Customer Reviews

New Comes and Goes

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Pop Kulcher Review: San Francisco underground indie pop heroes Oranger are back with their latest wonderful album doomed to obscurity thanks to an utterly ignorant listening public.

Oh, dang, sorry, I'm in one of those moods. Should I try again?

Oranger are back with another wonderful (if not exactly groundbreaking) album of radio-friendly pop... if we lived in an alternate universe where good music still got played on the radio.

Better? No, probably not.

Moving on... Oranger have drifted through a variety of indie pop stylings, largely derivative of umpteen other bands but with just enough clever tunes to keep me coming back for more. While earlier albums saw them trying an edgy Flaming Lips-influenced style, then a more mod-influenced Who/Creation-tinged style (with some XTC overtones), and more recently a more Brian Wilson-styled lush pop sound, 2005's New Comes And Goes seems to find the band trying their hand at New Wave-era pop, reeking of late 70's/early 80's alt-poppers like Shoes and 20/20 (but with more guitars and fewer synths). To their credit, the disc nonetheless sounds fresh and instantly contagious. Again, not enough new twists to give Oranger a distinctive sound, but energetically riffing on the right influences can be good enough for an enjoyable listen. To some extent, they seem to be drinking from the same well as Fountains of Wayne, albeit with a bit less wit and heart, but there's really no good reason the Fountains should be rising from indie pop obscurity while Oranger isn't. Bottom line -- good album, certainly should be high on the must-buy list for anyone who has ever bought a Yellow Pills compilation or misses the days when the Cars were actually fairly cool.

3.5 stars!

I sometimes wonder if rock music is slowly devouring its own tail, like some kind of Escher lizard, unaware of its own impending demise. There are, for instance, so many hyphens out there (jazz-rock, pop-rock, rap-funk, electro-metal, blah blah) that one wonders if every permutation worth permuting has been played out.

There's much more I could say, but instead I'll say this: this ORANGER album is an entertaining, hooky, fairly straight-ahead pop-rock album that will get your toes tapping and your head humming. It's not going to bowl you over with Sweet New Sounds, or the Reinvention of Rock, nor do I think it wants to. This is the kind of stuff that would be playing over the loudspeakers at the miniature golf funland if I ruled the world.

I would hold this album up next to albums by SLOAN or New Pornographers, or maybe as one reviewer mentioned Fountains of Wayne, and suggest they are all worshipping, to at least a small degree, at the throne of Rubber Soul and Revolver.

Whatever Oranger was before this is kind of irrelevant. Some of the stuff I've heard before was a tad messier, bright-eyed or even psychedelic, and pretty cool. I say let's thank Oranger for not making the same album over and over again.

Being a longtime Oranger fan, it pains me to have to give their latest album only a 3 star review, but after repeated listens it just doesn't hold up to the brilliance that was 'Shutdown the Sun' and to a lesser extent the 'Quiet Vibration Land' and 'Doorway to Norway'.

My first gripe is with the production, it's very flat and tidy. Part of what made the other Oranger albums so good was the really spacey, atmospheric moods they were able to conjure up on the slower songs. This brings us to the second problem, every song on this album with the exception of one has almost the same tempo. You keep waiting for the next song to pull you in some new direction and it just never happens.

I'm also not sure why they left Spiral Stairs' Amazing Grease label either. It was tough to find this new album and the packaging and artwork (like the music) is subpar. I'm sure they still put on a great live show though. Bring back the expierimental fun next time around!

So some people may complain that this doesn't sound like the Oranger that they love from five years ago or some crap. Don't listen to these goofballs. And don't be frightened off by the 'peculiar' album cover, this record is killer.

The band has sliced a little pschedelic pop off the top and rounded the corners with some good ole fashion whiskey rock n' roll. They group has developed a serious duel guitar assualt and the melodies are addicitve as heck. The record starts out with "Crooked in the Weird of the Catacombs" which is a nice way to take the tempo of the record up a notch early on. Other highlights "Crones" (killer chorus) "Garden Party for the Murder Pride" (serious air guitar) and "Radiowave". I wish I had an extra hand so I could give 'er three thumbs up. Seriously. Well, not so serious that I would pursue a surgery, but if I had the extra limb, I would definitely put it to good use for this record.

...that Oranger is working in a new project. I hope that's true. Although this last album is not as epic as Shutdown the Sun or as interesting overall as some of their other works it does hold up well. Check out the weird lead whatever-that-instrument-or-device is effects on 'Garden Party...' ; 'Radio Wave' hits the ground running; 'Crones' has a really nice feel to it; 'Whacha Holden' and 'Haeter' hearkens back to earlier Oranger stuff...; if there was a such thing as an Oranger single or radio-hit it would be 'Target You By Feel'... get this album if you love quirky, monumental, power pop, alt-rock then grab any other Oranger releases that you can still get your hands on - before they are all gone...

Okay 2005 Weezer puts out a crapola cd called "Make Believe". I like to do what the name of the cd does and make believe like it doesn't exist...Later 2005, Oranger puts out "New Comes and Goes"...who needs Weezer! To me this cd sounds like some old Weezer. I just cannot get enough of this cd. Don't get me wrong I am merely comparing the two bands. Oranger definitely have their own characteristics and this cd proves it.

I won't fake like i am a long time fan but the first Oranger I heard was their version of "Mr. Sandman" on the Stubbs the Zombie game for Xbox. I heard it and immediately went out and purchased the Soundtrack and Oranger's latest effort as well...

To the music:

Crooked in the Weird of the Catacombs is an excellent starter song. It hooks you with the very first not and takes on almost a "Cake" feel at parts. The lyrics are well though out and the chorus is amazing! The second track--also the title track--just has one of those weird off beat feels to it. It is a very good track and stands out well on an amazing cd. My favorite song would either be Sukiyaki or Garden Party for the Murder Pride.

In closing, if you appreciate good music that will remind you of summertime buy this album. So when you're driving to work in six foot of snow it can feel all warm and sunny inside your car and inside your mind,...at least until you wreck on black ice and die. So stay home from work and listen up!!