South London Ordnance - "Modular Spalsh" (JD Twitch West Glasgow Optimo Mix)
Format: 12" Year: 2013
Label: TBA
• • •
Fini Tribe - "Detestimony" (A JD Twitch Optimo Mix)
Format: TBA Year: 2013
Label: TBA
• • •
Carmen Villain - "Obedience" (A JD Twitch Optimo Mix)
Format: TBA Year: 2013
Label: Smalltown Supersound
• • •
Her Royal Highness - "Pinky Ring" (A JD Twitch Optimo Mix)
Format: 12" Year: 2013
Label: Hobbes Music
• • •
Charles Hawyard - "Lopside" (A JD Twitch Optimo Mix)
Format: 12" Year: 2013
Label: Keema
• • •
Chapel Club - "Good Together" (A JD Twitch Optimo Mix)
Format: TBA Year: 2013
Label: Ignition Records
• • •
Bill Wells And Aidan Moffat - "Glasgow Jubilee" (A JD Twitch Optimo Mix)
Format: TBA Year: 2012
Label: TBA
• • •
Chvrches - "The Mother We Share" (A JD Twitch Optimo Mix)
Format: 10" Year: 2012
Label: National Anthem
• • •
Neon Indian - "Polish Girl" (A JD Twitch Optimo Mix)
Format: TBA Year: 2012
Label: Transgressive Records
• • •
Hot Chip - "Flutes" (A JD Twitch Optimo Mix)
Format: 12" Year: 2012
Label: Domino
• • •
Girls Names - "The New Life" (A JD Twitch Optimo Mix)
Format: 12" Year: 2012
Label: Tough Love Records
• • •
Tussle - "Eye Context / Croatoa" (Producer - JD Twitch)
Format: 12" Year: 2012
Label: East Meets West
• • •
Esser - "Emnity" (A JD Twitch Optimo Mix)
Format: TBA Year: 2012
Label: TBA
• • •
The Hundred In The Hands - "Keep It Low" (A JD Twitch Optimo Mix)
Format: 12" Year: 2012
Label: Warp
• • •
Lucas Santtana - "Cira Regina E Nana" (JD Twitch Optimo mix)
Format: TBA Year: 2012
Label: Mais Um Gringo
• • •
Indoor Life - "Revely " (A JD Twitch Optimo mix)
Format: TBA Year: 2012
Label: Compost
• • •
Beatboxx - "Keep on Jumpin'" (A JD Twitch Optimo Version)
Format: TBA Year: 2012
Label: Strictly Rhythm
• • •
Arsenal - "One Day At The Time" (A JD Twitch Optimo Mix)
Format: 12" Year: 2012
Label: Play Out!
• • •
The Little Kicks - "Loosen Up" (A JD Twitch Optimo Mix)
Format: TBA Year: 2012
Label: Little Kicks
• • •
Ulysses - "The Slowest Tornado" (A JD Twitch Optimo Mix)
Format: TBA Year: 2012
Label: Emotional Response
• • •
The Twilight Sad - "Alphabet" (A JD Twitch Optimo Mix)
Format: CD Year: 2012
Label: FatCat Records
• • •
David Shaw And The Beat - "Infected" (A JD Twitch Optimo Mix)
Format: 12" Year: 2012
Label: Her Majesty's Ship
• • •
Mark Stewart - "Autonomia" (A JD Twitch Total Destruction mix)
Format: 12" Year: 2012
Label: Future Noise
• • •
Seun Kuti - "African Warrior" (A JD Twitch Optimo mix)
Format: Digital Year: 2012
Label: Knitting Factory
• • •
Django Django - "Default" (A JD Twitch Optimo mix)
Format: 12" Year: 2012
Label: Because Music
• • •
Blondes - "Lover" (A JD Twitch Optimo mix)
Format: CD Year: 2012
Label: RVNG
• • •
Planet Jumper - "Leave This Place Behind" (JD Twitch Optimo "Question Authority" mix)
Format: 12" Year: 2012
Label: Slap Gravity
• • •
Sons And Daughters - "Silver Spell" (A JD Twitch Optimo Mix)
Format: 12" Year: 2011
Label: Domino
• • •
Buraka Som Sistema - "Kowalski" (A JD Twitch Optimo mix)
Format: TBA Year: 2011
Label: Bottletop
• • •
Ford & Lopatin - "Joey Rogers" (A JD Twitch Optimo Mix)
Format: Digital Year: 2011
Label: Mexican Summer
• • •
Franz & Shape - "Animal Scene" (A JD Twitch Optimo mix)
Format: TBA Year: 2011
Label: TBA
• • •
Glasvegas - "Shine Like Stars" (A JD Twitch Optimo Mix)
Format: TBA Year: 2011
Label: Columbia
• • •
Factory Floor - "~ R E A L L O V E" (An Optimo (Espacio) Mix)
Format: 12" Year: 2011
Label: Optimo Music
• • •
Midnight Lion - "All Greatness" (A JD Twitch Optimo mix)
Format: TBA Year: 2011
Label: Island Records
• • •
White Lies - "Biigger Than Us" (A JD Twitch Optimo Mix)
Format: TBA Year: 2011
Label: Fiction Records
• • •
Mr. Lee - "Pump Up Chicago" (JD Twitch edit)
Format: 12" / CD Year: 2011
Label: Trax / Harmless
• • •
Space System - "Nocturnal Creatures" (A JD Twitch Optimo Mix)
Format: 12" Year: 2010
Label: Space Rec. / Optimo Music
• • •
Silver Columns - "Brow Beaten" (A JD Twitch Optimo Mix)
Format: TBA Year: 2010
Label: Moshi Moshi
• • •
Harald Grosskoph - "Emphasis" (A JD Twitch Reversion)
Format: CD Year: 2010
Label: RVNG
• • •
Un Cadavre - "Signals" (A JD Twitch Optimo mix)
Format: CD Year: 2010
Label: Knew Noise Recordings
• • •
Command V - "Lost On Me" (A JD Twitch Optimo Mix)
Format: TBA Year: 2010
Label: This Is Not An Exit
• • •
Konono No. 1 - "Wumbanzanga" (A JD Twitch Optimo Mix)
Format: CD Year: 2010
Label: Crammed
• • •
Cold Cave - "Life Magazine" (An Optimo (Espacio) Mix)
Format: 12" Year: 2010
Label: Matador
• • •
Pollyester - "German Love Letter" (An Optimo (Espacio) Mix)
Format: 12" Year: 2010
Label: Permanent Vacation
• • •
Gyratory System - "Yowser Yowser" (An Optimo (Espacio) Mix)
Format: Digital Year: 2009
Label: Angular Recording Company
• • •
Invasion - "Spell" (An Optimo (Espacio) Edit)
Format: 10" Year: 2009
Label: Thisismusic
• • •
Boris - "Buzz-In" (An Optimo (Espacio) Mix)
Format: Digital Year: 2009
Label: Scion
• • •
KXP - "18 Hours (Of Love)" (An Optimo (Espacio) Mix)
Format: 12" Year: 2009
Label: Smalltown Supersound
• • •
Manic Street Preachers - "Journal For Plague Lovers" (An Optimo (Espacio) Mix)
Format: 2 X 12" Year: 2009
Label: Heavenly
• • •
Florence And The Machine - "Dog Days Are Over " (An Optimo (Espacio) Mix)
Format: 12" / 7" Year: 2009
Label: Moshi Moshi
• • •
The Presets - "Talk Like That" (An Optimo (Espacio) Mix)
Format: 12" Year: 2009
Label: Modular Records
• • •
Dave P and Adam Sparkles - "Sunday Night In Glasgow" (Twitch's "I Watched My Bassbins In 91" Mix)
Format: 12" Year: 2008
Label: Satellite Of Love
• • •
Capricorn - "20Hz" (Optimo Edit)
Format: 12" Year: 2008
Label: R&S
• • •
Liquid Liquid - "Optimo" (An Optimo (Espacio) Mix)
Format: 12" Year: 2008
Label: Domino Records
• • •
The Shortwave Set - "No Social" (An Optimo (Espacio) Mix) / An Optimo (Espacio) dub mix)
Format: 10" Year: 2008
Label: Wall of Sound
• • •
Captain - "Animal" (An Optimo (Espacio) Mix)
Format: Unreleased Year: 2008
Label: EMI
• • •
Colder - "To The Music" (An Optimo (Espacio) Mix)
Format: 12" Year: 2008
Label: Output
• • •
Prinzhorn Dance School - "Space Invader" (An Optimo (Espacio) Version)
Format: 12" Year: 2008
Label: DFA
• • •
Panico - "Guadalupe" (An Optimo (Espacio) Mix)
Format: 12" Year: 2008
Label: Tigersushi
• • •
Pharoahe Monch - "Body Baby" (An Optimo (Espacio) Mix)
Format: 12" / 7" / CD Year: 2008
Label: Universal
• • •
Allez Allez - "She's Stirring Up" (An Optimo (Espacio) Drum Attack)
Format: 12" Year: 2008
Label: Eskimo Recordings
• • •
Pepe Deluxe - "Go For Blue" (An Optimo (Espacio) 3rd Summer of Love Version)
Format: 7" & CD Year: 2008
Label: Catskills Records
• • •
Cobra Dukes - "Airtight" (An Optimo (Espacio) Mix)
Format: 12" Year: 2008
Label: Glasgow Underground
• • •
Lottergirls - "The Day The World Turned Dayglo" (An Optimo (Espacio) Mix)
Format: 12" Year: 2008
Label: Four Music
• • •
Little Barrie - "Cash In" (An Optimo (Espacio) Beat Version) / An Optimo (Espacio) Beatless Version)
Format: Unreleased Year: 2007
Label: Genuine Records
• • •
Tussle - "Elephant" (JD Twitch's Optimo Fuckhead mix)
Format: 12" Year: 2007
Label: Smalltown Supersound
• • •
The Glimmers - "Wanna Make Out" (An Optimo (Espacio) Dub)
Format: 12" Year: 2007
Label: Diskimo
• • •
Love Is All - "Busy Doing Nothing" (An Optimo (Espacio) Refreak) / An Optimo (Espacio) Remix)
Format: 12" / CD Year: 2007
Label: Parlophone
• • •
They Came From The Stars, I Saw Them - "It's Time" (An Optimo (Espacio) Mix)
Format: 12" Year: 2006
Label: Thisisnotanexit Records
• • •
Peter, Bjorn and John - "Let's Call It Off" (JD Twitch's Optimo mix)
Format: Unreleased Year: 2006
Label: Wichita Recordings
• • •
The Gossip - "Listen Up!" (JD Twitch's Optimo mix)
Format: 12" Year: 2006
Label: Backyard Records
• • •
Franz Ferdinand - "Outsiders" (JD Twitch & The Truffle Club Remix)
Format: 12" Year: 2006
Label: Domino
• • •
Crazy Girl - "The Rebel" (JD Twitch's Gris Gris Optimo mix)
Format: 12" Year: 2006
Label: Tummy Touch Records
• • •
Dsico - "Walking" (JD Twitch Optimo mix)
Format: Digital Year: 2005
Label: Spasticated
Dsico is an Australian dude best known for being the king of the mash up under the alias Dsico that No-Talent Hack. Realising before most others that mash ups had been pretty much done to death, he proved that he did indeed have talent by recording and releasing an album of his own songs. I got to know Dsico via a file sharing site where we would have endless disagreements about music. I had been working on a (now aborted) remix for the Edinburgh band X Vectors but couldn't get the mix right so Dsico offered to tweak my final mix. In exchange I agreed to do a remix of one of his songs (I'm still not quite sure how this deal was negotiated - perhaps I was a wee bit tipsy?).
For this mix, I kept his vocals and bassline and reprogrammed everything else and tried to create an electro pop song. I'm not sure if I succeeded as it has a bit of a noisy klank in there which certainly isn't pop. Just as I started doing it, a synth I had won on Ebay arrived from Australia so it seemed fitting to use that. Thus, pretty much all the synth sounds come from an early 70's synth - a Korg 700S which was the synth Daniel Miller used to create all the sounds on The Normal's 'Warm Leatherette' - although I heavily processed them. The mix is available on a cd remix compilation of tracks from Dsico's album.
You can hear an unreleased dub mix of it here.
• • •
Rinocerose - "Bitch" (JD Twitch's Optimo mix)
Format: 12" Year: 2005
Label: V2
I wasn't too familair with this French band's work but they sent me an mp3 of the song and I really liked it. I don't think I could remix something I didn't like. It just wouldn't feel right. Both myself and Jonnie get asked to do loads of mixes but quite often we don't have time and even more often we will turn them down because we don't like them. This track is a full song and I kept all of the vocals in the remix. I think I prefer working with songs as my favourite part of doing a remix is the arrangement and songs lend themselves to a creative arrangement a lot better than instrumental tracks. At least to me they do. I actually used quite a lot of the original on this - two of their guitar parts and some synth too - but added a more electronic backing to it. It's a bit more conventional than most of the other remixes I've done (ie it doesn't do anything really crazy or stoopid) as I liked the groove of the original and wanted to keep it in that vein.
• • •
Trio Exklusiv - "Doors Open" (JD Twitch Optimo mix / JD Twitch Slotimo mix)
Format: 12" Year: 2005
Label: Klein Records
Rainer from Klein Records had us over to play his night in Vienna early in the year and it was one of our favourite gigs of 2005. Some months later he sent over Trio Exklusiv's cd and asked if there was anything I'd like to remix from it and this song leapt out. Trio Exclusiv are very loosely a jazz trio but their album was produced by the mighty Patrick Pulsinger so has quite a lot of electronics going on too. The original of this is maybe the most dancefloor friendly track on the record and Rainer asked if I would do a main mix and then something a little more freaked out. I did the more 'freaked out' mix first which coincided with me upgrading to Ableton Live 5. I kept some of the horns and the vocodered vocals and then built everything else using the midi side of Live 5. It is quite slow at around 113bpm and a little dark and spaced out. It was meant to be very minimal but much as I love minimal music I guess I can't help being maximal.
For the main mix I also kept the horn section and vocals from the original and used some of the same sequences I'd used in the other mix but changed the drums, added some more parts and increased the tempo. I also used a single note of Kid Congo's guitar sampled from the intro to a Gun Club song and used a midi chord feature in Live and a filter to create a sort of guitar synth freakout in the middle. This was done live in one take on top as I felt it needed something else to make it a bit more freaked out. There is also a tiny bit of vocal from the late and great Jeffrey Lee Pierce in there too. I hope he would be ok with that.
• • •
Kaos - "Now and Forever" (JD Twitch's Optimo mix)
Format: 12" Year: 2005
Label: K7
Kaos is a Berlin legend who has been making music and dj'ing for many, many years He put out his first solo album early in 2005 on Berlin's K7 and this is the second single from it. He emailed me direct to ask if I would remix it and after hearing the original, I immediately said yes. The original features the vocals of my good friends Khan and Snax aka Captain Comatose so I knew I was going to enjoy doing this, and I did! I programmed really stripped down and heavy drums and took a sample from an Israeli numbers station for a bit of audio subversion and added lots of synth patterns and effects. It's really in two parts as half way through it stops completely for a few seconds and then in comes a funk riff that then morphs into a rave-funk track. The whole thing has a really harsh sound to it and having been road tested at Optimo, I knew it would work on a big sound system. Whether anyone will play it is another matter. Incidentally, the promotional copies just call it an 'Optimo' mix but the released version will have the correct credits.
*stop press* - As it turns out, Khan took it upon himself to give this mix a name of his own devising for the finished copy. As he thinks it is so banging, he has christened it the 'Twitch Optimo Headbanger Mix'. Whatcha gonna do?
• • •
Sons And Daughters - "Dance Me In" (JD Twitch and The Truffle Club's Optimo Mix)
Format: 12" Year: 2005
Label: Domino Records
I adore Sons and Daughters and had been playing the original of this for sometime when myself and Jonnie got asked if we would like to remix something by them. Jonnie went for 'La Lune' and I chose this. The original worked pretty much perfectly on the dancefloor as it was but I wanted to beef it up and extend it slightly for club play, and make it so it could be mixed by djs. Basically I wanted to do an old school kind of remix where you keep the song completely intact but just enhance what is there to make it work better in a club. I always work on my own when doing remixes but for this I called in an old friend Dave Clark.
I released Dave's old band's first single over ten years ago, have released his more recent electronic music on OSCARR (The Truffle Club) and am aiming to release his new band's (Big Ned) amazing album later this year. Dave is a studio wizz and also a drummer so I gave him all the drum tracks and got him to reproduce them so that they were the same as the original drums but with a techno sheen. He did a wonderful job! I then built a new intro and added an extended drum, bass and vocal breakdown in the middle and bob was your uncle. Except he wasn't. The finished remix is very simple but I actually spent an age on this as working with the music of a live band who don't play to a click track is not very conducive to working with sequencers. Getting everything in time with everything else was a nightmare but I got there in the end. I hoped by doing this I hadn't spoiled the feel of the original song but thankfully the band didn't think I had. I then handed the whole thing back to Dave to do a clearer final mix than the one I had done. It was a really good way to work and definitely something I would do again if working on a remix for a band. Thanks Dave!
• • •
Jonathan Vance - "Sylvia The Eagle" (JD Twitch's Optimo mix)
Format: 12" Year: 2005
Label: Run Roc
In mid 2004 I got a package through the post from Run Roc records in New York containing a bunch of 12's and some cdrs of forthcoming releases. I particularly liked the original of this that was on one of the cds and so they asked me if I would like to have a go at remixing it. The original is a pretty sloppy sounding (in a good way) hypnotic rock track and I wanted to keep that feel. I kept all the original vocals and drums and programmed my own drums on top, added some loops from some old no wave records, some saxaphone and some synth arpeggios from my old Korg synth. I deliberately didn't want it to 'kick' so there's no big kick drum and overall I think I managed to get the kind of shambolic / falling apart at the seams kind of groove I was aiming for. Run Roc put out a few hundred promo copies but the finished package comes in a fabulous hand silk screened sleeve.
• • •
Dennis Young / Liquid Liquid - "Flextone" (JD Twitch's Optimo edit)
Format: 12" Year: 2005
Label: Rush Hour
Dennis Young is the marimba and percussion player with Liquid Liquid but he has also been making his own music for years and years which you can check out here. After Liquid Liquid played Optimo in 2003 I stayed in touch with Dennis via email and he sent me a cdr of his forthcoming solo album. I particularly liked the song he had done with Liquid Liquid vocalist Sal Principato called 'Signal Up Ahead' and when Rush Hour in Holland decided to release it as a single, Dennis asked me to remix it. I spent ages and ages working on it but couldn't come up with anything I was happy with so had to let him down. He then informed me that 'Flextone' which is far and away the best song from LL's final 1984 'Dig We Must' ep was going to be on the record too and suggested I re edit it. The original is very short so I more or less doubled the length, beefed up the bottom end and added some effects. This one was a total pleasure and an honour to do.
• • •
Denise Motto - "IMINXTC" (JD Twitch's Black Rabbit Whorehouse Optimo mix)
Format: 12" Year: 2005
Label: Skylax Records
The original of this was one of the first house records from Chicago I ever bought and probably the one that made me fall in love with house music. It came out in 1986 or 87 and was the sleaziest thing I had ever heard. Skylax records in Paris mentioned to me that they had the rights to it and I jumped at the chance to do a remix. I got a bit carried away and did three completely different ones in July of 2004. This is actually probably my least favourite of the three but it's the one they decided to use. However, it's the original mix that is the thing of wonder on this record. Just a drum machine, a bassline (later copied by Adonis for 'No Way Back)' and Denise's sultry, jacking vocals. Still sends shivers down my spine.
You can hear one of the unreleased mixes here.
• • •
Steve Poindexter - "Computer Madness" (JD Twitch's Industrial Madness Optimo mix)
Format: 12" Year: 2004
Label: Parisonic Records
The original of this was a total anthem at the club Pure that I did in Edinburgh from 1990 - 2000. From '89, basically it's just a drum machine and a bleep but it just oozes with Chicago house groove. I decided it was so classic that it was pretty much untouchable so I decided to do something really extreme. At the time (November 2003), I had been listening to a lot of my old 'metal bashing' / industrial records and so sampled tiny bits of Test Dept, Einsturzende Neubauten, Esplendor Geometrico and SPK and made up some industrial drum kits. I also banged some dustbin lids together and sampled them too. The end result is pretty nutsoid and I can't imagine many djs have played it out. I really like this one despite the fact that I got ripped off (I never got paid for doing it) and had to buy my own copy.
You can hear this remix here.
• • •
Ralphie Rosario - "In The Night" (The Optimo remix)
Format: 12" Year: 2003
Label: Parisonic Records
I never got paid for this one either and again I had to buy my own copy. But hey, what the heck, it was good practice and a thrill to remix a favourite song. The original is yet another really early Chicago house song (1988) that almost verges on synth pop. I invent genres to put on mp3s in iTunes almost every and that day (April 2003) had come up with 'drone house'. So I took some drones from something else I had been working on, took chunks of the original, programmed some really plastic sounding drums and added a break in the middle with guitar samples taken from an old Delta 5 track that probably put most djs off playing it out. I even managed to fit an Acid Mothers Temple vocal sample in there too. I used to play this at The Black Rabbit Whorehouse and was quite taken aback at how well it went down. Basically I did this, the Steve Poindexter and the Denise Motto because they had all been records that were a big part of my techno / house days and it was an honour to be asked to have a go at doing something with them. But, in every case, I would have to say that the originals are all pretty much untouchable.
One last thing - this was meant to be called the 'JD Twitch Optimo mix' but the label messed up. Myself and Wilkes never do remixes just under the 'Optimo' name but rather add 'Optimo' after our names.
You can hear this remix here.
• • •
Various - "Remember When We Used To Play EP"
Format: 12" Year: 2001
Label: OSCARR
• • •
