Orange Cake Mix serves as the alias for Jim Rao, who makes his home in Connecticut. From childhood onward this prolific singer and songwriter filled notebooks with verses and invented melodies on the spot, then shifted in the early 1990s to capturing those pieces on cassette. The project name itself occurred to Rao one day while he arranged products on supermarket shelves. His debut album, More Mellow Hits, appeared in June 1995 and, fitting the title, assembled acoustic pop numbers modeled on the 1970s soft-rock approach of Bread and America. Over time Rao broadened his range, incorporating the electronic pulses associated with Depeche Mode and New Order together with the atmospheric textures pioneered by Brian Eno. One year after the first release came the full-length Grapefruit. The 1997 set Another Orange World invited comparisons with David Bowie’s early-1980s recordings, whereas 2001’s A Shadow of Eclipse and Other Phases of the Moon evoked the sensibilities of Robert Fripp, Brian Wilson, and Saint Etienne. By alternating mellow pop with electronic experiments, Rao established a distinct presence within the independent-music community. Orange Cake Mix material has surfaced on multiple compilations, and OCM has also issued various tracks and complete albums that exist solely in cassette format.
