Morex Optimo Enters the Studio
Morex Optimo has stepped down into the storied abyss of B.C. Studio, Brooklyn, to begin work on their first album. It is being recorded by Martin Bisi, who has had a long career working with the likes of Sonic Youth, White Zombie, John Zorn, Bill Laswell, Material, Swans, Angels of Light, Herbie Hancock, Cop Shoot Cop, Ex-Models, Ginger Baker, the Boredoms, Boss Hog, and U.S. Maple.
Most of the tracks are being recorded live to tape–leaving pretty much just the vocals for overdubs. Martin knows his rooms and his equipment really well, and spent only three hours getting a drum sound that is beautifully transparent, with a perfectly unambiguous strike.
Q: Are you guys using any “tricks” in your recording?
A: Yes. The trick is to somehow care about every detail while not caring at all.
Songs, once stuck on tape, reveal different problems and different strengths than you expected. Martin assures us it’s not his 3M 24-track tape recorder that’s to blame.
A lot of rock ‘n roll history on the walls.
There’s a very distinct moment when you’re standing in the basement, headphones on, the faintest hum in your head where you seem to forget how the song goes. You even forget how to hold your guitar pick. Outside is void, and there’s a sense of loss of symbol systems. Nothing holds together quite. And then the count starts on the drum sticks and, ex-nihilo, a strange, tonal solar system is born.
We can’t wait to see what comes out of this pretty intense period of working, thinking about the work, dreaming, and working at not thinking (thanks Yuri).