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Optimo Espacio ('Optimum Space') was a weekly Sunday-night club based in
Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
, Scotland at the
Sub Club The Sub Club is a club and music venue located at 22 Jamaica Street in Glasgow, Scotland. It opened 1 April 1987 and is the longest running underground dance club in the world. The basement space can legally hold up to 410 people. In 2008 it ...
on Jamaica Street, as well as a collective moniker for the night's resident DJ duo. Having run every week since it was founded in 1997, on 11 March 2010, it was announced on the official Facebook page that the weekly nights would come to an end on Sunday 25 April 2010. However, JD Twitch and JG Wilkes continued to tour, promote and release music as Optimo. Often known simply as Optimo, the club takes its name from the eponymous
Liquid Liquid Liquid Liquid is an American no wave and dance-punk group, originally active from 1980 to 1983. They are best known for their track "Cavern," which was covered—without proper permission or attribution—by the Sugar Hill Records (rap), Sugar ...
song and 1983 EP title. JD Twitch and JG Wilkes (real names Keith McIvor and Jonnie Wilkes), the club's founders and resident DJs, are also collectively known as Optimo and have toured in Europe, America, Australia and Japan and released music under that name. In 2011 they visited China to play
Split Works Split Works is a China-based music company founded in 2006 by Archie Hamilton and Nathaniel Davis. It is a subsidiary of Split United, one of China's most influential music industry organizations, with offices in both Shanghai and Beijing. Split ...
' inaugural Black Rabbit festival. Renowned for its diverse music policy, the club retains a reputation for adventurous innovation and hedonism. The technical side of the club has been written about in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
''. Twitch and Wilkes were described by
Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music magazine founded in 1996 by Ryan Schreiber in Minneapolis. It originally covered Alternative rock, alternative and independent music, and expanded to cover genres includin ...
in 2006 as being "one of the best DJ duos going right now." In November 2006, Optimo appeared on
BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...
's "
Essential Mix The ''Essential Mix'' is a weekly radio show on BBC Radio 1 currently broadcast between 0:00 and 2:00 a.m. UK time on Saturday morning. Originally broadcast on 30 October 1993, the ''Essential Mix'' features contemporary DJs and music pr ...
." Optimo regularly receives reviews from the media. For example, '' The Skinny'' published an article in December 2006 saying that Optimo is "still one of Scotland's best and most charismatic nights" and awarded it a "shiny gold star." In another article from the same magazine, the Optimo DJs were described as having a "special talent for mixing every genre under the sun." Many well established music artists have played at Optimo. Examples include
Cut Copy Cut Copy (sometimes stylised as Cut/Copy) are an Australian synth-pop band formed in 2001 by Dan Whitford (vocals, keyboards and guitar). Originally a home-recording project, the band now includes Tim Hoey (guitars), Ben Browning (bass guitar), ...
, Franz Ferdinand,
The Rapture The Rapture is an eschatological position held by some Christians, particularly those of American evangelicalism, consisting of an end-time event when all dead Christian believers will be resurrected and, joined with Christians who are still a ...
,
Peaches The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and the glossy-skinned, non-fuzzy varieties called nectarines. Peac ...
,
Isolée Rajko Müller, better known by his stage name Isolée, is a German electronic music producer. He is noted for his work in the microhouse genre, reminiscent of indie electronic pop music of the early eighties and ambient techno from a decade on. Is ...
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Shitdisco Shitdisco were a dance-punk band from Glasgow, Scotland. They formed in 2003 while studying at the Glasgow School of Art, consisting of Joel Stone (bass, guitar, vocals), Joe Reeves (bass, guitar, vocals), Jan Lee (keyboards, backing vocals) ...
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Chicks on Speed Chicks on Speed is a feminist art music ensemble, formed in Munich in 1997 at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts. Though Chicks on Speed reached cult status throughout the 2000s and became most well known as catalysts of the musical genre electroc ...
,
Liquid Liquid Liquid Liquid is an American no wave and dance-punk group, originally active from 1980 to 1983. They are best known for their track "Cavern," which was covered—without proper permission or attribution—by the Sugar Hill Records (rap), Sugar ...
,
LCD Soundsystem LCD Soundsystem is an American Dance-punk#Contemporary dance-punk, dance-punk revival band from Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2002 by James Murphy (electronic musician), James Murphy, of DFA Records. The band comprises Murphy (vocals ...
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Richie Hawtin Richard "Richie" Hawtin (born June 4, 1970) is a British-Canadian electronic musician and DJ. He became involved with Detroit techno's second wave in the early 1990s, and has been a leading exponent of minimal techno since the mid-1990s. He becam ...
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, Sons and Daughters,
Ivan Smagghe Ivan Smagghe is a French DJ and producer. He was originally known as Ivan Rough Trade, after his job in the Rough Trade record store in Paris. His musical style has been described as electro house and "minimal electro." Smagghe's ''Death Disco'' ...
and
Datarock Datarock is a Norwegian electronic rock band. The band, known for wearing red jumpsuits, formed in 2000. Original personnel were Fredrik Saroea, Ketil Mosnes and Kevin O'Brien, who soon hired Tom Mæland. O'Brien and Mæland later left the band, ...
.


Record label

Optimo started a new record label called Optimo Music in January 2009, with a 7" of Big Ned's "Bad Angel/Killer". Other releases include Den Haan, Dollskabeat, Divorce, Older Lover, Chris Carter and Factory Floor. Prior to this Optimo owned the Optimo Singles Club And Related Recordings (OSCarr) label, having released records by Glaswegian artists such as Creme Du Menthe, Park Attack, Bis, Pro Forma, Magic Daddy and Findo Gask. In 2017, Optimo released Lo Kindre's "Plant Up" and Iona Fortune's "Tao of I". As of March 2025 the label has spawned sub-labels Optimo Music Digital Danceforce, Optimo Trax, So Low, and Against Fascism Trax collectively releasing over 200 releases.


Discography


Mix albums

* ''How To Kill The DJ (Part Two)'' - Various (2004) Kill the DJ/
Tigersushi Records Tigersushi Records is an independent record label based in Paris, France. They have released music by MU, Ivan Smagghe, Poni Hoax, Pierre Bastien, DyE, The Faulty Shotgun, John Tejada, among others. See also * List of record labels File:Alvino ...
* ''Optimo Present Psyche Out'' - Various (2005) Eskimo Recordings * ''Walkabout'' - Various (2006) Mule Musiq * ''Sub Club 20 Years Underground'' - Various (2008) Soma * ''Sleepwalk'' - Various (2008)
Domino Dominoes is a family of tile-based games played with gaming pieces. Each domino is a rectangular tile, usually with a line dividing its face into two square ''ends''. Each end is marked with a number of spots (also called '' pips'' or ''dots'' ...
* ''
Fabric 52 From November 2001 to November 2018, the London nightclub fabric ran a monthly mix compilation series. Mixed by a variety of emerging and established DJs, the two series were entitled ''fabric'' and ''FABRICLIVE'' respectively. The compilation ...
'' - Various (2010)
Fabric Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, and different types of fabric. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is no ...


References


External links


Optimo Website

Complete Discography



Tigersushi Records

Pitchfork's review of "Psyche Out"

Anna Chapman's Optimo Interview

Kit Macdonald's Resident Advisor feature on the end of Optimo
{{Authority control Nightclubs in Glasgow 1997 establishments in Scotland Scottish electronic music groups British electronic dance music duos DJ duos