go go optimo

if there is one thing that all the ssgs agree on, it is that optimo are criminally under-rated. the depth and breadth of their musical knowledge, and ability to manage to combine such an incredibly rich range of sounds in a set never ceases to impress.

here is a new mix from half of optimo - JD twitch - which is simply awesome. it is one of those mixes where you find yourself completely losing concentration and dancing like an idiot by yourself in your lounge room, bedroom or wherever the hell you are. listening to shit like this just makes me so happy.

here is how they described the mix:

"Shortly the Optimo website is going to have a total revamp and finally enter the 21st century. There will be lots of new features and content and one of the things we are going to introduce is a series of podcasts to take us into the second decade of the third millennium.

These will range from mixes recorded at the club to radio type shows, spoken word, mixes of music that tickles our fancy, or anything else we come up with that we'd like to share. ...

The [first] podcast is called "Synth Summer" and is a selection of (guess what?) synth based music from around the planet. It covers a broad range of styles and a broad time span - from 1980 to some tracks that haven't been released yet, and that may indeed never see the light of day. It is a dj mix but not a club mix. The flow is the way it is so as to be a listening experience rather than for the dancefloor, even though all the tracks are "dance" tracks. Wherever possible, as much of each track as possible has been included.

There is no tracklist as we think in this day and age with the abundance of mixes available on the internet that people often judge something based on the tracklisting rather than actually listening to it. If anyone really wants to know what a particular track is, we will be happy to tell them.

The mix was recorded using two turntables and a laptop. Wherever possible the original vinyl was used but some of the tracks don't exist on vinyl. Track one (which we would like to thank Mr. James Holden for providing us with after searching for it for many years) only exists on a cassette from the early 80s so please excuse the fidelity, although it actually sounds pretty fab considering. A tiny bit of post mix editing was done as one of the tracks skipped during the recording and the levels were a little askew in a couple of places. The mix contains 17 tracks, lasts just over an hour and the download is a 192kbps mp3 and is 84.5mb.

Enjoy. "

jd twitch (optimo) - synth summer mix

put it on and rock out. the end is especially awesome. actually, the whole thing is especially awesome.