07/08/2026
We talk endlessly about artists. But sometimes we forget about the people behind them who quietly change the direction of music.
William Orbit is one of those people.
Listen to Ray of Light. Listen to Pure Shores. Then listen to Tender by Blur.
Three very different records, from very different artists, but Orbit understood something incredibly important: you can experiment without losing us,
the punter.
Ray of Light took sounds that belonged in clubs, electronica and ambient music and somehow helped turn them into massive pop music. Pure Shores still sounds extraordinary — spacious, slightly strange, beautiful and completely accessible. Then there’s Tender. Blur coming from an entirely different musical world, yet Orbit could bring his ideas into that record without taking away the soul of the band.
And that, for us, is why producers matter.
The great ones don’t just polish records. They join the dots.
They take something happening over here — in a club, an underground scene, electronic music, soul, indie, hip-hop — and find a way of introducing it to somebody listening over there.
Sometimes you don’t even realise you’re hearing something new.
That’s the magic.
Because the very best producers aren’t following where popular music is going. They’re quietly laying some of the road in front of it.
William Orbit did exactly that.
And more than 25 years later, put Pure Shores or Ray of Light on a turntable.
They don’t sound like history.
They still sound like the future.
Go well WO - thanks to you we get to Madonna All Saints
