William Orbit RIP

On Friday news arrived of the death of William Orbit. He died on the 23rd of July aged 69 and leaves behind him a rich, wild and varied back catalogue of music that reaches from the early 80s underground to worldwide fame and success with Madonna and All Saints via some essential acid house and ambient records. His trademark sound- bubbling, liquid, in motion, widescreen and trippy, like staring at a sunflare- lit up a huge number of artists, his own music and production and remix work for others. In some ways 69 seems young but he packed a lot into those years and lived the life to go with it. Until recently he was still producing, reworking and revisiting his own music and releasing it as an album on Bandcamp titled WFO and an EP called Starbeam in 2021. 

This fifty minute mix contains some of the big hitters from his back catalogue with that Orbit sound running right through the middle of it. 

Fifty Minutes Of William Orbit

• William Orbit: The Story Of Light
• One Dove: Breakdown (William Orbit Stereo Odyssey)
• William Orbit: Water From A Vine Leaf (Xylem Flow Mix)
• Torch Song: P2E Remix
• Les Negresses Verte: Zobi La Mouche (William Orbit Remix)
• The Shamen: Hyperreal Orbit
• Madonna: Ray Of Light (Liquid Mix)
• Bassomatic: Fascinating Rhythm (Soul Odyssey Mix)

The Story of Light is an ambient classic from William's third album in his Strange Cargo series, Strange Cargo III, produced at Guerilla Studios while he was knee deep in the Guerilla Records label, one he set up with Dick O'Dell and John Gosling. Progressive dub house records clad in a distinctive camouflage sleeve. The Story of Light is bubbly and warm, a swirly sound with chunky drums and bass, pianos and guitars and a 'let your love shine on me' vocal refrain.

One Dove are no strangers to this blog, Morning Dove White and its singles being at the core of my musical life. Andrew Weatherall's production and William Orbit's remix on Breakdown are a perfect 1993 combination. 

Water From A Vine Leaf was a single and also the centre piece of Strange Cargo III with Beth Orton on vocals. Epic, swirling, liquid ambient acid house. There were several essential remixes, Underworld's twelve minute thumper for one and the Xylem Flow mix I've included here by Spooky, as good as anything else that came out in '93. If you want a new version of Water From A Vine Leaf, San Francisco producer Marshall Watson has one here, his Endless Motion Edit. 

Torch Song were Orbit's first outfit, an early 80s ambient/ electronic he formed with Laurie Mayer and Grant Gilbert. P2E Remix was featured on Andrew Weatherall's 200 compilation Nine O'Clock Drop which brought a number of early 80s bands back to the surface, A Certain Ratio, 400 Blows, Shriekback, Quando Quango, Chris & Cosey among them. 

Les Negresses Vertes are/ were a French band, alternative rock/ folk from Paris- they were sometimes referred to as the French Pogues. Orbit's remix of Zobi La Mouche is a fantastic record, just the right amount of Balearic/ acid house edge added to the original- I played it not that long ago in one of our sets at The Golden Lion and it sounded superb on the Lion's sound system. Paul Oakenfold was listening- he borrowed some of it for his remix of Happy Mondays' WFL.

The Shamen's Hyperreal came out in 1990, a key moment for the group as they shifted from psychedelic guitars and samples to full on electronic. Massive techno- pop/ house with multiple remixes. 

In 1997 William Orbit when overground with Madonna, becoming the producer on what's probably her best album, Ray Of Light. The title track along is a huge record, soaring, adult pop. Orbit sometimes went further in the studio than Madonna wanted him to, producing endless versions and remixes. The Liquid Mix is a wonderful synth- pop version of Ray Of Light. The song took four and a half months to create, Orbit returning to the multi tracks time and time again, adding, mixing, removing, remixing, playing guitar, manipulating sounds, repairing broken computers- all worth it in the end. His work with Madonna began when he remixed Justify My Love in 1990, a remix and song that are both such a key part of 1990. 

Also in 1990 Bassomatic appeared on BBC 2's Dance Energy, miming to Fascinating Rhythm in front of a youthful and enthusiastic crowd. 

Bassomatic was William Orbit's breakthrough, a late 80s/ early 90s house/ acid house collective that took him to the charts. Fascinating Rhythm is one of 1990's best singles, totally of its time but enduring too- chunky, optimistic pop with acid house and rap sewn into it. There's a bass heavy Renegade Soundwave remix I nearly included but this version, a piano led Balearic elegy felt right for he finale and to remember him by. 

RIP William Orbit. 

Fifty Five Minute Edit Mix

There have been a lot of really good edits out in the wild over the last few years and the thought of slinging a bunch of them together into a Sunday mix became irresistible. In the fifty five minutes below you'll find various artists from the last sixty years of popular culture re- edited and rejigged into new shapes including Gil Scott Heron, Gordon Lightfoot, The Residents, Voice Of Africa, Monsoon, Siouxsie and The Banshees and Les Negresses Vertes. This mix is only part of the story- volume 2 (and maybe 3) will follow shortly. 

Fifty Five Minute Edit Mix

• Western Revolution
• Totem Edits 12- Feel
• Resident Rockers
• Totem Edits 03- Hoomba
• Lonely
• Trading Places (6PM)
• Arabian Knights
• Totem Edits 14- Zombi

Western Revolution was  released on 12" vinyl only, part of Coyote's Magic Wand Special Editions Volume 2, along with Lonely and two other edits (Love Home and Luca). Western Revolution is a live sounding, laid back groove with the unmistakeable voice of Gil Scott Heron advising us about the results of the revolution and theta there will be 'no re- run, brothers and sisters, the revolution will be live'. Lonely picks up where Monsoon's 1981 single Ever So Lonely left off and extends it out.

Totem Edits have become fairly essential recently, a page at Bandcamp for the edit work of Leo Zero and Justin Deighton (with plenty of input from Sean Johnston). One to watch. I posted Feel fairly recently, lovely drawn out funky folk built around a 1967 Gordon Lightfoot song, The Way  Feel. Totem Edit 03 has Voice Of Africa's 1990 Balearic beat smash Hoomba Hoomba close to its core. Totem Edits 14 is one of my favourite recent edits from the pair, a wonderfully absorbing version of Les Negresses Vertes' 1989 French punk/ folk/ Balearic song Zobi La Mouche. 

Resident Rockers is part of a two track EP on the recently reinvigorated Eclectics label, San Francisco avant garde/ art punk rockers/ giant eyeball headgear wearers The Residents bent into new shapes by someone very familiar to this blog. Find Eclectics and the EP here. 

Jezebell are masters of the edit, a sample forming the basis of a completely new track, something old being reworked into something new. Trading Places was a six track pair of EPs from 2023, split into two parts, daytime and nighttime versions. In the 6PM take Siouxsie Sioux's Peek- A- Boo gets reworked and taken for a spin round the floor. 

In 2015 Mojo Filter, an edit veteran, took The Banshees 1981 single Arabian Knights, Siouxsie's post punk psychedelia re- jigged into new shapes. Going from Peek- A- Boo to Arabian Knights seemed like too good an opportunity to miss. 

Monday's Long Song

Over at the Totem Bandcamp page you can find some very tasty Totem Edits including the most recent one, Totem Edit 14 Zombi. Dense and deep, swirling, hypnotic, rhythmic and multi- layered, dubbed out, chanted vocals, a certain Gallic flair. It's a beauty. 

Totem Projects is a repository for edits and other stuff by Leo Zero and Justin Deighton, a formidable team. Previous Totem edits include a recent one by Hardway Bros, Cali, and from near the start Totem Edit 03 Hoomba (a version of  the 1990 classic Hoomba Hoomba by Voice Of Africa) among the treasure trove. All available for free/ pay what you want. What's not to like?

Totem Edit 4 Zombi is a version of the song by Les Negresses Verte's Zobi La Mouche, a 1988 single and also on the 1989 album Mlah. Les Negresses Verte's fusion of French chanson, folk and world music made them a dead cert for the more broad minded clubs of the late 80s, from the Mediterranean to northern Britain. In fact, Leo Zero said of the edit, that he had one of the great dancefloor moments of his life when he walked into Ku in Ibiza in the summer of '89 to hear Mr Weatherall playing Zobi La Mouche. 

Zobi La Mouche (Single Mix)

This version, remixed by William Orbit, was often the one to reach for, the song retained with the exact amount of late 80s acid house brought in to raise the roof. The acidic squiggle breakdown in the middle section especially. 

Zobi La Mouche (William Orbit Remix)

Zobi La Mouche

This song came my way recently on social media, one I'd long forgotten about, and was surprised I'd never posted before- in fact I've not posted anything by the band before. Les Negresses Vertes were a Parisian group who formed in 1987, a bunch of friends fired up by punk and a musical stew of influences that used to be called World Music. Accordion and acoustic guitars, brass, percussion, various members singing vocals, an upbeat busking style, bags of energy and very much their own thing. In 1988 they released an album called Mlah which was well received and which I had a copy of on cassette. Later on, in 1993, a collection of remixes was released, which is where they crossed back into my life and record collection, an album including remixes by Massive Attack, Gang Starr and Norman Cook and this one by William Orbit. If truth be told, the William Orbit one doesn't quite do what I thought it might at the time, no liquid, skyscraping, electronic journey into the cosmos, but it has definite off kilter charm, some very persuasive rhythms, buckets of joie de vivre and is, dare I say it, quite Balearic.

Zobi La Mouche (William Orbit Remix)