Released: 16/02/24 (delayed from 02/02/24)
Created in 1997 as an alternative to what they saw as an overly conservative music policy in Glasgow clubs at the time (not least because of the rise of po-faced ‘superstar’ DJs), JD Twitch and Jonnie Wilkes’s weekly Sunday night event Optimo (Espacio) is now the stuff of legend. With a focus on fun above all else, reflected in a policy of playing anything that worked on the dancefloor, no matter its age or genre, Optimo was a trailblazer – for while it might not seem very radical now, at that time it was unheard of. Made up of hardcore, dedicated punters, who would pack the place out week after week, Optimo was perhaps Glasgow’s answer to Berghain – minus the unbearably self-important door staff, of course.
After running for over a decade at The Sub Club, Optimo sadly closed its doors for good in 2010, and so We Love Your Ears, a two-part release celebrating 25 years since the club first began, is an absolute joy – both for those who attended back in the day, and those who have grown up with the legend, and want to discover the music that made Optimo what it was. Offering a brilliant insight into the DNA of the club, the neat trick of these two releases is that not only do they include a raft of some all-time Optimo favourites, but also newer tracks that DJ Twitch and Wilkes would be playing today if the night was still a going concern – and so alongside dancefloor-destroyers such as The Wad’s 1990 bleep-and-bass classic ‘15 Inches’, and Robert Rental’s brilliant 1980 avant-cold-wave jam ‘Double Heart’ (if you want to know where John Maus nicked his sound from, Rental is your man), we also have Hannah Holland’s 2019 queer electro masterpiece ‘Ekotypic’. It’s true, DJ Twitch and Wilkes really do love our ears.