Strange Cargo III by William Orbit

Strange Cargo III, the third instalment in William Orbit's Strange Cargo series, came out on Virgin in 1993, and it's a one-man show in the best sense: Orbit played it, produced it and mixed it himself at Guerilla Studios in London. The music drifts between house pulse and techno shimmer, all gauzy synths and patient beats, and "Water From A Vine Leaf" is the track where the haze lifts and something close to a pop song comes into focus.

A few friends drop by. Mark Rutherford co-wrote "Deus Ex Machina" and played on it alongside Sugar J, and Rico Conning scatters bleeps, a little roadhouse piano, strings and extra programming across several tracks. The album later earned a place in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, and after Orbit died in July 2026 it turned up on the UK downloads chart.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.