Playing Favorites Today...

I am fairly bored today so I am going to take a step back here and throw up something from another one of my favorite bands from when I was still in school. It was when I was sometime in late middle school that I had this magical revelation that music wasn't limited to just what radio informed me was good. Bands like Helmet, Quicksand, etc. were pretty much my gateway into much much better music. One of the bands along the way was the great Orange 9mm, headed by former Burn vocalist (and damn good one at that) Chaka Malik. The band was originally comprised of Chaka, guitarist Chris Traynor, bassist David Gentile and drummer Matthew Cross. Lineups proved to be difficult for Orange 9mm however, and various members would leave with practically each album they released.

After recording a short EP for hardcore stalwart Revelation, the band was signed to Eastwest and released their first album Driver Not Included in 1995. Featuring every bit of intensity found in the bands hardcore roots and possibly one of the best album openers ever in "Glistening", Driver Not Included serves as one of the most consistently overlooked post-hardcore releases. Although possibly ignored for the notable hip-hop influence, it's so extremely well executed that it, in my opinion, bolsters the albums overall feel and lyrical approach. The lyrics were always a focal point within the group thanks to Chaka's outstanding ability to craft memorable and down right passionate lyrics, which were always delivered in an equally passionate way. Following was Tragic a year later on Atlantic, serving as the bands second album. An even more bitter affair than their debut, the band was even more driving and ferocious than ever. In between, tracks like "Stick Shift" and "Crowd Control" took advantage of Chaka's rapping ability with the rest of the album being a relentless assault of pounding bass driven guitars.

Around 3 years passed before I got to hear another Orange 9mm record, other than the small EP Ultraman vs. Godzilla that was released in between records. Finally though sometime in June of '99 the band returned as a trio with Pretend I'm Human. Now, it is the general consensus that this album was the bands weakest. However, despite whether this is true or not, it's all a matter of opinion anyway, it still has some great songs on it. Definitely different than anything the band had done before, implementing the help of electronics and programming for starters. However you look at it though, the album contains some of the most interesting material from the band. Tracks like "Touching Skies", "Dragons", and "Tightrope" are the most compelling with them mostly featuring Chaka backed by nothing but an array of simple samples and beats. After the release of Pretend I'm Human the band seemingly split sometime thereafter. Unfortunate, but judging by the amount of directions Pretend I'm Human was trying to go, it was probably inevitable.


Orange 9mm - Glistening [MP3] (Driver Not Included)
Orange 9mm - Suspect [MP3] (Driver Not Included)
Orange 9mm - Tragic [MP3] (Tragic)
Orange 9mm - Method [MP3] (Tragic)
Orange 9mm - Pretend I'm Human [MP3] (Pretend I'm Human)
Orange 9mm - Tightrope [MP3] (Pretend I'm Human)


I urge everyone to take a listen to this great band. They were one of the highlights of the mid nineties post-hardcore push, however sadly overlooked. Everything from their discography is out of print, but thanks to overwhelming sources for used CD's anymore, it shouldn't be to hard to track most of these down. If anything give Amazon or eBay a shot. It's worth it.

Chaka's current musical endeavors can be found over at his MySpace. It looks as if now days he is busy doing DJ sets around the NYC area.