What Rhymes With Oranger?

Who or what was Oranger?  A band from San Francisco formed in the late 90’s by former Overwhelming Colorfast members Mike Drake, Matt Harris (bass), and Jim Lindsay (drums).  Mike Drake (Oranger singer and guitarist) formed the record label Amazing Grease with Scott Kannberg from Pavement.  When Alan McGee started his Poptones label, he released Oranger's second album, The Quiet Vibrationland.  The band played regularly at the annual Noise Pop festival in SF, and toured with Pavement and REM.  Such are their bona fides.

Oranger released four albums (five if you count From The Ashes Of Electric Elves, which appeared as a bonus disc with some editions of Shutdown The Sun).  Their full length debut was Doorway To Norway (1998), and their final album was New Comes And Goes (2005).

Back in the Original Blog Era (O.B.E.), music labels and publicists realized that sending out a few mp3’s was a cheap promotional tool.  I downloaded “Radiowave” and fell in love with it.  Eventually I acquired most of the band's catalog, and compiled a mix of my favorites which I'm sharing here today.  (I ripped Oranger's cover version of “Porpoise Song” from a 7” single.)

Oranger appeared on several tribute albums (Bread, Bruce Haack, Kris Kristofferson, Pavement) and a videogame soundtrack. After the band broke up, Mike and Matt formed Hot Fog, a “New NWOBHM” band.  Mike, Jim and Matt collaborated during COVID on some cover songs, digitally released as the EP Please Leave Our Mind - Covers Under Lockdown. Matt Harris died in 2021. 

I recently discovered that in 2023, Mike Drake released under the Oranger name a solid collection of solo recordings titled Everyone Says You're Lots of Fun.  I also found (on Amazon Music) a digital double album called The Vanishing Eye. Also available now on Bandcamp is a recording of Oranger performing their live score to the 1929 film "Man With A Movie Camera".  

If you've read this far, you've probably gathered that the members of Oranger were multitalented musicians who probably spent a lot of time listening to Something/Anything and Smile.  Some fans of early Oranger may have felt they strayed too far from psychedelic pop with New Comes And Goes, but for me it is their best set of songs, with the satisfying punch of a more muscular sound.

ELSEWHERE IN THE BLOGOSPHERE: my collection of "Porpoise Song" covers, posted at Chez Nathan Nothin.