I remember clearly and dearly the time, place and most surely — the state I was in the first night I ever heard and experienced Ott. I was 18 years old and it was my first time ever at a music festival — Camp Bisco 8, in Mariaville, New York, during the summer of 2009, second week of July.  The whole day had been quite the extensively colored brain expansion, and the night seemed far too young to miss. I didn’t want to be dazed and doze off, staring up at the constellations, wondering what pant size Orion must be and the type of leather grain he must use for that belt of his.  Plus, if anything, the moon was phasing back and forth between yin and yang, so the opportunity to keep those bloodshot eyes of mine open all night felt way too ripe to give up.  

When I heard Ott for the first time, his hard-hitting, crystalline, psychedelic dub seemed perfectly interweaved with worldly indigenous chants. His samples from psychonaut philosopher and futurist Robert Anton Wilson still reverberate within me. So imagine the sensory neurons blossoming and the waves of arousal running up and down my spine when I heard that Ott was heading to Ithaca for an intimate performance at Castaways.

Ott voyaged on into the great depths of our gorges thanks to Cornell alumnus Ben Weiss ’11, with his independent event production company Ben Weiss Presents.  Ben Weiss’ past productions in Ithaca have been nothing short of twenty-first century pleasure, beautifully combining dynamic livetronica and improvisational music with alluring visual projections and vibrant light shows that saturate the walls with  magnificent color. Additionally, live painting exhibitions are a wonderfully common element during these shows. The combination of transcendent musical experiences juxtaposed with spiritual artwork were reminiscent of the work of visionary artist Alex Grey. These events blur the lines between organic pigmentation and digital pixilation. 

Once again, last week’s Ott show at Castaways set the bar high for these rich audio-visual, all-encompassing and imaginative experiences. The show opened with two acts. First up was the super silly & super trippy Boston IDM/psytrance act Supersillyus, spinning well-produced tracks that compiled upon each other layers of synthesizers, drum machines, piano, African djembe drums, bongos, Cuban timbales, xylophone, glockenspiel, melodica and of course, the saxaboom (made famous by comedic rockers Tenacious D).  Unfortunately — unlike the last time I saw Supersillyus — no pancakes were being cooked onstage and flipped out into the audience. Second up to get the audience a-brewin’ was the contrasting KiloWatts, who formerly worked with ambient downtempo & IDM mastermind Bluetech. KiloWatts’ beats felt a lot more stripped down but every musical color was carefully highlighted and then embedded within the continuous tracks, providing a chillaxed vibe.

After all had settled in, Ott graced the stage in all his humbleness. It’s amazing to think that Ott is well-known as the best friend and editor of Simon Posford (the mastermind behind Shpongle), considering Posford is one of the most flamboyantly and intriguing men ever to get behind the control panel in the electronic music world.  Ott, most surely in his 40s, came on in all black attire. He had a budding belly, greying hair and a set of nerdy LED sunglasses.  But this description should not fool you. His high quality tracks rise above a generation’s taste in electronic sounds. Ott somehow successfully blends the noise of our future robotic music counterparts with the most primitive sounds from nature.  Ott played fresh sensory-stimulating tracks off latest album Mir (2011), as well as classics off his past hit record Skylon (2008) and Blumenkraft (2003). While Ott was restructuring favorites, Ithaca College student Jess Guido was painting beautifully and Cornell student Kai Keane ’14 was manipulating an awe-inspiring visual display and light show . Keane will reprise his act at Risley Hall’s upcoming Halloween Masquerave.

All in all, the show was a fantastic success.  Booties were shaking, dreads were swinging, glowsticks were flying, and psychedelic lighted hoola-hoops were all the rave out on the side dock. Castaways’ rather small venue space felt like an intimately private psy-trance getaway for the Ithaca community.  One can only wonder what else can match that experience.