Orbital - Middle of Nowhere

Mr. Bad

The thing about Orbital is this: they're not a techno band. They're, like, a New Age ambient crystals-and-windchimes band that somehow stumbled onto a kickass drumset and a good pounding beat. It's like, they aren't really INTENDING to put out great techno. They just want to be Steven Reich.

But I like Orbital. I dig their album, "In Sides." First off, it's got coolio squiggles on the cover that look like flying cartoon waffle irons. Also, it's got a s00per-sekrit second CD in the case that I didn't find out about for MONTHS after I had the damn album. I made the mistake of playing the second CD for the first time on the communal stereo at WORK. The first track, "Satan," goes like this:

    SAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNN
    satansatansatansatansatansatansatansatansatansatan
    satansatansatansatansatansatansatansatansatansatan
    satansatansatansatansatansatansatansatansatansatan

I sheepishly took off the CD as soon as I could, but I kinda got the reputation as "The Satan Guy" anyways. Totally undeserved, too.

Anyways, they've got a NEW album called "Middle of Nowhere." It's really different from "In Sides," not so much in style as in mood. "In Sides" is kind of a woolgathering stroll around the block. Not really going anywhere, wondering what's gonna happen next -- kinda mid-nineties. Remember then?

But "Middle of Nowhere" is this great, optimistic-yet-sad paean to the edge-of-the-millenium. It makes you feel like the future is gonna be a great place, but it's gonna take some work. It's almost majestic. Not in a dorky way, either. It's TOTALLY cool -- kinda like Good People of the Future music.

My favorite part of this album is the superfantastic incredible liner notes. It's just a whole bunch of really crazy out-of-focus snapshots, taken by the band, but they're very sunny and full of color and they have that crazy 70s look to them that just says British techno. You know what I mean?

Anyways, "Middle of Nowhere" beats a sucker down with a maluminum bat. You should run out and buy it right away. Right AWAY, I said! Like, NOW! GO!