In Brief

** 1/2 Orbital, “The Middle of Nowhere,” ffrr/London. Pioneering English electronic brothers Phil and Paul Hartnoll must have loved redoing “The Saint” theme for the movie. Their fifth album’s opener “Way Out” could easily be from another spy flick, while much else on the album is a similarly catchy hodgepodge of beats, neo-soul female vocals and suave atmospheres. But it’s all a bit dumbed down from the ambitious, genre-stretching Orbital has achieved in the past.

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Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent). The albums are already released unless otherwise noted.

Hear the Music

* Excerpts from albums reviewed and other recent releases are available on The Times’ World Wide Web site. Point your browser to: https://www.calendarlive.com/soundclips