The Boy With The Thorn In His Side

It’s the year that the veteran techno gods make their return to prominence. The brothers Hartnoll aka Orbital have reformed and are touring. The Chemical Brothers see their new record Further out next month. Now comes word of a new record from possibly the best of them all in Underworld! The duo of Karl Hyde and Rick Smith are preparing to release what will be their sixth record later this summer and I, for one am beyond stoked!

To celebrate the occasion, here is the first single to be taken from the record called Scribble. The track is actually a collaboration featuring the writing and production talents of High Contrast which makes this track even more note-worthy.  The song is full of colour. For an Underworld track, it’s actually very upbeat. While it would be cool to see the band jack up the bpms like they did in years past, it definitely does not take away from the enjoyment of Scribble at all. Welcome back, lads.

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“Scribble” by Underworld

The good news: Orbital aka Phil & Paul Hsrtnoll are back, stronger than ever and entering the live arena once again. The bad news? They’re not coming anywhere New York. The brothers will be playing Coachella and the Ultra Music Festival this year. This means that if you know what’s good for you, you will make a note to see them during this jaunt.

Though I wasn’t too crazy about the last Prodigy record, it’s good to see legends of techno coming back into the public consciousness. A little rave and a headache the morning after is never a bad thing in my book. Hopefully Orbital do make it a point to hit up the Northeast and keep the party going for a little while longer so those of us who’ve never actually seen them live before (like me!) may do so.

If nothing else, I will be forced to harass their management and booking agency until we get something done.

Here are their dates:

27 March – Ultra Music Festival – Miami FL
16 April – Warfield Theatre – San Francisco CA
18 April – Coachella Festival – Indio CA

“Style” by Orbital, taken from the FFRR release, “The Midlle Of Nowhere”

Nu-rave? Pfft! Give me the real rave shiznit anyday! Hadouken!? Puh-lease.. The Klaxons? Debut record as solid as they come but a blaring siren sound in Atlantis To Interzone does not make you nu-rave or any kind of rave. The Whip? Jesus Jones wants their sound back. I’m talking bands like Orbital who kept dancefloors packed and ears ringing throughout the nineties. Apparently the Hartnoll brothers get sick of hearing about the pretenders to the throne clawing at their feet and decided to jump back into the game. The winners? Us!

They’ll be touring the UK this summer with a supposed Glastonbury performance in the works. I wonder if they’ll make the trek across the pond… One can only hope for that and a new record. I’ll be keeping a close eye on this!