FXHE Catalogue

FXHE Catalogue

Omar S [FXHE Records]

19 February, 2009 | 9.45AM

• Written by: Jack Spontan
• Filed under: Music Recommendations: omar s

Beneath his notorious, expletive-filled bravado – more befitting of the muthafuckin’ streetz of CPT than his celebrated hometown of Detroit – we at Beatport have been privileged enough to see a softer side to Omar S.

How could we have anything bad to say about the most hyped member of Motor City’s already über-hyped third generation when he celebrates Beatport’s 5th birthday by giving us his entire oeuvre to date on an exclusive basis?!

Whether an intended birthday present or not, 49 exclusive Omar S tracks, all released digitally in one fell swoop on his label, FXHE, is a major coup.

Just one listen through this eclectic anthology and you can only assume that the “S” stands for ‘singular’. Yes – he’s from Detroit and yes – he makes techno. But to pigeonhole him in that bracket, despite the illustrious cannon of producers it entails, would be to grossly underestimate his versatility.

The man himself vehemently spurns comparison to others. In a recent interview, when asked if he’d ‘done a Villalobos’ by including only his own material on his upcoming Fabric mix, he sassed, “Who the fuck is that? Ricardo Vi-vi…I don’t even know who Ricardo Willalobo is.” Cheeky.

Yet fortunately enough for us listeners, Omar’s lack of humility is more than made up for by an abundance of talent, albeit raw and unrefined. So raw, in fact, are some of the tracks on this compendium that they wouldn’t be out of place in a Tokyo fish restaurant with a dash of wasabi.

But that’s where the charm lies. Like the difference between an exorbitantly priced Mai-Tai in a cocktail bar named ‘Sip’, and a good ol’ fashioned pint down your trusty local, Omar-S counters the slickly overproduced dance music – to which we have become all too accustomed of late – to offer a neo-classical-Detroit sound that recalls the naïve mastery of Derrick May’s seminal ‘Strings of Life’.

It seems arbitrary to pick out individual tracks for special mention, as this is a veritable magnus opus to be appreciated in its entirety.

Enjoy.

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