OK, I'll keep this brief, since other people have already mentioned this
album already.
Like many people, I just couldn't get my head around Snivilization. It
didn't hang together well, the rhythms and textures weren't compelling,
and it lacked the madly propulsive feel that made the Brown Album the
classic that it will undoubtedly be. In contrast, I think that _In Sides_
is much more coherent, rhythmically driven (although not back to Brown
Album levels) album. I've only listened to it a few times now, but I've
already decided that it's a good one.
The main thing that prompted me to post, however, is the one piece of
undeniable genius on the record: the epic, two-part "Out There
Somewhere?" Orbital meets Kraftwerk and the Advent in a head-on
collision, and the result is a masterpiece of melodic programming set to
new-school electro beats. The rhythms are tight, the samples haunting,
the synths bubbly and classically Kraftwerkian, and the climax (at a full
20 minutes into it) is absolutely stunning. It's hit me like a hammer
every time I've heard it. Majestic, emotional, and Gothic in the best
possible way. A total and unforgiving headfuck.
I'll go crawl back under my rock now.
oz ym an di as
PS -- Increasingly, the vibe I get from Orbital is the same one that I
get from classic-period Wire: a bunch of musically intelligent oddballs
who are driven by their own muses, and who are carving out a niche
parallel to, but not congruent with, the genre that they started from. I
think that's a good thing, even if the results aren't always compelling.
I've _never_ gotten the feeling that Orbital have exhausted themselves
and are out of new ideas.
. . . the self-reflecting image of a narcotized mind . . .
ozymandias G desiderata ogd@organic.com Desperate, Deathless
(415)278-5674
http://www.organic.com/Staff/ogd/ ::AOAIOXXYSZ::