Bimore indie rockers the Oranges Band were formed around the beginning of the 2000s by vocalist Roman Kuebler. Kuebler first surfaced as a member of the Bimore indie crew Roads to Space Travel, which released a couple of records on the Amish label as well as a 7" through Washington, D.C.'s DeSoto. When the band dissolved, Kuebler began to assemble what would become the Oranges Band: ex-Wrong Button drummer Dave Voyles, guitarists Dan Black and Virat Shukla, and bassist Tim Johnston, who had played guitar in Brickhead. The Oranges Band debuted in April 2000 with the Five Dollars EP on Morphius, and almost immediately began touring. It was a conscious choice; idealistically, the bandmembers believed in the immediacy and momentary grace of music, and felt that touring was the best way to access that. A year later, another EP appeared on Morphius, Nine Hundred Miles of Fucking Hell. Around this point Kuebler fit in a collaboration and tour with D.C.'s bratty punk combo the Thumbs. As the Oranges Band focused on writing and practicing new songs for an eventual full-length, Kuebler left again, this time as the touring bassist for the Austin, TX-based Spoon. The Oranges Band finally finished a round of demos in April 2002, which caught the ear of Lookout!, which quickly snapped them up. An introductory EP for Lookout!, entitled On TV, appeared in late 2002; the debut full-length All Around followed in April 2003, The World & Everything in It in 2005. Bass p Tim Johnston left the group in 2006 and was replaced by Faye Malarkey, formerly of Sick Sick Birds.
With their second full-length, The World & Everything in It, the Oranges Band doesn't rewrite the indie rock handbook; more like they follow it in note-perfect style and form and in such a familiar way (Spoon, New Pornographers, Guided by Voices, Yo La Tengo, new wave influence, etc.) that your initial inclination might be to dismiss them as generic wannabes. Stick around though and you just might be won over. They may not be treading new ground, but they rehash the recent past in an energetic and exciting fashion. Roman Kuebler's reedy, sideways-glance vocals never oversell the songs, the group's performances are wiry and tense at times, sunny and expansive at others, and most importantly they reel off an impressive batch of whip-smart and catchy tunes. "I'll Never Be Alone," "Ride the Wild Wave," "Atmosphere," and "White Ride" are tough-as-spit rockers that would make any indie rock band proud with their shimmering hooks and knowing stance, likewise the moody and more atmospheric numbers like the Spoon-lite opener "Believe" or the charging "Open Air." When they take chances like on the title track with its dubby keyboards and mood shifts or "Evil's Where You Want It to Be," you get a sense of the artier and intenser direction the band could go in. They are also the weakest songs on the record and make you wonder, why take chances when what works for you works so well? And this album does work in a very pleasing, safe, warm, and nostalgic kind of way. Liking the Oranges Band might make you a badge-wearing indie dork, but it's a badge you can wear with the same kind of pride you take in being friends with the kid who all the cool kids disdain.
STAN DOBRY +
Opis stanu płyt:Idealny - jak nowa, brak śladów użytkowaniaBardzo dobry - minimalne ślady użytkowania, prawie jak nowaDobry - widoczne ryski, ale bez żadnego wpływu na odtwarzanieDostateczny dużo rys, ale płyta odtwarza bez zacięć, przynajmniej na średnio wymagającym sprzęcie
