DJ dons JD Twitch and JG Wilkes have been holding their Optimo throwdown at Glaswegian fruggin’ institute The Sub Club since 1997 - a long-distance feat for any regular club bash.
Their preferred approach to DJing is the 'Mash-Up': taking a diverse range of trunk-shaking sounds – electro, punk, disco in particular – and splicing, weaving, welding, crowbar-ing them together to create a compelling dancefloor statement. Of course diversity has been a buzzword on the floor for a while now, and DJs have long been keen to show off their eclecticism. But Wilkes and Twitch pull off the difficult task of blending decent technical skills with an ear for what makes people, well, twitch.
On paper this mix, with its 50+ tracks scattered over just 75 minutes (including cuts by Chromeo, Carl Craig, Blondie, The Cramps, Funkadelic, Larry Levan, Love, Gang Of Four, Ricardo Villalobos, Loose Joints, Akufen, Basic Channel), seems like a reach too far - and that’s without mentioning the Langley Schools Music Project’s pre-pubescent version of "Good Vibrations".
But the reality is, it’s quite the masterpiece of crafted collage, where hardly a morsel of sound seems superfluous and everything provides a neat little bridge to whatever the duo’s next sonorous trick might be. What makes the album really work though is not the pair’s turntable prowess but the atmosphere they create. Debauchery, lust and good times hang in the air like smoke, and that’s just in the lounge. Imagine what being inside the club must be like?
The second disc is a massive bonus. Containing eighteen tracks (unmixed) that you’d likely hear at the club before it really gets going, it’s a sassy compilation in it’s own right. Angelo Badalamenti's "Mullholland Drive", Arthur Russell's "Another Thought", Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra's "Some Velvet Morning" and Os Mutantes' "A Minha Menina" make for a quixotic, filmic set that perfectly compliments the visceral thrills of Disc One.
Mortal disc-jockeys they may be, but Wilky and Twitchy have successfully transformed their male, anorak-ish obsessions into frothing entertainment.
