Orbital: The Middle Of Nowhere : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

With each release since its seminal, ingeniously simple 1989 single, "Chime," the British brotherly duo of Paul and Phil Hartnoll has evolved away from its techno, dance-floor-driven rave roots into digital elegance designed for armchair grooving. On The Middle of Nowhere, Orbital try to have it all - this is head music made for your feet. The effect is more relaxed, even playful, despite the predominant dissonant chords and wandering minor-key melodies reminiscent of Indian ragas and vintage spy flicks. Songs meld into each other as they would during a DJ set, female vocalists moan in and out of the mix, and syncopated rhythms dance the funky robot. You'll do the same. (RS 814)

BARRY WALTERS