Snivilisation

Personnel includes: Alison Goldfrapp (vocals).
As a prerequisite to examining the best of the new electronica crop, it's virtually imperative to fit Orbital into the scheme of things. The Hartnoll Brothers first rose to prominence in their native Britain following the 1991 release of Orbital's self-titled debut. But their piece de resistance is the brilliant SNIVILISATION, an album that thumbs its nose at the rave establishment with a fiercely experimental attitude.
One look at the Bosch-like androids reposing amid the CD jacket's kitsch planetoid ruins any assumption that this is just a "techno" record. Noises daft, brash, and irresistible abound. A wicked sense of humor pervades the phonetics of the music and the message. Try making clearer sense out of the ping-ponging effects, tin drums, and whipping synths of "I Wish I Had Duck Feet" or the sad irony that feeds the chaotic machine gusts and spasmodic samples of "Are We Here?" The gleam in Orbital's eye has rarely been as cogent as on the hypnotic riffs of "Kein Trink Wasser," where a stream of Reichian pianos segues into a twisted yarn of thick synth blobs, buzzes, and chattering riffs. And don't forget the warmth that swathes these riveting machine-scapes. This is only the beginning.