Orbital's new release Wonky, April Fool's Day, 2012

[holden]

I obtained the new album and have listened to it in full 5 times today. Going for spin 6 in a minute.
It's good. It's very, very good!

Quick review...
1. One Big Moment - beautiful opener, with spoken word and lushness straight out of "Snivilization", then going into distorted analog, chimes and drum machine beats - Orbital like they never left!

2. Straight Sun - a bit of a grower, this one; just builds with all the classic Orbital melodies, piercing trebles and storming analog basses

3. Never - begins with still more mid-90's tinkering keys, halfway through it's a soundtrack for a fast drive to the club.

4. New France (Featuring Zola Jesus)) - Close to a few of the better tracks off of "Blue", with the Orbital penchant for female wails tastefully applied and cut up/reassembled. Makes me scared, makes me happy, at once.

5. Distractions - probably my least favorite track; so many things going on, you lose track. There are amazing sounds and a few great sections, but almost too many ideas to develop anything fully.

6. Stringy Acid - this could have been on Orbital 1 (Yellow Album) for sure. Call it vintage, dated, or classic. Depends on your tolerance for early 90's Orbital.

7. Beelzedub - Orbital always put an aggro track or two on their records, and this is it. Not quite a "satan" remix, but in that vein. The dubstep beat plus the jungle patterns on top sound a little dated, but hey, it's energetic.

8. Wonky (Featuring Lady Leshurr) - the first exposure to the wonky-uppitched vocals along with the singing cats in the video made me think this was going to be a disaster, a techno "Meow Mix" advert. But it grows on me to the point where i'm looking up the lyrics to the quasi-rap.

9. Where Is It Going? Buzzy bass and skippy beats, a bit of menace that recalls "P.E.T.R.O.L" and parts of "Nothing Left", but mostly just an uplifting album-ender that affirms that the boys have more in them.