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Author: Analog on August 19 2007 Viewed 937 times. 3 people liked this blog. You can rate it below if you haven't already.
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The other day i bought a few CDs for the first time in a while. Amongst them Optimo's mix CD "Walkabout". link
I write this blog for two reasons. One is that, here on EM411, i've noted some hostility towards Optimo in the past. It's true that there's a lot of Nathan Barleys and trendy type annoying people who go to their night. I've only been there once, and really enjoyed it. I have a tendency at places where twats are to either ignore them, or to get really pissed off. That night i ignored them, and had a great face-melting, gurning, raving time. When i saw optimo DJs at Bugged Out in 1 Central Street in Manchester, they opened the set with some saxophone jazz / drone stuff. People actually booed. I couldn't beleive it, i just cheered louder.
The first point i wanted to make was that, despite some twats digging their stuff, they are genuinely decent DJs. Like, in the John Peel sense even. They're genuinely very into a very wide range of music, and uncompromisingly spend their time exposing people to new stuff. Their name was synonymous with crappy Elecroclash scene bizness for a while, but don't forget they were playing loads of other shit along with it - german industrial techno, new york not-disco stuff, punk and dub. They put out albums in a similar style to 2manydjs, but, i reckon, far better selected tunes, far more interesting mixing (the 2002 NYE mix cd has vitalic's La Rock 01 on it, and they actuall managed to make it MORE BANGING by sequencing a big reverbed bass drum on the first beat of every 2 bars, fucking amazing...) Music needs people who are passionate about new artists, new sounds and new styles. There aren't many left to fill the giant John Peel shaped gap. Optimo DJs come close to helping.
Anyway, this brings me to my second point, about the Walkabout mix. The tracklist in itself speaks volumes: Throbbing Gristle, Like A Tim, Suicide, Matthew Herbert and even fucking BORIS (!) mixed with loads of obscure and interesting minimal (and experiemental) techno. It's really given me a kick up the arse musically. It's the blueprint for the next album i'm gonna make. You see i struggle with the amount of different types of stuff i try and write. I find it hard to conceive an album where ambient noise / doom feedback can fit with minimal tech; jolly, cheesy synth from Like A Tim with dark noodle bleepy Throbbing Gristle. So this mix tape has inspired me to start building my next album.
I've got a few tracks half done already - quite experimental in changing time signature and timbre. Some dubsteppy bits, some minimal tech, some big synthy tech-house, some melancholy disco instumentals and a couple of lo-fi knock about singing tunes. I'm planning to get some drone and feedback bits done up at the studio in the next week or two.
Boo!
Optimo: link
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08/19/07
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I've never heard of this before. But you've been inspired, that's got to be worth something..
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