Alex Reynolds wrote:
quoted 8 lines Orbital's In Sides as best album of
>
> Orbital's In Sides as best album of
> the year?! Orbital?! Argh, I'm trying not to vomit in disgust. I bought
> the album, listened to it, and passed it off for what it was: MTV
> breakthrough/quick-burn fodder which we're all quickly getting sick of,
> hopefully. Christ. Yet another example of the undue and undeserved
> influence we're letting MTV have on musical tastes. Show some free will,
> people, for God's sakes.
Yeah, uh, OK. Am I the only person here who resents being told that my tastes
are being shaped by a channel I hardly ever watch (except Amp, which I tape),
and that I'm not free-willed enough to make up my own mind that Orbital's
_In_Sides_ was among my favorite albums last year?
I bought close to 400 CDs last year, and likely 250 of them were albums. Of
those, I'd say about 150 of them were either in the IDM or Ambient realm.
I didn't nominate anyone, but I did vote in the final round. In the
albums-of-the-year category, there was only one entry that I do not own, the
not-released-in-the-US-yet _Richard_D_James_. Of those, Orbital's most recent
CD was my favorite. So I chose it.
Was it the most "innovative?" Maybe not; _Emit_Ecaps_ meshed a lot of things
together into a pretty fine whole, making new things click that hadn't clicked
before.
Was it the most "experimental?" Probably not; _Feed_Me_Weird_Things_ jerked
you from here to tomorrow with its dizzying attempts at rhythm- and
structure-breakdown.
Was is the "hardest?" No, I'd have to award that one to _Dead_Cities_, the
most relentlessly hollow and pissed-off of the bunch.
But was it the release that, in my mind, best represents what "intelligent
dance music" is all about? You betcha. It has its share unusual rhythms and
noises, pings and whizzes that come from no earthly place, whirling build-ups
and breakdowns, and melodies from Mars, yet it is also funky in all the right
places (not to mention some of the wrong ones) and compels you to put your
feet to the floor.
And on top of all that, it has a soul, a disconnected, confused, cynical,
cautiously-optimistic soul, a soul with a presence that sucks you in and never
lets go. You can feel it trapped in your stereo for the duration of the disc,
yearning to be freed.
To me, Orbital have made among the finest albums of the decade, not just this
year. I cast my ballot in on this one unabashedly.
quoted 4 lines However, the choice of Orbital as best album just sticks in my craw --
> However, the choice of Orbital as best album just sticks in my craw --
> there were so many alternatives to this of infinitely better quality that
> are *readily* available, if you made the slightest effort, that noone who
> voted for these sorry bastards has the least excuse.
You can accuse me repeatedly of being an Orbital fan and I'll wear that shirt
with no apologies. But don't accuse me of not thinking about it or not
"making the slightest effort." I bought plenty of music this year, and in
this "genre," _In_Sides_ was my vote for the best and the brightest.
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