Optometry
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Description
Like an angry thunderstorm dissipating into still winds and humid temperatures, Optometry opens like gangbusters with free jazz and DJ squabble, and then slowly spirals into more meditative moods. Manning laptop, kalimba, and turntable, New York DJ-theorist DJ Spooky stretches and shifts the free jazz ramblings of the Matthew Shipp quartet like a sea captain navigating a treacherous ocean. Spooky is as much an improviser as Shipp and crew, adding atmospheric samples, gentle melodies, and laptop mayhem at will. Beat poetry by Carl Hancock Rux adds hip-hop edge, and Spooky still opts for pretentious song titles ("Reactive Switching Strategies for the Control of Uninhabited Air"), but you definitely get the feeling that something fresh is happening here. Optometry sure ain't dance music, and it's too funky for free jazz purists, but it's just right for DJ Spooky's subliminal mind music. --Ken Micallef
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