- A tribute to (and recollection of) one of the greatest club nights in the history of dance music.
- On July 12th, 1979, at Comiskey Park in Chicago, shock jock radio DJ Steve Dahl turned the tide on America's most popular new genre: disco. The event, called Disco Demolition Night, exacerbated a racist and homophobic hostility towards disco music, ending with hoards of white rock music fans taking to the field to destroy disco albums. In the aftermath, record companies began to take disco records out of production, while DJs were left with a void of new sounds for the dance floor. House music emerged from this gap, when DJs such as Frankie Knuckles and Ron Hardy pioneered techniques to make old disco classics and other odds and ends sound new and compelling.
Following the trajectory of most music pioneered in America by queer artists and communities of colour, as the scene moved more above ground it became increasingly homogenised. Its origins—an eclectic mix of thoughtfully organised sounds from many sources—became lost to the majority of people encountering it. It was left to the defenders of the original culture to find space for it to move forward.
The original Optimo party, run by JD Twitch and Jonnie Wilkes and held on Sundays at Glasgow's Sub Club from 1997 through 2010, was pivotal in shifting UK dance music back to its roots. Far beyond a mere club night, Optimo was more of a movement, lifestyle and belief system. It helped set the stage for similar movements in dance music, like Hugo Ball, Interdimensional Transmissions and T4TLUVNRG. Its name is derived from Liquid Liquid's 1983 psychedelic avant funk song "Optimo," which closes this new collection, Optimo 25, (belatedly) celebrating 25 years of the DJ duo and party.
At the dawn of the era of the superstar DJ, clubs began to feel like self-important, male-dominated oppression generators, and JD Twitch and Jonnie Wilkes felt that the dance music scene was no longer the culture they were already ten years deep in devotion towards. Sharing a background in noisy and experimental forms of rock music, their selections had a remarkable ability to showcase the connections between a broad spectrum of sounds. The venue was supportive of their idea, and there was no pressure to pack the club, so they had total freedom. The open and relaxed atmosphere brought together people who'd often never been in the same room at the same time. A community of kindred spirits began to emerge.
Special nights like this have signature songs that regulars know and recall fondly as having been foundational to the sonic and cultural fabric they all wove together on those evenings. Though not exhaustive, Optimo 25 is an attempt to collect and document the DNA of their particular subculture. As a party that was never interested in having a branded identity, the connecting factor is simply "music for dancing." The A-side of the first disc of this compilation—which is sequenced to mimic the order you might hear over the course of an Optimo night—represents the process of first going into the dance. It moves seamlessly between the trippy exploration of Brainticket's "Places of Light" and T.J. Lawrence's progressive ambient "Fireplay," into the gorgeous, lyrical "Double Heart" by UK post-punk/industrial pioneer Robert Rental (The Normal).
From there, we ascend into the trance-like rhythms of African Head Charge's "No Don’t Follow Fashion," and then drop into the slowed down, but not at all mellow "No Skin Up" by dub reggae pioneer Keith Hudson. "When I Was a Youth" by Smokin' Cheeba and "15 Inches" by the Wad both have this author's permission to sit at the Real Marijuana Track table with Kraftwerk's "Numbers."
A psychedelic and revolutionary spirit permeates the collection, which navigates both logically and skilfully the rich sonic waters connecting krautrock, ambient, dub, disco, post-punk, experimental techno, post-industrial electronica, avant-funk, hi-NRG, UK garage, house and gwo ka, a Guadaloupean folk music centred around rhythmic improvisations built collectively. Even the most experienced listener will find novel and compelling things to find here. What this record (both sonically and historically) makes very clear is what Optimo love first and foremost: your ears. (A declaration that served as their most long-lived slogan.) Not a party just for the heads, as is so often said, but for any sonic traveller who came with open ears.
TracklistOPTIMO2501
A1 Brainticket – Places Of Light
A2 T.J. Lawrence – Fireplay
A3 Robert Rental – Double Heart
B1 African Head Charge – No, Don't Follow Fashion
B2 Keith Hudson – Nuh Skin Up Dub
C1 Smokin’ Cheeba – When I Was A Youth
C2 The Wad – 15 inches
D1 Idjut Boys & Laj – Foolin' (Beatin on Dave)
D2 JBB Et Soprann – Tibi Lap
OPTIMO2502
A1 Chris & Cosey – Take Control
A2 Isolators – Concentrate On Us
B1 Mike Dunn – Life Goes On
B2 KC Flight – Voices (Original Dub Mix)
C1 Faze Action – Good Lovin' (Special Disco Mix)
C2 Hannah Holland – Ekotypic
D1 Divine – Shake It Up
D2 XS-5 – I Need More (Extended Dance Version)
D3 Liquid Liquid – Optimo