Orbital
Thirty-Something

Two adorable gentlemen with lights on their glasses make people jump around the world, and they've been doing so for over thirty years. It was way back in '89 when Chime introduced Orbital to the world, at least to the quite underground scene connected to the English rave movement. Since then, Orbital's journey has been long, marked by departures and returns, some less successful moments, but many truly memorable ones. They are now part of the greats in electronic music, often considered the illegitimate children of Kraftwerk, and like them, they have always had a penchant for grand live shows. After an album that didn't convince everyone, the Hartnoll brothers returned to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of their extraordinary career, doing so with a double album different from the usual greatest hits. Thirty-Something includes three new tracks, six revisitations, and a whopping 14 remixes curated by a scene of young producers, as a sort of generational change. The mission is not simple, considering we're talking about reinterpreting classics like Belfast, Chime itself, and Halcyon!

The first disc opens with the duo's new tracks: Smiley is a nostalgic homage to the rave period, with retro breakbeats that immediately bring to mind jungle and the '90s. It's a track that bears the typical signature of the brothers, with swirling synths, acid line 303, and looped inverted samples that build hypnotic structures. Acid Horse is probably a variant of Omen that Paul Hartnoll could never complete; it's little more than a sample-driven diversion that's easy to listen to without too many surprises, the classic ironic episode that can never be missing from an Orbital album. Where is it Going? is a well-known track, but this new version adds the voice of the late Stephen Hawking. The Thirty-Something editions of their old classics are instead studio reworkings of the live incarnations, always different from the records and full of surprises. Unfortunately, their effect in this collection is limited: Halcyon—for obvious reasons—cannot rely on the samples of Belinda Carlisle and Bon Jovi, a now iconic moment of their shows, while Impact: 30 Years and The Earth is Still Burning does not have the added voice of Greta Thunberg, even though it's a particularly intense new incarnation with a powerful ending. Satan has lost more and more strength from the original version, transitioning from metal to dubstep, EDM, and a thousand other things. The legendary Chime cannot be missed, revisited in a heavier way, exactly like the live version.

The second disc is entirely dedicated to remixes, many of which are frankly superfluous. Many attempts sound like pale copies, though still listenable. However, there are four exceptions worth noting, all linked to names that are quickly making their way above the others. Dusky interpret Are We Here? sublimely, staying true to their style, which is quite compatible with Orbital's. John Tejada, on the other hand, is truly stunning, transforming Impact into an irresistible race, reconstructing the lead synths in his own way, and delivering an incredibly wild groove with a rolling bassline, a blaring TB-303, and more. Eight screaming minutes. Lone needs no introduction, but his presence in this project immediately struck me; you all know I'm always biased with this artist, but his interpretation of The Girl With The Sun in Her Head is magical, reconstructing almost all the assets and reinterpreting them with his unmistakable style, ending with a long ambient section where the typical notes of the track are transfigured in the style of the Galaxy Garden era. Double delight with a bow. Lastly, I mention David Holmes, who gives us his interpretation of Belfast, 12 minutes that pass in a flash and leave you wanting more, it doesn't surpass the original, but it's a tribute that commands respect. Definitely better than a greatest hits, Thirty-Something adds a nice new track from the duo, appreciable revisitations, even if a bit limited compared to the live counterparts, and a plethora of remixes not all necessary but featuring a quartet of standouts not to be underestimated.