optimo trax 30 celebrates a double 30 year anniversary: the original release date of “rejekto” and 30 years since twitch started dj’ing. in 1987, twitch, who wasn’t known as twitch yet, picked up a copy of “rejekto” at glasgow’s then numero uno import shop, 23rd precinct. he was smitten.

an original copy of the brasileira lp by brazilian singer maria rita stumpf has been on top of collectors and music lovers wishlist for the past couple of years, since cântico brasileiro no 3 (kamaiura)- broke out and cast a spell worldwide – from japan to brazil, from norway to south africa, everybody was flabbergasted after they first heard the song, and each and every time they heard it again. for the lucky ones that could listen to her whole album – and get to know other gems such as lamento africano/rictus and a cidade it is clear that it is an ouvre that more people should have access to, not only an elite of listeners and connaisseurs. the good news are that the lp will be available again in its entirety in a new, glossy, loud and clear pressing released through selva discos, a new label run by augusto olivani and millos kaiser (the dj/production duo known as selvagem) in partnership with jd twitch s optimo music. it s a legit reissue overviewed by maria rita stumpf herself, the music being remastered from the remaining dat tape of the original release and artwork faithfully updated by brazilian design studio colletivo, featuring liner notes by the singer/songwriter.

newcastle-born, mexico-based man power debuts on optimo trax with two psychasonic missives cut extra loud for optimum sound system performance. we asked man power for some words about this release and he told us - -both tracks sound different, but they re both from the same place in as much as they represent a conscious effort by me to strip back some of unnecessary niceties in my music and really sharpen my focus on what makes people dance without crossing the fine line of what makes me sound like me.”

originally released in japan in 2015 on dj emmas nitelist music as part of its acid ep series, only a small handful of copies of this 12inch made it to europe. jd twitch was lucky to score a copy and both tracks became firm favourites in his sets and much asked about. twitch felt this music deserved a wider audience so was kindly granted permission to reissue it on optimo trax. yes another double a side release, a1, hiroshi watanabes - infinity sign is a hypno ecstatic acid piano-tingling monolith. a2, kuniyukis acid air is a slow building organic percussive acid freak out that will cause a freak out on the floor. it is hard to do anything with a 303 that is interesting these days but both the tracks on this 12inch are 100% club classic.

in 2016. i rented out a small piano studio in east london for nearly the whole year and set out to write an introspective, trendless, and mostly beatless album. inspired by albums from this mortal coil and scott walker, who also sought freedom to work outside of the expectations of their previous work, i limited the instrumentation to mostly an acoustic piano and effects, which left space to expose a lot of emotional vulnerabilities about myself and people close to me. writing lullabies about being a mother in a dystopian world, with pensive words about swimming against the current as a female artist, i felt free enough to tell untold truths that i’ve never felt comfortable talking about within music. free, liberated, empowered. naked.

iona fortune is a composer and producer from glasgow and presents the “tao of i” album as her debut release. inspired by eastern philosophy and slated to be the first in an 8 album series exploring all the symbols of the i ching, her music is influenced by oriental sounds and features a palette of instruments that includes the guzheng, gamelan and synthi aks. the overall effect is a singular and beguiling sound that loosely fits in with the fourth world concept imagined by jon hassell, and indeed iona fortune has also contributed a track to optimo music’s new fourth world compilation “miracle steps”. the initial vinyl edition will come on a white vinyl pressing with inside sleeve and original artwork by iona fortune.

optimo music is delighted to present the debut ep from glasgow-based lo kindre. lo kindre is luxembourg-born and raised irishman daniel magee s personal dub interpretation, the result of a year of on u indulgence and tuff dub encounters, and time spent honing a live show across venues in glasgow. debut ep plant up presents a cosmic blend of swirling synth and low-slung bass offering magee s own version of dub to the public for the very first time.

optimo music presents -miracle steps (music from the fourth world 1983 - 2017), a 2 x lp compilation of fourth world music compiled by jd twitch & fergus clark. also available as a digital release.

optimo music are delighted to present the second full-length from the golden filter, still / alone. after relocating to london and playing shows around europe for a year and a half, self-imposed pariahs penelope trappes and stephen hindman delved into creating a two-sided existential opus by renting out old studio spaces around the uk and using mostly analog 80 s instruments, machines and effects. an album about being in love with pure solitude, when still // alone is separated into two distinct sides, record one, still, is a hypnotic meditation for the nightclub. wavy patterns of sound and light bounce off of penelope’s literary vocal bursts, layered over the ominous deep synths and arpeggiators, held together only by a strict 4/4 beat. the rhythm, ironically forcing the body to move, however internally focused and mindful, still. record two, alone, takes the club offline and into the fringes of raw, odd pop.

after a split single with muslimgauze and a single of their own on optimo trax, we are delighted to present the first optimo trax album release by italys underspreche.

hammer presents his vinyl debut on optimo music disco plates. this three track 12inch is a vinyl only / club use only limited edition guaranteed dancefloor activator. tech-house djs might want to skip this one

after a split single with muslimgauze and a single of their own on optimo trax, we are delighted to present the first optimo trax album release by italy’s underspreche. the album is split across two four- track eps, released two weeks apart

boot & tax are back. after two 12inches for optimo trax and an album on optimo music they return to optimo trax with their first new music of the year, just before it ends. four tracks of spangled, idiosyncratic, woozily spacious and slightly off kilter music that could only have been made by these two milanese maestros. as ever on optimo trax a quadruple a side where all tracks share equal billing.

yet more italians on optimo trax! jose manuel delivers 4 unique exotic, fourth world, tribal slabs of ritual music. a1, the great beast in outer space is actually an andrew liles track that jose has completely reworked and sprinkled his magick on. mr. liles is one of my favourite producers in the world, both for his solo work and for his input into my all time heroes nurse with wound. for those who know his work, having something by him that will work on a dancefloor may bring a smile to your face. thankfully i know him a bit and he was more than happy to grant permission for this to be released. a2, folklore is fourth world exotica reimagined for late night dance rites. aa1, ritual, is exactly what the title says it is. aa2, sisi leaves the dance floor completely and even though optimo trax is 100% aimed at djs, was simply too lovely to leave off.

at last! this one took literally years to piece together. does dennis bovell need an introduction? i think not but in case you dont know, he is a musical polymath, top flight producer, dub legend and one of the finest artists the uk has ever produced. optimo music has worked with dennis before when he went into green door studios and dubbed out golden teacher to the max. this disco plate ep was already in the works before then but various circumstances caused it to take until now to see the light of day

london’s alex warren, aka kiwi presents “throwdown”, a cover version of carmen’s cult and in demand 1986 electro funk hit. it comes in two versions, a 4/4 club mix and at the suggestion of jd twitch, an updated take on a latin freestyle mix. both versions feature full vocals from ciara haidar and have “summer hit” written all over them.

nice price deal !!! the title of this ep sorta says it all. its quite an important release for the label. glasgow musical connections all around! when most people think of optimo music, they think of the long-running club night in glasgow >optimo (espacio)<, which ran for 12 years every sunday…headed by jd twitch and jg wilkes. label honcho jd twitch is extremely proud to be releasing naum gabo … as this is the studio project of his optimo partner, jonnie wilkes, along with james savage. jonnie and james (formally releasing three 12 inches simply as >naum< on kompakts mighty speicher series) have been active on the scene for a while now. as well as releasing the original music on kompakt, mule, eskimo, dissident, and tinae they have provided some wonderful naum gabo reworks for hot chip, simian mobile disco, franz ferdinand, snow patrol, psychonauts and so many more… twitch has long been a fan of naum gabo so it is a bit of a coup to be getting this fantastic release: two covers of two mighty scottish acts from the late 70s/early 80s.

pussy mothers is the behaviour of a cross-continental two piece from scotland and down under: formed by waving not drowning. chasing percussions, vocal athletics and hand claps concocted into a platter of disco junk funk and early hip hop rhythms, the number 1 ep took shape in glasgow s tenement flats and came to life through a spaced-out echo party held at green door studios.

after a sell out first ep on optimo music, mr tc follows it up with ep 2, surf & destroy four more tracks of analogue plus live instruments delirium. mr tc has been taking his live show (which involves a four-piece band) out on the road to great acclaim. his music and dj sets encompass leftfield disco, tropical oddity, house and techno whilst channelling the spirit of a youth spent playing in psychedelic rock bands in luxembourg, listening to krautrock and worshipping lou reed and david bowie. this is just the beginning

from oporto, portugal but now resident in london, trikk presents a 4-track ep for optimo trax. each of the tracks is a dubbed-out, percussive hypno gem with advanced production and while not dub per se, the use of dub effects is up there with the finest ja studio experimentation. all 4 tracks have been extensively club tested and may cause subtle pandemonium. dj tip : watch out for the slow down in modo ritmico!

after the success of their debut split ep with muslimgauze which sold out in record time, the southern italian male/female duo underspreche return to optimo trax for their first ep in their own right. three tracks of deliciously psychedelic advanced techno grooves filled with subtle syncopations and head melting sound design. first release in the new optimo trax colour scheme.

with his project fred und luna musician rainer buchmüller (sugar ray buckmiller) from karlsruhe, germany is paying tribute to his favourite electronic oriented music by using its characteristics like repetition and beautiful melodies, putting them in a contemporary context and preserving their subtle and seductive charm. fred und luna play their self described elektrokraut (concerning songs that are basically kraut mixed with electronic elements) and krautelektro (which is elektro mixed with kraut elements). they live in karlsruhe which, like düsseldorf, lies next to the river rhine. perhaps karlsruhe is the new (neu) düsseldorf, with fred und luna (as pioneers/vanguard).

originally released on the mighty y records in 1982, this one-off single by disconnection was a mutant disco cover version of a song from rodgers and hammersteins 1949 musical, south pacific which was made into a blockbuster film in 1958.

powerdance is a collective formed by luke solomon and nick maurer formed as a reaction to bland soul less dance music that seems to infiltrating nightclubs the world over. luke and nicks comradely stems back many many years to their association with the classic music company a label formed by derrick carter and luke. nick maurer was one half of the then prolific greens keepers. this ep for optimo trax features the wigged epically funkoid gem mysterious space plane who doesn t like songs about space? on the other side is the modern hyper jacking more fire. alongside these are a reprise of mysterious space plane and a bonus beats of more fire for those djs who like to, are able to get creative with their mixing

glasgows junto club return with their second ep. in their own words. this is the second in our planned trilogy of junto club eps. if the first was the birth of the junto club, this is the middle-aged existential crisis. we ve followed the same ethos as the first ep, allowing the music to develop organically rather than being restricted by considerations of genre. naturally, this was shaped by our experiences of the first ep.

celebrating our 20th release, glasgows dave clark returns to optimo trax as sparky. he was responsible for the third release on the label as luma which featured the club smash -john broadwood- and recently had another big club hit with signals- on numbers. we are delighted to welcome him back in what is a contunuation of a relationship that stretches back further than we care to remember. all four tracks here are certified dancefloor winners, from the reach for the lasers, kickless things fall apart through the synth rhapsodies of black swan and my prophet, climaxing in the jacking seven daggers. all killer, no filler is often a trite cliche in these blurbs but is entirely true in the case of this ep.

noo are daze dasen (aka plastique de reve) and sami liuski (aka bangkok impact / putsch 79.

optimos prolific dj/producer/label boss jd twitch aka keith mcivor has curated a compilation of early 80s synth, industrial and cold wave classics and undiscovered gems in collaboration with the vinyl factory, following the cease & desist diy! (cult classics from the post-punk era 1978-82) compilation on his own optimo music label, and youth stand up!, a collaborative recording project featuring young musicians from glasgow, ghana and belize on his autonomous africa imprint.

from france comes fabrizio rat with a 4-track ep constructed entirely from acoustic piano and drum machine. mr. rats unique sound design blew our ears away, particularly at a time when so much techno is more reliant on following a blueprint rather than trying to push the frontiers of what is possible, which to us was always the true raison dêtre of techno

theres a bit of a story to side a. in 1996, jd twitch released a 12inch by manchesters bryn jones aka muslimgauze on his then label pi recordings.

infamous for his part in glasgow’s dj duo optimo and the production partnership naum gabo (speicher / kompakt extra), j.g. wilkes is an esteemed music producer with a catalogue that has been building since the turn of the century. the ‘jaxon’ ep is j.g. wilkes’ first widely available solo 12” release containing four exquisite cuts exploring the ethereal boundaries of electronica. taken from a limited edition mini album box set entitled ‘german pizza party’ (vf111), j.g. wilkes’ ‘jaxon’ is the only track from that collection aimed anywhere near a dancefloor, in which rich and potent rhythms collide with foreboding frequencies. cologne’s barnt isn’t afraid to let the elegance of space and chaos into his heartfelt rework, solidly cementing the koln-glasgow freundschaft. the ep features two further productions from wilkes, the melancholic, beatless and occasionally ruthless ‘bathing beauty’ in its original form and ‘useful tool’, given a turbulent rework by naum gabo.

the first split ep on optimo trax!

music for nightclubs and far beyond

optimo trax 16 is a various artists ep featuring tracks from glasgow, london, new york & edinburgh.

this 12inch is pure trance. who is/are rita furstenhof? we have no idea who she/he/they are. the a1 track, the mighty -hadron collider- was sent to optimo music hq about 18 months ago. normally sending one track is not much use to a label, but this was so good that we instantly replied to say we wanted to release it. rita furstenhof works in mysterious ways, and it was 18 months until the other tracks for the ep arrived. along the way there were a few times when we thought they had completely vanished, and we were never going to have a complete ep, but finally, here it is.

four tracks of highly original, impossible to pigeonhole, dancefloor-not-dancefloor music.

inspiration is taken from psychedelic rock, deep southern disco, rhythm and blues, classic house and techno also taking a key from the avant-garde

after two sold out 12 eps on optimo trax, boot & tax head over to mother label for the release of their debut

for some it might be kraftwerk, but for me, my favourite electronic pioneers are probably australias severed heads. they were so far ahead of the game that they had to invent a lot of the technology they used. inspired, playful, never boring and always sonically brilliant they pushed at the frontiers of electronic music more than most. by the late 80s they were pursuing a slightly more polished course and made a series of records that had the potential to reach a much larger audience. possibly because of their name they never quite managed that, but they had several big club hits, the dub versions of which crossed over into the nascent house scene. i am honoured that i am able to make the dubs of those three 12 inches from 1988 - 1990 available again.

on the aa side is the previously unreleased instigator while on the a side he reworked golden teachers

noo are daze dasen (aka plastique de reve) and sami liuski (aka bangkok impact / putsch 79.

we are delighted to welcome prodigious glasgow producer alex smoke to optimo trax for an ep.

deep, wayward and utterly groove-notic. optimo trax is starting off 2015 the right way…

optimo trax 11 is all about the drums.

think of this release a quadruple a side. none of these will fail on the dancefloor.

reel houze are/were dominic dawson and rob mello, and these two tracks were originally released in 1996.

crooked man is richard barratt from sheffield, better known as parrot. he was first off the blocks playing house music in sheffield back in the 80s, had a top 10 hit in 88 as part of funky worm, collaborated with richard h kirk on the seminal sweet exorcist releases on warp and had another top 10 hit in the 90s as part of the all seeing i.

on his debut ep, jasper unleashes three cuts of his signature bump n grind atmospheric house music.

its not exactly a dance album, although there is music you can dance to on it. its more filmic in nature.