Orbital

Few electronic acts have made their name from a motorway. Orbital, the duo of brothers Phil and Paul Hartnoll from Dunton Green in Kent, take their name from the M25, the orbital road that sat at the heart of the early rave scene during acid house's first days. The cover art on three of their albums shows stylised atomic orbitals, a visual nod to their name. Critics and chart-watchers have taken notice, and the pair are known especially for improvising live, mixing and sequencing tracks on the fly.

Their breakthrough came with "Chime", recorded on their father's 4-track tape deck in 1989 and reissued on FFRR Records, which reached number 17 in the UK and earned them a Top of the Pops appearance. The second self-titled album, in 1993, reached number 28 on the UK albums chart and stayed there for 15 weeks. Their headline set at Glastonbury on 25 June 1994 reached a huge audience through Channel 4's expanded coverage, and Snivilisation followed that August. In Sides, released in May 1996, became their second Top Five album, while the single "The Box" reached number 11 in the UK.