Orbital's The Box
April 26, 2019 11:19 PM Subscribe
Not a long album post, but can we just take a minute to bask in the utter glory of developing and shifting soundscapes that is the full 28m30s version of Orbital's 1996 track The Box? It's a thing unto itself.
Ah... Pachabel's Cannon for the 90s Raver.
I just finished rewatching the 2nd season of TNG episode where they find themselves folded in space and time on the moebius after Worf says 'What will happen will happen again.' and 'Where time becomes a loop' so yeah... total mood for Orbital.
posted by Nanukthedog at 3:08 AM on April 27, 2019 [10 favorites]
I just finished rewatching the 2nd season of TNG episode where they find themselves folded in space and time on the moebius after Worf says 'What will happen will happen again.' and 'Where time becomes a loop' so yeah... total mood for Orbital.
posted by Nanukthedog at 3:08 AM on April 27, 2019 [10 favorites]
I do love the version with vocals. Like an outdoor to a weird 60s show that never existed.
posted by Artw at 3:24 AM on April 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 3:24 AM on April 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
Ah... Pachabel's Cannon for the 90s Raver.
Unsure whether to read this as a backhanded complement or not. The cellists in my family loathe this piece.
posted by TrialByMedia at 6:45 AM on April 27, 2019 [7 favorites]
Unsure whether to read this as a backhanded complement or not. The cellists in my family loathe this piece.
posted by TrialByMedia at 6:45 AM on April 27, 2019 [7 favorites]
I just finished rewatching the 2nd season of TNG episode where they find themselves folded in space and time on the moebius after Worf says 'What will happen will happen again.' and 'Where time becomes a loop' so yeah... total mood for Orbital.
Are you referring to their sample of this in the track The Moebius? Because if not, yeah, they sampled that :)
posted by filthy light thief at 7:37 AM on April 27, 2019 [2 favorites]
Are you referring to their sample of this in the track The Moebius? Because if not, yeah, they sampled that :)
posted by filthy light thief at 7:37 AM on April 27, 2019 [2 favorites]
'Where time becomes a loop' so yeah... total mood for Orbital.
I still find myself quoting this at random, especially if there's deja vu going on. And if I hear someone say it it has a pretty good chance of throwing me into a loop and sending me into reverie.
Also, somewhere in my music files I have the fairly rare 40+ minute (live?) version of The Orb's Blue Room. It's fucking fantastic and starts with like a ten minute beatless intro.
posted by loquacious at 7:41 AM on April 27, 2019 [3 favorites]
I still find myself quoting this at random, especially if there's deja vu going on. And if I hear someone say it it has a pretty good chance of throwing me into a loop and sending me into reverie.
Also, somewhere in my music files I have the fairly rare 40+ minute (live?) version of The Orb's Blue Room. It's fucking fantastic and starts with like a ten minute beatless intro.
posted by loquacious at 7:41 AM on April 27, 2019 [3 favorites]
That's MeFi favorite Tilda Swinton in the video for the single that's linked by eye of newt.
It's one of my all-time favorite music videos. For me it is such an incredible performance that tells an evocative tale. The moment where she's staring at the TV storefont and sees the message sends chills down my spine.
posted by glonous keming at 7:44 AM on April 27, 2019 [2 favorites]
It's one of my all-time favorite music videos. For me it is such an incredible performance that tells an evocative tale. The moment where she's staring at the TV storefont and sees the message sends chills down my spine.
posted by glonous keming at 7:44 AM on April 27, 2019 [2 favorites]
One of my all-time favorite tracks.
Speaking of the video, I stayed at an AirBNB in London, just north of Islington, in the home of the director of that video.
posted by peterme at 7:46 AM on April 27, 2019 [6 favorites]
Speaking of the video, I stayed at an AirBNB in London, just north of Islington, in the home of the director of that video.
posted by peterme at 7:46 AM on April 27, 2019 [6 favorites]
I got into this thanks to the Tilda Swinton video, but I thought it was just my memory that miscategorised it as her! Wow.
I still have the CD where The Box was the second EP. I recommended it to everyone, and a friend of mine bought a copy years later and put the EP on at work at his startup to create a cool mood while the investors came to inspect. Unfortunately by that point they'd swapped out The Box with that "Satan! Satan! Satan! Satan! Satan!" track, so the investors left with their nerves jangled.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 8:10 AM on April 27, 2019 [4 favorites]
I still have the CD where The Box was the second EP. I recommended it to everyone, and a friend of mine bought a copy years later and put the EP on at work at his startup to create a cool mood while the investors came to inspect. Unfortunately by that point they'd swapped out The Box with that "Satan! Satan! Satan! Satan! Satan!" track, so the investors left with their nerves jangled.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 8:10 AM on April 27, 2019 [4 favorites]
... and by the way, if you see your mom this weekend, be sure to tell her SATAN! SATAN! SATAN! SATAN! SATAN!
m o n s t e r s
e x i s t
Yes, yes they do (full deluxe album playlist). Happy Saturday!
posted by filthy light thief at 8:27 AM on April 27, 2019 [2 favorites]
m o n s t e r s
e x i s t
Yes, yes they do (full deluxe album playlist). Happy Saturday!
posted by filthy light thief at 8:27 AM on April 27, 2019 [2 favorites]
This album was definitely one of my base of operations from '96-'99. I was late to the rave scene and didn't start picking up on electronic music until jungle, dub and melodic breaks burrowed past my college rock leanings circa summer '95. I love how this album feels like a suite of music and how the 4 or so tracks each had their own motifs, while referencing the other tracks in oblique ways. And my god, how long each break would take to unwind itself. Way different than the 2010s EDM genre. I had the Insides album where the Box was included as a separate disc.
Strangely enough, straddling the college rock genre, I was also into David Grey's 2nd (?) album, "Sell, Sell, Sell," which I got into because Grant Lee Buffalo's Paul Kimble produced it. It seemed so inspired to me a few years later when White Ladder came out.
posted by SoundInhabitant at 8:36 AM on April 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
Strangely enough, straddling the college rock genre, I was also into David Grey's 2nd (?) album, "Sell, Sell, Sell," which I got into because Grant Lee Buffalo's Paul Kimble produced it. It seemed so inspired to me a few years later when White Ladder came out.
posted by SoundInhabitant at 8:36 AM on April 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
Ah. Yes. Now I wanna crank up the speakers and sit there basking in the glorious labyrinth of this track again. It’s been a while. But I’m in the middle of a move and the speakers are in boxes.
posted by egypturnash at 9:26 AM on April 27, 2019
posted by egypturnash at 9:26 AM on April 27, 2019
Oh man, I remember this being a nice little staple on WBCN, back when that was still an important alternative radio station. Pretty sure it's country now. A nicely inscrutable, compelling piece of music, when you were just starting to hear instrumentals on popular radio in 90s. And then they'd occasionally announce it. "Orbital's the Box" was such a string of nonsense words to my adolescent mind. Everything about this song was mysterious.
So it's fucking cool to find out there was a reason this song was so compelling to DJs. I even recognize bits from the 'appendix' of this track popping up in bumper tracks all the time. I can just imagine Mark Parenteau or Nik Carter putting this record on for late night house guests and smiling smugly. I imagine cocaine and peppermint tea being served.
posted by es_de_bah at 9:51 AM on April 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
So it's fucking cool to find out there was a reason this song was so compelling to DJs. I even recognize bits from the 'appendix' of this track popping up in bumper tracks all the time. I can just imagine Mark Parenteau or Nik Carter putting this record on for late night house guests and smiling smugly. I imagine cocaine and peppermint tea being served.
posted by es_de_bah at 9:51 AM on April 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
Pachabel's cannon - meant as a complement in this case: near endless varieties of variation on a theme. Once you realize thas the 4 minute, 12 minute and 28 minute versions are all separate and are not trimmed down versions of the same song - you start to see where their live shows went... of course... that means that those of you who dig this and are hearing this for the same time have 16 more minutes of the same song to track down and listen to if you are so inclined.
posted by Nanukthedog at 9:57 AM on April 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Nanukthedog at 9:57 AM on April 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
loquacious,
Is this the one you mentioned?
posted by the sobsister at 10:10 AM on April 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
Is this the one you mentioned?
posted by the sobsister at 10:10 AM on April 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
Caught them live last fall, S-A-T-A-N!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUl7z0oFmDo
posted by zippercollider at 10:19 AM on April 27, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUl7z0oFmDo
posted by zippercollider at 10:19 AM on April 27, 2019
I've seen Orbital twice, 8689 days apart.
First was the first big rave I went to, Tribal Gathering near Oxford in 1995.
Second was this year, at Splore in New Zealand, on a beach, in the pouring rain:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZC7C7Md2Ng
Two of the best times of my life.
posted by happyinmotion at 12:30 PM on April 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
First was the first big rave I went to, Tribal Gathering near Oxford in 1995.
Second was this year, at Splore in New Zealand, on a beach, in the pouring rain:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZC7C7Md2Ng
Two of the best times of my life.
posted by happyinmotion at 12:30 PM on April 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
"Pachabel's Cannon for the 90s Raver."
Like, You haven't *really* listened to "The Box" until you've listened to it on repeat for about 12 hours tripping... (/sarcastic/not sarcastic)
(Not that I was ever actually a "90s Raver" really.... but did do that and it was pretty interesting. )
posted by thefool at 1:14 PM on April 27, 2019
Like, You haven't *really* listened to "The Box" until you've listened to it on repeat for about 12 hours tripping... (/sarcastic/not sarcastic)
(Not that I was ever actually a "90s Raver" really.... but did do that and it was pretty interesting. )
posted by thefool at 1:14 PM on April 27, 2019
Oooof, Orbital is my favorite band and various pieces of the full "The Box" are on my regular playlist, particularly the last segment with the vocals — I think of it as the "James Bond Opening Credits Song" version — but it's been ages since I heard the full thing as a single track. In the "The Box" music video, I always interpreted Tilda Swinton as portraying some sort of nature spirit and/or Gaia herself, trying and failing to connect with modern humanity. The scene with the televisions gives me goosebumps every time. "Monsters exist" indeed.
Speaking of, I'm thrilled to bits about their Monsters Exist album, I personally think it's their best work since The Middle of Nowhere way back in '99. A lot of other folks seem to be pretty lukewarm on it, but goddamn, it's better as an album than The Altogether (had a few good A side tracks but was mostly a delivery system for the B sides), The Blue Album (again, a few scattered good songs but not a good album), and Wonky (just... ugh). The opening track is the most overtly political music they've done since In Sides & is very clearly a Brexit commentary, so as much as the current political climate sucks I'm glad we have them taking aim at things & saying something again, even if (as has always been the case for their political commentary) it's deliberately cryptic and only implied through the mood of the music. And the focus really pulls it together as an album, it's basically their third most cohesive with Snivilization and The Middle of Nowhere as 1 and 2 respectively.
Oh, and if you haven't listened to Paul H's The Ideal Condition solo album, it's fantastic. It still has a heavy Orbital influence but it's much more acoustic. "For Silence" still gives me chills, and I want "Dust Motes" played at my funeral.
posted by chronostachyon at 1:47 PM on April 27, 2019 [2 favorites]
Speaking of, I'm thrilled to bits about their Monsters Exist album, I personally think it's their best work since The Middle of Nowhere way back in '99. A lot of other folks seem to be pretty lukewarm on it, but goddamn, it's better as an album than The Altogether (had a few good A side tracks but was mostly a delivery system for the B sides), The Blue Album (again, a few scattered good songs but not a good album), and Wonky (just... ugh). The opening track is the most overtly political music they've done since In Sides & is very clearly a Brexit commentary, so as much as the current political climate sucks I'm glad we have them taking aim at things & saying something again, even if (as has always been the case for their political commentary) it's deliberately cryptic and only implied through the mood of the music. And the focus really pulls it together as an album, it's basically their third most cohesive with Snivilization and The Middle of Nowhere as 1 and 2 respectively.
Oh, and if you haven't listened to Paul H's The Ideal Condition solo album, it's fantastic. It still has a heavy Orbital influence but it's much more acoustic. "For Silence" still gives me chills, and I want "Dust Motes" played at my funeral.
posted by chronostachyon at 1:47 PM on April 27, 2019 [2 favorites]
Ooh, ooh, ooh! I forgot to mention re: "Monsters Exist"! Did you catch that motif when the intro gives way to the main song? (1:09 on the album version.) It's our friend from "Lush" (0:30 in the music video) and "Halcyon+on+on" (at roughly the 2:00 mark, depending on the version)!
Based on the "Lush" music video, I've always interpreted that "DUM DUM dum da DUM" as representing the core goodness at the heart of people, something like "it's okay to like and even celebrate the simple pleasures in life, just love each other and be kind". But "Monsters Exist" twists it around and makes it a negative — chilling, threatening — b/c of the racist nativism that's driving Brexit. Goddamn I love Orbital, they're brilliant.
posted by chronostachyon at 1:58 PM on April 27, 2019
Based on the "Lush" music video, I've always interpreted that "DUM DUM dum da DUM" as representing the core goodness at the heart of people, something like "it's okay to like and even celebrate the simple pleasures in life, just love each other and be kind". But "Monsters Exist" twists it around and makes it a negative — chilling, threatening — b/c of the racist nativism that's driving Brexit. Goddamn I love Orbital, they're brilliant.
posted by chronostachyon at 1:58 PM on April 27, 2019
Oh man, this used to be my go-to for blissed-out eyes closed high as a kite listening. Thanks for reminding me.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 2:23 PM on April 27, 2019
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 2:23 PM on April 27, 2019
Just popping into say: lord, I adore Orbital's "The Box"
posted by UltraMorgnus at 3:41 PM on April 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by UltraMorgnus at 3:41 PM on April 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
When this first came out, I was going through a metalworking hobby phase. I would wake at 4am and make chips on my mini lathe in my 700 square foot apartment while this was playing on the stereo. I can't tell you anything else about my life at that time, because the sound of this track combined with the smell of the cutting fluid so suffused my body that it's all what's left.
I'd also like to think that it was the chillness of the music that kept my neighbors from complaining about the off-hours machinery.
posted by Slothrup at 4:26 PM on April 27, 2019
I'd also like to think that it was the chillness of the music that kept my neighbors from complaining about the off-hours machinery.
posted by Slothrup at 4:26 PM on April 27, 2019
Fun fact: In Sides was released as both a single disk and as a double disk, and there are, as far as I can tell FOUR different iterations of the second disk.
posted by hippybear at 4:35 PM on April 27, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 4:35 PM on April 27, 2019 [3 favorites]
@hippybear:
Most of the second discs (outside of the UK) are very similar to either discogs.com/Orbital-In-Sides/release/1025381 (has the live version of Halcyon+on+on) or to discogs.com/Orbital-In-Sides/release/5138367 (has the 28 minute version of The Box). I was scared for a second that my collection was missing one!
There are a ton of Orbital tracks that are very hard to get ahold of, because they were only/mostly played at live shows. The 2 CD set with "Halcyon (Live)" was AFAIK the first time ever that the variant of Halcyon+on+on with the backmasked Belinda Carlisle and Bon Jovi samples made it to anything more widely available than a bootleg cassette. Their Doctor Who theme took even longer to make it to an album, and there are dozens of different versions that use different dialogue samples for the intro.
posted by chronostachyon at 4:51 PM on April 27, 2019
Most of the second discs (outside of the UK) are very similar to either discogs.com/Orbital-In-Sides/release/1025381 (has the live version of Halcyon+on+on) or to discogs.com/Orbital-In-Sides/release/5138367 (has the 28 minute version of The Box). I was scared for a second that my collection was missing one!
There are a ton of Orbital tracks that are very hard to get ahold of, because they were only/mostly played at live shows. The 2 CD set with "Halcyon (Live)" was AFAIK the first time ever that the variant of Halcyon+on+on with the backmasked Belinda Carlisle and Bon Jovi samples made it to anything more widely available than a bootleg cassette. Their Doctor Who theme took even longer to make it to an album, and there are dozens of different versions that use different dialogue samples for the intro.
posted by chronostachyon at 4:51 PM on April 27, 2019
This one is different.
I'm mistaken and there are only 3 different versions.
posted by hippybear at 4:55 PM on April 27, 2019
I'm mistaken and there are only 3 different versions.
posted by hippybear at 4:55 PM on April 27, 2019
This single is one of the first things I bought over the Internet. When it came, I threw it in the first CD player I could find. A friend walked in during the middle of track two, and I hushed him with a raised finger just as the piano and dulcimer bit crescendoed into the harpsichord ostinato. I have to imagine that that guy has never had a more momentous-sounding entrance into an office...
posted by tss at 5:32 PM on April 27, 2019
posted by tss at 5:32 PM on April 27, 2019
Playing this track while reading the megathread makes the news extra-dramatic.
posted by Autumnheart at 6:01 PM on April 27, 2019
posted by Autumnheart at 6:01 PM on April 27, 2019
Mid 90s: I moved out to San Francisco from the east coast after college and didn't know a soul. It's the weekend and I had gone out with my new roommates to an adventure in the Marin Headlands. We're driving back to the city and the extended version of this song pops on the radio. None of us had ever heard it before. And just then the fog starts pouring over the hills from the ocean! I had never seen anything like it. I don't think anyone said a word the entire song (can't be true, I never shut up). It was magic. I hunted down the song and bought the CD and had it on steady rotation for years. Such a mood setter. Thanks so much for this post!
posted by funkiwan at 11:14 PM on April 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by funkiwan at 11:14 PM on April 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
I feel like an appropriate alternate title for this song would be (Samuel Delany's) The Splendor and Misery of Bodies, of Cities.
posted by The Tensor at 12:44 AM on April 28, 2019
posted by The Tensor at 12:44 AM on April 28, 2019
At last the bit of the Venn diagram where my tastes overlap with hippybear's.
posted by aspersioncast at 3:06 PM on April 28, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by aspersioncast at 3:06 PM on April 28, 2019 [1 favorite]
In-Sides is their Magnum Opus IMO.
The standout track for me is Adnan's
I'd love to arrange the whole album for an orchestra. (but I haven't the skills, time, or money)
posted by Homemade Interossiter at 5:47 AM on April 29, 2019 [2 favorites]
The standout track for me is Adnan's
I'd love to arrange the whole album for an orchestra. (but I haven't the skills, time, or money)
posted by Homemade Interossiter at 5:47 AM on April 29, 2019 [2 favorites]
Was this ever released as a single track? When I discovered Orbital in the early 2000s and started buying up all the Orbital I could find, the only versions I found of The Box were broken up into individual tracks. I could never find the full 28 minute track except as an MP3 that I presumed someone had stitched together.
posted by howling fantods at 12:22 PM on April 29, 2019
posted by howling fantods at 12:22 PM on April 29, 2019
To answer my own question, apparently as one of the iterations of the second disc of In Sides.
posted by howling fantods at 12:44 PM on April 29, 2019
posted by howling fantods at 12:44 PM on April 29, 2019
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Now I have more Orbital to listen to.
posted by eye of newt at 1:02 AM on April 27, 2019 [4 favorites]