Orbital: Electro-wizards

Rock bands make their names with live shows; electronic music geeks do it on disc. But the British brother combo of Paul and Phil Hartnoll, better known as Orbital, are an exception. To be sure, the blokes are at an advantage in both realms, since digital/electronic music can be orchestrated so precisely on disc and because, as the Hartnolls explain it, "what we do is basically take our studio on stage."

Their latest studio offering, In Sides (Internal/FFRR), is finally available in the New World at domestic prices, but it has been out since late April on the other side of the pond, where the duo have supported it with a seated-venue tour that peaked at London's Royal Albert Hall on May 12. (The whole two-hour show can be downloaded at http://www.on-air.com/archives.html with Real World audio.)

The visual imagery conjured by In Sides is so potent that the idea of Orbital's sharing it with a motionless crowd in a legendary, domed opera house against a backdrop of elaborate video segments is not that ridiculous. Much to the crowd's delight, however, the two-hour-plus set included romping house tracks from the Hartnolls' 1991 Orbital debut, including "Satan," complete with a Butthole Surfers sample and fearsome film footage, and "Choice," cleverly updated with a new drum-and-bass backbeat. The latter had been left off previous tours, and when it kicked in only 10 minutes into the show, the appreciative audience sprang into the aisles as formally attired ushers fretted over the chaos.

Hearing "Choice" live, in its reincarnated rhythmic form, confirms Orbital's unique place on the frontier of electronic music. The 1991 album was their most house-oriented effort, but they've remained at the forefront of different emerging styles. Orbital 2 (1993; all are on FFRR) was full of compelling, inorganic trance; 1994's Snivilisation broke into neo-jungle territory. The slowed drums and bass of 1995's Times Fly EP made the transition to In Sides logical and seamless. This new work may be the brothers' best yet.

The album opens with "The Girl with the Sun in Her Head," a track (recorded solely on solar power, natch) that demonstrates the brothers' artistic strengths over an irresistibly syncopated groove. One of these fortes is the Hartnolls' use of vocal samples, transforming a female refrain into angelic wisps that float into the mix, giving a heavenly ambiance to even the fiercest breakbeat cuts. The Hartnolls delight in subtle manipulations of detail. During the video-game theme of "P.E.T.R.O.L." (from the Sony Playstation game Wipeout) cars seem to whiz by, but these effects never overwhelm the play of electronic suspense music, with its threatening synth chords and madcap dance beats.

The album's centerpiece and single, "The Box," builds from a quiet, eerie gamelan-like riff into a harpsichord theme, hammered dulcimer, piano, and finally a thunderous conversation, but the incremental build-up is barely noticeable until they drop a simmering drum-and-bass figure into the melodic mayhem. Also included on In Sides are the full-length version of "Adnan's," originally part of the Help compilation (London), and the 20-minute-plus "Out There Somewhere," which features smooth TR808 drums and a reworking of the melody from the 1993 hit "Lush 3-1." All the new material, though more chill than past work, translates well to a live setting where the Hartnolls can reconfigure, remix, and throw in a surprise sample or two.

-- Michael Green

(Orbital play Axis this Friday, July 5.)