Mainstream techno duo Orbital have gifted themselves a bunch of bad reviews by naming their new album – their first in eight years – after a short-lived, non-existent house subgenre from five years ago, which they don’t even practise. But people claiming that the brothers Hartnoll have grown out of touch miss the point that they were only vaguely in touch with everyone else to begin with. Instead, ‘Wonky’ has reconnected them with the lush spirit of their first and second albums, and despite (successful) attempts to do dubstep (‘Beelzedub’) and electro/grime on the title track, this is mainly a deep pool of blissful, sedentary festival listening.
Nobody would expect an eighth album by a band 20-plus years into its career to sound this fantastic. It will leave middle-aged ravers ecstatic, and should allow a new generation to understand what their folks have been banging on about all these years.
http://www.mixcloud.com/evil_concussion/orbital-live-warner-music-london-space-opening-fiesta-2012-space-ibiza-27052012/