Rough Guide Vol1 – Adrian Orange

RE-POST: The Rough Guide series is a new edition to Fluid Radio. It involves mixes that gather a selection of material from an artist’s catalogue and paints a musical ‘journey’ of their career….

The first in the series is presented by Wim Maesschalck as he looks at compositions from the talented Adrian Orange. Here is what Wim had to say:

Because I miss Thanksgiving and the warm person I met during a few European tours, I asked Dan to compile a selection of my favourite Adrian Orange songs instead of doing a regular folkmix. Without new releases he’s bound to be forgotten by the new-loving internet music-community. He generously agreed and so here it is.. a mixtape sung by Adrian Orange. Do try and get your hands on any LP or CD he made, in my opinion they’re bound to go out of print if they haven’t already.

The songs on the mixtape are grouped by record and ordered by my favourite records of his. To finish I included some songs I found on compilations and a 7″

Adrian Orange was born in 1986 – living in Portland, Oregan for the bigger part of his life. He released his first record “We Could Be Each Other’s Evidence” in 2002, at the age of 16. A year later he released “Nothing” the first release on Marriage Records.

In 2004 he released an amazing and crackly 7″ (The Lake At Night / The “In The Lake”), a humble ep with only sparse acoustic guitar and his trembling voice titled “Now It Is All Over Like The Birds” but also his masterpiece “Welcome Nowhere”.  Recorded with the help of Phil Elverum of Mount Eerie – and also the first record to be released on Elverum’s PW Elverum & Sun label. The sound of it is so delicate, humble, simple modest and thankful. It makes you want to say thank you to nature, wind, forests, mountains, just being thankful that you’re alive and that you’re in this world. Don’t expect well performed or well recorded songs matching todays standards, but a true lofi gem. Originally pressed on 600 it has been repressed with outtakes and a vinyl version of the ep “The Ghost & The Eyes With Trees In The Ground” from 2005.

Also in 2005 Adrian managed to release a triple LP simply called “Thanksgiving”. It is probably the record which covers the most aspects of his carreer, but sometimes it’s a difficulat listen with the abundance of songs. Then there’s “The “In The World”" 12″ which sounds similar to “Welcome Nowhere”, but is not as captivating. If that wasn’t enough, he also released a cd on Hive-Fi Records called The River. It is a wonderful Will Oldham-esque folk record with a little more arrangements. Still lofi, still not really what one would call a “tight production”, but it has some incredible songwriting. By the age of 21, Adrian managed to release 5 albums and 3 ep’s, full of wisdom, calmness and honesty.

After “Cave Days And Moments” in 2006 he chose to record under his given name. He recorded 2 albums: one very similar to the thanksgiving sound, another one more playful incorporating styles as dub and afrobeat in 2007. After that he seems to have stopped releasing stuff, getting focussed on electronic music, weed and hiphop. Unfortunately, that’s not for the better as far as I can tell. - Wim

Track List:

1. Welcome – Welcome Nowhere & Extra’s 2LP+CD on PW Elverum & Sun (2007)
2. Rich (Homeless) – Welcome Nowhere & Extra’s 2LP+CD on PW Elverum & Sun (2007)
3. Nowhere – Welcome Nowhere & Extra’s 2LP+CD on PW Elverum & Sun (2007)
4. Responsibility – The River CD on Hive-Fi (2005)
5. Storyteller – The River CD on Hive-Fi (2005)
6. Oh Well – The River CD on Hive-Fi (2005)
7. Around The World – Thanksgiving 3LP+CD (Marriage Recs/Pw Elverum & Sun (2005)
8. Dead Deer & Other Animals – Thanksgiving 3LP+CD (Marriage Recs/Pw Elverum & Sun (2005)
9. Oregon – Thanksgiving 3LP+CD (Marriage Recs/Pw Elverum & Sun (2005)
10. (You Belong To The) Blood – Cave Days & Moments CD – Marriage Recs (2006)
11. The Old Graveyard – Cave Days & Moments CD – Marriage Recs (2006)
12. Fire Dream – Adrian Orange & Her Band s.t. LP (2007)
13. Save The World – Bitches Is Lord CD (as Adrian Orange) (2006)
14. Bad World – The “In The World” 12″ – Marriage Recs (2005)
15. The Ghost & The Eyes – The Ghost & The Eyes With Trees In The Ground CD – States Rights Records (2005)
16. Untitled Track 01 – Now It Is All Over Like The Birds CD – Marriage Recs (2004)
17. The Lake At Night – 7″ – Marriage Recs (2004)
18. Grandfather Dawn – Own Zone Compilation – States Rights Records (2004)

www.marriagerecs.com
www.pwelverumandsun.com
www.en.wikipedia.org
www.last.fm/music/Adrian+Orange

www.myspace.com/wixel