Paul Hartnoll

Phil and Paul Hartnoll are reuniting as Orbital, after four years of relative obscurity, to headline UK’s Big Chill Festival in England, next August. 

“It’s not an exercise in nostalgia, the time just seems right. Everything just seemed to fall into place,” says Phil Hartnoll. “We’ve got 15 years of active service, making song. If you boil that down to a 90-minute festival set you should get something thoroughly exciting from beginning to end. Let’s put some fun back into it.”

The Big Chill set will be billed as Orbital: 20 years after Chime.

via In The Mix

A hidden hoard of recordings made by Delia Derbyshire, the electronic music pioneer behind the Doctor Who theme, has been found – including a dance track that some think is 20 years ahead of its time.

David Butler, of Manchester University’s School of Arts, Histories and Cultures has revealed for the first time the existence of 267 tapes found in Ms Derbyshire’s attic when she died in 2001. Strangest among these is a dance track that Orbital’s Paul Hartnoll says is “quite amazing”.

“That could be coming out next week on [left-field dance label] Warp Records,” he noted. “It’s incredible when you think when it comes from. Timeless, really. It could be now as much as then.”

“I find it spell-binding,” says Hartnoll. “I’ve got a shedload of synthesizers and equipment, whereas Delia Derbyshire got out of the Radiophonic Workshop when synthesizers came along.”