Shock > Optimo & Shock DJs this Saturday... (1 Viewer)

[Shock]

Pogo & Shock present; Optimo DJs (Optimo Espacio, Glasgow)
Jon Averill & Stephen Reynolds (Shock, Dublin/London)
This Saturday at Twisted Pepper (Formerly Traffic)

Christmas comes five days early for fans of electronic disco jams, house music, techno, industrial and all in between as Glasgow's finest; Optimo DJs return to Dublin for a night at Bodytonic's Twisted Pepper venue with support coming from Shock's Stephen Reynolds and Jon Averill.

For those who've not previously heard of Optimo they're among the most respected DJing partnerships around.
Jonnie Wilkes is a true a master at building a groove and controlling the flow of a night and Keith McIvor mixes vinyl and Ableton to stunning effect. Keith's being using Ableton since its earliest days and knows its use as a tool to improve DJ sets, not make them easier.

Optimo's Sunday night; Optimo Espacio has been running now for an incredible twelve years now can lay claim to title one of the best club nights around. Week in week out its full with a both open minded and up for it crowd. There's a trust between them and the crowd thats very rare in todays musical climate and allows them the freedom to make Optimo as special as it is.

They're Kill The DJ mix was a landmark mix in the same way Coldcuts Journeys By DJ mix. Bringing them to the attention of those outside Glasgow, It was a collage of genres and decades and styles yet all tied together by a knowledge of the past and the future.

Their most recent output Sleepwalk is a dreamy tribute to cassette mixtape culture and it reflects the first hour or so at their Optimo night. Released on Domino, home to The Artic Monkeys, Animal Collective, Franz Ferdinand and other acts with indie leanings, Sleepwalk has been getting rave reviews accross the board and easily sits nicely alongside their Kill The DJ, Psyche Out and still quite rare Walkabout mix as a compendium of the Optimo sound.

Taking over from their 'hobby' record label Oscarr Optimo have finally got round to launching their own (proper) label, Optimo Music. Run by JD Twitch and Jill Mingo with 'nuff input from JG Wilkes'. Optimo Music is apparently "committed to loving your ears", and is launching in reasonably low-key fashion with a pair of vinyl singles available in January, 2009.

Given Optimo's inestimably fine taste, track record on previous visits to Dublin and that this is the last party night proper before Christmas this is gonna anything but a silent night.

In the basement will be Saturday night's usual Pogo house and techno excursion with Bodytonic's Tayor at the Controls as he's celebrates his birthday which he'll no doubt enjoy given the success of the new venue.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Shock Podcast:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheShockPodcast

 

[Shock]

Optimo's Sleepwalk Mix

01. Chris Watson - No Man's Land (Extract)
02. Nurse With Wound - Funeral Music For Perez Prado
03. Coil - A Cold Cell In Bangkok (exclusive mix by Peter Christopherson)
04. Tuxedomoon - In A Manner Of Speaking
05. Eden Ahbez - La Mer
06. Raymond Scott - Sleepy Time
07. Cluster - Sowiesoso
08. Eno, Moebius and Roedelius - Broken Head
09. Arthur Russell - This Is How We Walk On The Moon
10. Damon - Don't You Feel Me?
11. Karen Dalton - Something On Your Mind
12. Duke Ellington - Moonbow
13. Future Pilot AKA - Terry Bina
14. Mulatu Astatke - Yègellé Tezeta
15. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Nashville Blues
16. Lee Hazlewood - Shakin' All Over
17. Wall Of Voodoo - Ring Of Fire
18. Chris And Cosey - Sweet Surprise
19. The Lady Vanishes - Sleepwalk

Optimo's Sleepwalk mix will not get you on the dance floor. But don't get upset; get comfortable. Unlike the brilliant Walkabout or Psych Out, Sleepwalk is couch music. And with this collection of absurdly disparate songs that are united only by an unclassifiable yet noticeable mood, the DJs who made Glasgow famous have once again rewritten the rules of the mix.

Optimo's DJs Twitch and Wilkes have been putting on Glasgow's go-to party for ten years. Together, the two probably possess more vinyl than many small countries. Their indefatigable crate digging is evident in this pastiche of bluegrass, country, krautrock, Cluster & Eno, Russell and the haziest Hazelwood.

The first half of Sleepwalk is somnolent, solitary and oceanic. The initial noise is waves lapping against the shore, and lyrical references to loneliness and eternity play around a languid beats: "I was swallowed by the sea, and washed ashore," sings Eden Ahbez on "La Mer."

But the mellow bliss doesn't last for long. The mix quickly takes on a bumbling "slide and tumble slide and stumble" tour through Cluster & Eno, and a spiritual Arthur Russell singing, "Every step is moving me up." For serious Russell fans, it must feel great to hear "This Is How We Walk on the Moon," a song sampled on Diplo and Santogold's Top Ranking, back in its original form.

In the end, Sleepwalk is about of the change of seasons, an ushering in of the introspective, solitary winter. But it could have a grander scheme behind it. If Optimo is a lodestar in the world of dance music -- a genre in a state of flux -- perhaps Sleepwalk is a message to those who are weary of the same old mixes of jumbled, predictable beats. "Give me the words that tell me nothing," sings Tuxedomoon. The laconic message is a ploy. Optimo gives us the songs that tell us everything

http://www.prefixmag.com/reviews/optimo/sleepwalk/23321/

 

[Skrankio-X]

Nice