OptimisGFN

I don't know much about OptimisGFN aka GoldxHolyxWater except that I want to meet him. Originally from Cambridge, Mass., I want to wake up in his room and throw on my patterned socks and overstuffed backpack and fucking ROLL where it is he's traveling that particular day. Dude is straight living the indie rap punk dream. 

His new record Iller Thriller on European art house label, Hello.L.A., is a strange trip - the words of a man, an expat if you will, living abroad, rapping his way through after-hours clubs in Berlin, taking trains between Belgium and France and fucking Heaven. 

OptimisGFN's Iller Thriller is a stream of consciousness rapper whose off-kilter delivery isn't going to tame any hype beasts. It's an acquired taste. The refined taste of backpacking globetrotters, international border crossers, hostel nappers, and K-the-I. 

But after repeated listens, I've come to appreciate his sensibilities more than anything. Optimis' choice of beats are interesting because HE FUCKING MADE THEM ALL! His fuzzed out slaps readily flip and change and confront your tired 2-bar loops like a ROAD RAGING MANIAC! The days of hip hoppers doing all their own production, writing, rapping, touring, and being complete BOUT THAT LIFE a la our punk rock gods are almost dead. I firmly believe that OptimisGFN is a dying breed. And that shit is sad. But also reminds me to enjoy his shit while he's still leaving his mark all over the European continent. 

I don't usually mention album art unless is STANDS THE FUCK OUT. But in this case it further highlights the DIY truth that is bleeding from this project like the ectoplasm of the ghosts of out-of-print punk zines and ghetto blasters. Bertrand Blanchard, proprietor, curator of Hello.L.A. also created the album art. That kind of in-house creation doesn't happen that often anymore. And while Bertrand continues to curate on of the most forward-thinking stable of artists anywhere, and all while self-deprecating with the best of them, I find myself attracted to him and OptimisGFN like a moth to a bonfire. 

As I fly away into the dark lost and on fire and screeching, OptimisGFN will be loading up gear at a Bavarian disco ready to get down with the good people of waffle town. I'm a see you, dude. I'm a see you.