Orbital 2

Probably good in the context of early electronic music. Didn’t age well

interesting...

It wasn’t terrible- a bit repetitive and some awful tracks but the actual music ones were alright to listen to in the background. I feel you need to be high to fully appreciate it.

Good as background music or if you want to find sleep.

I don’t listen to this type of music a lot, so maybe that is why I felt underwhelmed. Some good beats and riffs, but just didn’t do it for me. However, I would like to see this band pay live because I bet it would be a great night!

It's fine! Maybe it was revolutionary for the time. Added Halcyon+On+On to my ambient/work playlist.

Really really good electronic record. A little trancy. Very spacey. I'm giving it a 5 because I can't give 4.5's but it is masterfully produced and just good productive work music or just nice dance music.

truly mesmerizing electronic music; i've listened to a few of orbitals material and i'm very familiar with their abstract and almost alien way of producing dance tracks... this album is certainly no exception. you electronic musicheads out there will fixate hard on this "brown album". hip, post-modern and minimalist infectious beatsies persist throughout the album's runtime. it's the sort of oddly fascinating electronic music that at first makes you a little confused, but it soon worms right into your brain, entrancing you with its music. if aphex twin is the weirdo outsider in the family, orbital is the older introverted brother that exhibits grace and class in his musical poetry.

Fine for a 90's electronic record, but also nothing extraordinary for a 90's electronic record.

Fantastic.

It was terrible.

Nicht so meins, aber mal ganz interessant, sich das anzuhören.

I hate this type of electronic music.

More electronic garbage sausage.

Very of its time. I like later orbital stuff, but wasn’t a huge fan of this. Always waiting for something to happen. It didn’t.

So so

Orbital is a British duo that made techno that combined elements of trance and break-beat rhythms. Their first two albums were untitled, and have come to be known as #1 and #2, or the Green and Brown albums, respectively. Orbital 2, the Brown Album, is regarded as the band's best work, and one of the best dance albums of all time. Orbital became well known for their live shows, in part, for the improvisational approach they take to their performances. These are great dance tracks, with impressive range for techno.

That was a hard one. Samples are weird, and it’s missing dynamics. I now know what wa a the use of the special sound effects vinyls found during crate digging… he used the car horn section generously on one of them songs. I laughed!

ABURRRRIIIDOOOOO

Why is this on this list?

Shitty rave music.

That's not my taste in music, but ok.

Alright as far as techno goes but yeah

Experimental techno like

Slow techno

I liked it. Though I'd love to hear a fan of this record explain the artistry behind having your entire opening track be 1m 43s of a man say 'when time becomes a loop'. Not a great foot to get off on. The rest is good bar a few more irritating moments. 'MONDAY' being a highlight.

Not usually my kind of thing, but I found myself getting lost in a lot of these beats. I don’t really have a bad word to say (which is pretty rare for me with this kind of music). A pleasant listen if you’re in the right headspace and don’t want any distractions. ✨

What a trip. I’m not really into EDM, but it was cool to hear something so different. A long, spacey ride with some genuinely beautiful moments.

Does this guy get paid something every time he recommends an electronica album? How many more of these shi**y albums must we try to endure?

It's an interesting album but electronic music is not something I'm usually interested in

So repetitive ..... not sure how to get into the trance of it, but I keep feeling intrigued by it.

Hmm. Electronic stuff. Not terrible. Long repeated phrases.

Couldn't do the entire album. If any genre is susceptible to becoming obsolete its electronica/techno. These synth they're using just sound fucking awful. Its also not old enough to justify IMO. They definitely had access to better shit and just chose these cheap sounds and made boring songs with them.

Not much there for me. Occasionally, I was digging some of the simple melodies and vocal work, but I would never go for this. I think a big reason that I wasnt able to latch on is how far electronic music has come since 93. My ears are tuned to 2008 and beyond in the electronic world.

Didn’t do much for me. I poked around on their other top songs. It’s actually a pretty nice listen - Belfast, Chime - but an hour of this is kind of brutal. Give us more BANDS.

Bleeps and bongs away happily in its repetitive dance beats for a long long time. Never being into Electronica or the rave scene have to say it’s not too bad in a background kind of way. Definitely not as bad as thought after the 1st track. Probably better with visual stimuli and if off your face, 2 Star

Lol! Yes! Mortal Kombat! Oh that took me back. Well besides that little surprise, this was a total grind. It's been a while since I gave a 1, it was just a matter of time. No disrespect electronica but not my thing.

I had an ex girlfriend who had a saying, that was maybe sort of mean but she thought it was nice, which was "Cute for someone" meaning hey this person is not attractive to me but I'm sure could be for someone. That's kind of how I feel about Orbital 2. It's a 5 for someone!

Endnu et britisk 90'er electronica album... idk...... jeg har svært ved at høre om det er godt eller dårligt, den genre her løber bare gennem mig som vand

Jeg er skeptisk over hvor meget af sådan noget easy listening elevator-elecktronisk fra 90erne der er i bogen, men når det er egentlig techno synes jeg som regel det er fed, og det her er ikke en undtagelse. Det hjælper også at jeg så Orbital i Royal Albert Hall i London da jeg var 19 og det var pissesjovt.

Tool some time to get into. It's minimalistic but also feels ahead of it's time? Definitely a different path than Aphex Twin. 4-

Really enjoyed this one. I wasn’t sure. Some songs could have been a bit shorter, but overall it got me grooving and I liked it a hell of a lot.

You know those randomisers they do on AGDQ where like, everytime sonic picks up a ring it swaps from sonic 1 to 2 to Boom to 2016? It’s like each track it swaps from wipeout to Rez to the PS1 demo disk music

I don't know if I would have liked this more in 1993, but it sounds dated now and not really anything special.

First and last song: RUBBISH...second song not quite into it...Afterwards I cranked up the volume and really got into this stuff...unexpeceted!

his was supe cool, some o my keys hae sopped wokin which is onna mess up his eiew a i ho...

Ik ken dit uiteraard weer eens niet en ik ben benieuwd wat ik ga aantreffen. De global reviews zijn hier redelijk duidelijk over, maar ik heb al gemerkt dat dat bij genres als bijv. electronica of hiphop weinig zegt. Ik zet dit album met gepaste voorzichtigheid aan en vreemd genoeg vind ik het begin best veelbelovend. Ik wil niet de tegendraadse snob uithangen, maar door dat eindeloze 'When times becomes a loop', waarbij het ritme steeds een beetje opschuift, zit ik er eigenlijk meteen lekker in. Dit is zo'n hypnotiserende technoplaat. Ik vind dat vaak heerlijk om de werkdag mee te beginnen, mits het allemaal niet té druk en schurend wordt. En dat lijkt op dit album reuze mee te vallen. De nadruk ligt meer op ritmes en herhaling dan op agressieve geluiden. Ondanks de niet geringe lengte en bak aan herhaling vind ik dit voorbij vliegen. Het verrassingselement doet weer eens z'n werk. Ik ga voor de 5 sterren.

Simply one of the best electronic albums of all time. Don't usually do this, but it deserves 5* for Halycon + On + On alone. Rest of the album is brilliant too though. Walk Now's British traffic light pedestrian crossing sample was damn cool. Lush 3.1 was amazing too. + On + On + On. Input Out.

without peaks

Techno for the sake of techno. As the album drives on and one “song” blends into the next I find myself as fatigued as I would be if I were dancing to this music in a dark club and my energy were waning. By the final tracks I’m just wondering if we can skip ahead to the part where we eat shitty food and go home.

ya know, I actually liked it, with out any K. It is what you expect so if looking of techno dance this is it

Funky

What a fun listen! Really loved the use of samples “Time Becomes a Loop” feels almost hallucinatory. Really loved the two Lush tracks and Halcyon. Fun listen, definitely will listen to this again and check out more of their discography

Not bad background music. Long, boring, repetitive Standout song: REMIND

Dope

Biggest piece of shit ive ever heard

Elektronista musiikkia, tämmöistä kevyttä ysäri teknoa. Ihan hyvä tunnelma vaikka vähän käy toistavaksi. Avaruusmainen fiilis. Kappaleet vaihtuu sulavasti ja yhtenäisesti toiseen. Oikeestaan ihan kova :D Parhaat: Remind, Lush 3.1, Halcyon + On + On

amazing album!

Spacey!

Still not worked out what old, bald blokes are what when it comes to 90s, British duos that also happen to be pioneers of electronic music and have orb in their name. Like it though.

Pioneering techno stuff by the brothers. A real go to album for me when I went get somewhere fast!

I think my brain chemistry has permanently changed after listening to this

Pretty cool og

Good o

Get past the first song. Listen to it all. It grows on you. Not first choice but at least understand the appeal.

This is the second orbital album on this list that I’ve listened to. I’m sure there’s more to the artistry that makes this great and worthy of this list, I just don’t get it.

Electronic dande beats

I think I found this album more appealing than the rest of the EDM albums I’ve listened to previously. I’m not exactly sure why but this one just felt like there was more depth and layers to it. There were some psychedelic aspects to it which I enjoyed, but some goofy sounds too which I was like bruh. Mostly only instrumental.

Techno - for everyone who likes it....

Awful

eeeee estandar

Was it entirely unpleasant to listen to while I did chores in the kitchen? No. Will I ever seek it out again? Also no.

fenomenal musikresa från början till slut, känns som nåt slags kärleksbarn till Pink Floyd och Jean-Michel Jarre. Loopade albumet flera gånger då det flöt på väldigt bra. Inte långt ifrån full pott.

Oväntat behagligt!

hate this (but the album's cover's cool ig?)

Great old school electronica. Endlessly charming in its simplicity and probably a gargantuan pain in the arse to put together with the technology of the day. The genius of it is that they wanted to make a proper album and understood that just transposing their live set to a CD wouldn’t cut it. So you get glimpses of the sweaty club bangers they were partial to but tempered (not unlike Burial) with long sections of twinkling ambience bordering on Hawkwind and Eno, with a proper intro and outro and a vague running theme of ‘space and stuff’. This one was made with headphones and introspection in mind and it still works a treat even now.

Not great

Electronica is just tough for me. This was a long and difficult album to get through. Started to give me a headache. No more electronica.

1.5 My first listen to this album came right on the heels of a massive Spotify outage, so when I initially heard the first song, I assumed there must be something still wrong with the platform. Nope, as it turns out, it really is just two minutes of a dude repeating “Where time becomes a loop”. Somehow, the album doesn’t get much better from there. I genuinely try to keep an open mind with every new entry on this list, but as someone who isn’t really into club techno, this gave me nothing new to appreciate about the genre at all. Most of these songs are annoying, too long, and just assaulting on the senses, and not in a fun, punk rock kind of way that gets you amped up - pissed off maybe, but not in a way that I think was intended. I was constantly having to throttle the volume down on this while listening, not just for my benefit, but also my neighbors', and as a result, I was over this pretty quickly. There’s one bright spot on this album, if you can even call it that (“dimly lit” may be more accurate), and that’s Halcyon + On + On. It’s certainly not great by any means, but it’s by far the most tolerable track, and I’d even go as far as to admit that it has a bit of an angelic, ethereal quality that might work for me at the right time and place - however, today was not that. Appropriately, this album is also commonly referred to as “The Brown Album”, presumably because it’s shit. Maybe it’s fun if you’re in the club and on molly, but I don’t see this becoming a part of my Wednesday musical rotation anytime soon. Also, wtf is on the album cover? Are those kidneys??

Just a big bag of NOPE

this thing fucks

I cannot express how annoying the intro and outro songs of this album were to me. And I did not care for the rest either.

Shit

First and last tracks aside, turned this up and waheyy!!

Thumping electronics. Driving beassts with some light voices.

That was fun. Pleasant background music for the workday, bookended by two looped vocal tracks. Felt video gamey so I think I connected more than I did with the other electronic albums I’ve hard on here recently. Shoutout to my man Worf.

Favorite tracks: REMIND, HALCYON + ON + ON. Nice stuff, vibey, hypnotic. I like that it opens with a Worf quote.

Album 739 of 1001 Orbital - Orbital 2 (1993) Rating : 1.5 / 5 More electronica crap. This one is a little weird, so it gets an extra 1/2 point.

Love Orbital. Do not think this is their strongest album but still very strong.

Orbital 2 I really liked this. I only really have a patchy knowledge of the history of dance music and its various sub genres, but this kind of minimalistic, hypnotic, ambient (hypnombient?) techno is superb. You can hear the influence of Eno in the feel of much of it, and Kraftwerk in the percussive, rhythmic synths, but the added percussive energy of the dance beats gives it a mesmerising, kinetic groove. I found myself listening on repeat, where time becomes a loop, incredibly easily, noticing little moments and details each time. Although there is some degree of variation between the songs; the atmospheric soundtrack mysticalness of Planet of the Shapes, the more thumping Lush 3-1 and Impact and the Balearic influenced Halcyon + On + On, it works best in one go as a brilliantly flowing 65 minute piece of music and atmosphere. It’s a great album, easily a high 4, and will definitely come back to it ⭕⭕⭕⭕ Playlist submission: Monday

I find it hard to listen to electronic duos (especially when they're brothers) without the comparison, maybe unfairly, to Boards of Canada. But I think it would be fair to theorise that this album took hardcore and rave music and helped develop it into something more thoughtful and ambient - this is paving the way for the IDM of Aphex Twin and Boards of Canada. Even though oftentimes I felt like I needed dual 18-inch subwoofers, a bottle of water and a day-glo whistle, to fully immerse myself in its merits. And, at over an hour long, it feels like some medicinal powder is also beneficial to get in the zone proper. But whereas the Prodigy where in your face aggression and fast beats, Orbital works at a reduced tempo. The album lends itself to listening rather than just dancing off your mash. Songs like 'HALCYON + ON + ON' have slow builds and atmosphere (even getting away with going toe to toe with Opus III's 'Its a Fine Day' classic). The tracks have something far beyond their utility simply for the dancefloor. I don't think it has the complexity, layers or sophistication of BoC, but this is consistently a very atmospheric album.

one of my favroutie albums of the nineties, whoever made this selection is awesome

Wacky but halcyon saved the last star for me

Vibe

Definitely not my thing. Too repetitive and just noise..

Very few albums of this genre stand up to listening as a whole because it's, by it's nature, repetitive and better suited to dance to than to listen to on the commute into work. This is not one of those few albums. It's a long old 65 minutes, with only a couple of tracks standing out as worthwhile listens now (and even they are too long). Maybe this was revolutionary at the time, but somehow by 1993 I doubt it.

My favorite version of "Halcyon and on and on" is the live version from their 1996 album IN SIDES. Other than that track, this is a good electronica album, but not a great one.

Smooth and trancey. A nice little listen

Ikkje så dumt, men ikkje så minneverdig heller

I've got some rose tinted glasses for this album, as I used to listen to it a lot. The stand out track by a mile is "Halcyon and On and On" which still holds up incredibly well, as seen by the number of appearances during film epilogues. The song perfectly captures the feeling of hope and security after the heros have saved the day. It's a gorgeous track and surely the best one Orbital ever produced. The rest doesn't quite stand up to the test of time, despite time being an overarching theme of the album. The opening and closing of the album are fairly dull studio experiments with spoken word loops and phase shifting. They're fine but you're left hoping they'll get on with it. The bulk of the album sees Orbital expanding their abilities from their early rave days, with more atmospheric layers. They were ehavily influenced by Jack Dangers' Meat Beat Manifesto (who by the way should be on this list). It's a big step forward, if a bit repetitive. The songs generally work well as part of a dance mix, or as good background music. Unfortunately that's kind of it until you get to "Halcyon". It's definitely not a bad album but it's really not as impressive as I remember it when the novelty wears off. "In Sides" is still the better album.

Such run of the mill electronic music. Sounds like bad video game music. How is this on this list? Makes me question the value of this list.

Love the bookmarked songs. Was a quick hour plus and a shame I didn’t know about the album as a whole before.

I’m 72 albums in and this is the first one where I seriously considered not seeing it through to the bitter end. It just bored me.

Lol. The only thing worse than the hip hop albums on this list is the electronica

In the right scenario I understand why this works but I'm just not into the digital soundscapes anymore.

Looping nonsense. Some of the songs are ok, but it’s mostly fist pumping on repeat. Nothing exciting.

Alive 2007 от Daft Punk, записанный в 1993 году. Второй альбом Orbital представляет из себя интересный микс 8 песен, похожий на современный диджейский сет или концерт. Своим оформлением обложки Orbital словно отводит слушателей от визуала и сеттинга, полностью погружая их в мир электронного звучания альбома. Само звучание здесь, в отличие от большого количества музыки тех времен, не так сильно состарилось, и те синты и ударные, которые были задействованы в создании треков, звучат здесь свежо. Из интересного могу отметить то, что некоторые партии синтов после долгого репита в песнях начинают словно о чем то говорить, создавая некую иллюзию. Это в том числе помогало меня удержать во время прослушивания альбома. На определенном треке, как ярый фанат Radiohead, я заметил знакомые мотивы, отдаленно напомнившие мотивы с Amnesiac. Скорее всего, этот альбом был одним из тех, что слушал Том Йорк, создавая два электронных альбома группы. Для 1993 года звучание замечательное, но в наше время я не вижу особого смысла слушать этот альбом, только в качестве разновидности энергичного эмбиента на работе или учебе, он помогает сконцентрироваться и ближе к середине становится саундтреком в вашей голове (такое я люблю). У альбома нет концептуальности, в нем присутствует мешанина разных звуков, мотивов, инструментов, песни не запоминаются, но слушается вполне неплохо. Исходя из вышесказанного, я хотел бы поставить альбому крепкие 3,5/5, но 4 у меня не поднимается рука зарядить, поэтому 3/5.

Repetitive. Unimaginative. Boring.

I prefer The Orb.

I can't decide if this is a 2 or a 5. It's a 5 because this is really excellent, top notch. It makes me think I'm in a dirty basement in a college town, fog machine running, cheap lights. In the corner, a couple on something- who knows what- is getting a little too handsy and a little too undressed. Between sets I dropped my earplugs case while passing around a joint and a cig, and when I go back up to get it they ask me what are the pills inside. Estrogen and Adderall, I have class in the morning. It's only a 2 because deep in my heart I don't believe people listen to ~albums~ of this music. The subgenres are hyperlocal and niche because the artists know everyone that plays around here, and the variation in the gene pool is from those two guys from Worcester who come around every once in a while. I'm hitting 5 because I know the low scores here probably just don't get it, but I think you had to be there

Neato

Vibey instrumental dance. Really liked the high end melodic stuff. Another one not going into rotation but was really vibing with it. Where are the clubs that are playing this? Probably no where near me, they don’t have the balls!

Another weird electro

For anyone who was into electronic music in the ’90s, this album is a classic. I remember hearing a lot of these tracks played at raves, but they’re also great for just chilling out. It finds that nice balance between techno, house, and ambient, making it both energetic and immersive. I definitely miss these days.

Far too repetitive to be anything but annoying. I’m not on MDMA, so this was not enjoyable at all.

Yeah it's fine

It sounds like 2 computers competing

#526. Tedious and boring to the layman. 2/5: meh

White noise

I'm always impressed by how bad an album can be. This one is absolute crap. There's really nothing more to say.

Halcyon is pretty good the rest of the album is forgettable.

Reasonably good listening but would be much better in a dance environment with reality augmentation.

Sounds like 90s hacking music.

Halcyon On and On is a great song, and part of one of my most beloved movies, Hackers. The rest of the album is fine.

On y est 1993, une année charnière et à l’époque, l'électronique commençait à muter. On sortait de la naïveté des premiers raves pour entrer dans quelque chose de plus "sérieux", de plus "album". Les frères Hartnoll, Paul et Phil, débarquent alors avec ce deuxième effort, sobrement intitulé Orbital II, mais que tout le monde appelle le "Brown Album" à cause de sa pochette couleur purée de châtaignes. Je me souviens de la première fois où je l'ai posé sur la platine. L'album s'ouvre sur un échantillon de Star Trek et un faux craquement de vinyle usé — une petite blague de studio des frangins, paraît-il. Mouais c'est amusant deux minutes, mais quand on vient du post-punk ou du neofolk, on a vu des provocations plus couillues. Le bouquin nous vend ça comme une "progression réelle", un flux constant d'énergie et une "frénésie de danse pure". Je veux bien être indulgent, mais la frénésie, je la cherche encore entre deux boucles de synthé qui s'étirent comme un jour sans pain. C'est là tout le problème, car pour un mec comme moi, l'électronique doit avoir au moins une texture qui te décolle la plinthe. Ici, on navigue entre techno, ambient et trance avec une politesse presque agaçante. Certes, il y a "Lush 3-1" et "Lush 3-2", devenus des hymnes de la scène britannique. C'est propre, c’est bien produit par les Hartnoll eux-mêmes, mais mon Dieu, que ça tourne en rond ! On dirait que le groupe a trouvé une séquence sympa et a décidé de partir faire ses courses en laissant le séquenceur tourner tout seul pendant dix minutes. Prenez "Impact (The Earth Is Burning)", c’est le morceau le plus long de la galette. On nous dit que c'est un favori en live. Peut-être qu'avec deux ecstasies dans le cornet et des lasers plein la tronche dans un champ boueux du Glastonbury de 1994, ça passe. Mais dans mon salon, ou même à la radio à l'époque, j'avais juste envie de passer au morceau suivant. Ça piétine et on ne sait jamais vraiment où ils veulent en venir. C'est le problème de cette "intelligence dance music" : à force de vouloir être malin, on oublie d'être viscéral. On me citera "Halcyon + On On", avec les voix de Kirsty Hawkshaw. Oui, c'est joli, c’est aérien, c’est même "sublime" selon certains. Mais comparé à la puissance d’un Underworld ou à la noirceur d’un Coil, ça manque de dents. On est dans la contemplation un peu vaine. L'album dure 65 minutes et 44 secondes et pour moi, c'est au moins 20 minutes de trop. Une impression persistante de remplissage, de nappes qui servent de tapisserie sonore plus que de véritable voyage. Alors oui, c'est un jalon, oui, c'est dans le bouquin des 1001 albums. Mais ce n'est pas parce qu'un disque a défini le son d'une époque qu'il est exempt de défauts. Dans ma discothèque, il restera coincé entre des trucs bien plus excitants. C’est techniquement irréprochable, mais émotionnellement, c’est un encéphalogramme un peu trop plat par moments. Un 3/5, pour un classique du genre qui souffre d'un sérieux syndrome de la boucle infinie et d'un sentiment de remplissage qui m'empêche de crier au génie.

Awful. Need to be super high to tolerate this

Very atmospheric

This is #day210 of my #1001albumsyoumusthearbeforeyoudie challenge, and... Eminem's "Without Me" pops into my head with the notorious line about techno. While that's aimed at Moby, it kind of fits here, too. Orbital has never crossed my orbit before, so this is my first time listening to them, and, well, it's techno... I can’t say much more beyond that. I get this is an early example of British techno and all that, but honestly, I could've lived my life just fine without hearing it. According to the Album Explorer feature, there's one more Orbital record on the list. Until then, this is a 2 out of 5. Looking forward to #day211.

Have you ever wondered how Alex must have felt during the torture scenes in A Clockwork Orange? Listen to the opening and closing tracks of this album, and you might have some idea. More electronica, yay. While this wasn’t the worst example I’ve ever listened to, I still have no idea how anyone can enjoy this kind of music outside of the context of a club. And even then, who wants to dance to the same incessant loop for over nine minutes? No thanks. 2/5

Sick ambient I have a lot of space for ambient 90s electronic music. Very few points where I didn’t think the production held up. Halcyon is obviously a banger but also loved the tr303 usage in the first half of the album.

Would of given it 2 stars but that second-to-last song single-handedly bumps it up to a 3

This was fantastic. Brain stimulating, intriguing, varied 90s ambient/ acid house I have a lot of time for

Orbital said: let’s make one idea last an hour… and somehow made it feel longer.

I've got to give this one props for actually having some good music in the middle. It sort of outsmarted me, in that the first and last tracks are kind of like tech demos and are just kind of annoying. However, I assume some of the same techniques were used in the middle songs, which were actually good. I wouldn't listen in album form again, but it wasn't as bad as I would have thought given the start.

Meh

This is way better than their last album that I got. This one is way more engaging, even if it is pretty repetitive by its nature. The beats and production are stronger and it's a good easy listen.

Boring

Grew on me as it went on. Not massively me but good on the genre

Not for me. I did enjoy “Planet of the Shapes” though - sounded like it could have been a track on the PS1 Spyro games.

Oh look, another electro album that is boring and puts me to sleep. That's like 3 this week. When will it end? I've had like 1 jazz album can we please put something new on here? 2/10

Like a screensaver from a 1990s PC came to life and became a DJ. The repetition is too much for me.

Electronic music. Two songs were decent, the rest was pretty bad. I was glad it is over. Stand-out: Lush 3-1

Even a stopped clock gives the right time twice a day

Interesting album but it didn't really "grab me by the bobo" so to speak. I found it hard to focus as i was listening and kept feeling like i was listening to the music from "How Is It Made" on the old Discovery Channel. I remember dancing to this style of music at the club, but just listening to it for pleasure is not my thing. 2.5

Simple noises combined to make complex beats. Tasty complex beats. This is the kind of music I could get lost to in the middle of the night in a 12 hour gaming sesh as a kid. 90s techno was on another level and I feel we have moved away from this style and it’s such a shame. Crunchy beats. 9/10

Вщ не выкупил

Oof, this thing is showing me that I am more of a raver than I ever would have thought. Love this. Much better than their other offering on here. Almost makes it to a 5, might well do over time but there isn’t quite enough variety for me a la Leftfield etc

It was fine.

Good electronic album, enjoyed it quite a bit. Will listen more.

A fantastic album. An artefact of its time, but still thoroughly enjoyable. An easy five stars.

Not my thing but I respect it.

This album has a poor reception on this website. I can see why some people might hate it; repetition is everywhere on "Self-Titled". "Self-Titled" is a nice electronic record; the outro is uncalled for, though. There are some good beats here and there. To be honest, I prefer Underworld to Orbital. 3 stars for "Self-Titled".

I feel like there have been too many electronic/rave/dance albums on this list. Perhaps I don't like that genre enough but I don't see where there is enough variety to justify the inclusion. What's worse is we get ANOTHER album by Orbital in this book. There is no reason for this. I didn't dislike the songs on here but it did not take me 65 minutes to get the point. Maybe I am not smart enough to know the difference in this and the 20 (!) other electronica albums I have gotten the opportunity to listen to. Not unpleasant, yet I would not revisit this album. Some notable tracks are: Lush 3.1 Impact (The Earth is Burning) Remind Halycon and On and On

Fairly heinous stuff. Actively sounds as if it’s trying to be headache inducing. At least I’ve never heard of this album or the artist, which means the masses have forgotten its existence. Swear to god, whoever made this list has a special hard on for electronic music. I think it’s actually impossible to defend this album without seeming pretentious. A quote from the second track strikes me as ironic. “Even a stopped clock gives the right time twice a day”. Makes me think of whoever made this. Even someone just fucking around (and I really mean fucking around) in the studio can create something that resembles a song. These things on this ‘album’ resemble songs, but, reader, do not be fooled. They are actually experiments in sound. What’s the difference, you may or may not be wondering? A song is music. This is annoying. And another thing. If you’re going to fuck around in the studio and make ‘songs’ (experiments in sound), at least have the courtesy of keeping it short. This is over an hour. This is a one star for me. Pretty easy one star. 1/5

Good I guess

1/5

edm early 2000’s - seemed simple,

This started a bit shakily, but really grew as the album went on, finishing with a couple of really quite beautiful tracks.

Decent album.

Pants

Bonne musique d'arrière plan, mais oubliable à part ça.

Another band that represents the soundtrack of the best years of my life. Orbital were a constant presence in our playlists, and any pub or club we ever went to would probably play one or more of their tracks. The opening track is annoying - but if you've heard the bands debut album you would see why it's there. Otherwise it's a great example of the early 90's dance scene in the UK. I get why people may not like it though.

More techno, which isn’t terrible, it’s just more of the same as far as I’m concerned. It’s ambient at best for me, it doesn’t hype me up or excite me at all. That being said, and as I’ve mentioned with other electronic/techno albums, I’m not well versed at all in that genre so a lot of it is going to be lost on me. But from what I’ve heard here it isn’t enough to pull me in to dig deeper.

Halcyon and On and On is the star of the show for sure, such a beautiful track front to back. Rest held up as well, but that one track really carried my opinion of the whole record up.

Good focus music, knocked out some work during it. Don’t love the verbal loops but the rest was good.

Techno I know I can't stand

Mortal Kombat music for gym bros.

Techno I think I can stand.

👍

Video game music 2.5

Another Orbital album that sounds just like the other Orbital album I rated as a 2.

Electronic music. Predominantly instrumental.

Solid but nothing out of this world for me. Since songs are long, the ones that didnt interest me dragged.

Great experience. I liked the atmosphere of the album the best

Så synd , hör ju att det är väldigt bra men sån här musik når aldrig samma nivå som annan.

Once you get past the annoying synching/unsynching opening and closing tracks, the rest of the album is really solid. Good beats. Halcyon is a standout

First and last tracks are tough, but otherwise it's fine electronic music. Nothing wild though

Omg why is this over an hour long? That is excessive!

Kinda hypnotic.

Feels really ahead of its time. This album really sounds like what a lot of electronic in the following decades would sound like, both good and bad. All the shitty beach club music sounds like it originated here. Can't blame an album for what it inspired though. This album on its own is a pleasant listen and doesn't really get boring despite its long runtime. It doesn't really have hooks or hits but I guess that isn't the point of the album. Still a bit boring and not entirely my cup of tea although I've been warming up to techno and house.

Not my thing.

As I was sitting on the couch listening to this, my skin started to vibrate and the flashing lights started to illuminate around the room in a Vicodin induced post-car-accident flashback of the early 2000’s. Yep, that was first and only time I had heard this album. In truth, was it House? Was it Trance? Was it techno? Can I name any song? Who knows, or cares for that matter. It’s repetitive music appropriate for martini bars, high-end hair salons and that artistic hipster’s house as they’re trying to tell you their most recent splatter painting is their interpretation of the friggen Mona Lisa. 1001 Must Listen? Probably not. Fun flashback. Sure.

I liked this one. The spoken word looping is mesmerizing and interesting. I could see how it is not for everyone. This is a definitely listen to again. I did listen to this one on little sleep and a bit hungover on a plane trip home. So I might need to listen again when I'm more fully aware but I liked it.

Starts out nowhere and then quickly does more of the same. Someone should tell them that having a drum machine, synthesizer and a computer doesn't mean you're a musician. Brian Eno proved years ago that you can make brilliant music this way. But obviously it isn't a given.

Was hopeful for this but actually found it rather boring! Just dragged on. Maybe I wasn't in the right mood or something. Didn't capture me. Seemed basic.

Not really my kind of thing but I did enjoy it. Was repetitive but I guess that's the point. Reminded me of classic video game music.

Well it's certainly electronic music. I'm sure I'd enjoy hearing the songs at a rave individually, but as a whole album listen, it's hard to not get bored.

Бля ну это какая то космическая шелуха

That was new to me, and I liked it so much I listened to it all day.

Sehr experimentell. Aber durchaus hörenswert.

The first half of this had me bored, I considered giving up. But I held out and from Remind till the end was really good. Halcyon and On and On is the best song on here, and a perfect closer. It was going to be a 2 for me based on the first half, but it hot bumped up to a three because it pulled through in the end.

Meh

Some neat spacey sounds to try to keep me interested, but it's still so repetitive

Trash

I have been introduced to some excellent electronic music through this list, albums like Autobahn that I'm sure I'll enjoy for years to come... and then I have also been introduced to Orbital. If there was a media player embedded in the Wikipedia article for techno music, there to play you a generic royalty-free example of the genre, it'd probably sound a lot like something off Orbital 2. There are some tracks here that are a little better (like "Remind") but they're still not great. Lots of bloated 7+ minute runtimes on tracks that could barely justify 3. I don't mind the Michael Dorn dialog loop part too much but I bet it's very unpopular in my listening group.   I was caught off-guard at the end by "Halcyon + On + On," a song I remember from the soundtrack to the 1995 Mortal Kombat movie. I was 10 in 1995 and we didn't own a whole lot of music then, but somehow that CD made it in (not a choice I would make today). I am kind of fond of "Halcyon," just maybe not for 9 minutes; it's got good "ending the movie" vibes. Apparently the track name "Halcyon + On + On" is a reference to the "Ariston and on and on" advertising slogan for Ariston washing machines; somehow this song isn't even my favorite piece of electronica related to Ariston washers.

A decent electronic album. Not really much I will commit to memory, but it was just fine background music for it's runtime. I can easily imagine this playing in a fairly decent mall in the background

Not my genre, but I enjoyed quite a bit of this album. I recognize Halcyon + On + On from the Hackers soundtrack.

Better sounds than yesterday (Stereo MCs) but songs are really long. I like this better, but not by a lot. 2.49/5

C-

Obviously songs on here drag on way too long, but I still think the way this album creates a futuristic atmosphere is really cool. Whether it be the interludes, sound effects, or even just the song titles and covers.

Repetitive and kinda dull

The deeper I get into this project, I understand that I'm a closed minded prick and I love it...

I liked this a lot more than I thought I would. It’s a bit long, but as background ambient music it works.

some good jams, last track was annoying

Not terrible... but definitely not a genre I can sit and listen to a whole album in one go. Bored to tears.

Interesting. Experimental. Not something I’d seek out again.

Another electronic album. Just doesn’t really do it for me, especially just driving around doing errands. 2/5 Won’t listen again

First time listening to Orbital and honestly they're really chill. This makes me want to listen to more techno music. I could see myself recommending this album to people who are interested in the genre. Its nothing exceptional of course but I don't really have anything negative to say about it. Favorite track: Planet of Shapes

Doesn't really hold up at all, an absolute snoozer. The type of album you put on if you want people to leave the rave and go home.

Eletronica which sometimes felt normal mg for it's repetitiveness and sometimes exhiliarating (from atmospheric headphone music to meatier dance material). I couldn't make up my mind how to rate this album (3 or 4 stars). I guess I'll revisit so IT gets 4 stars!

Solid background electronic music but hard to really get into it.

brilliant

Fab

It’s been a long, long time. There’s some good stuff here. This was pretty widely influential. Techno music was designed to be layered and mixed into other songs. This was done live on turntables by brilliant DJs. As compelling as this can be at times, it is, by its very nature, missing something. There’s supposed to be another song woven around and through each track. This is mostly a set of building blocks for creative college kids to dick around with in their basements. Complete the scene with glow sticks and X-tasty. This inspired enough artists to merit 4/5.

Eh, pretty bland tbh. Another experimental noise album, another one that I tuned out of about halfway through. Nothing too impressive tbh

Looking for the perfect album that can make you experience what it felt like to attend a rave party in the early nineties? Look no further. Orbital's 2nd LP, constructed like a giant mix where each infectious track segues into the next, is THE quintessential album in that genre. Plus it's got pretty melodies and harmonies. Plus it's subliminally conceptual, with its spoken-word interludes using the phasing tecnique once pioneered by Steve Reich. Plus it's got "Halcyon + on + on", taking Opus III's hit "It's A Fine Day" to a whole other cosmic level. And the whole thing aged surprisingly well, too -- probably thanks to its intricate ambient layerings, as essential as the dance / house beats found in this record. Dadancable (dada and dancable). Perfect 5 for me. Number of albums left to review: around a hundred, as I've gone over the 1000 line and this generator is including albums from all editions of the book Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 446 (including this one) Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 267 Albums from the list I won't include in mine: 324

Mayonnaise music

als hintergrundmusik OK, hinhören ist schon beim ersten track Time Becomes eher verwirrend - selten so viele loops am stück😎 gehört.

When Techno dann ist dieses Album weit vorne. Die Musik kommt von allen Seiten und ist spannend und abwechslungsreich.

3/5. It feels like electronic dance music that you would play wile waiting for the main act. It's not necessarily bad, it just feels like it doesn't provide me with enough variety or interesting beats to get me up and moving. Mostly just nodding my head up and down. Checked back at my rating of their previous album and seems I felt the same way. Good but not great. Best Song: Lush 3-1, Halcyon And On And On, Planet Of The Shapes

Pretty good electronica album with varied soundscape, but has some bad songs that kill the flow. "Time becomes" was so bad that it knocked off a star :) Favorite track: Planet of the shapes (has some Indian raga influence) other picks: lush3-1, remind, halcyon

Dull and dancey do seem to go together don't they? All the skittering gets pretty tedious pretty quickly and AI is quickly making all this sort of music pretty obsolete anyway (which seems deserved in may ways). "Impact" is maybe okay. "Halcyon On and On" is decent, too. Otherwise this is a synthed-out snoozefest.

Very solid high tempo EDM album. It's trippy without being too abstract. There were a few moments where it felt a little too repetitive but overall, it was a good listen.

Idk I’m not really feeling it

5/10 - Remind kind of sounds like the pokemon sword and shield battle theme (I cannot remember which one) at parts. Unlike the last album there were no songs that I loved but there were still some songs that I did not really like. So overall it was worse, but not by that much.

I actually did like parts of this. There was some pretty cool stuff. Not much I’d ever want to revisit, but a fun listen

Not my style

Somehow, love and hate this at the same time

Another one I heard before, mainly during the time I was extremely into techno and idm yet it never left the strongest impression in me despite having such aclaimed songs like Halcyon and On and On. It's not bad by any means but I guess while its a good listen when its on, the rest really doesn't stick with me really. There's songs whose loops and sythpads can be a bit too repetitive like Planet of Shapes or Lush 3-1 which compared to Impact or Walk Now being proper acid techno/trance songs the former just feel so weak and make the album more uneven. Again not bad, essential for the history of techno but not my favorite or most memorable thing in the genre

I was trying to give this album the benefit of the doubt thinking that it just hasn't aged well but really I think this was bad when it first came out. The first track just sets the tone, "time becomes a loop" just looped... I mean really?! I love electronic music but this is just hot doo doo.

time becomes a loop. hip hop h h h HUMPUTUS !! on tässä hyvää... rokki t on vähän heikompi tässä pärjäisi njos olisi ilman! kitaratyöskentely... on se hienoa EI OLE. toistan EI OLE, yliarvostettu kitaristi. bing big ding kitara laulaa ei mitään ego SOITTOA. vaan pidättyväistä, mutta tarkkaa, ääni ei ole kaakossa täällä, ei aina tarvitse olla.....oli sillon top 50 albumeissa mukana.... on hyvä tosiaan ensimmäinen sabbath albumi ja metalli genren edelläkävijä.... mutta.... kaukana niiden parhaasta albumista.... hyvä alku mutta ylämäki taivallus tulee tämän jälkeen JA SE ON SELVÄ... .g: G :GGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH.. MITÄ VITTU ATAPAHTUI????????? time becomes alooptime becomes alooptime becomes alooptime becomes aloop lush 3.1

Time becomes: This was annoying at first, but once I realized what was happening, it was super cool, then ultra satisfying when "it" happened. I don't think this song has much replayability though... Planet of the Shapes: cool. Primitive techno, but I think this was likely pretty advanced for the time. Not positive though, because at the time this came out, I was pretty much listening to Green Day, Jimi Hendrix, and Cypress Hill. I don't think I was even aware that electronic music existed at the time Lush 3-2: I liked this more than Lush 3.1 (which wasn't bad or anything). This just sounds much more like the techno I finally got into in the very early 2000s. I suppose that probably says something about Orbital as a band, perhaps having influenced other artists to come Impact: sort of anxiety-inducing around the 7 minute mark, and definitely so at the 9 minute mark Walk Now: super much enjoying the didgeridoo on this track. It fits very nicely, and was a great way to open the track I'm not sure if I'll come back to this album or not, but I'm glad I got to listen to it

I only knew the song Halcyon And On And On from having the Mortal Kombat soundtrack on cassette as a kid and that song still holds up. I enjoy the progression that Orbital songs have and didn't even mind the long song lengths. Way better than Daft Punk

Horrible techno. Almost unlistenable at times. Didn’t finish the album.

Pretty good album. I liked the mix of space vibes and eastern sounds.

Not bad. I could see how Orbital could set the stage for music that belongs in the Matrix. FS Halcyon on + on

Bleh, generic house. 2/5

I like orbital but this sounds as if it was made by a 4 year old with a 4 volt synth with some keys not working

Classic

Thought this was kind of cool.

I’m surprised I scored Snivilisation the way that I did, because I don’t remember anything positive about it. But I guess I don’t remember anything negative about it either. What I have learned is that traditional techno, like the kind developed in the mid-90s United Kingdom, is not for me. I just don’t see the appeal of it. Unfortunately I’ve had to hear a number of albums on this list in order to come to that conclusion. Not sure why it’s taken me so long. From what I read, this self-titled Orbital album was supposed to be one of their best. So I had expected at least something good. And I left feeling even less satisfied than the previous record. At least with that it was somewhat middle of the road, with a few peaks here and there. Even this album’s best stays pretty consistent at not being entertaining. I don’t know if I’ll ever not be worn out and exhausted by hour-long techno and electronic albums. Aphex Twin and Boards of Canada are the only ones that can get away with it in my book. Since the first song here isn’t really a song, the second track Planet of the Shapes is where things really get started. And I held out hope that in 9 minutes of music, I would hear something I liked. You know what the issue is? Cool noises for sure. But do they really have any purpose or direction other than floating in, out and around each other in circles? This seems to be the theme with every song. Too long and not enough going on. Although like the last album, the longest song is surprisingly the best one. Not sure how that works. Thankfully I don’t ever have to hear another album from Orbital, because clearly I’m not the target audience. Rating: 5/10

I really like music like this and will listen again. The song Lush 3.1 reminded me of the music on the Nintendo DS Game Zenses which I haven't thought about in forever!

A couple oddball tracks, but overall a pretty solid listen, electronic vibes, album.

I thouroughly enjoyed something completely different from the usual types of albums on this list, if you take away the first and last tracks it would get 5 stars, but with those two I gotta take away one star.

Fun techno album. The intro and outro are a little jarring, but they mesh with the overall aesthetic.

Normally wouldn't sit down and listen to this but it was pleasant as a background listen. 2.5/3

I kind of didn't totally hate this actually? Starting off, I thought it would be extremely repetitive (and I guess it still kind of is given the nature of electronia/techno), but the album ended up being more atmospheric than I was expecting going in. It's difficult to recall specific tracks after listening, though. Nothing stood out, as everything just sort of flows along.

Not a lot going on with this one

Easily one of the better 90’s electronic records on the list and so much better than their other record on the list, Snivilisation. There’s a nice amount of variation between the songs and even when the songs are long, they don’t feel too repetitive or overstay their welcome. Most importantly, there’s no spy movie electronica to be found here.

I’m sure I have had an orbital album show up already. This list absolutely does not need more bland early 90s Electronica

I think this record gave me a mild headache. The song \"Walk Now...\" sounds like a ten minute smoke alarm without batteries and genuinely gave me a headache. I like some noisy stuff but unlike the Zorn album from earlier this is very boring on top of being annoying. Halcyon On and On is very, very good. The rest of it though is like tinnitus simulator. I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to do with myself while listening to this kind of music. It feels like a dreadful sort of purgatory. It's not like, aesthetically offensive, but I know I decisively don't like it. I don't dislike it in the same way I dislike Rush or Aerosmith where it's not only boring but also something I feel in my gut should be nuked off the face of the earth, and Halcyon On and On is again an incredible song, so it gets a 2 instead of a 1, but yeah this is definitely largely irritating and a bore. First time I have an actual headache listening to anything on this list. With one very good song to make up for it. So I guess just listen to that and skip all the rest?

I cant in good conscience give this any more than 2 stars, even though I like orbital a lot and I like about 1/3 of the album. Its just not a good album. Its too repetitive, its decent dance music but that just doesn't make it a good album. 2/5

Blind album and artist. Got very repetitive by the end and I lost a lot of interest aside from the artist's most popular track.

I've never heard of Orbital before. Not my usual listening, but another nice find from the generator.

Paar heel vage dingen, maar over het algemeen best echt lachen

Loved this so much. Full of bangers

Not as bad as snivilization. Still unlistenable!

This isn't my bag usually but I put it on in the car and got pretty into it. Decent enough!

One hour and six minutes of background music. Thankfully there was no vulgar language, but come on why is this on the list.

Ah yes, everyone’s favorite sound of over sampling and making you go insane as a result

This was really stupid. Half the album was just some random phrase repeated over and over again, it was really frustrating. The samples were bland and repetitive. Overall a boring and uninteresting album that was way too long. Stupid.

Nope. nope. nope. so repetitive. nothing but samples over & over & over.... for over an hour. 1.5 stars

EDM just ain’t for me

This gave me vertigo 1/5

Difficult to believe this is in the top 10,000 albums

Very typical techno, call me a snob but I don't hear much musicality going on. It's a pretty awful listening experience actually, especially in the cold light of day. Maybe you had to "be there" in every sense.

I feel like on the early orbital records they are still trying to figure out how to make music. There are some good tracks here but also some of them get annoying quickly. Time becomes being a prime example of where they are trying to be too clever with the delay of the loop constantly shifting until the loop is back in sync. Cool concept, annoying to listen too. Later records are better

Brings back a lot if mems, a classic when all this electronica was young and experimental. A great set of songs quite low key but pushing all the right butons.

Awesome in the right setting, 30 years on a sober Thursday morning commute is not that setting. Objectively not their finest hour but it is still a happy reminiscence.

Weep weep wobble wooble. I feel like this got me through many a comedown before I had the sense not to get that fucked. Serve with a extra large duvet, leftover takeaway and mindless computer games set to easy mode.

The incessant use of soundbite loops got very irritating. By the time the album got interesting I was already too disinterested.

Solid

Naah

Fuck off - Kevin and Perry Go Large without the jokes

Marginally better than their previous record

Significantly better than the other orbital project. Still not my favorite

Not for me

Where shit becomes poop.

THIS IS THE SHIT

do not understand how anyone can listen to this thru the whole album

Club drums, mystic sounds, And mechanical time loops Forms dance hypnosis

As bad as this is it's just more of a waste of time.

Aaaaaaaand done.

What a musical journey that was! Not for me, but at times I was dancing at my desk like I was at a club or something, which should be an automatic +1 stars.

Weird how it kept repeating "Where time becomes a loop" for the entire first track. After reading on Wikipedia about their reasoning, it makes more sense to me, but still pretty annoying. The other songs were fine, with the Lush tracks as my favorites.

This fits with my memory. Orbital was all about the drug fueled rave. Fatboy Slim and Chemical Brothers understood the good bits of this, but also recognized that when listening to a CD, most people were not most commonly fully zonked on party drugs. This album makes for fun DJ rave fodder, but doesn't appeal to other listening. Other albums of the same genre were better crafted to pull this sound into a song and album structure. 3. It'd be a 5 if properly zonked. And probably a 1 if I didn't recognize how good it was at meeting it's niche where they were at.

Coworker overheard this and said, "It makes me want to drive a nail through my eye." Then I told him the group was Orbital.... coincidence? I think not.

Reminiscent of a 90s video game soundtrack. Only made it halfway through the album before giving up. Why is this significant enough to be on the list?

Very little to recommend with this album - it’s nice enough in the background and quite hypnotic in places but really just kind of uneventful and forgettable techno. Should be called Orbital 2 out of 5

not awful, but pretty boring. not a lot here that goes above and beyond the typical trance playbook for me. was nice as background music, but that's about it. the first couple of tracks were a bit rough but the rest of it is ok.

I make electronic dance music in my spare time and what i often find hard is to make it hypnotic without being boring or random. This album kind of trigger me because the structuring feel very random, the sequencers often hit allot of dissonance. It really reminds me of what i did in the beginning but i guess this is the start and it was more about experimentation and trying new things. Most reviews are either people who don't get it or people who are stuck in nostalgia for a bygone era. I get the cultural impact on the rave culture and i could defiantly listen to "Halcyon and on and on". but is it a must listen, i wouldn't say that

Nice

Not my scene, just background musak. nothing here to get me interested.

It's okay, but very repetitive. Not for me.

Trippy electronic trance. 5/5

not for me

A little weird at the intro/outro, but started getting into it halfway through planet of the shapes. I can vibe with this, 4*

I have seen a comment saying that Orbital belongs to the big trio of electronic music, together with The Prodigy. I hope that was the first an last time, that someone put those two bands together in one sentence. Orbital orbits the wrong star, I'm afraid.

This was irritating at worst and just too long at its best. I’m not the greatest aficionado of electronic music, but I’ve heard enough to know it doesn’t have to be shitty neverending loops of vocal samples and odd sounds for 6 or 7 minutes at a time.

Not my strongest genre, but seems like a pretty standard and basic techno/dance album. Just fine for sure, but not really my thing for 60+ minutes.