Orbital 2 cover

Orbital 2

Released

Orbital have become such a fixture of the UK and international dance music and festival landscape, sometimes it’s easy to forget how unique they are. Emerging right at the peak of the acid house explosion, they cut their teeth as one of the few live acts on the circuit in the most twisted and brain-mangled shows and raves. And their second album, where they truly found their feet, burns with the electricity of those early shows. This is music from a moment when it felt like rave and all the associated mental exploration was altering reality, and when you get swept up in its anthemic strangeness it can still feel a bit that way.

Joe Muggs

Orbital had already made a strong mark in the UK’s incipient techno scene thanks to singles like “Chime” and “Satan.” After an okay but slightly choppy debut, though, 1993’s Orbital 2 made the case that they were flat-out great album artists, start to stop. Excellent sequencing made the whole feel like a great DJ set as songs like “Lush 3-1” and “Impact (The Earth Is Burning)” made for peak after peak, building up to an exultant remix of a 1992 single, “Halycon + On + On.”

Ned Raggett

Suggestions
The Peel Sessions cover

The Peel Sessions

A Guy Called Gerald
Tarot Sport cover

Tarot Sport

Fuck Buttons
Close to the Noise Floor: Formative UK Electronica 1975-1984 cover

Close to the Noise Floor: Formative UK Electronica 1975-1984

Various Artists
Azure cover

Azure

Sky H1
Tales from a Danceographic Ocean	 cover

Tales from a Danceographic Ocean

Jam & Spoon
Tiny Reminders cover

Tiny Reminders

Two Lone Swordsmen
Wild Pitch: The Story cover

Wild Pitch: The Story

DJ Pierre
Tri Repetae cover

Tri Repetae

Autechre
Psychick Rhythms, Vol. 1 cover

Psychick Rhythms, Vol. 1

Psychick Warriors ov Gaia
The Politics of Ecstasy cover

The Politics of Ecstasy

Astralasia
Song for Alpha cover

Song for Alpha

Daniel Avery
Chronicles I cover

Chronicles I

The 7th Plain