One More Tune: ILX and Friends Celebrate JD Twitch

We are live.

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2577892623_16.jpg

https://thedarkoutside.bandcamp.com/album/ilx-and-friends-celebrate-jd-twitch-one-more-tune

My deep thanks to everyone who has assisted and contributed.

Please spread the word wide.

Thank you all again.

Cool.

yay, can't wait to listen!

Sounds amazing.

Sold <3

Stoked for this, thanks Ned for organizing this (and everyone who contributed!)

This is the stuff.

So far, I've shared it to my FB account, my FB music page, two music promotion FB groups that I'm in, the Discord server that imago is in and I help run, and another server that I help run.

Sounding great so far :)

Thank you Ned.

I'll be honest, I didn't know what to expect as it was put together so quickly. But holy shit, it is EXCELLENT. I am absolutely positive Keith will love it. Tracks you could hear during the (Espacio) first hour and others during Optimo. Brilliant work everyone.

this Friday is Bandcamp Friday - guessing it would be better to get it then?

Whenever you'd like! That timing wasn't planned, but it can't hurt for sure.

Wait… is max 404 (as in, the dutch producer) an ilx poster!?

He is now! (He joined and posted on the thread where this was coming together.)

I made a mix years ago that I posted to mixcloud and shared somewhere and he was on it, and Keith was really impressed!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvbSnFZA80s

Well done, you bunch of smashers!

Looking forward to listening! I've done a fb & IG, I'll do a post on Blue sky tomorrow, I'll also did a mailout tonight, so went to a few hundred through that... Oh and share it on my Bandcamp community.

@clairhotgem

DFA has a great Optimo shirt. Would be great of they gave the comp a shout.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DMbIuASSrEq/?igsh=cnBtcjBpODIwaWR3

Well done to one and all, it's a thing of beauty. Looking forward to listening to the whole thing.

My track title translates as 'The First Hour' :-)

DFA has a great Optimo shirt. Would be great of they gave the comp a shout.

what does this post say?

I think the intention is to find a way for DFA to share info about the comp?

Some good stuff throughout this but wow @ the closing stretch

Just to say that the long file names meant that I had problems with unzipping, and then again with adding to iTunes: I had to manually shorten all the file names. Hopefully that's not a universal problem...

Didn’t experience that on my end at all at any point in the process so I’m not sure what to suggest. You’re running an up to date version?

Probably not! It might be a "just me" thing, then - and it wasn't too hard to do the workaround. So I am now happily playing through the downloaded MP3s and enjoying them very much.

Oh this is amazing! I know I said I would contribute, but sadly life became extremely busy and I didn't want to submit anything sub-par. It's wonderful to see this compilation take shape and see it all presented like this. Well done everyone.

Just read the virtual CD booklet PDF - lovely stuff.

Really pleased you went with One More Tune as the title, as well!

It just worked! And I was wondering what folks would think of the booklet

DFA has a great Optimo shirt. Would be great of they gave the comp a shout.

what does this post say?

Picture of the shirt, which is yellow with orange text saying "NO DFA WITHOUT OPTIMO" and then the post text itself:

dfarecs

Edited
•
6d
The Glasgow New York Transatlantic Connection™ between Optimo and DFA is real, and it goes back to the beginning. The Rapture played at Optimo first, in the summer of 2002, with Keith and Jonnie flying to New York to DJ James’ DFA party at APT later that same year. They’ve played our records, hosted our artists, DJ’d our parties, contributed remixes and records to the DFA catalog, hugged us sweatily into the night, and been more than family ever since.

You may have heard that Keith was recently diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor. A crowdfunder has been established to help cover the cost of his care with, in true Keith form, any surplus going to benefit the many very real and local causes that the man has supported all of his brilliant career. The struggle of our dear friend has generated a righteous and justified wave of support from people all around the world, and not least from all of the good humans of DFA.

This shirt is our tiny way of trying to raise money for our friend (every bit of profit will go to Keith’s fund) but it’s also an opportunity for us to show love and respect where it’s so truly deserved, with a truth:

No DFA Without Optimo.

For Keith + his family, Jonnie, and all our friends in Glasgow and abroad. We love you very much.

(Link to buy this shirt in our bio. We'll post a link to the Crowdfunder in our story highlights, too.)

👍🏼

this community and each of you are so amazing to me, i appreciate just to observe it all. thx. i’m enjoying the tracks.

Lovely to see we're already closing in on around 500 pounds raised -- and that people are leaving reviews and comments there too!

Bandcamp tells me it's £723.23 so far
Thank you to everyone that has paid over the odds - you know who you are

On Bandcamp Friday, if you have a spare £5, why not treat a friend with a gift ?

nice.

Here’s the public / actual link for the DFA shirt: https://store.dfarecords.com/products/no-dfa-without-optimo-t-shirt

For those wanting a quick currency crunch, that's nearly a thousand dollars raised so far -- and like frenchbloke said, that's come down to people paying over the baseline. Deeply appreciated.

My track title translates as 'The First Hour' :-)

I admit I was wondering!

A quick note that as our efforts continue, many others are showing up in their own right — today, per his Crowdfunder page, an anonymous person or group kicked in 10,000 pounds for it. We are very much in good company around the world.

ILX roolz. Thanks all.

I'm on the penultimate tune, and I think the track sequencing has been excellent - as LJ says, the closing run of clubbier tunes is amazing.

if my relentless self-promotion hasn't been clear, I'm New York Endless, and was excited for Ned's deadline to give me a reason to actually start and "finish" something.

I don't who Three Daughters is/are, but my stars, thank you! It's like some amazing lost outtake from Microphonies era CV

Three Daughters may or may not be a bloke and he may or may not be French.

Ah right, gallicdude

I tip my chapeau then sir

loved hearing everybody's tracks, thank you all

this is so great

A truly great tale.

brilliant stuff tracer hand.
ta for sharing.

only met JD Twitch once, when he was doing an Optimo night here in Brooklyn some 20-ish years ago (though he was always one of my fave ilm posters). I asked what track he was playing and he generously hunted around for the info, not showing any irritation at being interrupted while DJing. his gentle enthusiastic personality came through in his posts too. despite the success of Optimo, he was humble and approachable. wish I'd had the chance to know him better. RIP

paul, was that night at Studio B by any chance? I had a ticket to see them there around that time and I think the wrong date was printed on my ticket and I missed it :(

sorry you missed the night and strange that I can't remember the club's name as I went there a few times. it was in Williamsburg or more probably Greenpoint and had a dancefloor which was surrounded on 2 or more sides by a short raised balcony, so that the floor appeared recessed/sunken (throwback to the 70s/80s). feels like yesterday, but that's what parenting will do (accelerate you decades into the future).

Hey Paul :)

of course there's no way I wouldn't have heard about Optimo given I was friends with its biggest booster ;)

Paul - that sounds like it! I somehow managed to miss them multiple times when they came through NYC in the 2000s - once because a friend of mine had passed, another time I think I had a family obligation or something. Going to Sub Club when I visited a friend in Glasgow was my first time properly seeing them I think!

Tracer Hand. One of the great mysteries of life, which I never quite got around to questioning stir was that there was a Pure AND an Optimo on millemium eve. I went to Pure at, I think, the Old Fruitmarket, but there was definitely an Optimo that night too. I never got round to asking how he did both!

I don’t think I saw them at studio b but I opened up for Keith at the old glasslands. With Tim Sweeney. Met Keith at passerby I think at James Murphy’s night. Also seen them more recently at nowadays and knockdown.

But once during a quick visit to Glasgow, where we planned it so we’d be there on a Sunday, we got to go to optimo at sub club. Was a blast.

the millennium pure was at the old fruitmarket, yes. I was there, it was amazing

Wonderful story, Tracer! Love and Light, to you!

"I can re-upload that Lark Ascending mix again. To be honest, other than stir coming out of the ether and giving me into trouble for sharing it, the two I was also worried about were jed and Frenchbloke, but as they're okay with it, I can relax.

― GS (Griff Sheridan), "

I was about to do it myself, Griff. Thanks for sharing. Love and Light to you too (and I'm also wondering if I know you, "elsewhere" I surely do)

Some lovely words from Keith's sister Julie on FB:

❤️ ❤️ ❤️ Forever together❤️ ❤️ ❤️

Thank you all for your kind birthday messages.

Knowing I was in so many of your thoughts meant even more this year, as my beloved brother Keith passed away on my birthday.

Keith left us peacefully after being diagnosed in June with an inoperable brain cancer. He passed knowing how loved he was and that he had touched a great number of lives - through his music, his activism and his generous heart.

The outpouring of tributes to Keith has been extraordinary and a validation of the soul he was, and how widely his talent and compassion reached.

Keith, no amount of reflected writing can ever fully capture what you mean to me.

You were so many things to so many people.

To me, you were always my little brother.

From the day you were born, I was in love with you and you were a treasure in my life. I wanted to be the one holding you and pushing you in your pram - even if bending down to kiss you meant sometimes losing a handful of hair.

Though you were born Martin, I insisted on calling you Keith, as I loved my Uncle Keith so much and would love you even more. I was already so proud of you then, but I could have no idea how high this tiny boy with a magnetic smile and curly sun-kissed hair would rise and how trail-blazing and influential you would become.

I found you so handsome with your sparkling ice-blue eyes and you generously let me cut your hair for you at school.

We had crushes together on the Osmonds - me on Donny (who I was all set to marry), and you on Marie… until Debbie Harry came along. We fought over AC/DC’s Highway to Hell album when the Barret helicopter came to a neighbouring housing estate, although I suspect you finally won when I discovered some of my records missing when I returned home from university.

You visited me in Lyon and I convinced you to dress up for the Rocky Horror show, billing at the local cinema. We were the only ones in drag and got thrown out for chucking rice, newspapers and water, but despite raised eyebrows we walked home with dignity, in our fishnets and stilettos.

You fell in love with Depeche Mode when I took you to their early french concert and I dragged you to some of my favorite gothic clubs.

We went to see Junior Vasquez with Jill at the Sound Factory when I lived in NY. What an incredible club, and what an incredible sound. I had to smuggle in Garage Cow, who got thrown up into Vasquez’ booth for a micro second of celebrity before he came hurtling back out again, like one of the scratched records that made Vasquez irate. By some miracle, despite the thousands of clubbers, we did get him back safe and sound, if a little grubby.

But it was Gong’s Camembert Electrique and Hawkwind that I remember most, emanating from your bedroom in Cherry Tree Park, along with wisps of illicit cigarette smoke.

Dad confided he was worried when you seemed set on a music career and asked me how we could coax you into a decently paying, secure office job.

Not many years later, both Dad and Elizabeth proudly attended your first experimental Sunday night set in Glasgow – later to become Optimo.

I hope you know that I was always your biggest fan.

I came to every Pure, 1992 and Optimo night that I possibly could get to, bringing along all my friends, many with no idea what they were in for. These were memorable moments of great joy and immense pride for me, watching you in your element, participating in your happiness, dancing our socks off. Your gift of reading the room, captivating any crowd (even the die-hard uninitiated), and lifting their energy to places they couldn’t anticipate, made each set unique and magical. Your unpredictable choices of music, the way you created something extraordinary out of tracks that had never been heard together.

You were tirelessly creative.

I recall the 200 hours of painstakingly reworked 80’s BPM’s you prepared for the Cure ‘Ultra-Goth after-party’, and how we danced unforgettably at the Berkley Suite to original music that had never before been able to be mixed. The Cult, Killing Joke and Kate Bush married together for the first time. You transported us somewhere completely new, yet heartwarmingly nostalgic. We were in our element and entranced by your spell.

You always forged your own way, taking the road less travelled, ignoring the superhighways of commercial extroversion others were drawn to. You did this with courage, with humour and with kindness. You inspired others to want to walk this same path of adventure.

You were provocative. Faced with an intimidating ‘Cease and Desist’ issued by a major commercial music label, who clearly didn’t appreciate your Post-Punk Cult Classics album title poking fun at the ‘Now That’s What I Call Music’ era, you instantly changed its name to (Cease and Desist) DIY! and relaunched it.

Your heart was vast. You were inclusive. You played at small gigs you believed in, even when financially it didn’t make sense - or when travel schedules were hellish. You took time out to give advice to young dj’s dreaming of a life like yours, even when they didn’t say thank you (with a generous and reasoned lesson on gratitude offered, to boot). You regularly planned gigs to give selflessly and abundantly to the Glasgow Food banks and those who had less. You believed in a better way of living and in bringing people together to achieve the best of what was possible. All while doing what you loved.

You loved animals (synthetic and real) but possibly didn’t fully understand my deep passion for all things fluffy until Zara came along. But you still loved mine and Ramona had a special bond with you and came all the way from Paris to visit you, her first time out of the country.

Keith, you were my little brother, but you were also my rock, my protector, the gentle person who would always understand and be there to listen when I needed to talk. Although our two lives weren't frequently intertwined, we took every chance to see each other and when we did it was as though no time had gone by. You were always at the end of a phone and I could fill a whole answer machine talking to you (as I did once when my message recorded all the way to the end of your tape - you told me teasingly that it was so long, it never got taped over, not even on an Optimo night when hundreds of hopefuls were leaving messages trying to get on the guest list).

And there is, and will always be, so much more… we shared so many moments, yet these were not nearly enough.

My dearest, darling, sweet brother, how I will miss you. I can hardly imagine my world without you. I grieve your departure with every beat of my heart.

You left on my birthday so we are forever connected. I love you. Always. I know we will meet again. ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

Thank you for sharing that. I'm not on social media, so would have missed. Really heartbreaking.

Oh man.

Yeah, gutting and also beautiful

indeed. am genuinely boggling at the amount of stuff that keith managed to fit into his life, and not bullshit stuff either but real things, beautiful things, things that added magic to peoples lives.

am off up to london this evening with colonel poo to go and see jonnie play in camden. really feeling for him at the moment, feel like he's got so much on his shoulders.

some of my favourite Optimo memories.

<3

I have found what words I can.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/some-weekly-163-139585080

Thanks for this Ned. The stirmonster handle came from back in the very early days of chatrooms, where he wanted to go on one to wind up some 'indie kids', as he put it, so chose stirmonster, as he was stirring up mischief about something-or-other. I'm sure there's a more modern term for it. He was also a pioneer of the online wind up too it would seem!

Ha, brilliant. A perfect neologism.

That's so mad, I never knew that and I used to do that in chatrooms in my teens. I always assumed stirmonster was sort of related to something like that but couldn't be sure, lol.

i had thought it had to do with mixing!

James Murphy wore the “No DFA Without OPTIMO” shirt at the Hollywood Bowl tonight


and closed out their year by saying “we love you Keith” after playing All My Friends

Stet wore that T-shirt to see Pulp at the Hollywood Bowl the previous night!

Brain dump while it's still freshly imprinted on my lobes, thought i'd share it here too, sorry for self-indulgence...

Went to Optimo at the Jazz Cafe in London last night. Pretty great but it’s going to take a while to process the emotions. Super sad but also a lot of joy. Loads of Scottish people there, good mix of ages, lots of tears, lots of togetherness. Felt like I hugged a lot of strangers. Even in the queue for the cloakroom right at the start we were hugging people. Great set from Jonnie, 4.5 hours i think, started out slowly with some spirital free jazz, then slowly wound things up. Played Dadawah 'Run Come Rally' early on, top quality vibrations. Main part of the set was mostly in the chuggy zone and slower house tempos, obviously there were a whole bunch Optimo classics sprinkled in there (skatt brothers into 'energy flash', madonna 'hung up', a bit of a singalong to 'the sun can't compare'). played this one long thing with beeping car horns, which we've heard him play before, anyone know what that one is? its still a mystery to us. Jonnie had a photo of Keith in a silver picture frame sitting in the booth behind him, which absolutely destroyed me when i saw it, my heart just leaped. He held it aloft when he played Hurt at the end of the set, it was heartbreaking. Chatted with my guy Parris out in the smoking area, told him that 10 out of 10 customers said they were highly satisfied with him playing his sleazed-out disco version of Anarchy In The UK at Watching Tress in 2024 (this has has taken on mythic status in our little gang). There was a guy in a wheelchair in the middle of the dance which was so wonderful to see, and I had a bit of a chat and a hug with him and his girlfriend. Bought them beers cos i assumed it was difficult for them to get to the bar. Hope I wasn’t too much of a menace. Got back home at 6:30 this morning, gotta go off to work for a couple of hours in a bit. Mark had a great time and we got to dance on the stage and i didn't even have to stop him stagediving once. My brain is trashed. RIP stirmonster, hope you felt the love.

The honking car horns track might be one of these from Jonnie's Car Mix. Tracklist:

Bob Thompson - Le Mans (from "Sound of Speed")
Jean Michel Jarre - Le car / Le chasse neige
Kraftwerk - Autobahn (Edit 1)
Sound Effects
The Normal - Warm Leatherette
Adam Ant - Car Trouble
Johnny Cash - One Piece at a Time
Nurse with Wound - Cruisin' for a Bruisin'
Visnadi - Racing Tracks
L'Trimm - Cars That Go Boom
Mach - On& On (edit )
Cybotron - Cosmic Cars
Kraftwerk - Autobahn (Edit 2)
Chris and Cosey - Driving Blind
The Katzenjammers - Cars
Gary Numan - Cars
AJ McGhee - Bentleys and Hummers
Squarepusher - My Hot Red Car
The Cars - Drive

oh good shout - will check it out!

yeah it's that NWW track, thought i recognised it! thanks so much :)

ha awesome, love that one

so good!

Hi all. After Keith passed away I had an idea to do a walk around some places in Glasgow where we shared the same space before we knew each other and some from after we'd met. I did the walk on Sunday 28 September and called it the Stir Stroll. I had thought about doing it with others, but decided to do it alone. I then thought about what I'd listen to and decided to choose a playlist of tracks that were relevant to my memories of the different places. Finally, rather than writing about it, I decided to record some words at each place. I never intended to produce anything from it, this kind of emerged from the process. However, today I combined the words and music and thought that I would share it with you.

https://soundcloud.com/robodisko/stir-stroll

It was never my intention to let anyone hear this, but I am aware that many of you are far from Glasgow, so I thought it might be of interest to share some of those memories from the city from the last 30 years.

It isn't scripted, just what I was thinking of at the time.

Forgive my thick Glasgow accent. However, I am both from Glasgow and thick...*

Stet wore that T-shirt to see Pulp at the Hollywood Bowl the previous night!

I wore my shirt the other night when we had friends over, and it was fun to explain to them all what the t-shirt meant. It might as well have been in Esperanto.

Thanks Griff. It's a lovely thing you've done.

Amazing listen Griff.

🤍

Wow. That was really lovely Griff. I can picture it all - the walk and the reminiscences from yesteryear. Thank you for doing that.

I was fond of Mas as well. And Planet Peach/Cube - the chaotic Optimo odyssey years. My memory of around then is living way out of town and trying to work out how to get in for Sunday night and hold down a job, life etc. I mind the bride and groom dancing after the wedding….if memory serves wasnt one of the marry-ees Jackie McKeown from The Yummy Fur/1990s??

Optimo will always mean the world to me. I didn’t really tell Keith that as I thought best not to drunkenly mither him too much.

Never did make it to one of the Black Rabbit Whorehouse nights though

did a good one of those with michael mayer djing after a justus kohncke live show, in the arches. circa 2005 i guess.

Hey Humphrey P, thank you, it's nice to hear that.

Yes, so it was the guy from the Yummy Fur who was getting married to someone called Emily. Definitely happened, there are now several independent witnesses. My sanity, it would seem, on that matter is intact!!!

Perfect getting ready to go out music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRCdwVIsUuY

An NYU professor named Sikhdev Sandhu hosts a semi-regular gathering called Colloquium of Unpopular Culture. He's shown the scottish post-punk and L Voag documenteries, had a listening event for Peter Blegved's radio shows, things like that. He's hosting a tribute to soon and invited me and some others to take part. I've spread the word to a few other likeminded folk in the area. If you're around an interested, here's the details:

Monday 20 October: Keep Those Dreams Burning - A Celebration of Keith McIvor.
“’Tormented’, Keith said, “is a good way to describe what life is like without the release of dancing and listening together.” Across time, coming here often, he and his Optimo partner Jonnie Wilkes brought together - untormented - so many New Yorkers. Tonight friends and collaborators - among them Luke Fowler, Dan Selzer, Michael Train - will remember, give thanks.
WHEN: Monday 20 October 2025, 6:45pm
WHERE: Room 106, 244 Greene Street [between Waverly Place and Washington Place]
Free, open to all, non-NYU guests must RSVP to - ss✧✧✧@n✧✧.e✧✧

https://www.instagram.com/p/DPmEMdyDUzw/

typo up there, that's Sukhdev. He's also responsible for Texte Und Töne. https://www.texteundtone.com/

Boosting the thread to note the event Dan S. has just mentioned in the previous posts, to take place a week from now.

That is great, dan - will this be streamed or recorded?

I don't think so. It's usually a pretty low-key off the cuff type of event.

I see, cool. Have a great night, pal.

a more official post on the NYU site:

https://as.nyu.edu/departments/sca/events/fall-2025-/keep-those-dreams-burning.html

The formal Glasgow memorial event has been announced.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DQRsTleCLwA/