The Sirens Call present Optimo (Espacio)

Optimo (Espacio) are the duo JD Twitch and JG Wilkes. They each have over 30 years DJ-ing experience and have become both renowned and highly respected for their memorable and ecstatic deejay sets. Twitch and Wilkes exhibit a unique disregard for genres and musical restrictions in their craft, creating a nightclub experience that strikes out into territories far beyond the accepted boundaries of club music. The duo were responsible for the Glasgow nightclub Optimo (Espacio) which ran from November 1997 until April 2010. Optimo sat at the very epicentre of the Scottish Clubbing consciousness in its weekly residency in the Sub Club and is widely regarded as one of the most important and ground-breaking clubs of the past two decades (at one point earning them the prestigious title of Mixmag “Club of the Year”). Optimo first came to international recognition with the release of How to Kill The Dj (part 2) in 2004. This mix, and the critical acclaim that followed, would catapult the duo onto the international gigging circuit. The next few years would see them travel across the world taking the Optimo party aesthetic to over 50 countries across Europe, North & South America, Africa, Australia & Asia. Subsequent mix releases illustrated their exceptional maverick determination, raising the benchmark for what is expected from a DJ mix and what musical ingredients could be used to create it. These titles include - Psyche-Out (Eskimo Recordings), 20 Years Underground (Soma), Walkabout (Endless Flight), In Order To Edit (R&S), Sleepwalk (Domino Recordings) and culminated with a tour-de-force mix for the Fabric Series with Fabric 52 – Optimo (Espacio). Their mixes and DJ sets underline Optimo’s reputation as taste-makers, achieved through their shared passion for clubbing and their encyclopedic knowledge of music. However it also illustrates their skill in assembling sounds from the past and present to create an experience that is definitively futuristic in spirit. Further opportunities to hear the Optimo sound can be found on the highly respected NTS Live where Optimo take to the internet radio waves monthly, providing a topical and up to the minute glimpse into the head-messing Optimo universe. There is also the (JD Twitch helmed) respected & prolific Optimo Music label, active since 2009 and heading for its 150th release, plus their very own festival, Watching Trees. Watching Trees was launched in association with their allies at Ransom Note in 2022 and was nominated by DJ Magazine as ‘best boutique festival’. Optimo (Espacio) are also active in their local community raising awareness and funds for local foodbanks, refugee and anti-racist organisations. So far they have raised over a quarter of a million pounds for various organisations in Glasgow, and beyond. The final essential ingredient to the Optimo success is of course the people. Each Optimo set is different, teased out of the dynamics of a singular group of people - whether it be a tiny basement sweat-box, the main room of a super club, the main stage of a festival or a thousand people in a field - and everything they do springs from the spirit of the crowd and the rhythm of the moment. It is the unique enthusiasm of each crowd, where ever they go, that gives them inspiration – and feeds the joy in what they do. As Twitch and Wilkes say themselves, “We Love Your Ears!”