Optimo/Various

The moment Soulwax unveiled their 2ManyDJs radio sessions to an adoring public you could tell it was the start of something. Becoming instant heroes of the mix CD mash-up, they opened the gates to a musical trend that has still managed to kick around and at times, even produce some good bootlegs. While it may not fall under a traditional mash-up, Optimo’s How to Kill the DJ is certainly the most refreshing and diverse mélange of genre defying songs since As Heard on Radio Soulwax. Produced by a DJ team known as Optimo (Jonnie Wilkes and Twitch, who recorded with Matador under the name Mount Florida), this two-disc album is the invention of two music lovers with an extremely broad taste in music. Using a selection of tracks that date back to more than 40 years, Optimo make up their own rules using popular favourites (the Rapture, Chromeo, the Cramps, Depeche Mode and Funkadelic) with many unknown gems. The result is an extraordinary dance party that sustains its momentum until they finish with Love’s "Everybody’s Got to Live” (an unlikely but uplifting candidate for an album closer). The second disc is an even bigger rush, featuring a selection of unmixed songs the pair deems as their "über classics.” Beginning with Angelo Badalamenti’s haunting "Mulholland Drive Theme,” and flowing with Arthur Russell, Andre Williams, Sun City Girls, the Monks and Os Mutantes, again, Optimo’s taste hits all the right spots. How to Kill the DJ is the essential cure for the common house party.