@shake
Didn’t Moodymann play ‘Your sex is on fire’ that time at Field Day? Very upsetting.
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Cleared the floor sharpish
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When we went Optimo recently they played AC/DC … didn’t really fit with anything and kinda killed the vibe imho. Also last cut was “California Dreamin”…
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That’s pretty normal fair for Optimo. I feel you just need to get into the spirit ot it all. I started going to Optimo when I was pretty jaded by dance music & clubbing and it was a mind-blowing experience. Maybe it all just worked better when they had their Sunday residence at the Sub Club.
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A lot of great Black American producers/DJs/MCs seem to like really shit White rock/pop bands, Coldplay, Maroon 5, Blink 182, Jack White…
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I honestly thought it was a snide dig at the predominantly white Field Day crowd… especially given Kenny Dixons more militant early days.
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here’s my issue with this: you’ve just listened to a couple of hours worth of music made for clubs on a sound system designed for clubs, then all of a sudden you hear an old pop song or whatever and it was clearly not made for clubs and it sounds thin and shrill and weird.
i don’t mind it entirely out of hand, but it usually doesn’t happen on klipschorns or whatever and playing “california dreamin’” can really make the flow feel like the engine is misfiring.
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I think it can make sense in the right moment - and it’s that freedom as well as the chance of the unexpected that can make a great selector IMHO (and what we expect from Optimo) but at some point a song is just so overplayed and it’s time to put it to bed.
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The only thing on Kanye’s website is a T-shirt with a swastika on it
i have a co-worker who defended kanye for waaaay too long - not the antics per se, but the art (in light of some of the earlier antics). we’re a generation apart - they have little to no hip hop perspective, so KW is right smack in the middle of their “golden age”.
it takes all the strength i can muster to not continue to forward links like these with DEFEND YER GUY NOW commentary.
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Is this real?
Yep. I see no way in which this whole Kanye thing doesn’t end up with him getting himself killed. He’ll either do it to himself or he’ll eventually piss off the wrong person.
The guy obviously has serious issues and if there comes a day when he does transpire before his time, get ready for the canonization and “misunderstood genius” legacy that will inevitably follow.
I totally get it. I just never had that experience going to Optimo most Sunday’s for a decade. I know that Keith used a combination of vinyl and Ableton Live. Can’t say I remember any time anything sounded out of place on what was a cracking sound system in the Sub Club. I may be completely wrong, but I wouldn’t be surprised if all the older/poppier stuff was played digitally in live and given extra oompf.
I can imagine it might not work out of that environment though.
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Yes - Dolly Parton would sound like Derrick May on that system.
After lockdown my pals went to a festival where Optimo were playing. They all spat their dummies out big time when Abba got played and the mere mention of Optimo still makes them twitch. But for my part, I’d cut Keith enormous amounts of slack as he’s introduced me to so much amazing music over so many years. On top of that he’s incredibly generous with the continuous charity work that he does. And let’s face it, it’s not that he’ll be making millions from the music industry. More than that though, those guys are part of a local network of like-minded artists and producers that care and contribute to the communities that they live and work in. And their art shines all the brighter as a result. I’m talking about the Green Door guys, Invisible Inc., Fantastic Twins (though based in Berlin now), The Golden Teacher, Mister TC etc.
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The Disconet version of Lay All Your Love On Me causes serious damage when Jonnie drops it in the middle of an Optimo set. Certified classic from Saint. Overall Optimo have been excellent whenever I’ve heard them play. The curveballs always fit in the set and their mixing skills are incredible. If the point of DJing is to create drama by playing records, Optimo are up there with the best.
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My ten year old recently wanted to get some of those yeezy croc shoe things, had to carefully explain this was not going to happen.
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as a dj in terms of technical ability, yeah.
Theo can top him in terms of selection though he’s not as tight.
Obvs, technical ability isn’t all. Sometimes I’m in the mood for ruff n rugged eqing and sloppy transitions. Never understood the Global Underground/Renaissance etc hype of pristine smooth computer mixes, firstly because they were impossible to execute live at the time and secondly because they set a standard which made so much Euro dance music so boring. Obviously being raised on the london hardcore continuum (for lack of a better word) I never had this kind of romance in the same way.
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Didn’t go loads but when I lived in Glasgow, it was always unashamedly quite a “student” night, no? [Edit: Not saying this is a bad thing btw]I think at the time (mid 2000’s probably) there was a much bigger divide between an “indie” / rockier scene and a dance music one. Or “dance music” was very misunderstood at least as being either total bam tackle or a very boring US kinda house thing (boots and cats). And I guess Optimo was one of those nights which was very influential in repairing that. I definitely see it’s popularity as happening concurrently with DFA and all that stuff (?). My memory of the night at that time at least was basically hearing I Feel Love played to a rock crowd a bit too much. And it was a crowd who ostensibly hated dance music… Initially at least. Was going to Melting Pot around that time when it was at the Riverside, me and my pals were obsessed with Disco so it didn’t really land with us so much I guess . Doesn’t mean I don’t have a lot of respect for them, I actually think they’ve found more of an interesting identity and sound subsequently and the labels are brilliant.
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went to the Sub Club 2/3 times in the 2000s when I was up visiting mates and thought it was really good, awesome system, dark lighting, lowish ceilings IIRC, a shame it shut so early, just when you were getting ‘involved’. the warm up guy Telford was v underrated imo.
had some dodgy gear last time though which took the fun out a bit and found myself lying down on this massive bed in some apartment someone had hired off Sauchiehall Street in the city centre talking to a crew from Dundee, including a veteran raver called Dave Bowie. The Nat Express bus back to London was everything you would expect (and worse)
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