L'Orange (producer)
| L'Orange | |
|---|---|
| Origin | North Carolina |
| Genres | Hip hop |
| Occupation(s) | Hip hop producer |
| Instruments | MPC, turntable |
| Years active | 2011––present |
| Labels | Mello Music Group |
| Associated acts | Jeremiah Jae, Blu, Kool Keith, Homeboy Sandman, Billy Woods, Erik Todd Dellums |
| Website | LOrangeProductions.com |
L'Orange is an American hip hop producer from North Carolina. After starting his career as a recording studio engineer he began releasing original hip hop in 2011. Among his early releases, Old Soul in 2011 was dedicated to Billie Holiday, while his November 2012 release The Mad Writer was described by L'Orange as "more of a fiction novella."[1] His 2013 collaborative album The City Under the City was his first LP on Mello Music Group,[1] as well as his first album with an emcee.[1] Prefix Magazine called the release "'album of the year' worthy."[2]
In April 2014 he released the album The Orchid Days, which features artists such as Blu.[3] His 2015 album The Night Took Us In Like Family was a collaboration with rapper and producer Jeremiah Jae, with Jae rapping over L'Orange's production in most tracks. Pitchfork Media gave it a positive score of 7.1, writing that "this is an aesthetic concept record... L'Orange builds a gilded stage from a clutter of film, soul, and synth samples, refurbishing the worn 9th Wonder/early-Kanye warped soul template."[4] L'Orange released an EP titled After the Flowers on February 24, 2015. His collaborative album with Kool Keith, titled Time? Astonishing!, was released on July 24, 2015 through Mello Music Group.
Early life
L'Orange was born and raised in North Carolina. Trained in music,[3] early on he had interest in vocalists such as Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, and Sarah Vaughan.[1] Recollects L'Orange, "I bought a boombox so I would sit in all night and listen to the radio, and I would find these stations that were somewhere between the AM and find these old jazz samples that I just loved."[1] Hip hop artist Kon Sci, who would later introduce him to Mello Music Group, served as a musical mentor while L'Orange was growing up, and introduced him to artists such as Kev Brown and Oddisee.[1] Nicknamed L'Orange in his youth, he began making music under the moniker around 2006 or 2007.[3] For a time he worked as a recording studio engineer,[3] and in 2011 he began recording his own material.[3]
Music career
Early releases (2011–13)
L'Orange's debut extended play The Manipulation EP was self-released on February 11, 2011 as a free album.[3] In an interview with New Noise Magazine, L'Orange described the EP as "an autobiography of what I was going through at the time,"[1] and "'an eccentric album of just instrumentals' that tapped into the 'deadpan' and 'quirky' and 'romantic' parts of his personality."[3] His second album was titled Old Soul and self-released in November 2011. Old Soul was described by L'Orange as an "homage" to Billie Holiday, as well as his interpretation of "her biography."[1] Describing Holiday as his favorite artist,[3] he further explained that the album is "also a reflection of where I was at that time, which was a pretty dark place."[1] The album heavily samples Holiday's vocals,[1] and the ten tracks were released digitally and on vinyl.[3]
His Still Spinning EP was self-released on February 10, 2012, and his November 2012 release on Jakarta Records, titled The Mad Writer, was described by L'Orange as "more of a fiction novella" than his previous releases.[1] Before September 2013, L'Orange collaborated with artists such as Legacy, Hassaan Mackey and yU the 78er.[5] Also before early 2014, he brought in Mr. Life and John Robinson to contribute to his track "The Lost Nova," which was included on the Mello Music Group compilation album Mandala Vol. 1, Polysonic Flows. Titled “The Lost Nova“, Curb.com wrote that the song "combines jazz rhythms, classic crackle, and intricate drum patterns."[6]
Early collaborative albums (2012–13)
 L'Orange - "Alone" feat. Blu (Official Music Video) (March 6, 2013) | |
|
L'Orange - "Need You" feat. Blu (Official Music Video) (September 10, 2014) |
In late 2012 L'Orange remixed the Stik Figa track "Space Madness," and the remix ended up on The Best of Stik Figa compilation album.[1] Stik Figa afterwards approached L'Orange with the prospect of a collaborative album,[1] and the resulting The City Under the City LP was released on Mello Music Group on October 15, 2013.[1] It was L'Orange's first album to feature an emcee[1] and includes guest artists such as Open Mike Eagle[5] and Blu,[1] with Stik Figa largely handling the rhymes.[5] Around five tracks on the album are instrumental.[1] The album received praise from Prefix Magazine upon its release, with the publication writing that "it's 'album of the year' worthy," and further opining that the opening track "clouds your brain with visions of noir-infused brilliance."[2] The first vinyl pressing of the LP sold out in a month, which helped lead to L'Orange signing a deal with Mello Music Group in early 2014 to produce three albums in 2014 and 2015.[6]
Orchid Days (2014)
| "The Orchid Days storyline is the story of love - finding love, falling in love, and then losing it and missing it - a story told via random soundbites expertly assembled - to the backdrop of an old world mood crafted by building layer upon layer of dreamy jazzy grooves from digging deep into really old jazz records with flutters of... soundbites/samples (handpicked over time by L'Orange) from old black and white movies, along with, often static sounding, classic old radio broadcasts." |
| —Amoeba (May 14, 2014)[3] |
In April 2014 he released the album The Orchid Days through Mello Music Group.[3] Before the album's release L'Orange released the track "Need You" as a promo single, which featured Blu. Wrote Okayplayer.com about the track, "Blu plays the role of the lyricist’s lyricist with a heavy set of bars that pepper the dope jazz piano and vocal chop from L’Orange. The track keeps with L’Orange’s gutter golden era aesthetic."[7] The album, which was released on April 8 as a download[7] through Mello Music Group, was also released through Amoeba's stores on CD and vinyl.[3] on April 15.[7] For seven of the nineteen tracks on The Orchid Days L'Orange brought in guest vocalists such as Blu, Homeboy Sandman, Billy Woods[3] Erik Todd Dellums, Erica Lane, and Jeremiah Jae, all of whom were "very carefully chosen," according to L'Orange. "[With each project I] want to make sure that they are not just emcees I like, but ones that are right for the project... and for this project, which is more adventurous... I need the right emcees that I think can handle it." [3]
The Night Took Us in Like Family (2015)
In March 2015, he released the single “Taken By The Night," which featured Jeremiah Jae on vocals. Wrote a reviewer for Pigeons and Planes, "it’s not easy finding quality music that you can just mellow out to, but suddenly it feels like my search has come to a successful end."[8] The track aserved as a promo single for L'Orange's upcoming collaborative LP with Jae. Titled The Night Took Us In Like Family, it was released on April 21, 2015 through Mello Music Group.[8] The majority of the album "features Jeremiah Jae rapping over L’Orange’s production."[8]
| "In The Night Took Us in Like Family Jeremiah Jae's subdued delivery finds solace in L’Orange’s gritty ambience, and the partners in crime unfurl tales of the struggles of faux-brotherhood... [it] is an album of secrecy: an unspoken promise sealed with blood between the rapper and his dark environment." |
| — Sputnik Music[9] |
Pitchfork Media gaveThe Night Took Us in Like Family a positive score of 7.1, writing that "this is an aesthetic concept record... that teasingly ponders the idea of gangster rap from another era—pre-Scarface, for once.... L’Orange builds a gilded stage from a clutter of film, soul, and synth samples, refurbishing the worn 9th Wonder/early-Kanye warped soul template." Pitchfork also praised the collaboration, writing that "these two have similar ideas about the completeness of a piece of music."[4] Sputnik Music gave it 3.5/5, writing that the album "works so smoothly, it’s a wonder why L’Orange and Jeremiah Jae didn’t join forces sooner."[9] Tim Sendra of Allmusic also gave the album 3.5/5 stars, witing that the duo "deliver a darkly humorous tale of crime and criminals. Combining L'Orange's witty crime movie dialogue samples, sped-up and slowed-down vocals heisted from old soul albums, and sticky beats with Jae's slippery flow and devious rhymes, the album comes off like a sequel to Madvillain... L'Orange sound made for each other and this collaboration is first-rate hip-hop storytelling."[10]
L'Orange released an EP titled After the Flowers on February 24, 2015. His collaborative album with Kool Keith, titled Time? Astonishing!, was released on July 24, 2015 through Mello Music Group.
Style and equipment
| "For me personally, I have trouble justifying creating any sort of group of tracks without a central theme or in my case a very specific distinct narrative... I think that it is something that really comes from my admiration of the visual arts, which is something that I’m genetically predisposed to not have any inclination towards." |
| — L'Orange in October 2013[1] |
He has been compared favorably as a hip hop producer to artists as diverse as J Dilla and Pete Rock,[5] and according to New Noise Magazine, "L’Orange imbues his smoky, soul-soaked tracks with lush texture through inventive mixing and psychedelic cuts from classic radio recordings."[1] His albums are often structured around narratives,[1] with L'Orange explaining that he's often inspired by images, and that "I want to put those images in people’s heads."[1]
Early in his production career he used Reason,[1] and later began incorporating vinyl and a "little MPC1000" he had been "toying with," stating that "I made really really awful beats on the [Music Production Center (MPC)] for about a year until I figured it out."[1] While producing currently he uses an MPC and "vintage vinyl," and often finds samples for "pre-1950s jazz, soul and radio."[1] He has stated that "I’m actually exclusively MPC. I have an MPC 2500 and a 2000XL, I also use a SP303, so pretty much everything you’ve ever heard from my albums have come from those three and a turntable."[1]
Personal life
As of 2014, L'Orange was based in Nashville, Tennessee.[3]
Discography
Albums
| Year | Album title | Release details |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Old Soul |
|
| 2012 | The Mad Writer |
|
| 2013 | The City Under the City (with Stik Figa) |
|
| 2014 | The Orchid Days | |
| 2015 | The Night Took Us In Like Family (with Jeremiah Jae) |
|
| Time? Astonishing! (with Kool Keith) |
| |
| 2016 | The Life & Death of Scenery (with Mr. Lif) |
|
EPs
| Year | Album title | Release details |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | The Manipulation EP |
|
| 2012 | Still Spinning |
|
| 2015 | After the Flowers - EP |
|
Singles
| Year | Title | Album | Release details |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | "Alone" | Single | Jakarta (August 21, 2013) |
| 2014 | "Need You" (ft. Blu) | The Orchid Days | Mello Music Group |
| 2015 | "The Traveler" | Promo single | Mello Music Group (July 2015) |
See also
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Fullerton, Jason (October 14, 2013). "Interview: L'Orange on signing with Mello Music Group, his production style and new LP "The City Under The City" with Stik Figa". New Noise Magazine. Retrieved 2015-07-11.
- 1 2 Tracy, Dylan (November 21, 2013). "Prefix Premiere: L'Orange 'Dusty Speakers (Instrumental)'". Prefix Magazine. Retrieved 2015-07-11.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Jam, Billy (May 14, 2014). "Prolific Producer L'Orange Unleashes His Finest Work To Date: "The Orchid Days"". Amoeba'. Retrieved 2015-07-11.
- 1 2 Mistry, Anupa (April 24, 2015). "Jeremiah Jae / L'Orange - The Night Took Us in Like Family". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 2015-07-11.
- 1 2 3 4 'Flash' Juon, Steve (September 17, 2013). "L'Orange & Stik Figa -The City Under the City - Mello Music Group". RapReviews.com. Retrieved 2015-07-11.
- 1 2 Chang, Jason (February 6, 2014). "L'Orange – The Lost Nova feat. Mr. Lif & John Robinson + Mello Music Group Signing". URB Magazine. Retrieved 2015-07-11.
- 1 2 3 Lamb, Karas (2014). "L'Orange Joins Forces With Blu For New Single "Need You"". Okayplayer.com. Retrieved 2015-07-11.
- 1 2 3 Black, Adrienne (March 3, 2015). "Premiere: L'Orange & Jeremiah Jae – "Taken By The Night"". Pigeons and Planes. Retrieved 2015-07-11.
- 1 2 Jones, Tristan (April 22, 2015). "L'Orange and Jeremiah Jae - The Night Took Us In Like Family". Sputnik Music. Retrieved 2015-07-11.
- ↑ Sendra, Tim (April 21, 2015). "Night Took Us In Like Family". Allmusic. Retrieved 2015-07-11.
- ↑ "iTunes - Music - The Night Took Us in Like Family by L'Orange & Jeremiah Jae". Itunes.apple.com. 2015-04-21. Retrieved 2015-06-25.
Further reading
- "Interview: L'Orange on signing with Mello Music Group, his production style and new LP "The City Under The City" with Stik Figa". New Noise Magazine. October 14, 2013.
- "Prefix Premiere: L'Orange 'Dusty Speakers (Instrumental)'". Prefix Magazine. November 21, 2013.
- "L'Orange – The Lost Nova feat. Mr. Lif & John Robinson + Mello Music Group Signing". URB Magazine. February 6, 2014.
- "L'Orange Joins Forces With Blu For New Single "Need You"". Okayplayer.com. 2014.