Optimo (Espacio)
By Kit Macdonald
Fans and friends from Glasgow and around the world are still digesting July's heartbreaking news that Keith McIvor, aka JD Twitch, one half of the legendary and impossibly influential DJ duo Optimo (Espacio), has been diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour. The outpouring of love that has followed the news is testament to the musical and personal impact McIvor has had on successive generations of music lovers and clubbers. Thousands of messages of support have poured in, a crowdfunder for his care with a target of £50,000 raised close to £150,000, and loving gestures such as the release of DFA's "No DFA Without Optimo" T-shirts have been legion.
Jonnie Wilkes, aka the Belfast-born JG Wilkes, has said he will carry Optimo (Espacio) on with Twitch's "anarchic spirit" at its heart always, and here he will play an extended four-hour set on what will be the first Optimo date in Barcelona since the news. Many will be intimately acquainted with Optimo's signature genre-confounding sound; those who aren't should start by listening to their seminal "How to Kill the DJ, Part 2" mix from 2004 and go from there.