“There is this theory of the Moebius. A twist in the fabric of space, where time becomes a loop, from which there is no escape. So, when we reach that point, whatever happened will happen again.” Those words from Worf and Geordi Le Forge on Star Trek: The Next Generation were turned into the opening of not one, but two seminal electronica records in the nineties, both from England’s Orbital, both named Orbital – technically the second was Orbital II, but they’re better known by fans as the Green and Brown Albums (shades of shades of Weezer). With “The Moebius”, the opening track to their 1991 debut full-length, brothers Paul and Phil Hartnoll brought repetitive electronic sounds & beats to the dancefloor as a message. By reusing the line to open their second album in 1993, it was both a cheeky joke about repeating themselves (in an album with effectively the same name as the last one), but also about breaking that cycle (like The Enterprise did in Next Generation).
But in the twenty-first century, we have indeed reached that point, and whatever happened is happening again. Orbital brought both records to New York’s Webster Hall on Friday, March 22nd, and showcased why they’re still such touchstones.
The ‘play an old album in full’ has become a staple of alt-acts of a certain age, but this was different. For one, Orbital are not some nineties alternative rock band, but hail from that decade’s great electronic music scene, one that was huge over in Europe, but never quite fully made it across the pond like it later would, in this century/millennium. Orbital (Green) & Orbital II (Brown) are actually not their most successful records, those coming right after with 1994’s Snivilisation, 1996’s In Sides, and 1999’s The Middle of Nowhere. This was no anniversary, only a reissue of Green, and barely a tour of the two records in full, just New York, Chicago (23rd), Miami (24th), and Coachella.
And this night they were playing not one record in full, but two. Indeed, there was an arranged break between the two records, after Green’s pre-recorded outro “I Think It’s Disgusting” – and even an encore after the break after Brown’s own pre-recorded outro, “Input Out”. Plus, there was a whole second, separate late show that same evening, where the pair would do a “festival set” of bangers (for all those who don’t still have those albums on CD).
Back in the early nineties, when the Hartnolls would just play behind a semi-circle of synthesizers and mixing boards, it was considered rather unusual, back when everybody played guitars and got their beats from live drummers. Today, it fits right into the EDM scene, from club raves to festival raves, but the brothers still have their own spin, wearing special double-light headpieces (one light just above each ear), so they can see what buttons they’re pushing – and look like spacemen coming to examine Earth clearly. It also meant that the show could be in a darkness punctuated by strobe lights and their own LED backdrop, which would feature everything from the waves of their music to images of terror.
Thus, Webster Hall (QRO venue review) was dark, and the show didn’t have any sort of typical frontman. There was some occasional banter, such as when one brother failed to show up at the start (a fan yelled that they need to see four lights, not two – another fan joke-yelled to “Bring on the Bon Jovi!”, a reference to a sample used in Brown’s “Halcyon + On + On”), or when a third person joined two Hartnolls to help deal with a technical issue “with stuff up here you can’t see…” When someone requested a song from Snivilisation, they were told that they’d have to wait until that record would be played in full, but that time no double-billing, so they’d have to pay for each album live. But the best was the encore, a brother [sorry, couldn’t which was which] announcing that they were now going to play a song that was on the American version of Green, but not the U.K. version, which was the track list that they had just played (adding that they weren’t prepared to play it, because “you lot were supposed to have buggered off!”).
That song was “Satan”, one the band’s most iconic, thanks to its own killer opening line. Deciding to play the U.K. track listing, and not the American, was an interesting choice, considering that they are doing the full albums dates in America, and fans have had the Yankee listing in their ears for three-plus decades. But you can’t keep a good Satan down. Also of note were two changes in samples for Brown – “Impact (The Earth Is Burning)” included a sample from environmental activist Greta Thunberg (who hadn’t even been born when the song was made), while “Halcyon” actually didn’t have the Belinda Carlisle/Bon Jovi sample (so, no, they didn’t “bring on Bon Jovi!” – maybe if they were playing on the other side of the Hudson…).
The early, long show (three hours from “The Moebius” to close) meant that there was a major line outside of Webster Hall beforehand (give a moment’s thought to staff & security who had to clear them everybody out before the separate late show), but it all had not put off the naturally relatively older audience. They could make an early show and still get home before midnight (and could afford drink prices at Webster Hall…), but also naturally weren’t going to be raving like it was 1992 and they had just dropped ecstasy (very little neon clothing in the crowd, either). But all were still moving to the beat (even security), and even a few move their hands around an imaginary ball like they had proudly learned back when MTV Amp was still a thing.
Today’s EDM scene is pretty well established around the world, from dubstep to riding the rail, to the point where the only complainers are aging hipsters and misguided anti-drug zealots. It’s not even the ‘new’ thing anymore, passed on now by sounds defined by internet memes or something. But well before dub took its first step, electronic music had hit the rave and hit hard. Orbital & Orbitals returned, because there is this theory of the Moebius. A twist in the fabric of space, where time becomes a loop, from which there is no escape. So, when we reach that point, whatever happened will happen again.
