Oranger
Circle Gets the Square 7''
Amazing Grease
1998
Rating: 7.5 weekly episodes out of 10
I honestly never paid attention to Oranger until I was given a copy of what turned out to be their final record "New Comes and Goes" to review. Which was frankly stupid on my part, as they play well crafted pop songs. The sort of pop you would expect out of a modern band that clearly listened to a lot of Cheap Trick. There are three tracks total here, all of them keepers. All of the songs can also be found on their "Shutdown the Sun" album, but I'm digging having them on this short player too.
Film School
AlwaysNever
Amazing Grease
2003
Rating: 6 sometimes oftens out of 10
This nice, pleasant EP of music by Film School is what the kids might call "post rock". I guess. Or I could be talking out of my ass. Either way, it isn’t groundbreaking and it probably won’t blow you away, but it’s a good listen that I would recommend. Film School is basically the work of Krayg Burton, with a rotating cast of folks that help out in the way additional musicians tend to help out. Mellow without ever becoming boring (but let’s face it, if you get bored just listening to an EP of any band then that’s a sure sign that something is wrong), this would make a great record to go to sleep to, and that isn't meant as the insult it sounds like. For some reason the comparison that comes to mind when I listen to Film School is Jim Yoshi Pile Up mixed with some low key shoegazer stuff. Another great thing about this short player is that it’s a grower – it might not impress you terribly on the first listen, but the more you hear it the more you want to.
The Moore Brothers
On & Out
Amazing Grease
2003
Rating: 6.5 emotional bongs out of 10
Let me say this right out front in case you get the wrong impression –
I like this Moore Brothers record, but I’m pretty disappointed by it at the same time. They start the album off with a glorious 30-second
long intro track that sounds like the reincarnation of Big Star and I get real excited. And then the rest of the album
sounds like Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young for the 21st century, only much less hippy and much more poppy and funny. That first
listen was pretty meh, because that intro was so unbelievably good. But after I played the record a few
more times the rest of their tracks grew on me as well and I found myself enjoying the whole album (but still wishing for
more like that intro, dammit). Hopefully they will expand on that opening song in the future, but until then I’ll just
have to enjoy the rest of the album.
