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A
few years back, shortly after I got my first Optigan,
I immediately began thinking of how I could use it in
a band/live context. My first idea was to simply get someone
to sing and we'd do cheesy cover songs at the local bars.
The first taker was my friend Rob Crow, the singer/songwriter
for such bands as Heavy Vegetable, Thingy, Pinback, etc.
So we got together one night and started goofing around
with some ideas, and Rob got quickly bored with the whole
"cover song" concept. He thought it would be
much more interesting to write new songs with the Optigan,
and a few hours later (with the help of my four track)
we had completed the first four Optiganally Yours songs:
"You're In My Heart," "Mr. Wilson,"
"Dr. Smooth" and "Nighters." It seems
to me that we played our first live show soon after that
at a Christmas party at my house. It was a short set-
we only had four songs!!
Anyway whatever happened next is kinda fuzzy, but we wrote
and recorded some more songs and Rob slipped a copy of
our demo tape to Eric Goodis, head of Cargo
Records. Oddly enough, Eric actually liked the material
and signed us on for a single album deal. So after stepping
up my equipment arsenal to 16 tracks of ADAT and computer
editing software, we wrote/recorded the rest of the songs
and beefed up the vocals on the original four track recordings.
Because I was going for a very "stylized" lo-fi
effect, it took me a long time to mix the album, but Spotlight
On Optiganally Yours was finally finished in late 1996.
We got our friend Josh Mintz to do the artwork for us
(basically we stole a couple cool old record covers and
had Josh edit them in Photoshop) and the album came out
in March of 1997.
The reviews and other good press really surprised me!
We got our name on the cover of CMJ
and were in their top 5 of the month along with Foo Fighters.
We also got good reviews in NME and Melody Maker. In fact,
I don't remember the album getting any "bad"
reviews at all. We continued to play shows and later on
I did radio interviews with Irwin Chusid on WFMU
and Brave New Waves on CBC.
We also played a live set on KXLU
in LA and were featured on their annual "live on
KXLU" comp. Dave Sheridan directed a video for "Mr.
Wilson," which was shot at a porno studio in the
San Fernando Valley! (Though there's no actual porno in
the video itself... unless you want to count Rob running
around in a bikini as porno... but I certainly don't!)
More bigtime press followed, with an article about OY
in Mojo Magazine and a blurb about this web site in WIRED
Magazine. Anyway, the point is that OY got a lot more
attention than I ever thought it would.
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LATEST
RELEASE!
"Optiganally
Yours: De-Composed (The Remixes)" release
date: 03/15/01
Optiganally Yours: De-Composed is a CD EP of remixes
of some of your favorite OY tracks by a variety
of Japanese and American artists! Featured remixers
include: Lesser, Plus-Tech Squeeze
Box, Brian Kehew (of Moog Cookbook fame), Vagabond Cinema
Pops Arkestra, Lisa Bielawa
(of The Philip Glass Ensemble), Fab Cushion, and
Les Gibis. Though it was released only in Japan
on Vroomsound, copies are also available
in America thru Absolutely Kosher.
::click
here for more info::
...
and coming up:
"Better
Than the Beatles - A Tribute To The Shaggs"
release date: summer 2001
Press Release: Volume One in Animal World's
tribute series which aims to give more exposure
to groups from the 60s/70s/80s that we like and
wish more people liked. The Shaggs tops our list
in this category, making them the subject of our
first tribute CD. The line-up on this one is amazing,
with Shaggs cover songs performed by: Optiganally
Yours, Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, Alva, the
Double U, R. Stevie Moore, Ida, and the Furtips.
If you don't own any Shaggs records, then what are
you waiting for? Buy Philosophy of the World or
the complete Shaggs CD on Rounder as soon as humanly
possible!
::click here for more info::
OY
Remixes Eureka! release
date: TBA
An Optiganally Yours remix of the song "Cold Fever"
by Japanese electro-lounge group Eureka has just
been finished and will be released on the Cardium
label in Japan in the near future.
::click
here for more info::
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| Studio
Albums: |
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Optiganally
Yours presents: Exclusively Talentmaker!
- Absolutely Kosher/Vroom Sound, released April
2000
::click here for more info::
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Spotlight
On Optiganally Yours -
Headhunter, March 1997
Our
first full length!
::click
here for more info::
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| Compilations
and other OY related albums: |
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Kahimi
Karie SPIN! Remix CD
- 2001
features
Optiganally Yours remix of "Pygmalism"
::click here for more info::
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Reproductions:
Songs of the Human League
- March Records Compilation, 2000
features:
"Empire State Human"
::click here for more info::
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The
Powerpuff Girls: Heroes & Villains -
Rhino Compilation, 2000
features:
"Walk & Chew Gum"
::click here for more info::
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East
Timor Benefit Album -
Idols of the Marketplace compilation, 1999
features:
"midori2tree"
::click here for more info::
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Pop
In Clap - Vroom
Sound (Japan) compilation, October 1999
features:
"midori2tree"
::click here for more info::
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Peterbelly
Magazine Issue #2
- cover CD, 1999
features:
"Powerhouse
A" (written
by Raymond Scott)
::click here for more info::
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KXLU
Live: Vol. III -
KXLU compilation, 1998
features:
"Spanish
Flea" (live
version)
::click here for more info::
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Japanese
Rhumba
- Yakuza
Magazine compilation,
1998
features:
"Genetic
Engineering"
::click here for more info::
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Orchestral Interpretations In The Dark
- Bliss
& Fetish compilation,
1997
features: "Genetic
Engineering"
::click here for more info::
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Magic Bananas
- 91X
Loudspeaker compilation,
1997
features: "Spanish
Flea"
::click
here for more info::
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