The underground has lost one of its most visionary voices with the passing of JD Twitch, born Keith McIvor, at 57. In July, he revealed he was facing a terminal illness, and this week, the devastating news of his death rippled through the global dance community. From his early days diving headfirst into post-punk and acid house to running chaotic nights in Edinburgh before finding a home at Glasgow’s Sub Club, JD Twitch was never just a DJ. He was a producer, promoter, remixer, label head, and above all, a connector – someone with an instinct for discovery, weaving unlikely records together or constructing new dance floor weapons to create something stranger, fresher, and better.

His partnership with Jonnie Wilkes (aka JG Wilkes) as Optimo (Espacio) sparked a cultural firestorm. Their Sunday night residency at Sub Club wasn’t just a weekly party, it was a ritual – sweaty, unpredictable, and charged with the thrill of the unknown. One moment you’d be locked into Detroit techno, the next jolted into Afrobeat, punk, or disco, and it all somehow made perfect sense. Optimo turned the element of surprise into an art form, a philosophy that carried them across the world and cemented their name as a byword for borderless, uncompromising DJing.

Beyond the booth, JD Twitch used the Optimo Music imprint to amplify voices that might have otherwise gone unheard. He was tireless in his pursuit of overlooked corners of global sound: forgotten post-punk 7-inches, rare African funk LPs, jagged electronic experiments, and beyond. His sets weren’t just about moving bodies but shifting perspectives – proving that curation could be an act of care, and that music history wasn’t static but a living, breathing force to be shared, celebrated, and pushed forward.

Since his diagnosis, Wilkes carried on with Optimo’s tour dates, dedicating every set to his partner. At this year’s Love International Festival, he closed with Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s “The Power Of Love,” leaving not a dry eye in the room (watch here). It was a moment that encapsulated just how profoundly JD Twitch’s presence had touched people everywhere. He showed us how adventurous, messy, and alive DJing could be – and his spirit will remain etched in the DNA of modern club culture.

Tributes from across the electronic music world have been flooding in for the late JD Twitch, a true pioneer whose influence stretched far beyond the dance floor. To honor his legacy, Beatportal invited a selection of artists to share their favorite Optimo Music and JD Twitch tracks – and reflect on how his artistry shaped their own journeys.

Sean Johnston (ALFOS / Hardway Bros)

Keith instinctively understood Jeremy Deller’s idea of acid house as folk art. Deller had reframed "Voodoo Ray" as community music through the Williams Fairey Brass Band, and Keith pushed that idea further. His remix added steelpan, gospel-like vocals and Frankie Knuckles-style piano lines, re-casting it for the dance floor. The result became a dialogue across traditions: Manchester acid house, colliery brass, Caribbean steelpan, Chicago house and Glasgow clubs.

Now, with Keith gone, the remix resonates as an emblem of his curatorial genius. He did not just make a floor-filler, he honored Deller’s idea that folk art is what communities create together. The remix is both joyful and memorial, a hymn to the crowd as much as to the track itself.

Listening today, you hear more than just a cover or a rework. You hear Keith placing himself inside a lineage of folk musics, showing that rave, house and disco belong there too. That is his legacy, music as shared memory, carried forward by communities rather than institutions.

Daniel Avery

I count Optimo as one of the reasons I ever even turned my head towards club culture as a teenager. Their How To Kill The DJ mix alone cemented Glasgow night as a near-mythical being in my mind. To be honest, I still feel that way about what Optimo represents. It was such an immense honour to release music on their label, teaming up with the legendary Justin Robertson, no less, and remixed by the uniquely brilliant Barnt. It remains one of my proudest moments.

Thank you, Keith. You improved the lives of so many people x

Heidi Lawden

I can’t ever remember a time when Optimo weren’t on my radar, regrettably, I never attended their Sunday night residency at Glasgow’s Sub Club, but it was infamous. Pre-internet, it was talked about in record stores, post-internet on forums, where DJs discuss whose played and was playing what. Years later I’d moved to LA and they were coming to town, maybe for the first time (memory fades) they’d brought vinyl, they needed cartridges, the call came out to me via the promoter and I was happy to deliver mine (not sure I got them back ;), we’d all planned to go to the party in any case, many of my friends not quite knowing what they were signing up for - a f-ing treat of musical delicacies and cheeky moments contextualized to perfection. I've seen them many times since, and there’s always a 'great DJ’s play what you didn’t know you needed to hear moment.

But I digress, this mix of Dickie Landry’s “Hang The Rich” by JD Twitch has not left my stick since I was sent it a bit over a year ago. You wouldn’t imagine hearing these two on the same release, the genius of DFA right there, and I can’t imagine anyone more perfect for the job. An absolute dance floor exciter while not losing any of the live feeling, kinda makes me wanna move every part of my body in a million different directions at the same damn time. The vocals of Evelyn Ernhard screaming 'Hang the rich, Hang em' as his mix crescendos are the chef's kiss. I played it this past weekend in Freddies, Pikes Ibiza, and the energy on the floor from those who knew what it was and those who didn’t, was through the roof. In an era of copy-paste, for the gram, for clout, perfect blends and press play, JD Twitch inspires us all to continue to fuck all that.

Man Power

I suppose it's the ultimate Optimo Remix/Re-Edit, as it's based on the Liquid Liquid track from which they took their name. As a record, it's probably up there in my most played tunes in clubs over the last 20 years since it was released. Ultimately, I think if I were to say who my tribe was in music, it would probably be most honest to say that I come from a select group of people who have been ripping off Optimo in one way or another for the last 25+ years. There's nobody who has inspired me more, especially in that pre-social media time when it could be very lonely if you had broad tastes, and I know I'm not alone. It was my ultimate delight and privilege to become their friend after being their acolyte for so long before that.

Mona Dehghan (VP Marketing, Mute North America / WFMU DJ)

The first time I heard an Optimo set, my mind was blown. It's like they took my record collection and somehow seamlessly mixed it into one exciting and unpretentious celebration of music. I'd particularly never heard all my favorite obscure goth and industrial tracks presented in such a joyous context before. I learned so much from his unmatched skills and curation, and I continue to feel inspired by the mind expansion and open-heartedness he fostered on the dance floor.

Andy Butler (Hercules & Love Affair)

Optimo introduced me to Minimal Compact with their remix of “Deadly Weapons.” This intro to one of the legendary post punk bands of Belgium, a country I’ve called home for years now, was a gateway into the incredibly exciting and diverse world of '80s Belgian music. The track is a pumping pogo that nods to Yello Kraftwerk while still rocking, and it still gets the room shaking. Keith and Jonnie showed me and the world obscurities that could convince anyone to dance.

Galen (Founder, Sunset Sound System)

The relationship between Sunset Sound System (myself and Solar) and Optimo (Espacio), Keith and Jonnie, was one of fluidity and instant kindred connection. Both of us were in long-term musical partnerships rooted in the foundations and respect of acid house culture. We often joked that these relationships were our longest marriages in life, bound together in musical mayhem of the most magical kind. Of course, there was also a deep admiration for Keith and his unique, mind-melding approach to DJing, with his seemingly complex and avant-garde style of curation, programming, and song selection.

He had a way of dropping tracks that almost no other DJ could pull off, yet he managed to blend them seamlessly and create the perfect energetic scenario you didn’t even know you wanted – then loved with wild abandon. His musical prowess, combined with his kind and endearing spirit, made Keith a standout force and an honor to share the decks with on several occasions. This track, for me, is the one that brings all the feels back – not only of hearing and dancing to this master at play, but also of a legacy of music that will live on for eternity.