Optimo: Forever Mixing It Up

Dance music legends don't come much more consistently creative and jaw-droppingly inspirational than Optimo, the DJ pairing of Glasgae music lovers Twitch and JG Wilkes.

Having recently called time on their much loved weekly Glasgow party of the same name, the pair have already set up a new night - Hung Up! - to showcase the city's deep rooted musical talents.

We caught up with the duo ahead of their set at Stop Making Sense this September to find out more...

Summer's coming, what's on the agenda?
Twitch: "On the road all the time but hopefully will get a bit of time to relax."
JG Wilkes: "2 or 3 club gigs most weekends. Rockness, The Electric Frog, Glastonbury, Ibiza, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, USA."

Tell us about your latest projects?
Twitch: "Working on my label - Optimo Music. In the studio producing Scottish legends Sons and Daughters. Lots of remixing."
JG: "We run a new weekly party on Sunday in Glasgow called "Hung Up!" It's at the Sub Club. We program the line-ups, local and international, both live acts and dj's and we play at it occasionally ourselves. Hung up! has run 3 weeks now with great local dj's playing and it's taking shape nicely. Next week, 30th May, Twitch will DJ and Chromehoof will perform live - should be great. Other stuff…We're doing an Optimo party on a paddle steamer on the River Clyde and another on The Thames in London. We are also co-curating an all-day event at Tramway Glasgow on June 26th which culminates in an evening performance by one of our all-time favourite bands "Nurse with Wound" - we've called it 'A Midsummer Day's Dream with Nurse with Wound'. There's some surprises planned too for the Summer/Autumn period."

What current artists are you drawing inspiration from right now?
Twitch: "Amal Saha, Group Doueh, Chrissy Zebby Tembo, Troup Majidi, Christoph Buchel."
JG: "Nurse with Wound, The Comeme artists, Divorce, Arvo Part, David Hammons, Factory Floor, Wooden Shjips, Paul McCarthy, Levon Vincent and more."

What can we expect from your show at Stop Making Sense?
Twitch: "Lots of dancing."
JG: "Music we honestly love that we hope will make people want to dance."

Who are you most looking forward to seeing play at the festival?
JG: "Matias Aguayo."

Any unusual festival tips?
JG: "I'm a relatively inexperienced festival goer and am usually in and out… I guess I would say remember that mosquitoes can ruin everything…. apparently Catnip is a more powerful repellant than DEET."

Where will we find you at sunrise on Sunday morning?
JG: "Somewhere quiet."

SMS festival madness: the people, the parties, revealed in full glory!

FACT mag & Matias Aguayo host South American street party on a boat at Stop Making Sense!

We’re pleased to announce details of the boat party our friends at FACT magazine are hosting at Stop Making Sense.

Joining the world's most on-it music mag for a sun-dappled bash on the high seas is Kompakt crooner and electronic innovator Matias Aguayo (pictured), bringing the already legendary Buenos Aires street-party vibes of his BumBumBox parties to this divine, little-known corner of the Mediterranean.

Matias will be joined by Rebolledo, one of several disco ball-grabbing discoveries that Aguayo has brought to the wider world via his Comeme label. Expect loose-limbed dance music rooted in house, techno and tropical electro, all shot through with an ineffable South American charm and rhythmic flair.

The party takes place at 1.30pm-6.30pm on Saturday 4 September, and it’s quite clearly going to be amazing.

There are also Stop Making Sense boat parties hosted by Allez Allez, Sub Club, Warm, Favela Chic and more - click here for more deets!

The Very Best + Carl Craig + Friendly Fires + Theo Parrish + Nathan Fake + Django Django + many more to play our first festival!

The sun is shining and we're beyond super-excited to say that after months of juggling and pondering, musing and arm wrestling, we've come up with a stonking line up for our first Stop Making Sense festival that fires are collective imaginations and sets our pulses racing on hyper-speed. Oh yes! From the live tropical Malawi-via-Dalston sounds of Friday headliners The Very Best to the classic emotive Detroit techno of Carl Craig topping the bill on Sunday, we reckon we've nailed it!

Joining such musical royalty for three days and nights of genre-shredding anarchy in Croatia this September are a truly global crew of party-starting pioneers and musical revolutionaries, including the brilliant new breed post-everything Django Django, Crown Prince of UK electronica Nathan Fake, revered Detroit techno pioneers Juan Atkins, Theo Parrish and new-school protege Kyle Hall, loose-limbed future pop party-starters Friendly Fires, South American house hero Matias Aguayo, one-man band master of twisted blues Son of Dave, MIA-acolytes and global beat makers Radioclit, legendary Scottish club originals Optimo, teenage flamenco troubadours Fran and Josh and Vampire Weekend-remixer and Mexican mash-up king Toy Selectah, plus many, many more...

Combine this mighty lot with the know-how of our esteemed club promoters plus the promise of sun, sand, boat parties, beautiful beaches, open-air clubs and bars and a real sense of reveling in a new environment and we reckon you have the recipe for a legendary festival in the making.

Stop Making Sense 2010, see you there....

LIVE: THE VERY BEST / DJANGO DJANGO / NATHAN FAKE / MATIAS AGUAYO / SON OF DAVE / WBEEZA / THE WORM / JOANA & THE WOLF / FRAN AND JOSH / LATIN DUB SOUND SYSTEM / LONGJON LA FLECHA / THE LOOSE FIT

DJ’S: CARL CRAIG / JUAN ATKINS / THEO PARRISH / FRIENDLY FIRES (DJ SET) / RADIOCLIT / TOY SELECTAH / OPTIMO / BENJI B / PATRICE SCOTT / KEITH WORTHY / KYLE HALL / ALLEZ ALLEZ / ISA GT / MARK E / REBOLLEDO / CHRIS COCO / RICHARD NORRIS / TAMA SUMO / JAMES PRIESTLEY / GILES SMITH / RUSS JONES / CAL JADER / SENSU / LAKUTI / GIRLCORE / FACT DJS / ALI TILLETT / ROB SUMMERHAYES / GRINGO DA PARADA / COUNT CHOCULA / TCHICKY AL DENTE / LEON LACE