosas de estas.
Bom album, os anos 90 foram muito bons para a música eletrônica, algo bastante experimental, então encontramos muitas repetições, alguns sons industriais leves, o que pode dificultar algumas tracks.
Favoriten Lush3.1 Halcoyn +on+on
For almost 20 years, Len Houmous thought this was an album about the roadworks and improvements being made on a road works! 3.3 3/10 Lush 3.1
Довольно монотонно и однообразно, однако, как фон сойдёт изредка. 5,5 из 10.
Very reletetive but I actually enjoyed it way more than I expected.
A pretty fun 90s EDM album. Seemed to get better as the album continued. Not everything i'm looking for, but was fun. I can see why in 93 this would be a big deal.