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<v Speaker 1>Despite being well over a decade ago, my first Optimo

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<v Speaker 1>espatio experience remained seared into memory. I had no idea

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<v Speaker 1>who or what Optimo was at the time, but the

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<v Speaker 1>stark until the Music Stops posters plastered around Dundee University

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<v Speaker 1>had caught my eye. That curiosity carried me later that

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<v Speaker 1>evening to Victorian Library turned nightclub, the reading rooms, and

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<v Speaker 1>into the orbit of Keith macavor and Johnny Wilkes better

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<v Speaker 1>known as J D Twitch and J G. Wilkes. I

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<v Speaker 1>entered to the sound of Talking Head Psycho Killer, which

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<v Speaker 1>somehow felt off a post punk track and a dance club.

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<v Speaker 1>Seconds later, mc iver's mix unfurled into the pumping piano

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<v Speaker 1>house of John Broadwood by Luma. The blend shouldn't have worked,

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<v Speaker 1>but in true Optimo fashion, it felt revelatory. By the

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<v Speaker 1>end of the night, my brain had been rewired. The

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<v Speaker 1>rigid genre lines I fought governed DJ sets had been

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<v Speaker 1>torn down and replaced with a sense of limitless possibility.

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<v Speaker 1>Mc Ivor, who died last Friday, September nineteenth, aged fifty seven,

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<v Speaker 1>was a visionary DJ, label owner, and cultural connector whose

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<v Speaker 1>work had a transformational impact on underground dance floors. As

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<v Speaker 1>one half of Optimo Espasio, he forged a philosophy that

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<v Speaker 1>rejected genre boundaries in favor of pure and motional impact.

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<v Speaker 1>No Wave, disco, dub, afrobeat, techno, industrial, EBM, electroclash, even

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<v Speaker 1>heavy metal were all tools in his arsenal, stitched together

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<v Speaker 1>with a rare precision that never dulled their raw power.

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<v Speaker 1>McIvor came of age amid the post punk wave of

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<v Speaker 1>the late seventies and early eighties, before falling under the

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<v Speaker 1>spell of acid house and the explosion of British rave culture.

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<v Speaker 1>These twin poles, experimental guitar music and club culture's kinetic pulse,

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<v Speaker 1>would anchor his lifelong approach. By the time he co

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<v Speaker 1>founded Optimo at Glasgow's Subclub in nineteen ninety seven, mcgiver

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<v Speaker 1>had honed an open ended, narrative driven style of dejaying

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<v Speaker 1>that resisted easy classification and spoke directly to those seeking

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<v Speaker 1>a sense of dance floor communality. Over the following decades,

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<v Speaker 1>he and Wilkes built Optimo into one of the most

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<v Speaker 1>influential club nights in the world, exporting its ethos across tours,

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<v Speaker 1>festivals and residencies. It speaks to their unwavering passion that Wilkes,

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<v Speaker 1>having learned of mcgiver's death while in Philadelphia for Making

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<v Speaker 1>Time this weekend, still played an Optimo set dedicated entirely

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<v Speaker 1>to mcgiver. Meanwhile, mac Ivor nurtured a community at home

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<v Speaker 1>through his label, Optimo Music and its many offshoots. His

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<v Speaker 1>championing of overlooked artists and marginalized scenes, combined with an

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<v Speaker 1>encyclopedic musical knowledge and disarmingly affable yet stridently opinionated personality,

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<v Speaker 1>ensured his cultural impact extended far beyond the Booth Eight. Friends, contemporaries, inspirations,

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<v Speaker 1>and Optimal Music affiliates share their memories of time spent

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<v Speaker 1>in the presence of an icon who left us too

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<v Speaker 1>soon