''Optometry'' is an album by the American musician

DJ Spooky Paul Dennis Miller (born September 6, 1970), known professionally as DJ Spooky, That Subliminal Kid, is an American Electronic music, electronic and experimental hip hop musician whose work is often called by critics "illbient" or "trip hop". ...

, released in 2002. It was part of Thirsty Ear Recordings' Blue Series of albums. DJ Spooky considered it an example of ''

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''. He supported the album with a North American tour. A remix album, ''Dubtrometry'', was released in 2003.

Production

The tracks began as free form improvisations played by musicians recruited by DJ Spooky, who then altered, edited, and applied samples to the songs; he also played bass and

kalimba Mbira ( ; ) are a family of musical instruments, traditional to the Shona people of Zimbabwe. They consist of a wooden board (often fitted with a resonator) with attached staggered metal tines, played by holding the instrument in the hands and ...

Matthew Shipp Matthew Shipp (born December 7, 1960) is an American avant-garde jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader. Early life and education Shipp was raised in Wilmington, Delaware. His mother was a friend of trumpeter Clifford Brown. He began playing ...

played piano on the album; Pauline Oliveros contributed on accordion. William Parker played bass and Guillermo E. Brown served as the project's drummer. Joe McPhee contributed on trumpet and saxophone. "Asphalt (Tome II)" contains a spoken word contribution from Carl Hancock Rux.

Critical reception

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'' wrote: "Rather than just make an album that merges a few different techniques or genres, Spooky has made a point of calling attention to it... Ultimately, Spooky casts himself as ringleader to a revolution that fails to happen—after the initial bustle of a few extremely strong tracks, ''Optometry'' wanders blindly for far too long." '' The Gazette'' noted that the album melds "music and social theory with collage-like cross-referencing." The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' concluded that "DJ culture does have its Zappa, its Stockhausen, its Cage, an artist defying fashion and changing the possibilities of music forever... Without vinyl pyrotechnics, Spooky reveals how free jazz is also the highest expression of outlaw classical composition." ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

'' determined that, "there may be programmed beats, samples, synthesizers, and even a bit of rapping on this disc, but it's free jazz at heart, it grooves throughout—and it just may be the ''Bitches Brew'' of its era." ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' said that "''Optometry'' hangs around menacingly towards the 'free' end of the jazz spectrum, the intellectual end of the hip-hop one, but that doesn't mean it's an ugly bastard." ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' deemed ''Optometry'' "a fusion exercise that's at turns pensive and frenetic but always richly textured."

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

wrote that "''Optometry'' is fully a DJ outing and fully a jazz record."

Track listing

References

{{authority control DJ Spooky albums 2002 albums Thirsty Ear Recordings albums