I was really excited to hear French DJ/Producer Onra’s brand new record, Long Distance, this year. I absolutely loved his last effort Chinoiseries, and after seeing Pitchfork loving all over it, I figured it had to be pretty good, right? Wrong. Whereas in Chinoiseries the Dilla-influenced composer created a forward-thinking new sound by combining hip hop beats with old Southeastern Asian recordings, Long Distance appears to have taken a much easier route. The new record is full of the eighties influenced, smooth R&B sound that is uber cool right now but not particularly creative. I’ll give Onra credit – these fantastically produced songs sound better than most of the other clones, but I still hope that next time around he decides to try something a little more edgy. Ah, here is one of the songs anyways.
— Jon Behm
Onra:
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Co-founder, photographer, writer
