Going So Low: Optimo’s JD Twitch

Keith McIvor his new compilation...

Going to an Optimo rave is never a straight-forward experience.

The duo – JG Wilkes and JD Twitch – spin whatever comes to hand, whether it's rare post-punk, cutting edge techno, experimental soundscapes or even Madonna's ABBA-sampling smash 'Hung Up'.

The pair extend this appetite into their solo projects. JD Twitch has been especially busy of late, helping to expand the Optimo Music label arm with a string of fascinating releases.

Alongside this, JD Twitch helms the occasional So Low night at Glasgow's Poetry Club. Spinning oddball electronics that primarily reside in the 80s, the club's sound is set to be detailed on a new compilation, appropriately 'So Low'.

Out on February 19th via the Vinyl Factory, it's a fascinating trawl through lesser explored regions of synth pop, proto-techno, post-disco, industrial and more.

Clash caught up with JD Twitch – real name Keith McIvor – to find out a little more.

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As you explain in the sleevenotes, you began playing this type of music out (to varying degrees of success) in 1987. But when did you actually start collecting these records?
The music on this compilation is something I first got into in the early 80s mainly through reading the music paper Sounds. I'd say I started getting really deeply into around '84 when I had a little more money to spend on records and also that year I spent the whole summer in Paris where there were some phenomenal record shops where I heard and picked up lots of the Euro stuff. I should point out that I was into lots of other music too but the first DJ gig I ever had was mainly playing this sort of stuff, to a general complete lack of interest from those in attendance.

The style has drifted in and out of fashion – did you collect continually, or were you drawn back towards it more recently?
A bit of both. I never stopped listening to it but my interest waxes and wanes over time. When I first got online in the late 90s I was able to find lots of records I'd never managed to find when they were originally released and as there was little interest at that time in all this music they were often going for peanuts. I think the biggest development in recent times is that so much music from that era that I was completely unaware of at the time has been excavated and reissued so I've picked up a lot of old records that are new to my ears.

The reason I started the So Low night was that my wife who is a bit younger than I am basically pestered me for so long that I should do a night solely devoted to this music that I finally gave in and agreed. I'm really glad I did as it is great fun.

What’s your take on the term ‘cold wave’? Is it a coherent genre, or just a handy umbrella term?
For me, cold wave is a very specific sound that I take to refer to French / Benelux bands with a bit of a Joy Division / Martin Hannett fixation, though it has come to mean something a lot broader than that to a lot of people so yes, it could be seen to be a handy catch all umbrella for synth, industrial etc. But, it's definitely not a coherent genre; the music is hugely varied and all over the place, in a good way!

What was the motivation for this new compilation? How did you go about narrowing down the tracklisting? I’m presuming you have crates and crates of this stuff…
Yup, I could definitely do multiple volumes of this. The idea and motivation was simply that it was a compilation of music that gets played at the So Low night in Glasgow that I thought might be of interest to some people beyond Glasgow. It's a bit of an indulgence putting together compilations of music one loves, isn't it? I am fortunate I get to do it and I really relish the challenge. I purposely didn't go for ultra-obscure choices but rather tracks that had gone down particularly well on the dancefloor at So Low and I also tried to show what a broad range of music a night there might encompass.

Were there any issues with licensing? Were there some tracks that you just couldn’t get the release for?
There were a couple that were not possible to track down that I really wanted to have on there. I was very keen to have a track by French cold wavers Trisomie 21 but I have tried for a few years to contact them and never hear back. Maybe I should have written in French? The other notable track I would loved to have had on it but was unable to get was 'So Low' by Carol, a beautifully melancholic Belgian synth song from 1981 which the club night and compilation derives its name from. I just saw this week that it is now being re-issued.

Throbbing Gristle are on the compilation – what impact have they had on the way you perceive music?
Huge, but also way beyond music. Throbbing Gristle introduced me to all sorts of ideas, artists and writers that have gone on to be an inspiration to me. They also had an overall attitude and DIY approach that I found hugely inspiring.

Gerry & The Holograms are often overlooked, but their track on the compilation could almost be a proto ‘Blue Monday’. When did you encounter it?
I actually first heard it in 1981. I went on a summer camp to the Lake District organised by my local youth club and one of the guys looking after all us kids was from Manchester and was best friends with this comedy rock band from there called Alberto Y Lost Trio Paranoias. He would play tapes of their music all the time which we all thought was a bit crap. However, one of the tapes had Gerry & The Holograms on it as they were a side project of CP Lee from Alberto Y Lost Trios. We were all totally smitten by it and I bought a copy when I got home.

It was supposedly meant to be a piss-take on all the synth pop bands of that era but piss take or not it's a great track and as it was from Manchester I'm fairly certain New Order must have known it, but who knows if they consciously copied it for Blue Monday?

There’s a lot of French and BeNeLux acts down here, and this particular sound was prominent in those territories. Did you feel under pressure to represent this, or is this a more personal selection, based on your own tastes / likes?
I didn't feel under any pressure to do anything really and it was definitely more of a personal choice and possibly related to trips I took to these places in the 80s where I saw first hand how much of a following the music had there unlike the UK at the time. In many ways Belgium is the spiritual home of much of this music.

You've mentioned before that the So Low nights in Glasgow have a “joyous atmosphere” yet the music is often viewed as quite austere. What’s it like to watch a crowd throw serious shapes to, say, a Front 242 track?
It can be austere but also tends to have a certain power and comes even more alive when played on a sound system. In Europe they always really, really danced to this stuff; I saw Front 242 in Brussels in the late 80s and the whole audience was dancing with brutally wild abandon. I've always found the term Electronic Body Music a bit cheesy but it is definitely music to move the body to.

Cold wave and other musics of this type have enjoyed renewed prominence over the past few years. What do you think has propelled this? Is there a certain dirt/grit in these tracks that modern production tends to iron out?
Definitely. There's grit, primitive sequencing, wild production ideas and experimentation along with a seeming constant urge to sound unique and original. A lot of this music is beautifully flawed and limited by the amount of equipment people had access to and the technological limitations of that equipment. A lot of current music is to my ears too perfect and in that perfection loses anything to differentiate it from a lot of other music. I'm not a retro-maniac by any means and I love lots of modern music but the lack of digital sheen and the fact that so much of this music has so much character means my ears never get tired of it.

Another factor is that a lot of this music reflected the times it was made which were quite austere and dark, and our current times feel quite similar, so it's a little like a transmission from the past that is relate-able to people today. Beyond that, much of it has aged incredibly well and seems to sound better today than it ever did.

The release is coming on Vinyl Factory – can we expect something special from the sleeve/packaging?
Yes. The sleeve was designed by and then hand printed by Glasgow-based artist Katie Shambles who does all the design for the night and also plays at the night too. It looks fantastic!

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'So Low' will be released on February 19th.

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