In the wake of punk, musicians in the UK found themselves suddenly liberated artistically and free to think in new terms commercially. The outcome was the independent label boom, and beyond that a certain Do It Yourself aesthetic. Overnight, the possibility arose of recording your own music and releasing your own record, or, if you weren’t musical yourself, setting up your own label to release records by people who were. 

Enabled by a new independent distribution network, classified ads in the nation’s music press and the enthusiasm of record shop owners countrywide, a new kind of musician leapt into the spotlight, free of the shackles of commercial aspirations and the conformist musical approaches they necessitated. New sounds were delivered every week, pressed onto cheaply produced 7” singles and ambitious compilations by bedroom based labels. Among the photocopied sleeves and inserts, hand-stamped labels and SAE addresses, not to mention the eclectic range of sounds they accompanied, a common ground appeared: it didn’t matter what you did, so long as you did it yourself. 

“Optimism/Reject” captures a snapshot of that time and place. One of many possible views on a period of freedom of expression like no other. From scratchy lo-fi guitar pop to ambitious home productions and experimental meanderings, this is the sound of an underworld beneath the underground. A place so far from the mainstream only those with a keen imagination figured out how to get there. A time when doing nothing was a crime, and doing anything was possible.