Selective Memory Presents

ORBITAL – THE GREEN ALBUM – LIVE – 2024

“There is the theory of the möbius, a twist in the fabric of space where time becomes a loop, and when we reach that point, what ever happened will happen again.” – Orbital

ABOUT

Named after Greater London’s own circular autobahn, the M25 — central to the early Rave scene and party network in the South East during the halcyon ‘daze’ of Acid House — Orbital are manned by brothers Phil and Paul Hartnoll . .

From their relatively humble beginnings producing simple but infectious top 20 Pop-Dance tunes to their more recent sophisticated top 5 Pop-Dance tunes, classic albums, film & TV scores and beyond, Orbital have crafted some of the most innovative yet accessible electronic music since their inception in 1989 whilst at the same time retaining great respect for their live work due to their extraordinary shows around the globe which pay as much attention to the live mixing of visuals and choice of imagery, as to the live sound itself. Perhaps, though, one of their greatest achievements is their longevity which is firmly based on a sound that is recognizably their own, coupled with a will to proceed at their own pace and on their own terms with little regard to the industry machinations that surround them or the musical fads and trends that come and go. Originally from Sevenoaks (a suburban ‘commuter reservation’ somewhere in deepest Kent) the Hartnolls grew up listening to second generation punk (Crass, Dead Kennedys, Crucifix…), mutant-electro (Severed Heads, Hula, Adrian Sherwood…) and early Hip Hop (Phil went over to New York in the mid-eighties in order to ‘find’ Hip Hop). By 1988 Paul had contributed two electro pieces (!) to FFrr’s ‘House Sound Of London Volume 4’ under the name D.S.Building Contractors, but it wasn’t until the following year that the first true Orbital release emerged: the single ‘Chime’.

The original 1,000 copies released through Jazzy M’s Oh-Zone label sold out immediately through word of mouth alone and the track was picked up by London Records subsidiary FFrr with whom it soon became a nationwide Dance anthem. This translated into a number 17 singles chart position and gained the Hartnolls a ‘Top Of The Pops’ appearance where they ‘performed’ (ie. reluctantly) whilst sporting anti Poll Tax T-shirts. A decade later, the often sampled and bootlegged ‘Chime’ is still regarded as a classic and has remained one of the highlights of many a live set over the years. In the period 1990-1991 the burgeoning UK dance scene was still very much perceived as a short-lived phenomena with limited crossover potential and the very idea of a ‘dance’ artist producing an album as opposed to an endless stream of 12′ cuts for club consumption was still a relatively uncommon occurrence, yet when Orbital released their untitled debut long player, or ‘green’ album, it was to unanimous critical approval and was early proof that dance/electronic music could after all produce albums that would have to be taken as seriously as those produced by conventional Rock acts. Over the coming months remixes carried out by Orbital became further evidence that the Hartnoll brothers had by now established a distinctive sound of their own whilst retaining a characteristically diverse approach to their work.