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Optometry Image
Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 14 Critic Reviews What's this?

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  • Summary: This latest installment in Thirsty Ear's Blue Series of progressive/experimental jazz recordings is the work of turntablist DJ Spooky (Tha' Subliminal Kid), whose own mixing, bass, and kalimba are joined by jazz notables such as Matthew Shipp, Guillermo Barreto Brown, William Parker, andThis latest installment in Thirsty Ear's Blue Series of progressive/experimental jazz recordings is the work of turntablist DJ Spooky (Tha' Subliminal Kid), whose own mixing, bass, and kalimba are joined by jazz notables such as Matthew Shipp, Guillermo Barreto Brown, William Parker, and Medeski, Martin & Wood's Billy Martin. Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 14
  2. Negative: 0 out of 14
  1. Entertainment Weekly
    91
    Morphs subtly between hip-hop abstraction and unalloyed free-improv exploration. [Listen 2 This supplement, Aug 2002, p.23]
  2. Alternative Press
    90
    A cohesive, 100-percent successful record. [Oct 2002, p.95]
  3. Resonance
    90
    Optometry will go down as the album that DJ Spooky nailed. [#36, p.52]
  4. It sounds as if every note, every beat, has been cut apart from the others, examined, modified, and then carefully placed back into the mix. It can be unsettling; also compelling.
  5. After the initial bustle of a few extremely strong tracks, Optometry wanders blindly for far too long.
  6. Mixer
    70
    Not for the masses, but a treat for those turned on by the erratic tendencies of free jazz. [Sep 2002, p.75]
  7. Optometry's highlights throw expectation to the wind. They're more than jazz, more than hip-hop, more than whatever the hell "illbient" actually is.

See all 14 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. PaulG.
    Jul 24, 2002
    9
    A killer transition for That Subliminal Kid from a dubwise to a jazzy illbient work.