Optometry

DJ Spooky | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 27, 2002)
• Original Release Date: 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Thirsty Ear
• ASIN: B000069B12
• Also Available in: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #226,028 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #56 in Music > Indie Music > Rap & Hip-Hop > East Coast
  • #57 in Music > Indie Music > Rap & Hip-Hop > Experimental
  • #69 in Music > Indie Music > Dance & DJ > IDM

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More great DJ Spooky:, October 9, 2002

By 

Kenneth Harden (Reno, NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Optometry (Audio CD)

This is my third DJ Spooky CD (File Under Futurism, Modern Mantra, and Optometry) and I like it a lot!

File Under Futurism was garbage except for a few songs. Modern Mantra is absolutely spectacular, and I have listened to it over 20 (yes, twenty) times in that last week! This CD fits between the two. Some of the songs are great, some are just OK. The first few tracks are kinda toned down acid jazz, but after those are over, the CD starts to pick up. Some of the songs are a little too slow, but it all works together in the end. Some rap, some techno, some real imagination on the behalf of Paul D. Miller (DJ Spooky.) I would not recommend this as a first DJ Spooky CD (that job goes to Modern Mantra in IMO), but if you like DJ Spooky, this is definitely a must have!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deserves a genre of its own (and another star), June 10, 2005

By 

GraceNoteX (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Optometry (Audio CD)

This is such a successful fusion of jazz, acid jazz, trip-hop, and illbient that the CD deserves a genre of its own.

The work here is such a thick soup of sound that it takes numerous repeats to savor all of the flavor. Yet, it all meshes into such a tight seamless whole that its hard to imagine that any element was ever intended to be part of anything but these finished pieces. DJ Spooky moves tracks effortlessly from free jazz piano figure intros into pulsing thick funky grooves, loose and atmospheric like his best trip-hop underneath, smoky, moody and grooving like a hot jazz club on top.

"Asphalt (Tome II)" with its beat poet throw-down, and "Optometry" with its late 70s jazz clavinet are raw, burning, funking masterpieces. Ordinarily, a track like "Asphalt" with its spoken word center piece wouldn't get many repeat listens from me, but the vocal performance is as brilliant and exciting as any of the playing or mixing supporting it. After weeks of repeat listens, I'm still not burned out on this.

As other reviewers have warned, DJ Spooky is really stretching himself on this one. It's hard to believe this is the same artist who produced "Songs of a Dead Dreamer" or "Riddim Warfare" or "The Quick and the Dead." But what a successful stretch! Paul D. Miller is one of the sharpest most creative minds in current music, and this is some of his best work. Too bad this CD will never get the attention it truly deserves.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful, engaging, contemporary music..., August 18, 2002

By 

Keith Bickerstaffe "keithbickerstaffe" (Clearwater, Fl) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Optometry (Audio CD)

This great CD makes you sit up and listen! I am a jazz fan of long standing, preferring Miles, Trane, Monk, Rollins, etc..but I like to keep my ears open for new interpretations. This is a fascinating blend of great drum licks, keyboard and reed improvs, combined with beautiful, spacy, delicate mood pieces. Even the rap tunes, and I have not been much of a rap fan (until now) are extraordinary! I can hear Miles saying "yeah, man!!" Go buy it!