First memory of Orbital was seeing them on TV at Glastonbury in, dunno, 2002 maybe? I remember thinking those lights they had on their heads were cool and that the music sounded sort of spacey but wasnāt interested enough to investigate further (plus I was well into nu-metal at the time so it would have meant contravening my personal brand).
About 10 years later I bought that Essential Album box thing which had the first five albums for Ā£8(!) as I was starting to properly get into house and techno. I think I bought them at just the right time because something about their sound just clicked and for about 3 months I barely listened to anything else. Itās probably different for people who were there first round but to me their charm is that they sound both dated and futuristic at the same time. There are some elements of their sound (those sputtering trebly drums and sci-fi synths) that makes them easy to place into that early 90s rave scene but thereās an otherness to their music thatās withstood the test of time in a way Underworld, LFO etc havenāt in my opinion.
Saw them at Bestival in the pouring rain at about 3 in the morning aftet Wonky came out and they still had it. Feels like theyāve gone the way of the heritage act these days but itās still a big 5 from me.
