Paul Hartnoll had actually released two tracks previously, under the name D.S. Building Contractors (One For The Burglar and Depth Charge) on a compilation called The House Sound of London, the fourth in a series of House Sound compilations from Pete Tong's FFRR label. His life as an acid house producer ended just before his work with his brother as Orbital began.

Paul had a mentor in local DJ and producer, Jazzy M, who also ran a record store in town. Paul gave him the cassette with Chime to preview, and Jazzy M heard a portion before putting it on the store speakers. The DJs in the store all asked to buy the record, and Jazzy M decided this would be the start of his label. Paul told his brother Phil about this, and said "This is going to start our career." Once released, the limited run record was a hit with local DJs, leading to the brothers Hartnoll getting the single signed to Pete Tong's FFRR label, one of six vying to license the track from Jazzy M's local micro-label.

Even though he had said he had a new career, Paul kept his job at a pizza parlor, until he and his brother were invited to play Chime on Top of the Pops, and they got a a £2000 advance from Pete Tong. They made an appearance on Top of the Pops in 1990, where their idea of a stage show clashed with the desires of the production staff. The brothers mimed along to Chime in their anti-Poll Tax shirts, while a bored lady danced in leggings, a silver top and a silver hat (see also: a longer, lower quality cut). Though Chime charting well on both in the UK and the US charts (though in the US it was on the "Club Play" charts) and they had subsequent hits, they weren't invited back to the show for some while.

Despite their association with the London rave scene (which gave the band its name), Orbital isn't a typical rave circuit group or producers. Though their first years were marked with the release of vinyl singles, collected into two untitled albums, they prefer live, improvisational sets over DJ gigs, and some of their vocal samples political in nature, instead of songs for singing and dancing. Their first album, called Orbital or The Green Album (4 track sampler on Soundcloud) was released in 1991 in the UK, and re-released and re-arranged the next year in the US, featuring some of the brothers' love of not only the punk aesthetic, but also punk music, by sampling a hardcore punk track (wiki).

The second album, Orbital 2 or The Brown album (8 track sampler on Soundcloud) came out in 1993, though like the first, it was "just a collection of things that [they've] been doing for the last year or so," with "no overall concept to it." The album features an edit of Halycon, first released on an EP the year prior. The original was released with a full 11 minute video, in which Kirsty Hawkshaw plays a slightly drugged housewife-type character, tying together two odd references: the Hartnoll's use of Hawkshaw's vocal sample from Opus III's "It's A Fine Day, and their mother's use of the the sedative Halcion. The edit, titled Halcyon + On + On is a bit shorter and more upbeat.

In advance of their 3rd album, Snivilisation (5 tracks from the album on Soundcloud, and full album as a YT playlist), Orbital was invited to play the annual Glastonbury Festival in June of 1994. It was an eventful year for the festival, and was the first year the fest was broadcast on TV, providing an archive of that highly-regarded show (YT playlist), showcasing the brothers and their iconic head lamps that were inspired by the movie Brazil, but used to see through the smoke and other stage effects. They also played at Woodstock 94 as part of Ravestock, a last-minute addition of chaotic electronica to the otherwise rock-centric festival, and Mtv broadcast a live "Party Zone" set in full (YT, previously). Glastonbury, along with other live apperances, boosted their notoriety as a must-see band.

The high reviews of the brothers live performances probably helped to push their album Snivilization up the UK charts to #4, when it was released at the end of August, even though the over-all tone of the album was less than upbeat, opening with a track that sampled from the final scene in the black comedy Britannia Hospital. The track titles refer to the mess of modern civilization, both in English and German, and the press release went as far as to quote Situationist International writer and philosopher Raoul Vaneigem.

Though it was now a few years old, Halcyon + On + On continued to be a stand-out track, getting featured in two movies in 1995: Hackers and Mortal Kombat (spoiler). The duo's music has since been featured in a number of movies, and even scored a few in the years to follow. The brothers Hartnoll also returned to Glastonbury in 1995, now promoted to the Pyramid stage, the main stage for the event. They would return to Glastonbury in 1999, 2002 (Impact, contrary to the title card), and 2004 (Chime, and Halcyon + On + On + Bon Jovi + The Darkness + Belinda Carlisle), but never again to the main stage. A a 2 hr. 18 min. compilation video of footage from the 5 years was released in 2007 as part of the 2CD+DVD collection of live Glastonbury performance audio and video.

The brothers' fourth album, In Sides (streaming on Grooveshark), returned to the early days of theme-free albums, consisting of "six unrelated sound scenarios." Considered more cinematic, the Hartnolls noted their influence from soundtrack composers, including John Barry, Lalo Schifirin and Ennio Morricone. Outside of the UK, the album was re-released twice, first with the Time Flies EP (on Soundcloud, with a bonus track) and The Box EP as a single, 28 minute long track (YT). The video for The Box is well-known and well-regarded. Where the instrumental track features the squeaking of Paul's swivel chair, the vocal version adds occasional collaborator Grant Fulton, and more common collaborator Alison Goldfrapp. The second extended edition included both tracks from the single for The Saint, the title track from the movie of the same name. This was the fulfillment of the brothers' dream of scoring a movie that wasn't sci-fi, even if it was a re-working of the 1960s TV series theme (1960s version, black-and-white era; and 1966 version, color). Related: the video for Orbital's single, featuring the brothers in cameo roles.

The Saint came out in 1997, Orbital's year for movie scores. It was the same year as the Spawn movie, which featured another new(ish) Orbital track. This time it was a reworking of the track Satan, with Metallica's Kirk Hammett doing some guitar over it. Both The Saint and the Spawn soundtrack gigs came because of Graeme Revell, the New Zealand film score composer who worked on the soundtracks for both films. He knew the Hartnoll brothers liked old '60s soundtracks, and he really loved the track Satan. Tangent: the live version release of Satan (Soundcloud) was the brothers' highest charting single in the UK, getting up to #3 in 1996, five years after the original track was released, including the Butthole Surfers sample. The single even got them back on Top of the Pops, but this time they were more animated and appeared as they would in most live shows. Just like the "collaboration" with Hammett, the brothers were never in the same room with composer Michael Kamen when they worked on the score for the score for Event Horizon (Grooveshark), but it was still their first chance to work on more than a single track for a movie. They even scored a gritty, real-life TV drama set in the Hull young offenders prison that same year.

They also scored the plot-free jaunt around the world of photographer Nick Waplington (bottom right pic NSFW, but the thumbnail is probably safe), which was aired in 1999 (YT: part 1, part 2, part 3). That year the brothers also released Middle of Nowhere (YT playlist; Grooveshark), which Paul Hartnoll recognizes as a more jolly, upbeat album, in the vein of The Brown Album (Orbital 2), complete with a song built around a stylophone, which was then accompanied by a quirky animated video. The next year, they reworked Angelo Badalamenti's themesong for The Beach, entitled Beached. The single included an odd tribute to Doctor Who, but not that one.

That track would finally get a studio release with the next album, The Altogether (streaming on Grooveshark) . Doctor? is the album title for their take on the iconic theme song, which joins a diverse set of tracks, including a remix of Tool (the video isn't related) and an appearance from brother-in-law David Gray. According to Phil, the album's guiding idea was "shorter songs," and the opportunity to have fun with a DVD. The album was released as a single CD, a 2CD edition in the US with bonus remixes and rarities (streaming on Grooveshark), or a surround-sound DVD with visuals for the tracks. Some goodies include an extended 20 minute version of Meltdown (audio only), and a bunch of Easter eggs.

That would be the duo's last studio album for London Records/FFRR, ignoring the Rest/Play EPs and the Work 1989-2002 compilation. They release a new soundtrack, for the horror road movie Octane, in 2003, and their 7th studio LP in 2004: Blue Album. (incomplete YT playlist, incomplete Soundcloud collection). The brothers went into it planning it for their final release, with Phil to be the father of twins, and Paul looking to work with other people. The brothers Hartnoll were happy with their 15 years of collaborating, ending while they were both happy with what they made. And everything felt pleasantly completed -- the final track on the album, One Perfect Sunrise was actually written for the movie One Perfect Day, and features vocals by Lisa Gerrard, but wrapped up everything so nicely. The brother's last show was even a clean closure, 90 minutes (plus a 10 minute encore), broadcast on July 28th in John Peel's last year on air.

The brothers went their separate ways. Paul did work on his own, and both Paul and Phil collaborated with others, with each coming out with albums in 2007. Paul released his debut solo album, The Ideal Condition (incomplete YT playlist), which continues some of the cinematic aspects of Orbital, but adds in a lot more, ranging from haunting landscapes to beautiful pop-tronica. Guests on the album include Robert Smith of The Cure. Paul also collaborated with UK punk band The Cravats on their track Seance. Phil, on the other hand, had been collaborating since at least 2005 with producer Nick Smith under the name Long Range. They worked with Aquasky on a track, and in 2007 released Madness and Me (tracks on Grooveshark), which calls up a lot of past trip-hop acts more than it does anything from Orbital's past.

Then in November 2008, Orbital announced a reunion show, 20 Years After Chime at the 2009 Big Chill Festival. One show lead to another, and soon there was a 2009 tour schedule, though they generally stuck to locations around Europe. They continued to tour, even returning to Glastonbury on July 27, 2010 for a fairly short set, ending with an appearance of the 11th Doctor, Matt Smith, who got his own illuminating glasses, and played along in their rendition of the Doctor's theme. The brothers also played a new song, released on vinyl and digitally the same day as their Glastonbury appearance. Don't Stop Me was backed with The Gun is Good, complete with a video.

The brothers started a video diary in February 2011 and started posting the videos to YouTube, showing a map of the album in the making and playing part of a new song. Part 2, showing progress through the "album map." Part 3, with a weird bit of wub-wub-dubstep rework of Satan, and a bit more on the album map. Part 4, from MTV Winter, Valencia, where they played some early demo tracks, and that remix of Satan (that turned out a bit like this live). Part 5, showing another demo preview, and progress along the map. Part 6, Paul showing off some "weird" demo bits, and how that looks on the map. Part 7, the brothers ramble vaguely. Part 8, showing off the rejiggered studio layout. Part 9, demoing an "off-map" track for their upcoming Glastonbury DJ set. Part 10, clips from the Arcadia Spectacular stage at Glastonbury, and an after-show run-down (see also: professional video clip of the show, and decent audio recording: part 1, part 2). Part 11, reviewing progress to date on the map. Part 12, with a nearly polished demo of the final track, and talk of Flood mixing the album. Part 13, with a teaser of the first single, Never, and a glimpse of mixing the album with Flood, plus a mention of scoring the movie Pusher (IMDb). Part 14, back in the studio, featuring the 2nd single from the album, New France, with an unnamed vocal collaborator.

After a year of video diaries, hints at tracks and live previews at shows around the world, Orbital were back in 2012 with Wonky. Even though there was an elaborate "audio map" of the album, the album was simply titled for the last track they completed. In January 2012, Orbital released two videos: Never, followed by Straight Sun, another instrumental track. The next two videos came out in March, and both featured guest vocalists: Zola Jesus provided more typical Orbital-type abastract vocals on New France, and Lady Leshurr, "the female Busta Rhymes" rapped on Wonky, the track which Paul and Phil called "Cats" in the studio for the unintentional "meow meow meow" sounds (lots more of keen stuff in that interview). The album was released in Europe in April (short review and full album streaming). The brother also sat down for a track-by-track review, providing bits of insight about the tracks (is Stringy Acid done in the style of late 80s/early 90s acid house, or was it actually an unfinished track from that era?)

In case you actually didn't get enough:
* An MTV interview in 1993 (3:00), with Paul talking on the expansion of dance music into other genres, and electronic music as having the same sort of DIY punk aesthetic

* Rave New World (Google video), a 1994 episode of Equinox, a long-running Channel 4 science and documentary programme.

* Audio only of Orbital's 1996 New Years Eve version of Chime, from Alexandra Palace, London, seguing from the Big Ben chimes at midnight. Alternative audio on YouTube.

* Loopz.co.uk is dead, but it's an archive of great info up to the 2009 tours. Orbital is now split across two websites:

* Orbital Official, home to everything officially Orbital. See also: related YouTube channel, and Soundcloud account.

* LoopzOrbital.com, the blog with things that don't fit on the official Orbital site. See also: related YouTube channel

* An archive of info on old Orbital bootlegs, up through 1999.

A few more previous mentions of Orbital:

Orbital - The Box - REMEMBER EARTH CLEARLY (MPG link to the music video, and the link still works!)

The final Orbital gig on John Peel's show. (these links, not so much)