Optometry

by DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid

Optometry cover art
  • Type: Album
  • Released: 9 July 2002
  • Label: Thirsty Ear
  • Country: United States
  • Length: 1:14:02

Album Notes & Community Reviews

An ambitious project curated by DJ Spooky, released as part of Thirsty Ear's Blue Series which aimed to fuse jazz with other genres. The album brings together a formidable lineup of avant-garde jazz musicians, including Matthew Shipp, William Parker, and Joe McPhee. Their improvisations are set against DJ Spooky's illbient beats and turntablism, creating a dense, futuristic, and eclectic Afrofuturist statement.

Genres

Descriptors: avant-garde, rhythmic, sampling, conscious, improvisation, atmospheric, instrumental

Tracklist

  1. Ibid, Desmarches, Ibid (5:40)
  2. Reative Switching Strategies For The Control of Uninhibited Air (6:14)
  3. Variation Cybernetique: Rhythmic Pataphysic- (Part I) (2:48)
  4. Asphalt (Tome II) (7:03)
  5. Optometry (11:36)
  6. Sequentia Absentia (Dialectical Triangulation I) (7:03)
  7. Rosemary (4:10)
  8. Dementia Absentia (Dialectical Triangulation II) (3:34)
  9. Parachtes (5:26)
  10. Absentia Absentia (Dialectical Triangulation III) (3:51)
  11. Variation Cybernetique: Rhythmic Pataphysic- (Part II) (2:13)
  12. Perphique (9:07)
  13. It's A Mad, Mad, Mad World (5:11)

Credits

  • DJ Spooky - primary artist, computer [laptop], kalimba, turntables, double bass [upright bass]
  • Matthew Shipp - art direction, piano
  • Cynthia Fetty - artwork, photography by
  • William Parker - bass
  • Guillermo E. Brown - drums
  • Chris Flam - engineer
  • Peter Gordon - executive-producer
  • Paul D. Miller - producer, artwork
  • Joe McPhee - tenor saxophone, trumpet
  • Daniel Bernard Roumain - violin [solo], soloist
  • Pauline Oliveros - featuring
  • Carl Hancock Rux - featuring, vocals
  • Billy Martin - beats
  • Daniel Carter - featuring
  • Napoleon Maddox - featuring
  • High Priest - featuring

More from DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid: full discography