[CD Review] Raz Ohara & The Odd Orchestra (self-titled album)

2008: As German record label ‘Get Physical’ move forward into their 8th year of operation, the founders (DJ T, M.A.N.D.Y, and Booka Shade) have decided it’s time to Get Emotional. The act of ‘feeling’ is a physical sensation, after all. The first release of the New Year for the Berlin-based family has been reserved for the ripened artistic collaboration of Dane Raz (Danish-born, Berlin-bred) and Oliver Doerell (Belgium-born, Berlin-based), together known as Raz Ohara & The Odd Orchestra.

In the film ’24 Hour Party People’ – which documents the emergence of the mid-80s post-punk music scene in Manchester, England – there is a scene where Tony Wilson, label-head of Factory Records, listens to a completed demo of rock/dance band, The Happy Monday’s. As their trademark fun and bouncy music enters its second minute of audio, Wilson’s face begins to contort; “where are the vocals?!” The vocals were, in fact, a non-entity on the album - The Happy Mondays had created an entirely instrumental record. Wilson and Factory could not fathom this. The idea of releasing such an album to their established fan-base seemed preposterous.

One wonders if the Get Physical camp, which has worked very hard at becoming a world-renowned provider of quality electronic dance music, had a similar concern to Factory Records. In a reversal of circumstance though, as Raz Ohara & The Odd Orchestra’s self-titled debut is an acoustic/electronic album completely laden with Raz Ohara’s vocals. Would an audience fed a steady diet of loop-based, atmospheric, punchy instrumentals from the likes of Booka Shade and M.A.N.D.Y be willing to embrace an album full of guitar-based, down-tempo rhythms coupled with honest and heartfelt lyrics? Obviously DJ T and co feels the time is right, and after receiving criticism in some pockets of the dance scene for beginning to sound formulaic, one gets the impression that, in some ways, Get Physical are releasing this album as a retort to such negativity: “let’s see if you cynic’s can move forward with us!” Indeed, I believe that this is an album that could, and should, appeal to a much wider audience; not simply fans of electronic dance music.

Meanwhile, back in the world of the genuine artist, where dilemmas such as audience expectation and label appeal are brushed away like dust from a microphone, Dane Raz (providing vocals and guitar as Raz Ohara) and Oliver Doerell (adding a subtle, yet essential underbelly of electronic melodies as The Odd Orchestra) focused all their energy towards creating something that of which all self-respecting artists aim to achieve, something real. Have they achieved this? Well that’s for you to decide. I will, however, leave you with a knowing lyric from the wonderfully lingering final track on the album; ‘Set On You’:

“Truth doesn’t fake, if you’re not afraid to look…if only you would”

Click here to hear a track off the album on YouTube


Raz Ohara & The Odd Orchestra was released in 2008, and is available to download from Amazon - click here