Browse by Label: OPTIMO MUSIC (UK)

Artist:	DEN HAAN
Title:	Release The Beast
Label:	OPTIMO MUSIC (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$12.00
Catalog #:	OM 002EP

Den Haan are the dynamic Glasgow duo of spacial electronical disco grooves. Matt and Gardi seemed to have met in some Italian discothèque circa 1979 if their sound is anything to be believed. However, they are far from a retro pastiche. They ooze camp funk, glitter and glamour. This 3-track debut 12" features "Release The Beast," a bona-fide floor-filler in Glasgow, "Metamophosis" -- a Cowley-esque, camptastic anthem, and "Looking For Love" -- pure sequential space disco.

Artist:	BIG NED
Title:	Big Ned
Label:	OPTIMO MUSIC (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	OM 003CD

This is the debut album by D. James Clark and John Murray aka Big Ned, two twisted Glaswegians with a penchant for dark and twisted tales and tones. Imagine David Lynch getting stuck in a barrel of booze with a big, crooning cowboy. Tales of dark liaisons, women trouble and spiritual prowess are finely blended with an array of dark melodies, terror noises and warped guitars. This is an album with dysfunctional America coursing through its veins and oozing from every pore. This concoction of sleaze, fuzz and death is difficult to categorize. Other obvious influences include Angelo Badalamenti, Smog, Nick Cave, Elvis, Swans, Johnny Cash, Chris Isaacs' "Wicked Game," Karl Denver and The Gun Club. And most likely Satan. Thrown into this electric soup is Charles Bukowski, Repo Man, Gummo, Lost Highway, Clint Eastwood, Lux Interior, the Bible, Glasgow city barbers' window display, Casper The Friendly Ghost, and every impressive boxer who ever entered the ring. For Big Ned, this is the soundtrack to drag racing, zombies, drinking, shoplifting, dancing like a maniac, arm-wrestling, fucking, smoking and Lee Marvin putting the boot in. One hand raised in the air with a stiff middle finger, the other raised with a glass of whisky; saluting those with charm and machismo that make music a delight and who entertain. Expect mayhem, chaos and maybe even death.

Artist:	OLDER LOVER
Title:	Older Lover EP
Label:	OPTIMO MUSIC (UK)
Format:	10"
Price:	$12.00
Catalog #:	OM 006EP

Glasgow-based visual artist and musician (Mother And The Addicts, Big Ned) Douglas James Morland's solo guise as Older Lover is a smoky, noir-ish take on psychedelia with glam stylings and dub sonics. Both the cinema of the silent-screen villain and the pulsing, saturated analog signals of the immediately pre-digital, Cold War period are as much influences as any musical genre. A compelling exercise in dark and seductive rock n' roll with a nod to The Homosexuals and Swell Maps.

Artist:	SPACE SYSTEM
Title:	Sorrow Show EP
Label:	OPTIMO MUSIC (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$12.00
Catalog #:	OM 010EP

Space System hail from Jakarta, Indonesia. In 2009, they sent their debut album to JD Twitch who was instantly smitten by their unique sound and asked if he could release two of the tracks on vinyl. "Sorrow Show" is a wild synthetic ride with Moogs, lush strings and a live drum sound. "Petik" fuses traditional Indonesian gamelan sounds with a skippy house beat. An exotic masterpiece of Fourth World disco. Includes mixes by King Of Town and JD Twitch.

Artist:	GREEN DOOR KIDS, THE
Title:	Muzikal Yooth
Label:	OPTIMO MUSIC (UK)
Format:	LP
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	OM 011LP

The Green Door Studio opened its (confusingly black) doors to Glasgow's vibrant music community at the end of 2007. Set up by three Glasgow-based musicians Emily MacLaren (Michael Dracula/The Lady Vanishes), Sam Smith (Mother & The Addicts) and Jamie Greer (Park Attack), who, sick of using other people's clinical digital studios and being told by engineers "You can't do that," decided to create a musician-friendly space where "Actually you can." Having filled the studio with the creakiest and crankiest analog gear, the studio splits its time between recording commercial clients -- the first album recorded behind the (now-painted) green door was Alasdair Roberts' Spoils, released on Drag City and voted the 4th best album of 2009 by Wire magazine -- and free music production workshops and recording opportunities for young people and unsigned musicians sponsored by The Scottish Arts Council. The recordings on this album are the results of these workshops and are split between The Green Door Kids (aged 10-16) involved in the Youth Music Summer School and their slightly more grown-up counterparts (aged 18-25) enrolled on the Song-Crafters Production Course. The young musicians involved helped to engineer their own sessions and were all involved in the mixing and production. Ever wanted to hear a bunch of kids tearing into The Stooges' "I Wanna Be Your Dog" and the sublime garage classic "Louie Louie"? Ever wondered what it would sound like if you let an assortment of talented young musicians from some of Glasgow's finest new bands let loose in a studio to record whatever they liked? And how about two 10 year-old twins from Possil (via Ghana) covering the infectious minimal dance grooves of New York's finest, ESG? Your wait is over!

Artist:	NAUM GABO
Title:	Songs From A Great City
Label:	OPTIMO MUSIC (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$12.00
Catalog #:	OM 012EP

Naum Gabo presents two covers of two mighty Scottish acts from the late '70s/early '80s. Simple Minds' "Theme For Great Cities" was originally released in 1981 -- an electro-trance-funk classic, pre-dating the rave scene by about 10 years. Naum Gabo takes it, electrifies it, and turns it into a hi-fi dancefloor filler. "Wet Job" is Fingerprintz' dirty groover from '79, reworked into a dark disco/futuristic ride into doom. Not 1, not 2, but 3 Scottish music greats on one slinky slice of vinyl.

Artist:	CARTER, CHRIS
Title:	Moonlight
Label:	OPTIMO MUSIC (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$12.50
Catalog #:	OM 014EP

Originally released in 1985 for Chris Carter's Mondo Beat LP on Conspiracy International, "Moonlight" is getting a long-overdue single release of the original and reinterpretation from Neurotic Drum Band. A long-time fave of JD Twitch's, "Moonlight" was a hit in the late '80s with a much slowed-down bootlegged version on the Belgian new beat scene and amongst the Italian cosmic DJs. Neurotic Drum Band keep the original feel, slowing it down just a touch for an ultra-head-trip psychedelic spaceflight.

Artist:	ORGANS OF LOVE
Title:	Bone
Label:	OPTIMO MUSIC (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$12.00
Catalog #:	OM 015EP

Organs Of Love are the power-sleaze duo of James McKinven (organs, love) and Alicia Matthews (vocals, love). McKinven played synth in electro band Berlin Blondes and Altered Images. After that, he worked in Genetic Studios learning from producer Martin Rushent (Human League, The Stranglers, The Buzzcocks). He then went on to form One Dove and worked with Andy Weatherall. He and Alicia Matthews embrace a '70s theatrical, musical performance, where live music and art combine for something beyond the rock gig vibe.

Artist:	PSYCHE
Title:	All Things Pass Into The Night
Label:	OPTIMO MUSIC (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$12.00
Catalog #:	OM 016EP

Psyche is a Canadian dark-synth pop act centered around singer Darrin Huss who have continued to record and perform for nearly 30 years. Psyche's version of "Goodbye Horses," originally made famous by Q Lazzarus, has maintained their renown. Optimo offers a re-acquaintance with not only the exclusive re-workings of "Goodbye Horses" and "Prisoner To Desire," but also with two of Psyche's instrumental tracks, "Eating Violins" and "Contorting The Image." All four tracks are exclusive mixes to this release.

Artist:	CARTER, CHRIS
Title:	The Spaces Between
Label:	OPTIMO MUSIC (UK)
Format:	LP
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	OMCC 001LP

Originally recorded between 1974 and 1978 at Industrial Records studio in London, The Space Between was first released as a 90-minute cassette in 1980 on Throbbing Gristle's Industrial Records label. It wasn't until 1991 that it was again released by Mute Records on CD. For those who may not know, Chris Carter is one of the founding members of Throbbing Gristle, partners with Cosey Fanni Tutti (knows as Carter-Tutti and formerly recording as Chris & Cosey) who has been working with sound for over 40 years. Although tracks from The Space Between have appeared on numerous compilations since its release, the album has never been available on vinyl -- until now. This new vinyl edition on Optimo Music, now retitled The Spaces Between, doesn't include all the tracks on the original album but has been enhanced and remastered from the original two-track master tapes and has new cover artwork especially for this release. JD Twitch has this to say about the release: "The original release featured fifteen tracks. As I wanted to have a reasonably loud vinyl pressing, I have picked my favorites to appear here (not an easy task to narrow it down). In addition, there is a bonus track 'Climbing' which was recorded around the same time that was released by Coil's Geoff Ruston on his Men With Deadly Dreams cassette in 1981. One of the first-ever recordings to use an 808 drum machine, it still sounds as if it is from tomorrow. In my opinion, these are some of the key recordings in the history of electronic music. They were made using very basic equipment at a time when there was no blueprint for what electronic music could and should be. There is a beauty, an emotion and an imagination present here that is lacking in a lot of modern machine music. This music is as vital and wondrous today as it was four decades ago." All tracks have been remastered by Chris Carter in 2009 for this release. Musically, it's an electronic soundtrack for a sleazy sci-fi movie, with moments of uplifting beauty combined with bits of claustrophobic mania. Amazing stuff.

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Artist:	DIVORCE
Title:	Divorce
Label:	OPTIMO MUSIC (UK)
Format:	10"
Price:	$12.00
Catalog #:	OM 005EP

Artist:	FACTORY FLOOR
Title:	~ (Real Love)
Label:	OPTIMO MUSIC (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$12.00
Catalog #:	OM 013EP