Onra discusses samples from 'Chinoiseries Pt 2'

XLR8R recently published their High Five Feature with French producer, Onra, who is preparing his Chinoiseries Pt 2 album release on November 15 via Dublin, Ireland’s All City Records. The premise behind the Chinoiseries albums takes various Chinese and Vietnamese samples found during Onra’s various travels in South East Asia and XLR8R had Onra select 5 samples, some in which he used on his upcoming Chinoiseries Pt 2 album.

Song 1

One of the best samples I ever found on a Chinese record, I used this for “Remember The Name” on Chinoiseries Pt. 2. When I hear something like this, it only takes me a few seconds to know I’m going to make a banger out of it.

Song 2

This is an example of a really good song with a nice soulful vibe to it. I made a beat with it, but it didn’t make the final tracklist of the album. To find this kind of flavor on a Chinese record is pretty rare.

Song 3

This song is a cover of Paul Mauriat’s “Love Is Blue.” I sampled another cover from the same song on the first Chinoiseries for the track “I Wanna Go Back,” but it had different instrumentation. It was more orchestral, but this one is more guitar-orientated. I appreciate the dirtiness of the vinyl, too.

Song 4

With this one, I share a jewel. It’s one of the best samples I’ve found, and one of the best songs I ever found too. I love this tune. I wish I knew who the singer is because I’d be interested in searching for other stuff from her discography. I sampled it for “Mai’s Theme,” and, as you’ll hear when the album comes out, I didn’t do too much to it. It’s just one of those perfect loops with a lot of emotion in it.

Song 5

I have to share with you a very average track. I literally can’t listen to this kind of thing anymore, and 95% of Chinese music sounds like this. Not impossible to sample, of course, but it’s just really hard to listen to this kind of stuff for hours and hours. I had to cut it short.