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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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)
controversial and revisionist take maybe but when too many rockers get involved in dance music things head for the worse as they cannot be disciplined. Hence so many of my mates who were indie heads as teenagers are now exploring the commonalities between deep techno (good) and ‘nippy goa obscurities’ (diabolical). Just say no.
Then again, Jane Fitz loves the Goa and she has exemplary taste in funk/soul/deep house for all intents and purposes. No accounting for the pasty faces, I suppose.
I really don’t see the Optimo boys in that lineage, more tg/cabs/bourbonese qualk/etc. But I don’t live in Glasgow and never went to one of their nights. Massively respect Twitch for being into all that 90s cologne acid, Khan, Jammin Unit and Walker. As well as being into proper breakbeat hardcore of the 92 chipmunks and twisted mentasms variety. Best shit ever.
The indie rock/student dance continuum I associate more with the likes of Erol Alkan. Never really been into him.
This is still one of the best Boiler Rooms there is. Optimo vs Harri & Dominic at the SubClub. The last 20 minutes is carnage
^ Sprinkles remix of the Mole is such an amazing tune
Erol Alkan was a bit novelty for a while especially his somersault handstand theatrics on the decks, but I think Trash was a good thing for London and the DFA period even if a bit derivative was a really exciting time for music
It always had a large Art School presence, especially being on a Sunday night. I went religiously from around 2004 to the very last one. I always found it a pretty diverse crowd despite a good number of students. Lots of old heads from back in the day, along with a lot of the up and coming DJ’s, producers and promoters. Some some cracking bands there too.
And the music policy was always ‘play whsatever the fuck you want’.
Literally everything has to have the shit scienced out of it, or explained, just so someone can say they’ve created some content. It’s exhausting just stop it.
I get that some people are out there doing it well, but Jesus there’s a ton of dross out there relating to stuff that doesn’t need explaining. It just ‘is’.
I don’t even know what I mean, but I know it annoys me.