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Ott - "Fairchildren"
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vector_0
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
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1189
Posted : Sep 17, 2015 03:07:26
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https://ottsonic.bandcamp.com/album/fairchildren
funny we had something like a 20+ page thread for his last album, and even comments from the man himself, but no mention at all of this latest one.
I'm sad to say, though, that I guess I've fallen off the Ott bandwagon. I love the guy, and his charming british wit, and Blumenkraft is one of my top 10 favorite albums of all time, all genres, but I dunno...this new one just didn't do anything special for me. I got the feeling that he's got a new audience that this music speaks to and perhaps I just don't "get it"...the US festy scene and whatnot.
if i'm being completely honest tho, it kinda sounds like he just shat out some dub beats and laid some indian vocals over it. throw in a few glitches, wobbles, and wub-wubs for the kids and there's an album. the quality of the actual sound production is top notch, of course, and it is obvious that he put lots of hard work into that side of things... but, creatively, i just didn't feel much heart or soul or imagination.
the obvious consideration is that I myself have changed and his formula just doesn't do it for me anymore?... buuuuutttt, i think its equally as likely that having a large audience that has certain expectations of the artist can influence how that artist creates their tunes. maybe i'm a hipster ("I liked him before he was famous"), maybe i'm a hater (i am, as Androcell told me, a "wannabe"), or maybe this album is just 8 tracks for cash and fodder for more touring. likely it is a combo of all 3.
oh well, truly glad he's seen such great success, and that other (younger) people are getting lots of enjoyment out of his music and shows. I feel good that we supported him in his early years which maybe helped a little to get him to where he is now.
anyway, yeah, i might be talking to thin air here, and I'm sure Ott is never coming back to isratrance (tho on the off chance you are reading this, Ott, can you please get Blumenkraft on vinyl for us old timers?), but i just wanted to see what everyone (anyone?) else here thought of it.
  http://soundcloud.com/rob-vector |
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Yidam
Moderator
Started Topics :
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3171
Posted : Sep 17, 2015 23:47
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Blumenkraft on vinyl would be very very welcome! I enjoyed the new album, the first 3 tracks were very reminiscent of his early vibe and have gone back to listen to them over again. 16mm Summer Day has become a favourite already.
The remainder seems to be aimed for gigs like you said Rob, a mashup of all things Ott. Did not do much but will probably throw them down in sets.
I was expecting something new this time too and was a bit disappointed that way but you cannot blame artists in the psychill scene for not deviating from their signature sound, the scene is niche and the audience expects it to be so. When you look at how well this album has done sales wise it goes to show that. Probably the best selling Bandcamp release by any psychill artist to date!
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McKennaDMT
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
12
Posts :
457
Posted : Sep 20, 2015 16:41
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I think you've hit on the conundrum of being a fan. At one point you want more of the magic of Blumenkraft or Skylon, but when it's delivered it's more of the same.
I for one didn't enjoy this one that much either. Some of it is okay, most of it is cookie-cutter Ott. I remember when Blumenkraft came out and I was floored by it. Nothing really like it. Unfortunately, now there's 4 albums that sound like it. |
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Ott^
OTT
Started Topics :
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488
Posted : Oct 6, 2015 06:42
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Heh - stumbled upon this by accident and felt compelled to respond.
I won't go into too much detail because that would be boring, but to answer a few points:
@McKennaDMT - Musician in "Sounds Like Himself" shock!
Of course my albums sound similar - they were all made by the same person on the same equipment.
You can't seriously be sitting on a psy-trance forum complaining that MY records sound alike, can you?
@Yidam and vector-0:
99% of the feedback I have received has been very enthusiastic, but of the few negative responses I've read, 50% is complaining that it sounds like more of the same old shit and the other 50% is complaining that I've deviated too far from the same old shit. I even had a guy on Soundcloud ordering me [I shit you not] to go back to making 'psychedelic reggae' as a duty to my fans.
Fuck all that.
'Fairchildren' is a continuation of 'Baby Robot' is a continuation of 'Mir' is a continuation of 'Skylon' is a continuation of 'Blumenkraft' is a continuation of every single aborted, unreleased experiment I did on cassette and 8-track and 16-track since I first started making music in 1983. It's all just one long continuous process.
I don't sit in my room and think "Hmm - what's going to top the Bandcamp charts?" or "What's going to get me gigs in Austin, Texas?" - I just do what I do, because I like it. I genuinely don't give a shit what other people make of it because I don't do it for them, I do it for me.
I don't give a fuck about 'Psybient' or 'Psydub' or 'Psychill' or any of the other dismal, pointless labels which people feel they need to apply to music, and I especially don't care if people get cross because they think I've abandoned a 'genre' I never wanted to be part of in the first place.
I do this music because it's the only thing I know. If I ever find myself trying to conform to other people's expectations and lazy labels, I'll give it up and do something else.
If people like what I do and get pleasure from it I'm very happy, and I greatly appreciate all the encouragement I get from the hundreds of posts and emails I get each week from people who tell me my music made their lives a bit better.
Conversely, if people don't like it I'm ok with that too - there is SOOO much music in the world that there is something for everyone. I don't like every single record by my favourite bands. People's tastes move on, they develop, they become influenced by other things.
But to say stuff like:
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| "...this album is just 8 tracks for cash and fodder for more touring" |
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And:
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| "...he just shat out some dub beats and laid some indian vocals over it. throw in a few glitches, wobbles, and wub-wubs for the kids..." |
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...when I just spent the best part of two years working every hour I have, neglecting my family and my health, pouring my heart and soul into a piece of art of which I am immensely proud - is just ignorant and lazy and you can go fuck yourself.
Blumenkraft on vinyl? Now that really would be cynically rehashing old glories to make a bit of filthy cash, wouldn't you think?
Unless you're just trolling, in which case, hah, you got me.
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DjSchofield
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
21
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1050
Posted : Oct 8, 2015 23:50
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Well said Ott. Bringing back to what matters, which at the end of the day is you and your music.
I have enjoyed your new album. It was released when I was holidaying in Thailand with friends and family and it made a great soundtrack to parts of our trip - perfect weather for dub!
I like the uptempo and downtempo bits alike. Some great tunes on there.
Really, you shouldn't have to defend yourself like you have above. It's fine for people not to like some stuff as much as other stuff, but to extrapolate potential motives out of thin air is a bit much - as you say.
Keep up the good work. And spend more time with your family now it's out there.
Hopefully we'll see you back at Rainbow Serpent Festival some time soon. 
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http://www.facebook.com/schofield74
http://soundcloud.com/voonbag
"We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are." - Anais Nin |
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McKennaDMT
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
12
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457
Posted : Oct 18, 2015 02:52
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Quote:
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On 2015-10-08 23:50, DjSchofield wrote:
Well said Ott. Bringing back to what matters, which at the end of the day is you and your music.
I have enjoyed your new album. It was released when I was holidaying in Thailand with friends and family and it made a great soundtrack to parts of our trip - perfect weather for dub!
I like the uptempo and downtempo bits alike. Some great tunes on there.
Really, you shouldn't have to defend yourself like you have above. It's fine for people not to like some stuff as much as other stuff, but to extrapolate potential motives out of thin air is a bit much - as you say.
Keep up the good work. And spend more time with your family now it's out there.
Hopefully we'll see you back at Rainbow Serpent Festival some time soon.
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This is about as bullshit of a post as I could possibly imagine. It is perfectly fine to say you don't like an album, which is what, it turns out, I said and Ott said. I made no comment about his creating an album just to tour, I said it simply lacked that "magic" that Blumenkraft had. That's not even necessarily a comment about Ott as a musician, but myself ageing.
All I said was that it felt a lot like his previous albums, aka cookie-cutter, which I realize is pretty negative. I didn't mean it to be. I should have said that, for me, this album just didn't hit the spot like his previous works.
As for Ott, sure man, this is a continuation of all of your work since you first start pinching and twiddling nobs like so many teenage nipples. That's fine. I respect you as a musician and my name appears in your Book of Awesome, which just showed up at my house along with the CD. I've supported your work since 2003, so I feel aptly qualified, as a fan of 12 years to say I prefer your first two albums. That's it. |
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vector_0
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
113
Posts :
1189
Posted : Oct 20, 2015 19:30
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yeah, dude, most of my post was also about myself getting old. Sorry you think my comments were lazy and ignorant; i will proceed to fuck myself as per usual.
more importantly, I'd like to say that releasing blumenkraft on vinyl would indeed be rehashing old glory, but not cynically, and i'd gladly give you my filthy cash in order to have one of my favorite albums in the form of a physical waveform.
also, in regards to: Quote:
| neglecting my family and my health |
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....cut that shit out!
http://soundcloud.com/rob-vector |
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DjSchofield
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
21
Posts :
1050
Posted : Oct 21, 2015 22:14
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In fairness to me:
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....or maybe this album is just 8 tracks for cash and fodder for more touring. likely it is a combo of all 3.... |
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But yes, maybe i took it out of context and shot from the hip.
____________________________________
http://www.facebook.com/schofield74
http://soundcloud.com/voonbag
"We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are." - Anais Nin |
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Gunter
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
55
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1465
Posted : Oct 24, 2015 13:53
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Well ... |
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elektric sheep
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
26
Posts :
315
Posted : Oct 30, 2015 09:27
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nice to get some insights from mr ott himself. my take on this. probably the (non) issue is that many of us knew ott from the early days of the scene. years later the world has caught up and artists like ott and shpongle are now major acts in the USA pulling large audiences. and thats a good thing. ott's music has become more 'poppy' and a distillation of all the experience and knowledge from a 'career' of forging his own path. the album was crowdfunded which is in itself a shift in how things are done, and i think he delivered big. who knows, maybe this fortune will buy ott some studio time to delve deeper and surprise us! |
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spatialize
Started Topics :
3
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59
Posted : Nov 3, 2015 15:15
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wow. there's some sonic delights on this album. Just heard it now.
a very varied album for sure. ultra high quality.
Amazingly bookmarked by the first and last track, I enjoyed the variety of the tracks. His jaunty humour and trademark production sound shine out of a couple of styles you wouldn't have necessarly associated with Ott (the almost discoeque funk and electronica in the middle of the album). I like to hear development in an artist so we can go on their ride with them and remain interested. There's also a few very blumenkraftesque tracks on here too cracking the album off.
I listened to "Ship is not a child" immediately through again when I heard it. The last section is an absolutely wonderful melange of the old and newer ott and I think gradually builds into one of his eepest bits of music.
For those who are complaining at all I would respectfully suggest that maybe they have listened to too much of Ott's music and are developing insanely high expectations.
If I have listened to an artist too much I deliberately give them a break (ozrics, gong, david sylvian, ott, shpongle) so that when i return to it I can appreciate it better. |
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shahar
IsraTrance Team
Started Topics :
155
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2035
Posted : Nov 21, 2015 15:46
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Can't believe I actually remembered my password... I haven't logged into here for years. I just pay for the server
I got here from a post on facebook of a post on some other forum (weird stuff....)
As for the subject in hand...
When I was in The US when I was 18 I met for the first time face to face musicians whose music I've loved and known intimately. I then learned that though the person and the music are very much connected, your image of the person and all that has to do with him as it is created by his music and his musical persona is not necessarily very much connected to the person himself. And that is because you yourself and sometimes a lot of other people are involved.
When I started writing about music and musicians, and that really happened seriously when I got involved with trance music, I got to know for the first time a lot of musicians intimately, while also knowing their music. And then I saw very clearly how easily people presume they know about someone A LOT when they actually only know his music and some things they heard about him from others.
Then I stopped presuming things about musicians, and slowly tried more and more not to presume things about people at all, and not to judge them as well. I owe so much to trance and this forum, I really do.
So the guys who wrote that stuff up there (not very up, 10 years ago this would have been 20 pages long in 2 days), I recommend you do the same. That doesn't mean that Ott's album is not shit, just that you shouldn't presume it is shit because he 'sold out', wants to make money by playing in Texas, or was spending too much time with sheep when he was recording outdoors.
As for the album itself. I like it. It did not hit me as hard as Hallucinogen in Dub did, and it didn’t mix my soul the way Blumenkraft did. It would have been weird if it had. I am not the same, Ott is not the same, the music is not the same, the world is not the same, hell, even the forum is not the same. I connected to it much more than to Mir and it has been a good companion to me when I face the computer and that happens a lot. I also play it in my sets more than I played Mir and find greater depths in it. I also think Hardwell Dektron & Unit Delta Plus & Hello My Name is are a mighty strong 4+5+6 punch combination. And the last of them I almost always play at least one more time when I listen to it and it makes me more optimistic about the world. Only little of that has to do with Ott. Most of it has to do with me. It would not cause me to presume anything about him.
For some reason I keep finding myself in Ott gigs. It has been happening for many years. I never pay for them too. I either play there as well or know the organizers (there are 1 or 2 benefits for spending so much of my time and money on this place). I like observing as much as I like experiencing and hence I feel I have a pretty good idea why people like Ott's music so much and why he gets to gig in Texas even, it's because he always makes the people happy. He just has this thing in his music and it is even amplified when he is on stage playing it. He makes people happy. Good for him. And the people.
Now I will surface back to the shallow world that is today’s social media and keep missing the opportunity of having the chance to actually have a discussion about music online. And sometimes even with the artist himself. The world does change. And it’s fine.
Nice to see some of you are still around here. It means I’m not paying for the server just to keep a dead archive for future generations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi7vEx_iGog
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"Be the change you want to see in the world!"
M.K. Gandhi
"There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self."
Aldous Huxley
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keyg
Started Topics :
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Posted : Jul 26, 2016 18:51
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In my opinion most mature Otts album , please dont be closed minds , It is worse for you be closed to evolution .anyone with a minimum of knowledge about production and music, in the broadest of senses.You will quickly realize when you hear the Otts album the step forward that has occurred in the level of production and composition, which is really hard when he had such a high level in their previous albums.I love all Otts albums but i dont want other Mir or other Skylon surely it would have been much easier to make another record like that but it seems incredibly honest have gone a step higher at all levels, thanks Ott not stop surprising us and for creating such a beautiful and so well-produced music you will always be an inspiration |
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Yidam
Moderator
Started Topics :
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Posted : Jan 12, 2017 21:52
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@ Ott
I don't think any of us were trolling you when we asked for Blumenkraft on vinyl. If you feel it's dirty cash then just put it back into printing the rest of your work on wax all the away up to Fairchildren , you might be surprised how good a response you get.
Thanks for replying to the comments.
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Yidam
Moderator
Started Topics :
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Posted : Jan 26, 2017 10:20
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