Beat maker Onra (a.k.a. Arnaud Bernard) approaches the sites of this world aided by a set of hip hop tools: an Akai MPC1000 sampler (or actually two of them), his striking, jazzed-out and broken beats, and a pile of badly beaten vinyl records literally excavated from dusty basements and secret hideouts.
So what happens when Parisian hip hopper Onra goes to visit the land of his relatives in Vietnam for the first time? Obviously he searches every last nook and cranny for the Black Gold; salvaging all the crackling kookie ol’ vinyl records he can lay his hands on. Only to butcher them upon his return to his studio, digging out their beautiful and strange riches; oddness, cheese and all. All to the point of obscurity to Vietnamese audiences, as noted by Onra upon his return.
But Onra’s journeys in sound does not only take place geographically: he also travels inwards on his latest album “Long Distance.” Here he literally brings us through the roller-coaster of a long distance relationship. Judging from his latest samples he must have been seeing a funky DJ risen from the 1980s of US hip hop with clear soul and R&B tendencies.
With his distinctive outlook on the world and his killer beats, Onra travels the path of the vinyl groove. He also has a curious ear for dramatic soundtracks and sappy dripping romance, greasing us up with enough love to last us through the next ice age.