Orange gravity - hype!

Orange Gravity

Hype!
self-released; 2014

3.2 out of 5

By Ted Rogen

Orange Gravity is Robbie Salta (guitar, vocals) and Blake Smith (drums, vocals) and they have recently released Hype! Make no doubt about it Hype! is a very raw rock record but throws in a couple of unusual twists and turns you wouldn’t expect.

The album was recorded, mixed and mastered by the band and sounds more or less like a demo you would shop around until you have some more polished material. I have to admit the songs could have been more impactful if they were recorded by an engineer as I could practically hear in my mind what they might sound like. All things considered the EP displays some talent from the duo.

One thing that I noticed right off the bat was that the songs were a bit longer then you might expect from a rock song. All it takes is to listen to the first song “Hearing Voices” to figure out why. The song starts off sounding like a Motörhead song as they thrash away on a distorted guitar and hard-hitting drums. 

At about the four-minute mark they stop by fading out and then go into what sounds like a traditional Italian song. It was obvious the guys didn’t know how to go into this part or get out of it. The way they transition back into a hard rocking guitar solo is by doing a four count. I give them an A for originality but I thought the implementation could have used more thought. 

The second track “I'm Afraid to Die” is a disheveled mess of feedback that doesn’t completely fall apart because of a steady bassline. There isn’t so much singing as of spoken word screaming that I think is supposed to sound like the vocalist is mad but ends up sounding like an angst ridden teenager. The band throws you for another loop when they go full on folk with an acoustic. If that part wasn’t so disjointed from the rest of the song I would have enjoyed it more but on its own it is still a strong moment. Maybe they should break out the acoustic guitar more often than they do.

So how do they mix up the next track “Morning in Amerika?” Well at about five minutes in they throw in this maniacal, maddening laughter that was way too loud in the mix. When the laughter drops out of the song it sounds weirdly vacant. They close Hype! with a straight forward punk song “Hate!”

Orange Gravity has interesting ideas and I like that they are thinking outside the box but they aren’t there yet. If they want to take this music thing to the next level they are going to have get a recording that sounds better from an aesthetic perspective and find ways to seamlessly meld their ideas into their songs rather than feeling like disparate parts.

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