Altogether
How do you approach reviewing another Orbital album? After all, brothers Phil and Paul Hartnoll have been making highly visible dance music for over a decade. They've (arguably) not made an original record since 1994's Snivilization; say what you will,In-Sideswas about dark textures, not about new themes, and "The Box" was memorable because it played with harpsichord sounds and fronted a brilliant video. To borrow a phrase from the military: "Same shit, different day."More than that, though, is the fact that the line separating "pop" from "dance" has eclipsed the narrow range into which Orbital's music has consistently fallen, making it even harder to analyze Orbital sans historical context. "Chime" itself has not changed since it first appeared in 1989, but the different venues into which "Chime" and other Orbital classics have filtered have increased threefold - including mainstream radio, movie soundtracks and commissioned art installations.It therefore would be easy to fall into the trap of claiming Orbital's sixth album,The Altogether, as a "return to form." Certainly, to blare the album's third track, "Oi!," next to "Oolaa" (Greenalbum), "Monday" (Brownalbum), "Kein Trink Wasser" or "Philosophy By Numbers" (bothSnivilization) is to have the ultimate Orbital mega-mix in its formative parts, where staple rave music sounds such as three-note melodies and 303 beats and flanged builds move forward in simple four-count sections.ButThe Altogetheris, all stated evidence to the contrary, a remarkable work. Why? Because it is the product of two brothers who, understanding that they can kid neither their audience nor themselves, mapped a musical course based on their root love - musical energy - and never strayed.Even the hellish "Tootled," an abomination crafted from samples of Tool's grog-rock epic "Sober," fits squarely within the parameters that have always guided the Hartnolls. "Tootled" is garish guitar and breakbeats on par with mixing peanut butter and battery acid on a piece of aluminum foil, but it is signature Orbital in its tone and structure - both of which remain simple in the attempt to squeeze every last ounce of techno dancing juice from the source sample's rock-hard rind. Similarly obnoxious is the duo's repeat offense in the old-TV-show-theme-music-remake category, this time with the live crowd-pleasing "Dr. Who" theme recorded here as "Doctor ?" 'Tis full of the cheese that only two erstwhile rave kids could bring to an already hammy song, but you'll dance your ass off to it anyway because like nearly every other Orbital recording, "Doctor ?" remains simple and hooky . . . and thus physically provocative.Perhaps the one new achievement ofThe Altogetheris the first single, "Funny Break (One's Enough)," which, if the boys are smart, will become the unchangeable model for their future forays into pop-dom. Taking Naomi Bedford's soaring, unintelligible vocals deep into the echo of "Funny Break"'s fleshy synths and sizzling horn crescendos is a master stroke of composition and engineering, the likes of which have not been recorded since the Cocteau Twins.The Altogethercloses with a 10-minute version of "Meltdown," a cheerily nihilistic modern dance piece commissioned for a London festival of the same name. Like "The Box," like "The Moebius," like "Are We Here?," "Meltdown" embodies all that has ever been good in Orbital: musical energy. Likewise,The Altogetheris neither a return nor a departure; it is simply Orbital.Heath K. Hignight--From URB Magazine