Orbital retire

After 15 years working together as Orbital, Paul and Phil Hartnoll have announced that their forthcoming LP the �Blue Album� will be their last. Following the album�s release on 21st of June, Orbital will play Brixton Academy on 25th of June followed by their last ever English live show, closing the second stage on Sunday June 27th at Glastonbury.

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�I think we feel that Orbital has run it�s course,� says Paul Hartnoll. �We�re both pursuing different avenues with our music. And we�ve been sat, as brothers, in the same room for 15 years now�and studios are always confined spaces�I think it�s time for a change.�

Since their first single, �Chime� entered the top 20 in April 1990 Orbital have released six albums and developed a live show that evolved, by common consent into one of the landmark performance shows of the last decade. They have helped to shape and develop both the character and credibility of electronic music far beyond the disposable anonymity of the first white labels and the acid house scene that they came from. In 1989�when Chime was recorded onto their dad�s cassette player�no�one expected things to come this far, least of all the band themselves.

The brothers extra�mural interests have all informed the character of The Blue Album, the bands seventh, which evolved gradually over the course of 2003 with the band free from record company expectations and schedules for the first time since their career began. �If anything,� says Paul �It�s closer in character to our first album than our later ones, if only because we made it in our own time and for ourselves.�

With the album complete the band are turning their attention to their final show at Glastonbury. An appropriate venue for a farewell as it was here, exactly ten years before that Orbital delivered a live show that Q magazine listed as one of the fifty greatest live show of all time. �It�s nice to know that we�re finishing, it�s not many bands that do that. They tend to just fade away. And it�s nice to have our last gig at Glastonbury. It�s gonna be a party set, a best of Orbital. We�re not gonna sit there and try and promote the new album. I think if we�re gonna do a last gig we should do distilled set of all the best stuff we�ve done. And that�s what we�re gonna do, play all the stuff that�s stuck around for all this time because they are the favourite ones. This will definitely be our last ever live shows,� confirms Paul, �Although I�m sure Status Quo keep telling themselves the same thing.�

10 Comments
  1. Acieed Ed

    They have made some great tunes – but I willa dmit, I don;t have anything from themon Tape, Vinyl, Cd or MP3… Well, at least the Cardinal has a couple of CD’s, hope that can make up for my lack of stuff from them.

  2. De Kardinaal

    Try to check out In Sides and Snivilisation. By far the best albums they made. Hopefully the Blue Album will be a good “farewell” album too.

  3. distorientation

    Don’t forget the brown album, probably my favorite. Must admit I don’t have much of them either, brown and a promo of Walk Now… and that’s it. Haven’t heard anything interesting by them for a long time, but I’m also hoping the last is not the least.

  4. De Kardinaal

    A few tracks on the brown album rock and can be considered as the backbone for their excellent live appearances. Tracks like Lush,Impact and Halcyon have been part of their live set since 93. In particular using the combination of Bon Jovi and Belinda Carlisle samples into the Halcyon performance can be seen as a creative, imaginative and successfull experiment. Although they released a dvd already a few years ago it might be worth to check out.

  5. Secret Agent

    No offence, but is a new album by Orbital really the thing we are desperatly waiting for???

  6. m

    ip-check on the secret agent please.. 😉

  7. Acieed Ed

    Different people – different taste! Some are waiting for this, others are waiting for that. Choose for yourself and let others choose for themselves.

  8. De Kardinaal

    FYI:Orbital heeft wat met kleuren. Die groene en die bruine mogen tot hun beste albums gerekend worden, en nu is er die blauwe. ‘The Green Album’ en ‘The Brown Album’ werden gevolgd door uitstekende platen als ‘In Sides’ en ‘Snivilisation’, maar albums als ‘The Middle Of Nowhere’ en vooral ‘The Altogether’ vielen tegen. En net op het punt dat je wellicht wil afhaken, maakt ‘The Blue Album’ alles in één klap weer goed. Alle ingrediënten die Orbitals sound zo uniek maken, zijn terug te vinden op deze cd. Van Kraftwerkiaanse electro in ‘Pants’ tot acid in ‘Acid Pants’ met medewerking van The Sparks! En in het laatste nummer ‘One Perfect Sunrise’ zingt Lisa Gerrard, wat gelijk het allerlaatste stuk muziek van Orbital is geworden. De broertjes Hartnoll houden het voor gezien, maar dit laatste wapenfeit is een meer dan waardige afsluiting voor je collectie. Orbital: bedankt!(Source: Boudisque)

  9. de kardinaal

    Orbital have decided to sell some of their redundant kit. Playback Systems will be organising the sale and distribution of the equipment via thier own website. Here is what is for sale:-

    40 Input Yamaha 02R mixing Console (used to mix “The Altogether”)
    Yamaha 03d Mixing console
    Soundcraft Ghost analogue mixing console (used on 2004 tour)
    Korg Z1 Synth
    Quasimidi Polymorph Synth
    Korg TR Rack Synth
    EMU Morpheus Synth
    EMU E6400 Sampler (fully expanded)
    Korg Electribe EA1
    Korg Electribe ES1
    Korg Electribe ER1
    Ensoniq DP 2
    Mackie 1402 VLZ mixer
    Alesis Quadraverb
    Novation Supernova
    Drawmer Dual Gate

    There are no set prices at time of writing and they will most likely go under an auction style sale.

    If you have any enquiries relating to these items, please either call Playback on +44 (0)1273 671 297 or email them at orbitalgear@playbacksystems.com

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