Otis
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Saturday 17 August
Booth • 18:30 - 20:30
Otis is the founder of Slagwerk, a Brussels-based label notorious for their parties, bringing together the ever-surprising stretches of contemporary music – its history includes James Ferraro, Amnesia Scanner, Crystallmess, Oli XL, Varg2™, Sky h1 and Vegyn. – and a delight in the many faces of club, never disconnected from the families it fosters. That partying is not something one should take lightly, understands Slagwerk like no other, showing that only in its experimental and dynamic embrace one can escape both nightlife’s over-intellectualizing and too- trivializing impulses. At Slagwerk, and so too in Otis’ continuous escapades as a DJ, the trivial is never just banal, the poppy never just popular, but the cutting-edge never turns pose either.
In Otis’ sets, rigid conceptions of music are left aside, cul-de-sacs explored conditionally through humor, affect and instinct alike. Staying true to the thrill and shuffled spirit of online musical discovery, sound and songs connect and disconnect, flow and disrupt, genres are exploited and transgressed, melody seduced and swept. Having had the opportunity to play Boiler Room, Dekmantel Festival, Dour Festival (BE), Bossa Nova (NYC), C12 (Brussels), Garage Noord, De School (Amsterdam), La Station (Paris), PTX (Athens), Macao (Milan), Trauma Bar (Berlin), Creepy Teepee Festival (CZ) etc, supporting the likes of Yves Tumor, Eartheater, Oklou, Bladee and Swan Meat and appear on radio platforms including The Lot Radio (NYC), NTS Radio (London), Rinse France (Paris), Otis’ sets each seem an inspired and heterogeneous take on that sublime desire to simultaneously keep up and let go.