William Orbit | ||
| Allmusic Biography : Ambient pioneer, studio master, and omnipresent dance remixer William Orbit began his musical career in the new wave band Torch Song. Even while the group recorded several albums for IRS, Orbit remained in the studio to learn the ropes and began producing and remixing for artists including Sting, Madonna, Prince, the Human League, Erasure, and Belinda Carlisle. Orbit concurrently recorded his own material, and released his first solo album, Orbit, in 1987. That same year, he inaugurated the ambient project Strange Cargo, which released follow-up albums in 1990 and 1993. Also during the late 80s, Orbit latched onto the acid house explosion in England and founded one of the scenes most notable labels, Guerilla Records. Orbits own Bassomatic recorded for Guerilla alongside British progressive acts Spooky and React 2 Rhythm plus excellent Chicago producers Felix da Housecat and DJ Pierre. Through Virgin, Bassomatic also released an album, Set the Controls for the Heart of the Bass. Though his release schedule slowed slightly during the 90s, William Orbit continued producing and remixing at a furious pace. He also founded a new label, N-Gram Recordings, and prepared to release the classical crossover work Pieces in a Modern Style. The album, which featured electronic interpretations of classical pieces, drew angry protests from composers Arvo Pärt and Henryk Górecki, and they helped block the albums release. In 1998, after 15 years of behind the scenes post-production, Orbits name hit the mainstream thanks to his helming the Madonna comeback album Ray of Light (Orbit not only produced the entire LP, but co-wrote many of the tracks). The album won Grammy awards for Best Pop Album and Best Dance Recording, and its success led to a host of remixing and production work, including Blurs 1999 album, 13. In 2000, Orbit finally released Pieces in a Modern Style, and the album became an unexpected hit thanks to Ferry Corstens trance remix of Samuel Barbers Adagio for Strings. In 2006 he returned with Hello Waveforms on the Sanctuary label. Finley Quaye appeared on the album along with former Torch Song/Strange Cargo vocalist Laurie Mayer. My Oracle Lives Uptown followed in 2009 on the Kobalt label, and one year later he released Pieces in a Modern Style 2, another edition of classical material, including Orbits version of "Swan Lake." | ||
 | Album: 1 of 12 Title: Orbit Released: 1987 Tracks: 11 Duration: 43:12 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Love My Way (03:37) 2 Fool to Myself (04:04) 3 Heartbroken Highway (03:56) 4 Escape to Mexico (03:37) 5 Rider in Black (04:07) 6 Swamp Dog (04:02) 7 Feel Like Jumping (04:47) 8 Blue Street (04:02) 9 Cluny Ann (04:20) 10 The Night Runs Forever (03:47) 11 Cry One More Tear (02:53) |
 | Album: 2 of 12 Title: Strange Cargo Released: 1987 Tracks: 11 Duration: 37:58 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Via Caliénte (02:36) 2 Fire and Mercy (05:12) 3 Jump Jet (02:10) 4 Silent Signals (05:56) 5 The Secret Garden (03:38) 6 Out of the Ice (03:18) 7 Scorpion (02:07) 8 Riding to Rio (03:03) 9 Jimmy’s Jag (03:30) 10 The Mighty Limpopo (04:20) 11 Theme Dream (02:04) |
| Strange Cargo : Allmusic album Review : Recorded between 1984 and 1987, Orbits first Strange Cargo release is a dynamic album of quirky mood music, with the producer exploiting the full range of his synthesizer presets and evoking a quintessentially 80s style of Fourth World digitalia. Though theyre all well produced, most of these tracks are suited more for use as musical beds on the Discovery Channel, and "Via Caliente" and "Riding to Rio" may be too bright and happy for fans of his later work. Still, "Silent Signals," "The Secret Garden," and "Scorpions" are contemplative ambience in league with early Tangerine Dream. | ||
 | Album: 3 of 12 Title: Strange Cargo 2 Released: 1990 Tracks: 10 Duration: 46:23 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Dark Eyed Kid (05:24) 2 Atom Dream (04:02) 3 Ruby Heart (05:55) 4 El Santo (04:36) 5 Dia del Muerto (04:28) 6 777 (03:43) 7 The Thief and the Serpent (02:27) 8 The Last Lagoon (04:17) 9 Millenium (08:15) 10 Painted Rock (03:16) |
| Strange Cargo 2 : Allmusic album Review : Strange Cargo 2 finds Orbit moving (slowly) away from the synth-horn solos and overall sound of new age/contemporary instrumental. Though theres a bit more electronics on this record, he still seems uncommonly fixated with textural touches like Spanish guitar, and the effect is much more Windham Hill than Warp. Still, the Indian fusion pieces "777" and "The Thief & the Spirit" are highlights, with a series of masked vocal samples creating eerie moods. | ||
 | Album: 4 of 12 Title: Strange Cargo III Released: 1993-12 Tracks: 12 Duration: 1:03:47 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Water From a Vine Leaf (07:05) 2 Into the Paradise (05:41) 3 Time to Get Wize (04:09) 4 Harry Flowers (04:31) 5 A Touch of the Night (05:02) 6 The Story of Light (06:17) 7 Gringatcho Demento (06:38) 8 A Hazy Shade of Random (05:08) 9 Best Friend, Paranoia (04:35) 10 The Monkey King (05:15) 11 Deus Ex Machina (05:40) 12 Water Babies (03:42) |
| Strange Cargo III : Allmusic album Review : The last and best of the Strange Cargo albums, III matches elegant sequencer trance and understated organic instruments (piano, guitar) with ethnic-fusion and soft house rhythms. Its the only Strange Cargo record featuring vocals, with Beth Orton making an early appearance (more earth mother than neo-folky) on the beautiful ambient-trance single "Water From a Vine Leaf." "Into the Paradise" and "The Story of Light" are variations on the same form, while Orbit borrows from hip-hop and dub for "Time to Get Wize," with the toasting of Divine Bashim. While still tied to the 80s Fourth World aesthetic of its predecessors, on Strange Cargo III Orbit begins moving toward a more completely electronic form of music in keeping with the productions of his Guerilla label. | ||
 | Album: 5 of 12 Title: Pieces in a Modern Style Released: 1995-05-29 Tracks: 11 Duration: 1:00:09 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Adagio for Strings (09:32) 2 In a Landscape (02:57) 3 Ogive Number 1 (06:44) 4 Cavalleria Rusticana (03:19) 5 Pavane pour une Infante Défunte (06:11) 6 LInverno (03:57) 7 Triple Concerto (05:32) 8 Xerxes (04:42) 9 Piece in the Old Style 1 (05:06) 10 Piece in the Old Style 3 (05:49) 11 Opus 132 (06:14) |
| Pieces in a Modern Style : Allmusic album Review : After years of making his own esoteric ambient albums and paying for them by doing dance remixes for pop acts, William Orbit hit the big time in 1998 by co-writing and producing Madonnas Ray of Light album. With his own debut solo album on Madonnas label, he returned to his esoteric pursuits, programming a variety of calm classical pieces into his computer and rearranging them to one extent or another. Samuel Barbers "Adagio for Strings" came off relatively unscathed, but by the time he got to "Ogives Number 1" by Erik Satie, Orbit was mixing in the sounds of a helicopter, as if he were Francis Ford Coppola doing sound design work on Apocalypse Now with the Doors "The End." Handels "Largo from Xerxes" remained recognizable, but Beethovens "Triple Concerto" was largely transformed. No matter whose music he was reformulating, however, Orbit worked gently, creating an album that, if it technically belonged beside Wendy Carlos Switched-On Bach, actually was more reminiscent of Brian Enos Discreet Music. It may seem surprising, then, to note that "Adagio for Strings" landed on the U.S. and U.K. dance charts, but that was only in Ferry Corstens remix (actually, an entirely different version, full of the usual thundering percussion), which was included along with an ATB version on a separate CD with the album. Though Orbit was already at work on the new Madonna album at the time that Pieces in a Modern Style was released, from the sound of it youd have thought he was really angling to get film scoring jobs. | ||
 | Album: 6 of 12 Title: The Best of Strange Cargos Released: 1996-02-19 Tracks: 16 Duration: 1:12:30 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Water From a Vine Leaf (07:05) 2 Dark Eyed Kid (05:24) 3 Gringatcho Demento (06:38) 4 Fire and Mercy (05:12) 5 Via Caliénte (02:36) 6 Time to Get Wize (04:09) 7 Ruby Heart (Transmogrified) (04:40) 8 Atom Dream (04:02) 9 Harry Flowers (04:31) 10 Love My Way (02:39) 11 Riding to Rio (03:03) 12 The Story of Light (06:17) 13 Silent Signals (Revisited) (02:26) 14 Painted Rock (03:16) 15 Water From a Vine Leaf (Underworld remix) (07:01) 16 Water Babies (03:25) |
| The Best of Strange Cargos : Allmusic album Review : Compiling tracks from his three Strange Cargo albums (with recordings dating from 1984 to 1994), William Orbit displays a range of recording styles, drifting from the ambient-pop of "Water from a Vine Leaf" with Beth Orton to recordings more obsessed with trance and world rhythms. | ||
 | Album: 7 of 12 Title: Hello Waveforms Released: 2006-02-20 Tracks: 11 Duration: 57:15 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Sea Green (06:20) 2 Humming Chorus (03:36) 3 Surfin (04:52) 4 You Know Too Much About Flying Saucers (04:59) 5 Spiral (04:57) 6 Who Owns the Octopus? (05:01) 7 Bubble Universe (04:04) 8 Fragamosia (06:32) 9 Firebrand (06:16) 10 They Live in the Sky (04:55) 11 Colours From Nowhere (05:39) |
| Hello Waveforms : Allmusic album Review : Producer, performer, and composer William Orbit returns to recording his own projects after a six-year hiatus. Pieces in a Modern Style, his reading of Samuel Barbers Adagio for Strings, was a popular and chillout-room smash in 2000. Orbit pioneered a style of recording and producing that blended progressive house with ambient and ethereal atmospherics. That style is signature and has graced everything hes touched -- check Madonnas Ray of Light album or his own Strange Cargo 2 for a taste. So lets get something straight from the jump: there is nothing new here at all. In addition, the scene that would have embraced this recording as a bible for ambient house six to ten years ago has gone the way of all quaint trends that people are all but ashamed to admit they were a part of. That said, the music taken on its own merit nets this: Hello Waveforms is a wonderful listening experience. As is to be expected, dreamy guitars lilt and sway as synths and steady hypnotic beats create a shimmering soundscape that brings space and time to a virtual stop. Orbit appropriated Madame Butterfly for the gorgeous "Humming Chorus." Classical motifs and ambient music gather together and weave a nocturnal sonic sea, as gentle keyboard waves swell and lilt. Orbit collaborates with the Sugababes -- with Kenna singing lead vocals -- on the sensual single "Spiral." Laurie Mayer from the Strange Cargo period is here vocally on "Who Owns the Octopus," which also stars Finley Quaye on acoustic guitar. She also contributes her gorgeous voice to "Bubble Universe." "Surfin" actually employs piano counterpoint with synthesizers, and its seamless and slightly spooky. "Fragmosia" stars Caroline LaVelle and Jocelyn Pook on strings, hovering above the drum and synth programming and creating a tension to be sure, but its a deeply romantic one. "Firebrand" actually hosts winds and brass instruments as well as a vibraphone. It seemingly takes forever to get going (the track is over six minutes long), but there is no hurry. Tiny melodies and modes float by on the way to the rhythm tracks; when they finally arrive, one is brought to a kind of ecstatic tranquility -- especially on headphones. The bottom line on Hello Waveforms is that it may seem dated to terminal hipsters, but for everyone else it is small yet exceptionally well crafted. Its beauty and aesthetic pleasure come from a seduction of the senses. It is utterly drenched with those elements that appeal to pleasures known and unknown. So, while Orbits style may be familiar, the substance is what matters. Orbit follows his own muse and Hello Waveforms is a sensory expression of that encounter. | ||
 | Album: 8 of 12 Title: Purdy Released: 2009 Tracks: 5 Duration: 32:43 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Purdy (Chicane remix, Billys edit) (03:27) 2 Purdy (Chicane remix) (08:07) 3 Purdy (Greenmoney remix) (05:56) 4 Purdy (Billy Buttons mix) (06:56) 5 Purdy (Henner & Green remix) (08:17) |
 | Album: 9 of 12 Title: My Oracle Lives Uptown Released: 2009-05-04 Tracks: 16 Duration: 1:12:16 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Radioharp (04:44) 2 Purdy (05:34) 3 Optical Illusions (Billy Buttons version) (04:18) 4 Fast Bubble Universe (04:31) 5 White Night (03:26) 6 Hydrajacked (05:40) 7 My Oracle Lives Uptown (04:14) 8 Spotlight Kid (04:23) 9 Neutron Star (05:47) 10 Treetop Club (04:47) 11 Drift So Far (Website version) (02:59) 12 Golden Country (04:17) 13 Brand New Bong (03:57) 14 Little Skipper (04:54) 15 Reverie of the Tapir (04:53) 16 City Lights Reflection (03:51) |
 | Album: 10 of 12 Title: Odyssey Released: 2010-01-18 Tracks: 42 Duration: 3:18:20 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Second Sense (05:13) 2 Tatouage Bleu (03:59) 3 Angel (04:19) 4 G155 (04:17) 5 Desire (ambient mix) (06:53) 6 Flung (variation) (02:27) 7 Love Show (03:39) 8 Stand Your Ground (02:34) 9 Wednesday’s Child (02:12) 10 Always Remember to Respect and Honour Your Mother, Part 1 (7″ mix) (03:52) 11 Black Coffee (04:48) 12 Fascinating Rhythm (04:19) 13 Where Do You Go (instrumental) (03:49) 14 Twice (03:06) 15 Sea Green (06:20) 1 Yoruba Road (05:31) 2 Cruising (06:07) 3 So Fine (04:32) 4 Chain (04:22) 5 Afterglow (Trafik edit) (03:41) 6 Sofisticated (04:14) 7 It’s All Right Now (03:54) 8 Sabali (Paul Epworth mix) (02:48) 9 Suga Suga (03:59) 10 Miss Leslie (instrumental) (04:36) 11 Woman Friend (03:46) 12 No Sun in the Sky (Henrik Schwarz remix) (06:59) 13 Wavy Gravy (05:59) 14 Hymn (Orbit remix) (05:49) 1 Sunstroke (05:39) 2 Dance Wiv Me (Dirty Vegas remix) (04:55) 3 Girls Like Hi Hats (Uto Karems Boys Like Bass mix) (06:21) 4 I Love U (Bart B More Secured dub) (06:00) 5 Loom1 (04:07) 6 The Bump (Tonite Only remix) (05:29) 7 Kingstonlogic (Greenmoney Houselogic remix) (04:09) 8 The Reward Is Cheese (03:33) 9 Chicken (04:04) 10 I Love My Sex (03:34) 11 Pop Your Cork (04:54) 12 When You Touch Me (05:41) 13 Water From a Vine Leaf (Xylem Flow mix) / Water From a Vine Leaf (Cromer Chroma mix) (11:31) |
| Odyssey : Allmusic album Review : Odyssey is a three-disc, 43-track collection that features ubiquitous producer, DJ, and music fan William Orbit doing all three. Disc one is split into a cocktail with two-thirds made up of tracks that he likes or has produced (or in some cases here, reworked a bit) by various artists including Robbie Williams, Gavin Friday, Laurie Mayer, Dusted, John Barry, and Skye, with the remaining one-third comprised of some of his own rarities: a reworking of Bassomatics “Fascinating Rhythm,” an instrumental version of Beth Ortons “Where Do You Go” (a song they co-wrote), All Saints “Black Coffee,” the bonus track of “G155” from the Hello Waveforms album, and some others. Disc two is an extension of disc one with none of his exclusives, and is unmixed. This is a selection one might hear on his KCRW radio program in Los Angeles. Disc three is a continuous mix that works on the club level. It’s most notable for the rare original demo of "Water from a Vine Leaf" that he cut with Orton -- the first vocal track the pair every cut together. But it also contains remixes of Terry Lynns "Kingstonlogic," Dirty Vegas "Dance with Me," and Orbits own crazy "Chicken," under his WTF? moniker (its a nutjob percussion solo). Theres also a thoroughly reworked version of Larry Tees "I Love U [Bart B More Secured Dub]." The hallmarks of Orbit the producer are, however, evident on almost every bit of this set in the form of an added tweak here and there, some bells, a bass echo, cymbals, reverb, a guitar line overdubbed, etc. This is one for the collectors. That said, there still needs to be an adequate retrospective compiled of only his productions and recorded work, but the licensing for that project would be a real labor of love -- i.e., a nightmare -- because there is so much. | ||
 | Album: 11 of 12 Title: Pieces in a Modern Style 2 Released: 2010-10-15 Tracks: 12 Duration: 55:59 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Aquarium (03:36) 2 Nimrod (08:58) 3 Alto Giove (04:05) 4 Peer Gynt (05:31) 5 Arioso (02:36) 6 Lark (05:47) 7 Sonnambula (03:34) 8 Paradisum (03:37) 9 Pavane (04:46) 10 Clavier (04:25) 11 Babbino (03:44) 12 Swan Lake (05:15) |
| Pieces in a Modern Style 2 : Allmusic album Review : The artist most often mentioned when discussing William Orbits classical crossover albums is Wendy Carlos, whose synthesizer pieces of Bach piqued many a college students interest during the early 70s. But on Pieces in a Modern Style 2, Orbits second edition in a series that also includes 2000s original, he sounds like his closest inspiration is Tomita, the Japanese synth maestro who focused less on interpreting the classical canon than conveying the emotion and feel of these pieces, in a manner that struck classical fans as dumbing down the classics, but showed non-classical listeners a little bit of whats special about the form. Orbits style here is close to Tomitas, with Casio synth of the late-70s variety burbling arpeggios in the background while synth-strings play the basic melody of the piece. Orbit says in the notes that hes interested in classical music because of the way its put together, but its difficult to understand the meaning of such a simplistic statement. If hes talking about the basic elements of classical music -- complexity, harmonization, modulation, or musical form -- then these pieces dont measure up at all. What hes created is an introduction to the feel of classical music, but listeners, regardless of their enjoyment of classical music, should understand that the feel of the thing is far from the thing itself. | ||
 | Album: 12 of 12 Title: Strange Cargo 5 Released: 2014-05-08 Tracks: 16 Duration: 1:04:23 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 On Wings (04:32) 2 Big Country (04:22) 3 Just a Night or Two (02:54) 4 I Paint What I See (04:33) 5 NE1 (03:49) 6 Large Hadron Love Collider (02:55) 7 Lode Star (03:53) 8 My Friend Morpheus (04:29) 9 The Diver (04:36) 10 Poppies (03:58) 11 Love This Town (03:36) 12 Recall (02:06) 13 Milky Way Station (04:43) 14 Willow (03:47) 15 Parade of Future Souls (05:34) 16 The Changeling (04:36) |