Oct 31, 2010

The devil has all the best IDM: Orbital

Here I am, on Hallowe'en night, choosing my favourite IDM / electronica to accompany your fright-filled evening of... oh you've got the idea by now. This is the final one of the series. See the other posts here. See the introduction to the whole thing here.

Artist: Orbital
Track: The Box
Album: In Sides
Year: 1996


I got the idea for ten Hallowe'en posts while watching Mark Gatiss' excellent History Of Horror TV series, which featured Orbital's The Box as background music.

Orbital's Satan may have been more appropriate - that track even samples a line from, I think, the Twilight episode Nightmare At 20,000 Feet.

But The Box was a sublime moment in which both sides of the vinyl release told an epic story in sound pictures: a horror film with no script. The creaking, the wooden chords, the chilling insistence of the clattering beats. Superb.

As a fan of everything from The Stand to Sam Raimi, from Dracula to Dark Water, I've always reserved a warm, soft place in my bloody heart for Hallowe'en. I like the nights drawing in, a creeping shroud to chill your bones. Thank you for joining me on my Hallowe'en quest. It's the ideal time for some dark electronica tunes - I hope you've discovered some good ones tonight.

Don't have nightmares.

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