Omid Walizadeh Explained

Omid Walizadeh
Alias:	Omid, OD
Birth Place:	Chicago, Illinois
Origin:	Long Beach, California
Genre:	Instrumental hip hop Alternative hip hop
Occupation:	Producer
Instrument:	Sampler, synthesizer
Years Active:	1998-present
Label:	Beneath the Surface Mush Records Alpha Pup Records
Associated Acts:	Project Blowed

Omid Walizadeh, also known as Omid or OD, is a hip hop producer based in Long Beach, California.^[1] He has produced tracks for the likes of Freestyle Fellowship,^{[2] [3]} Busdriver,^{[4] [5]} 2Mex,^[6] Subtitle,^[7] and Awol One.^[8]

History

Omid Walizadeh graduated from Loyola Marymount University with a bachelor's degree in recording arts. He has produced tracks since 1992.^[9]

Inspired by the underground hip hop movement at the Good Life Cafe in the early 1990s, he released a collaborative album, Beneath the Surface, in 1998. It featured over 30 rappers, mainly from Los Angeles.^{[10] [11]}

His solo debut album, Distant Drummer, was released on Beneath the Surface in 2002.^[12] It was inspired by Dan Simmons' novel Hyperion, the music of Sun Ra, among other things.^[9]

In 2003, he released the album, Monolith, on Mush Records.^[13] It featured contributions from the likes of Abstract Rude, 2Mex,^[14] Buck 65,^[15] Luckyiam, Aceyalone, Murs, and Slug.^[16] The title comes from Arthur C. Clarke's novel .^[17]

In 2007, he released the instrumental album, Afterwords 3, on Alpha Pup Records.^[18]

He is the music supervisor of This Is the Life, a documentary film which chronicles the Good Life Cafe.^{[19] [20]}

In 2013, he returned with Modern Persian Speech Sounds.^[21]

Style and influences

In a 2003 interview, Omid Walizadeh talked about his music making process: "90% of my music is sample based, but I tweek and rearrange and change the samples to my bidding. Just taking a note here and a drum hit there and creating a whole different arrangement."^[17]

He uses an Ensoniq ASR-10, Yamaha CS1x, and Pro Tools.^[9]

Discography

Albums

• Beneath the Surface (1998)
• Distant Drummer (2002)
• Monolith (2003)
• Afterwords 3 (2007)
• Modern Persian Speech Sounds (2013)

Singles

• "Percussion Precaution" b/w "Rush" (2002)

Productions

• Busdriver - "Overshadow" from Memoirs of the Elephant Man (1999)
• Self Jupiter - "OD's Swing" "It Was on This Night" "When the Sun Took a Day Off and the Moon Stood Still" from Hard Hat Area (2000)
• Scarub - "Savvy Traveler" from Heavenbound (2000)
• Radioinactive - "Una Cosa" from Pyramidi (2001)
• 2Mex - "Percussion Percaution" "Offering" from B-Boys in Occupied Mexico (2001)
• Busdriver - "Jazz Fingers" from Temporary Forever (2002)
• Sach - "Illustrations (Remix)" from Suckas Hate Me (2002)
• Freestyle Fellowship - "Can You Find the Level of Difficulty in This?" "Got You on the Run" "Desperate" "Once Again" from Shockadoom (2002)
• Neila - "Unintentional Violence" from Vertical Trees with Eternal Leaves (2003)
• Writer's Block - "Sunset Limited" "Situations" from En Route (2004)
• Neila - "Rules" "Operating Instructions" from For Whom the Bells Crow (2004)
• Awol One - "Memowrecks" from Self Titled (2004)
• Sach - Sach 5th Ave (2004)
• 2Mex - "Alive-A-Cation" "Only As Good As Goodbye" "The Return of Fernandomania" "Ghost Memo" "Escape the Toyota Matrix" from 2Mex (2004)
• Busdriver - "Reheated Pop!" from Fear of a Black Tangent (2005)
• Subtitle - "Leave Home" from Young Dangerous Heart (2005)
• SonGodSuns - "Minors into Fire" from Over the Counter Culture (2005)
• Ellay Khule - "Califormula Mix" "Needle Skipping" "Fading Rhythms" "Very Latest Styles" "Time" "Call Me Khule" from Califormula (2005)
• Escape Artists - "E Pur Si Muove" from EA3 (2005)
• Subtitle - "Let's Get Lit" from Terrain to Roam (2006)
• Acid Reign - "Comfort Zone" from Time & Change (2006)
• Busdriver - "Me-Time (With the Pulmonary Palimpsest)" "Unsafe Sextet/Gilded Hearts of Booklovers" from Jhelli Beam (2009)
• Friday Night - "Friday Night Fever (Omid Remix)" from Friday Night Remixed (2010)
• Nomadee - "Forever" from Daydreams (2011)
• Freestyle Fellowship - "Introduction" "This Write Here" from The Promise (2011)
• Thirsty Fish - "Home Movies" (2012)

External links

• • Omid on Mush Records
• Omid on Alpha Pup Records

Notes and References

1. Web site: Omid Walizadeh's new album mixes hip-hop with music from the pre-Iranian Revolution era. The National. Jessica Holland. February 9, 2014.
2. Web site: Freestyle Fellowship: Shockadoom. Pitchfork Media. Sam Chennault. July 14, 2002.
3. Web site: Freestyle Fellowship - The Promise. Exclaim!. Thomas Quinlan. October 18, 2011.
4. Web site: Busdriver - Fear Of A Black Tangent. Stylus Magazine. Rollie Pemberton. March 8, 2005.
5. Web site: Busdriver - Jhelli Beam. Dusted Magazine. Daniel Levin Becker. August 12, 2009.
6. Web site: 2Mex - 2Mex - Paladin Creative/Image Entertainment. Rap Reviews. Steve 'Flash' Juon. May 4, 2004.
7. Web site: Giovanni Marks aka Subtitle drops an exclusive mix with Sound Colour Vibration. Sound Colour Vibration. Erik Otis. October 25, 2011. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120502192414/http://soundcolourvibration.com/2011/10/25/giovanni-marks-aka-subtitle-podcas/. May 2, 2012.
8. Web site: Awol One - Selftitled. Exclaim!. Thomas Quinlan. July 2004.
9. Web site: Omid Interview 2002. Urban Smarts. Tadah. January 13, 2002.
10. Web site: Earth Night in Long Beach. Reality Sandwich. April 22, 2011.
11. Web site: Interviews: OD / Omid. Erasoul. Summer 2002.
12. Web site: Distant Drummer. XLR8R. DJ Anna. March 26, 2003. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20111224162543/http://www.xlr8r.com/reviews/omid/distant-drummer. December 24, 2011.
13. Web site: OMID Monolith. The Milk Factory. December 2003.
14. Web site: Omid - Monolith. Hip Hop DX. J-23. January 10, 2004.
15. Web site: Omid: Monolith. Splendid Magazine. Jennifer Kelly. December 10, 2003.
16. Web site: Omid: Monolith. Pitchfork Media. Rollie Pemberton. November 18, 2003.
17. Web site: Omid Interview 2003. Urban Smarts. Tadah. September 1, 2003.
18. Web site: Alpha Pup fall slate: edIT, Daedelus, Carlos Nino. Plug One. September 11, 2007.
19. Web site: AMOEBA'S MONDAY MOVIES @ SPACE 15TWENTY: THIS IS THE LIFE. Amoeba. Billyjam. March 9, 2009.
20. Web site: This Is the Life. Variety. Andrew Barker. March 10, 2009.
21. Web site: Omid Mines Music From the Streets Of Iran. LA Weekly. Jeff Weiss. December 25, 2013.