DJ Support: Sean Johnston, Jaye Ward, Max Essa and Francois K

Limited to 300 copies

Having been long-time admirers of one another from afar, Hell Yeah and Michele Mininni finally come together for Pop Archetypes. It is a multifaceted debut album that collides broken beats, worldly rhythms, jazz, eastern melodies, live drums and much more into one thrilling 15-track opus that arrives on May 31st.

Italian artist Mininni has always had a leftfield take on electronic music and imbued it with rhythms, melodies and instruments from around the globe. He has released it on cult labels like R&S, Optimo Trax, Internasjonal and Curle Recordings but has saved his magnificent debut album for Hell Yeah. It is much more than a collection of sounds he has already explored and instead finds him heading off into all new territory without losing his signature sense of inventive and beguiling rhythm and melody. It is a multicultural journey that takes in heterogeneous styles and diverse influences but distills them all into one cohesive album with its own unique storyline.

Says Mininni of the record, 'I wanted each track to be like pieces of a unique, multifaceted picture, like walking through train cars or progressing through the levels of a video game, all filtered through my own vision and concentrated into 36 minutes. I wanted a pop album rooted in the extraordinary richness of popular music and projected into the future, a continuum where pieces communicate with each other and are received by the ears in symbiotic balance.'

Despite that concept, the album is a spontaneous listen full of surprises, left turns and original ideas that all hold together in thrilling fashion. It kicks off with the tumbling jazz drums and swirling synths of 'Spinning Around Cotton Candy', takes in mellifluous melodic layers and broken beats on 'Golden Room' and 'Slipped Air' casts you adrift amongst gorgeous piano keys and refracted vocals on the suspensory 'Vertigo'. There are jungle interludes with Eastern string melodies like 'Bangkok Tempo', lavish fusions of organic and synthetic sounds on 'Kundalini' and more charming Far Eastern rhythms on 'Muting Cat'. 'Congoflash' brings electrifying cosmic rays to busy hand drum patterns, 'The Magic Of Synesthesia' combines dark amen breaks and bright and uplifting flutes while 'Carousel Of Tears' douses you in watery melodies and celestial pads that awaken the soul.

Pop Archetypes is an adventurous work packed with meticulous and infinite details but all with an overarching narrative that makes it far more than the sum of its parts.

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Following a killer debut on Optimo Trax Michele Mininni debuts on R&S with the heavy hitting psych detonation of ‘Rave Oscillations’ Hailing from Southern Italy, Mininni's influences run to kraut, post rock, new wave and electronic amongst others, a long time DJ he manages to condense his influences into beguiling productions that come as a welcome breath of originality. Taking a heavy dose of inspiration from seminal kraut groovers Silver Apples, ‘Rave Oscillations’ builds from the hypnotic motorik groove and off kilter bass into a pulsing peak time anthem. On the flip, ‘Vortex Stasi’ takes things into a more psychedelic direction - dubbed out piano, jittery rhythms and spiralling swathes of guitar blossom into a truly tripped out, squalling, breakneck concoction. Mininni's kaleidoscopic musical vision is a truly unique proposition, a myriad of different styles and genres deformed under his oblique lens to create sun-drenched space music

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Optimo Trax reaches no. 33, the final number in the series (although reserving the right to return at some point). The last release is a 3 track EP from Montreal’s Solitary Dancer that ends the label’s run with a distinctly non 4/4 feel. We asked Solitary Dancer to say a few words about this EP to which they responded with - "Recordings inspired by archetypes existing within a hypothetical matriarchal society and how that may pertain to our present day reality.”

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The penultimate release on Optimo Trax (at least for now) comes from Tel Aviv’s mighty Kalbata. I was already a big fan and was so delighted when he got in touch to see if I would be interested in releasing something by him. Unusually for Optimo Trax this is one track in 3 versions but each version is so different that often I play them all in one DJ set. Originally there were two versions but as Kalbata is a renowned master of dub (check out the documentary online about him recording in Jamaica), I gently persuaded him to do a no-holds-barred dub mix too which appears here as Enkuan pt 3. A few words about the record from Kalbata – I went to Ethiopia in the beginning of 2017 to record musicians. The most memorable one was Mulugeta Teshome who plays the Washint flute on this record. It’s a traditional Ethiopian flute made out of wood, and Mulugeta came to the studio carrying a whole bag of them, each one in a different key. We chose the scale and started the recording session. I ended up taking the tracks a lot further with the three cuts on the record but really it all started that day, in a small studio shack in Addis Ababa.

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Optimo Trax presents a 4-track EP from Germany’s Mathias Schober, head honcho of Berlin’s Lossless label. As always we prefer to let our artists do the talking. Here’s what Mathias has to say about this release - The idea behind all tracks on the EP was a simple setup of drums and one synth that would do a main sequence/sound, yet there’s a lot of detail in all of them. ‘In A Certain Way’ features a 808ish beat with a main sequence coming from a tiny monophon synth called Atmegatron - 8Bit love, it turned out being much more music than I thought it would be when I set everything up. ‘But What Rules Are Made For’ is the same setup but the sequence is a 101 and so are all the washed out fx synths. On ‘Is To Break Them’ I went a different route, I had the dub, delayed stabs synth first as I was messin’ with my Moog and a Space Echo - which btw is used on every single track I release, if you haven’t noticed yet. So I was trying to build something around those stabs in order to fit the track to the others and so I ended up with another sequence coming from my Moog. As there was still space on the record, I decided to add an ambient version of ‘Is To Break Them’, I love the ambience on this track. I hope that my love for dub sounds is obvious enough on these tracks. Happy I found such an excellent home for the EP!

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Newcastle-born, Mexico-based Man Power debuts on Optimo Trax with two psychasonic missives cut extra loud for optimum sound system performance. We asked Man Power for some words about this release and he told us - "Both tracks sound different, but they're both from the same place in as much as they represent a conscious effort by me to strip back some of unnecessary niceties in my music and really sharpen my focus on what makes people dance without crossing the fine line of what makes me sound like me.

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This is the second 12” of a 2-part series of 12”s that will be released digitally as a full-length LP. After a split single with Muslimgauze and a single of their own on Optimo Trax, we are delighted to present the first Optimo Trax album release by Italy’s Underspreche. The album is split across two four- track EPs, released two weeks apart (and also as a complete digital album). We try to avoid over-hyping our releases, but this one is really fully deserving of the hyperbole I am about to bestow on it. Underspreche first sent me some music a few years ago and seeing them grow and develop has been nothing short of astonishing. I think this is some of the most nuanced and advanced music that Optimo Trax has ever released. There are several dancefloor destroyers here but also music for more developed/leading-edge floors too, as well as some music simply designed to make one’s mind melt. It is very rare that I listen to 4/4 music at home, but this album has been a constant on my hi-fi since it was sent to me. Super-advanced, organic sampling, inspired vocalisations, acute psychedelic modular sequences, forward- thinking drum programming, this is exactly what I hoped Optimo Trax would be about when I started the label.

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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
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This is the first 12” of a 2-part series of 12”s that will be released digitally as a full-length LP. After a split single with Muslimgauze and a single of their own on Optimo Trax, we are delighted to present the first Optimo Trax album release by Italy’s Underspreche. The album is split across two four- track EPs, released two weeks apart (and also as a complete digital album). We try to avoid over-hyping our releases, but this one is really fully deserving of the hyperbole I am about to bestow on it. Underspreche first sent me some music a few years ago and seeing them grow and develop has been nothing short of astonishing. I think this is some of the most nuanced and advanced music that Optimo Trax has ever released. There are several dancefloor destroyers here but also music for more developed/leading-edge floors too, as well as some music simply designed to make one’s mind melt. It is very rare that I listen to 4/4 music at home, but this album has been a constant on my hi-fi since it was sent to me. Super-advanced, organic sampling, inspired vocalisations, acute psychedelic modular sequences, forward- thinking drum programming, this is exactly what I hoped Optimo Trax would be about when I started the label.

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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
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Boot & Tax are back. After two 12”s for Optimo Trax and an album on Optimo Music they return to Optimo Trax with their first new music of the year, just before it ends. Four tracks of spangled, idiosyncratic, woozily spacious and slightly off kilter music that could only have been made by these two Milanese maestros. As ever on Optimo Trax a quadruple A side where all tracks share equal billing.

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After the success of their debut split EP with Muslimgauze which sold out in record time, the southern Italian male/female duo Underspreche return to Optimo Trax for their first EP in their own right. Three tracks of deliciously psychedelic advanced techno grooves filled with subtle syncopations and head melting sound design. First release in the new Optimo Trax colour scheme.

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Powerdance is a collective formed by Luke Solomon and Nick Maurer formed as a reaction to bland soul less dance music that seems to infiltrating nightclubs the world over.
Luke and Nicks comradely stems back many many years to their association with the Classic Music Company - a label formed by Derrick Carter and Luke. Nick Maurer was one half of the then prolific Greens Keepers. This EP for Optimo Trax features the wigged epically funkoid gem "Mysterious Space Plane"; who doesn't like songs about space? On the other side is the modern hyper jacking "More Fire". Alongside these are a reprise of "Mysterious Space Plane" and a bonus beats of "More Fire" for those djs who like to / are able to get creative with their mixing.

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Celebrating our 20th release, Glasgow's Dave Clark returns to Optimo Trax as Sparky. He was responsible for the third release on the label as LUMA which featured the club smash "John Broadwood" and recently had another big club hit with "Signals" on Numbers. We are delighted to welcome him back in what is a contunuation of a relationship that stretches back further than we care to remember. All four tracks here are certified dancefloor winners; from the reach for the lasers, kickless "Things Fall Apart" through the synth rhapsodies of "Black Swan" and "My Prophet", climaxing in the jacking "Seven Daggers". All killer, no filler is often a trite cliche in these blurbs but is entirely true in the case of this EP.

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There's a bit of a story to Side A. In 1996, JD Twitch released a 12" by Manchester's Bryn Jones aka Muslimgauze on his then label Pi Recordings. He also, along with a friend, arranged Muslimgauze's first and only Scottish live performance (attended by 6 people). Around that time, Jones, sadly no longer with us and one of the most prolific musicians ever to exist sent Twitch multiple CD-Rs of unreleased material, including the track featured here. He said he had made this track in 1985, and there is no reason to doubt his word although also no way to prove this is true, but we are going to accept his word for it which means that it could be said Jones pre-empted UK Hardcore around 5 years before anyone else. This is made all the more remarkable by the fact that he never used samplers but rather worked extensively with tape loops. The track has been very slightly edited by Twitch to make it a little more club playable. Twitch called in German breakbeat expert and all round tip top producer Victor Shan to remix it and Gerd Janson then asked to join the party too. They turn in a modern twist on UK Hardcore / Rave (via Deutschland) with hoovers set to stun. They also did a more late night hoover free mix which is only available digitally. On the AA side, we are delighted to welcome the debut release from yet more mysterious Italians; the male/female duo that is Underspreche. "Flowers From The Lake" is based around a sample taken (with permission) from field recordings of the Mukunguni tribe in Kenya and released by Honest Jon's Records. It weaves it into a deeply psychedelic techno track with an extended mind warping outro. Underspreche also give us "Naked" an exquisite hypno techno track that while clinical and precise manages to exude a feeling of warmth so often missing in modern techno.

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Optimo Trax 16 is a various artists EP featuring tracks from Glasgow, London, New York & Edinburgh. First up is Glasgow dj, Beta with his debut release "Endless Plains" a broken percussive, spine tingler. 100% emo. Next London's L/F/D/M who had the first release on Optimo Trax returns under the modified moniker Love's Flaccid Disco Muscle with something a little different. "3am at the Aqua Disco" is bass heaviness with an almost exotica-style lead line. Unique and glorious. Side two kicks off with New York's Alex Burkat (now relocated to Philadelphia) with an 8-minute depth-charge, "Culture Full Circle" that features a mutated sample form a legendary reggae track. One to get lost in. The EP closes out with Modini (aka Neil Landstrumm and Alan Parley) with "Ghost Seducer": bass, dub and bleeps 21st century style. 4 different artists, 4 A-sides!

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Wick Blaze is a producer from a small island in the Baltic Sea. He started producing in early 2013 and has ever since grown his devotion for different shapes of house music. Looking for a deeper touch in music he tends to keep the beats raw yet diverse to achieve a sound worth giving a second listen. Being inspired by the flourishing house scene, Wick Blaze is working on ideas that challenge him to find fresh sounds and push the limits of his creation. Evoking the right mood is all what his music is about. Deep, wayward and utterly groove-notic. Starting off 2015 the right way

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Mia Dora and Optimo Trax thus give you four tracks of dancefloor delight, from Glasgow, with love. To celebrate our first year of releases, for this release, the usual Optimo Trax trademark red and black sleeve will be modified to be a blue and white one, representing the Scottish flag. As internationalists, we are generally opposed to flags but 2014 is a momentous year in our country's history and also, in our opinion the best year ever for music being produced here, so we felt like celebrating these things.

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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
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Optimo Trax is an offshoot label of Optimo Music for tracks aimed at DJs/dancefloors. Yes, we know there are too many record labels already, but we felt an overriding desire to start another one as so much music that didn't seem quite right for Optimo Music (i.e. music that was specifically designed for dancing) kept coming our way. Like the parent label, Optimo Trax will release music by new artists and excavate forgotten classics. Long time friends and allies of JD Twitch, Milan's Barking Dogs run the fantastic Serendeepity record shop in the basement of which lies their analogue sonic laboratory where they create live mutant funk masterpieces. Funk is an often mis-applied term but these tracks ooze it from every pore and you can literally hear the Dogs wrestling it out of their machines. Eccentric for sure but certified dancefloor winners for those bored to death with generic, lifeless, clinical dancefloor fodder.

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