In Sides (studio album) by Orbital

From Boltzmann 01/20/2020 09:27

Having much, much less swing than Snivilization, I don't get why this one is on top. On the first two tracks they rely on a very dull and basic form of a Chemical Brothers styled drum loop, so that all the enjoyment has to be found in the ambience, which isn't that good in the first place, and which makes the beat just kind of a canvas to paint on rather than actually part of the music. The first part of The Box gets rid of the beat entirely, which is a good thing; if you want us to focus on the ambience then just get rid of the beat already. Then the second part brings back the beat and I'm once again introduced to the Orbital I love: Building beats part by part which work together neatly, and the focus on the timbre of it all. The first half of 'Dwr Budr' goes back to the dull, obligatory beat with an okay ambience, while the second half is brilliant again. And the rest of the album just goes back and forth between these three cases.

So the highs of this album are the norm of Snivilization, so I'm not so impressed, but I'll put it up now and then when I'm studying.

I bought In Sides by Orbital on 09/01/2004 from on CD for £1.99 The version I have is on the record label Ffrr catalogue number 828 881-2 It entered the UK charts on 11/05/1996 and got to number 5 spending a total of 12 weeks on the chart.

If Orbital had kept up the quality of the first four tracks throughout this album, it would have been a masterpiece of ambient techno. The Girl with a Sun in her Head, PETROL, and the two part Box are all brilliant essential ambient techno. Unfortunately, the quality dips quite noticeably after that.

ust got done listening to In Sides on headphones while aimlessly walking around my neighborhood as a storm merely suggests itself with some cool breezes that dissipate the summer heat. In Sides literally becomes my world for the next hour. Each song renders a completely different world and different feelings. The 2-part The Box is my fave though. It has to named as such since it sounds like nothing but the coolest music box ever. She tinkles away in perfect ringlets as her lover, flamenco guitar, romances her telling her lovely she is. That they'll be together forever. Just him and her in their perfect, magical music box. And then the mirror cracks. Darkness creeps in. She's been cast from the box, broken off. Horror. Fright. Panic. Racing through the streets with frantic glances back. She's being followed. His mask fall off, and.. Fucking masterpiece. Like the two song musical equivalent of the Black Swan.

From Norman Bates 12/28/2012 15:54

Very good album. The tracklist is wrong though. The original issue (which I own and am looking at as I write) has only the first eight tracks, the others must be a reissue bonus.

This album is deep. It's not dance music, it's thinking music. Their strongest album.

holy...fuck. the words "blew me away" are bandied about far too much these days but needless to say in this situation nothing else would be as apt as me saying that this album 'blew me away'