Oranger

I started listening to Oranger late in 1998 while away at college. I had officially broken from my Phish phase and had since become a card carying member of the Weezer Fanclub. Free of the noodling scene, I dove back into the heart of rock and was welcomed by the sweet catchy California sounds of Oranger.

New Comes and Goes marks Oranger's fourth album since their inception in the late 90s. Perhaps most appropriately classified as a indie-pop-psychedelia revival band, the four piece sound like their name and typify the sunny pop of the late 60s. The latest album relies more heavily on the modern indie side of the equation, as described by Pitchfork:

After hinting at it their last two albums, the Bay Area's Oranger have finally jettisoned their cumbersome sunny psych bit, one which forcedly suggested geographic loyalty with the same conviction as a two-dimensional Captain Planet character representing his/her entire country. Now, Oranger more closely echoes indie acts such as Pavement or Modest Mouse rather than cardboard CA cutouts like Brian Jonestown Massacre or the Warlocks. Forget the dense layers of fuzz and acoustic strumming, these guitars have two settings-- clean and distorted-- and if you're lucky you'll get a mellotron in the background. This ain't your stoned older brother's Oranger.

While it's a bit different, they haven't departed from what makes them so addictive - they are still like sunshine in the dead of winter.

Oranger - Crooked in the Weird of the Catacombs.mp3
Oranger - Crones.mp3

More at their Myspace page.