Optimo

I’d been checking Boomkat every day and managed to miss their copies too!

here's the audio if anyone wants it - shhhh!

I knew there was a reason I just checked back in to ILM. I don't have a tape player but I feel the urge to get a hard copy just because of the bespoke case design!

Hollow Hills is the ultimate goth song in my book, I'd be interested to find out what the song immediately after that is.

I couldn't keep that display name for this thread...

the one immdeiately after is this (which will possibly take on a different significance if the listener grew up in Britain).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCa2johwTDM

<3 <3 <3

Much obliged. I'm still kicking myself that I didn't get to see you play when I was in Glasgow early last year. Definitely looking forward to more in this series though!

the one immdeiately after is this (which will possibly take on a different significance if the listener grew up in Britain).

Wikipedia:

Rosa Mundi was the name of a very short-lived electronic music supergroup which consisted of Rose McDowall, John Balanceand possibly Peter Christopherson.[citation needed] The group is credited for "The Snow Man" which appeared on the compilations The Final Solstice and The Final Solstice II and the split 7" vinyl Grief. It is also credited on the song "Christmas Is Now Drawing Near" from the Coil single Winter Solstice: North, later released on Moons Milk (In Four Phases). Since both songs, "The Snow Man" and "Christmas Is Now Drawing Near", were both originally released in 1999, it can be said that this is the only year the group functioned.

However, the song "Rosa Decidua" from the 1998 Coil EP Autumn Equinox: Amethyst Deceivers, while not credited to Rosa Mundi, has exactly the same line-up.[citation needed]

Alternatively, some critics have inferred that "Rosa Mundi" is simply an alternative name for Rose McDowall, and not the name of a group at all.

This is like that time I tried to read Lanark.

Great mixes, keeping me sane working from home. Love that track after Arabian Nights on the 2nd side.

ohhh man I was feeling smart (and also warm and fuzzy) for pegging a bunch of these and then this fuckin "Lovecats" version comes on and it's like the first time I ever listened to the cool radio station all over again, love it. not even sure if I wanna know anything about this, save it for the zine :)

I swear I know that female voice from somewhere though

haha and then that's literally followed by one of the first tracks I ever heard on said "cool" radio station back in 1983 <3 <3 <3

It's the Tricky cover. I dunno who the female vocalist is though.

It's not Martina is someone called Costanza.

Really love this, btw. Thanks stirmonster.

yeah it's fab, I don't know very many of these later side B tracks

I know only 20% of it but this is amazing stuff.

What’s the song around 38 mins on side A. Voice sounds familiar but song is new to me and I’m loving that one in particular.

And that lovecats cover is also amazing

It’s been years since I heard it and didn’t make much of an impression but when paired with the other songs in here it sounds better than I remembered.

love it. not even sure if I wanna know anything about this, save it for the zine :)
---
It's the Tricky cover. I dunno who the female vocalist is though.

Sorry about this, haha. I wanted to reply that I knew what it was before I'd even processed your post!

lol no problem, I'm still gonna wait to find out more

god damn it, I missed the second one too. It must have started at 9 AM East Coast time. FML.

I set an alarm and everything :(

If you're in the US you've still got a chance according to the Bandcamp message that was sent out:

'This month there are an extra 50 tapes. The first 120 will go on sale at 10.00 UK time. As there's quite a lot of USA demand 30 will be held back & will go on sale at 17.00 UK time which is 9am on the West Coast of the USA.'

I was lucky enough to snag one

Try again in 17 minutes, that’s what I’m doing!

thanks, will check in a few

more going up right about now.

yep, got one!! thanks all.

wow. they went in the blink of an eye.

glad you got one!

lol better do 200 next time ;)

Also successful (although was it ethical of me in the uk to swipe one imed at Americans?)

it's ok. Most of them went to USA / Canada so i think that is fair enough. Lots to Oregon!

Ha I bet a good chunk of America's cassette owners younger than 40 live in Portland.

Will you do a digital release of the mixtapes at some point? I realize it may defeat the purpose somehow but ,you know, a) some folks - like myself - have no way to play cassettes and b) love your mixes!

Will you do a digital release of the mixtapes at some point? I realize it may defeat the purpose somehow but ,you know, a) some folks - like myself - have no way to play cassettes and b) love your mixes!

psst - look up thread - 5th march post by stirmonster.

Yes, thanks. I took advantage of Stirmonster’s generous move when he posted that in March. But I would like to have purchased digital files of the upcoming mixes. And now that I’ve read the info re: the mixtapes on the Bandcamp page I can see that. ain’t. never. gonna.happen...ah, well.

gotcha.
but hey, who knows whats going to happen when it comes to this thread.
we can but hope.

Hey Capitaine Jay Vee. I was going to have the mix available digitally but just don't think it is possible unfortunately. i will report back if that changes down the line.

here's a download of tape 2. this will expire in 24 hours so gimme a shout if you miss it - https://spaces.hightail.com/receive/yHGTOLOiEA/amRfdHdpdGNoQG1hYy5jb20=

stirmonster :
i am happy to use my little FTP site to host files for a limited time.
i wont advertise them beyond the ILM boundaries, and will remove after a set period of time.
just offering and all that.

Finally found the right time / mood to listen to ULTRAGOTH and let me tell you, it does the trick.

xpost Thanks Stir!! I d'l'ed it and also just made a purchase from the Optimo Bandcamp in exchange ( a gorgeous Fernando Falçao album ) :)

Thanks Capitaine Jay Vee and thanks for the offer Mark E. I can actually keep that link going for a while longer.

if anyone feels like giving something in return plesase consider making a donation (even a very small one is greatly appreciated) to Positive Action In Housing, who are a Glasgow based independent, anti-racist homelessness and human rights charity dedicated to supporting women, children and men from refugee and migrant backgrounds to rebuild their lives.

https://www.paih.org/donate/

thanks!

thanks for the upload stirmonster, and for suggesting donating to the paih

Got my tape yesterday and it is sounding lush. Lovely springtime vibez.

loving this whacked-out "We Travel The Spaceways" cover at around 13 minutes into side B of the new one

“Raise Your Hands If You Understand (Ambient House & E Musik from the early Rave era)"

At the start of the 1990s as the Rave scene exploded it was such a new thing for so many people that they often didn’t know what the music was, nor did they have the vocabulary to describe it. I was DJing every Friday night at Pure in Edinburgh and frequently had people come up and ask me to play some of that “E music” I always played. It took me a while to figure out what they were asking for and then I realised exactly what it was; it was a sound I played a lot as a counterpoint to the frenetic and hardcore sounds of the day. It was atmospheric, often tripped out and hypnotic, synth heavy, full of emotion, and yes, sometimes ecstatic. “E Musik” became MY genre and complements the new age, Utopian, proto trance, Ambient House sound, which was an actual thing at the time.

Many of the records these tracks are from were played so often in very intense and extreme club conditions that they are in less than pristine condition, so please forgive some of the less than perfect audio here (I actually spent many hours editing out a lot of the worst scratches). As the record says, “Come together in peace & harmony”

Tape comes in a hand-stickered opaque white case with riso printed OBI-style banderole, with artwork designed by Andrew J Beltran and printed by Sundays.

We now have a subscription operating so a smaller batch of tapes will be on sale, one batch @ 10.00 UK time & a 2nd smaller batch for US folks @ 17.00 UK time.

(incredible mix, possibly my fave so far)

(raises hands in prayer) Will there be a digital version of this?

Last month's SMI2LE tape was the best one yet for me.

Fuck me, had it in my shopping bag then received an error and then it was sold out

that description sounds amazing