• Store
  • Artists
  • News
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
Menu

Orenda Records

Visionary Creative Music
  • Store
  • Artists
  • News
  • Contact
  • Subscribe

ORENDA RECORDS

"Orenda Records is a small Southern California label that punches above its weight... Orenda’s offerings are informed by rock, modern classical, and jazz, and combine these genres in a natural, organic fashion... Orenda’s musicians grew up in a post-Braxton era where musical styles are viewed on a continuum rather than as individual silos of expression."
–Avant Music News


LATEST NEWS:

Featured
May 16, 2025
Saxophonist Joe Santa Maria and Bassist David Tranchina’s OBLIQUE RHYME is an eclectic, innovative, improvisatory album featuring Gary Fukushima and Colin Woodford
May 16, 2025
May 16, 2025
May 2, 2025
L.A. guitarist Max Walker announces virtuosic and exploratory full-length, Chronostasis
May 2, 2025
May 2, 2025
Dec 20, 2024
Dan Rosenboom, Joshua White, Billy Mohler & Shawn Baltazor Drop Surprise End-Of-Year Bootleg Album
Dec 20, 2024
Dec 20, 2024
Aug 2, 2024
Pianist/Composer Zack Clarke Releases "Plunge," A Multi-Stylistic Array of Pianistic and Electronic Inspiration
Aug 2, 2024
Aug 2, 2024
Jun 7, 2024
Dominican Drummer/Composer Ivanna Cuesta Releases Powerful Debut Album, "A Letter To The Earth"
Jun 7, 2024
Jun 7, 2024
Apr 5, 2024
Guitarist/Compser/Multi-instrumentalist Max Kutner Releases New Trio Album "Partial Custody" featuring Tubist Ben Stapp and Percussionist James Paul Nadine
Apr 5, 2024
Apr 5, 2024
Feb 29, 2024
Composer and Multi-Instrumentalist Vera Weber Releases "A Soft Lunacy," an Expansive Duet for Prepared Pianos With Vicki Ray
Feb 29, 2024
Feb 29, 2024
Nov 3, 2023
LA-Based Saxophonist-Composer Joe Santa Maria Issues His “Sonic Autobiography,” The Bold and Wildly Imaginative Echo Deep
Nov 3, 2023
Nov 3, 2023
Apr 28, 2023
Trumpeter/Composer Dan Rosenboom Levels Up with New Band on Polarity, the 101st Recording on Orenda Records
Apr 28, 2023
Apr 28, 2023
Mar 31, 2023
Drummer and Music Educator Dean Mucetti Releases ISOLATE//INTEGRATE With His Band Rhythm Real
Mar 31, 2023
Mar 31, 2023
Feb 24, 2023
Mat Muntz Leads a Band of East Coast Luminaries with an Astonishing Album Driven by a Unique Croatian Bagpipe
Feb 24, 2023
Feb 24, 2023
Jan 27, 2023
Dark Ambient Electric Guitar Duo KillDry Release "Pool of the Black Star"
Jan 27, 2023
Jan 27, 2023

Ethereal Experimental Artist Rose Haze Release Instrumental Album "Contemplations in the Desert"

December 02, 2022

Contemplations in the Desert is an instrumental album born amidst the sweltering sun, dust, and nothingness of Southern California. Kate Ramsey and Ruben Gonzales of Rose Haze set out for nowhere to record a fully improvised collection of tunes using all analog gear.

Unsurprisingly, the desert was a pretty brutal environment for doing much of anything, much less recording an album, but that’s precisely what intrigued the duo. The idea sprung from their desire to satiate a pandemic ennui and escape for a bit. While battling heat and fatigue, and running from rattlesnakes and swarms of bees, they found sanctuary. Freely writing and recording music out in the wild frontier was an unforgettable experience punctuated by an absolute tranquility.

The duo brought two guitars, one harp, several effects pedals, a vintage synth, a video camera, and a two-track recorder. With no preconceived notions, they tracked the experience as it felt, looked, smelled, tasted, and sounded, off and on throughout the two slow-moving days. Weeks went by with each dense hour. Their studio was a small teepee on a ranch. A few guests milled about the area enjoying the music but keeping their distance. The duo ran a long extension cord from the main house to power their musical mission. The sessions began with serious meditation, but as they continued recording, Kate and Ruben began to shift into more humorous and light-spirited sounds as they grew in delightful delirium.

Between tracking music, Ruben filmed Kate wandering the grounds swinging a katana dressed in a suede fringe jacket, cowboy boots, and a stetson, playing harp in a random boat on top of a plateau, or dancing around on stilts with the mountains in the distance. Why? Because they could.

The days were filled with music, art, and contemplations. Contemplations of dreams, childhood, romances, hardships, moments in time. Contemplations of self. Contemplations on how our ancestors may have lived. Contemplations on how Hollywood shaped history. Contemplations of existence. Contemplations of gratitude in music. And at night, contemplations while gazing up at the brightest of stars in the desert.

Rose Haze is the ethereal experimental music project of Kate Ramsey. Ever-evolving over the years, the group has encompassed a vast array of sonic soundscapes and undergone several supporting lineups. Elements of ambient drone, dreampop, shoegaze, psychedelic rock, post-rock, and soulful jazzy expressions all make an appearance in Rose Haze compositions and performance. Based in Oakland, CA, Kate is supported by Ruben Gonzales (guitar and bass), Yoko Miyakawa (viola, electric violin, and bass), and Dustin Coker (drums).

← Dark Ambient Electric Guitar Duo KillDry Release "Pool of the Black Star"World-Renowned Percussionist Randy Gloss Releases his Second Solo album, "...The Ayes Have It, Vol. II: Self-Portraits in Percussion" on Orenda Records →
Back to Top

email: info@orendarecords.com
phone: +1 (323) 696 5780