I include some of my radio ideas in that (such as inventing the name Fryer Tuck Shop and conniving with my radio co-presenter Lee to come up with a game based on it). I also include the Formula One Losers League in that (which I hope to resurrect next year).
So I was quite excited about my idea for a music comparison site that went beyond the pathetic attempts by Amazon and iTunes to hopelessly recommend Cascada to Aphex Twin fans*.
Music comparisons. How hard can they be? This is like falling off a blog. Dead easy. Like pissing on a duck. Let's test my big new idea with a basic comparison question:
If you like Orbital, what else do you buy?
Here is my list of bands that sound like Orbital, or at least, music you may want to listen to if you haven't the foggiest about electronic music but you happen to have bought an Orbital album or two. The list includes suggestions from other people given to me when I first started researching this 361 frickin' days ago.
Remember. This is the start of my Big New Idea. I am a genius, so this cannot possibly go wrong.
If you like Orbital, try...
- µ-Ziq. He has that melodic thing going on along with a crunchiness of rhythm that Orbital fans like.
- Boards of Canada and Bola. Both artists ooze with Orbital-style melancholy and are both fairly accessible.
- The Black Dog and Plaid. Experimentalism meats warm analogue techno goodness.
- Kruder and Dorfmeister. Maybe, although I'm not quite sure.
- Photek. Feel the darkness. The complexity in the rhythmic structure. No? Next!
- Crystal Castles, but only their track Untrust Us.
- Long Range. This is the guy from Orbital. This list is useless.
- Lemon Jelly. Oh now come on, that's taking the Michaelangelo.
- Mannheim Steamroller? Trans Siberian Orchestra? Nah. Pentatonik! Closer with that last one, although it's the old techno band not the more recent rock band.
- The theme tune to the Equalizer. Well, actually, now you come to think about it...
- Lowfish. And the second track from Wahn's Alt.binaries. Hello? Is anyone still reading?
Well, that was a pile of hairballs. It's my worst list since I listed Orbital's albums by colour.
Scrap that idea. I'm off to draw up blueprints for my next brilliant scheme, which will involve (in no particular order) the chair George Clooney made in Burn After Reading, the complete works of Dan Brown, a blowtorch and sixty-two gallons of bathtub gin.
*Actually, they're a lot better these days, but iTunes used to be shiiieeeeet.
7 comments:
Vapourspace and A Positive Life come to mind actually, as far as having a similar sound to Orbital.
As for Mu-ziq, I agree, and it's a strange coincidence that you mention this, since yesterday I was rocking out in my car to "One Sly 007" and thinking how it had a similar euphoric build and release to Orbital's rendition of "Dr. Who", though it's far superior in terms of composition (the Mu-ziq track, that is). Not many tracks have that kind of energy - the kind that makes one want to leap out of your vehicle and into the street and dance like an angry ape on acid. Hey, there's one for a radio show title! - "Angry Apes on Acid" (or "Acid Addled Angry Apes")! :)
"Oops, it's "1 Hip 007" -I blame it on a college dj who, years ago, called it "One Sly 007" - I still have that on cassette tape!
Sly 007? You're thinking of Sylvester Stallone's cover version.
I have that on an EP somewhere (1 Hip 007, that is). I'm going to dig it out.
Love the honesty Roland, great post.
Closest ive come to a sound like Orbital is Echaskech. Check out their albums 'Skechbook' and 'Shatterproof'. They have the dark acidy beats of early Orbital whilst also touching on glorious chillout moments.
Ryan
Oh wow, you're right. The Storm is somewhere between In Sides and green album, I reckon. Top recommendation.
I'd also recommend the pips on Radio 4.
Pips are quite distinct from beeps. One's more pippy and the other's more beepy.
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