Snivilisation

Orbital | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 28, 2011)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rhino / Wea
• ASIN: B00004T6V0
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #158,992 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Forever

2. I Wish I Had Duck Feet

3. Sad But True

4. Crash and Carry

5. Science Friction

6. Philosophy by Numbers

7. Kein Trink Wasser

8. Quality Seconds

9. Are We Here?

10. Attached

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spoiled by Orbital, June 23, 2003

By 

Daniel Staton (Berkeley, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Snivilisation (Audio CD)

In 1998 I purchased Snivilisation, In Sides, and a handful of other seminal electronica albums, little knowing that I would spend the next five years searching for a musical experience as fulfilling as Orbital's best work. The more time I spent scanning the electronica landscape, the easier it became to convince myself that the sonic experiments of Autechre, Aphex Twin, et al. amounted to satisfying listening. "Glitch Hop;" "Drill 'n Bass": as with any genre, the more precise and fiercely territorial the sub-genre, the more sterile and academic the music. Everything is cerebral, everything has a "point." Texture trumps melody, technique trumps emotion. Every recommendation must come with a qualification - eg., "If you can tolerate the sounds of children's nightmares, or automobile parts being fed into a psychotic drum-machine chipper, then you might like..." This may sound overly critical, and I do love the aforementioned artists, in all their prickly glory. But it is possible to have too much of a good thing. So I pulled out Snivilization again, only to be reminded anew of how stunning it is, and how it makes most of the work by others in the field seem peurile by comparison.

This is truly a masterpiece, flaws and all. Though In Sides is a more perfect work, Snivilization is arguably more ambitious: it contains multitudes. Stunningly emotional, fiercely political, sweeping, intimate, grandiose, mystical, quirky. Most of all, effortlessly confident. Listening to this album reminds me of watching an actor on the verge of stardom in his breakthrough film role. Somehow it captures that startled, injured innocence, the reaction of pure artistry when confronted with the ambiguities, complexities, and harshness of the world for the first time. I know I'm waxing a bit eloquent here, but there really is a reason so many people find Snivilization and In Sides so cathartic. In these two albums, I believe the Hartnolls set out very deliberately to catalogue the insecurities of the modern era, and then propose a transcendent musical solution that is remarkably free of New-Agey self-importance. If you have any ear for electronic music, you simply must listen to these albums. (Unfortunately, the Bros. seriously lost the plot on their subsequent releases.)

About the music. I can't really improve on what others have said, and the album is so multifaceted that any analysis probably says more about the listener's mood at the time than anything else. After many, many listenings, I will say that Kein Trink Wasser has emerged as a surprise favorite. There is something about this track that epitomizes the appeal of Orbital for me. It begins with what sounds like an attention-starved child banging on the same piano key over and over again, then almost imperceptibly other piano melodies are introduced and begin to interplay and weave around the simplistic core. What was initially annoying is suddenly startlingly poignant. Just as the listener begins to surrender and drift along with the music, the piano stops. Again an incongruous element is introduced; instead of the annoying piano we hear a cheesy 80's sounding drumbeat. Not very promising. But the music continues, more layers are added, until suddenly the piano is reintroduced and everything comes together in such a masterful way that I am floored every time. This is what separates Orbital from most other electronic artists: their music is always full of wonderful surprises, but rarely sadistic. The ultimate goal is always to provide solace and transcendence to the listener.

The album is perfectly bookended by two magnificent opening tracks - Forever and I Wish I Had Duck Feet - and two stunning closing tracks - Are We Here? and Attached. But I won't describe them, you'll have to listen to them yourself.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ecstatic Eclecticism, January 27, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Snivilisation (Audio CD)

Orbital's 3rd full-length is an interesting affair. While 'the brown album' was a monolithic affair of beats and intricate melodic and harmonic lines, "Snivilization" sees Orbital starting to branch out in new and different directions. For those expecting 'rave music', this was pretty perplexing when it hit. But for those who like their electronics with some challenge to it, this release is a full-on satisfier, especially the full-length version of "Are We Here", as well as the interesting sociopolitical takes one finds popping up here and there in the soundbites, and Orbital's own takes on its music. Bits of commentary on minimal music is in here, as well as a crafty jab at gabber. And the whole thing closes with perhaps one of P+P's finest ambient techno tracks of all time. This, or "Orbital 2", are excellent start-points for those trying Orbital out for the first time. In fact, I'd suggest getting both, and then you're covered for _all_ of the possibilities the Hartnoll Bros. can offer elsewhere.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Slow starter that ends with a bang, May 25, 2000

By 

joe_n_bloe (Ester AK USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Snivilisation (Audio CD)

Snivilisation relies more on dissonance and vocal samples (both spoken and sung) than other Orbital albums. As such it would have to be classified as a more challenging album. Opinions, as always, vary, but I feel it is the most experimental and far-reaching of Orbital's efforts to date (May 2000). It is, for the most part, successful, and sometimes spectacularly so.

I find it mildly aggravating when an album starts off with one or two tracks that don't really engage me, especially when the album is obviously constructed for end-to-end listening. "Forever" and "I Wish I Had Duck Feet" fit that bill. Maybe there are too many voices and odd sounds. Maybe I'm just missing something.

The first two tunes pass by in the background nicely enough though, and it just gets better from there. "Science Friction" is a playfully percussive piece constructed in the classic Orbital overlapping/shifting/modulating manner. Effects come and go, sounds come forward and recede, patterns repeat but not quite, and a cheesy synthesized organ sings an aimlessly mournful melody atop it all. "Classic Orbital." That's followed by "Philosophy by Numbers," which I think is a more successful use of vocal samples.

But the highlight of the album, and a highlight of Orbital itself, is the clever and deftly executed "Are We Here?" A marching band cadence drives the piece along. Muddled female vocals add an "unintelligible distant choir" effect. 15-1/2 minutes of intricately patterned sonic cloth unrolls before you. Great stuff.