Back in 1997, JD Twitch and JG Wilkes started up their Optimo night: an outlet for a hyper-eclectic mix of everything from contemporary house to decades-old punk skronk.

Based out of Glasgow’s Sub Club, the night gradually developed into the city’s most infamous residency: with the possible exception of 2manydjs and their wildly successful As Heard On Radio Soulwax Pt. II tape, no other name in 2000s was quite so associated with giddy, gleeful eclecticism.

The Sub Club residency came to an end on April 25 2010, with Optimo spinning a seven-hour farewell set. Since then, the pair have continued to record, run their Optimo label, and gig as a touring proposition. Good news: we’ve now come across full audio of the pair’s swansong set.

Although the recording has ostensibly been available on YouTube for some time, it’s only started nudgin beyond the 2000-odd views mark earlier today. As one would expect, the set packs in rockabilly, choir music, electro, disco, dancehall and boogie – plus a closing stretch that proves a perfect drive-into-the-sunset moment. A piece of history – and a riot with it.

We recently invited Optimo to rifle through their capacious record bags for FACT TV.  See also: Twitch’s recent piece on Coil’s Horse Rotorvator for FACT’s Forgotten Classics series, and Twitch’s recent interview about the travails of UK politics.

 

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