Optimo

Chris Duncan of Sub Club discusses plans for the venue's 25th anniversary

9 Jan 2012

You’ll probably be hearing a lot more about this as the year progresses, but it doesn’t do any harm to draw your attention to two anniversaries happening in Glasgow in 2012 – one big and one absolutely enormous, and both under the same roof. This is the…

Hogmanay in Glasgow highlights

New Year's Eve in Glasgow, including clubs, Bugsy Malone and curling

19 Dec 2011

Gone is the street party but in its place, there are family-friendly daytime events at George Square (31 Dec, George Square, 12pm, free). The ice rink will host the first Hogmanay Bonspiel Cup, where you can watch a curling competition or try it out for…

The Hot 100 2011: 100-50

The definitive list of Scottish creative talent

16 Dec 2011

100: Gordon Ferris. Kilmarnock crime author makes good. The already packed Scottish crime writing field has finally found a bit of elbow room for another burgeoning talent. Joining the likes of Rankin, Brookmyre, McDermid and co is this Ayrshire-born…

Electric Frog

The EF Weekender may have been reduced to one day but it’s still one of the best parties in Glasgow

22 Jul 2011

Disappointment at this year’s second instalment of Glasgow’s hipster warehouse weekender Electric Frog being reduced from two days to one will be tempered by the fact that the single day should still rank among the music events of the summer. Although…

A Midsummer Day's Dream brings Chris & Cosey to Glasgow Tramway

Bill also features Tut Vu Vu, Tristan Perich and Lucky Dragons

21 Jun 2011

‘None of us went on to do anything remotely industrial,’ pointed out Chris Carter in a recent interview. ‘We’d burned ourselves out of it and we didn’t want it to sound like [Throbbing Gristle].’ The truth of that statement will be evident at this…

Optimo and Alasdair Roberts highlights of Glasgow's West End festival

The French Wives and Fence Collective also on bill

27 May 2011

1. Fence Collective There are dozens of good musical reasons to take yourself to the West End Festival this June. How about Fife’s favourite indie-folk collective for starters? The line-up’s a secret until the day, but the name ‘Fence’ is all the badge…

The Fall, Chrome Hoof and Dubfire set for Electric Frog 2011 summer weekender

Mount Kimbie and Optimo also on bill for Glasgow city centre festival

27 May 2011

The Electric Frog team – they who recently brought us a weekend of warehouse dance action in the shape of François K, Danny Krivit, Optimo and more over the Easter weekend – are back with a summer weekender. Taking place in the same venue – the…

Sons & Daughters - Mirror Mirror

Optimo JD Twitch-produced album takes in goth-rock, electronics and post punk

20 May 2011

(Domino) It’s taken Sons & Daughters five years to record their third album, but the result ensures their catalogue remains high-quality and ripe for future (re)discovery. Optimo’s JD Twitch makes his album debut as a producer here, stripping things…

Various DJs and promotors talk about the Art School and Vic Bar ahead of closure

Djs from Menergy, Divine! and Optimo remember the good times

17 May 2011

Glasgow’s clubbing landscape will change forever this month, when the Glasgow School of Art union and its Vic Bar close for extensive redevelopment. Things will never be the same again, its key people tell The List: Lady Munter (Menergy): For me, the…

Electric Frog Easter Weekender - Glasgow, 23-24 Apr 2011

Francois K and Erol Alkan top festival's expertly curated line-up

6 May 2011

It's an exciting time for Glasgow-based micro-festival Electric Frog, the city’s lively weekender of electronic music. Not only does it have both an Easter and summer outing this year for the first time, it's also expanding from a day-long to a…

The List's top five alternative activities for the royal wedding day

25 Apr 2011

1 Off With Their Heads Susan Morrison hosts an afternoon of music and comedy at The Stand, Glasgow, with proceeds going to liberal publication Scottish Left Review. As if the title wasn’t anti enough. 2 Heart Buchanan The kindly folks at the Byres…

Glasgow's Sub Club hosts new arena at RockNess 2011

Modeselektor, Magda, Matthew Dear and Jamie xx set for Loch Ness fest

16 Mar 2011

One of Glasgow’s favourite clubs takes over its own arena at this year’s RockNess as the Sub Club Sound System make sits debut and also announces a few new acts who’ll be joining them. On Friday Modeselektor headline with Jackmaster, Clouds, Boom Monk…

Kasabian, The Chemical Brothers, Paolo Nutini and Glasvegas set for RockNess 2011

Line-up also includes DJ Shadow, Frightened Rabbit, Magnetic Man

24 Feb 2011

Rockness, Scotland's fastest growing festival, returns for 2011 with some of the hottest new acts in guitar music, while simultaneously remaining true to its electronic roots. Looking at the line-up, combined with winning NME's 'Best Small Festival…

The Hot 100 2010 - Mark Millar, Kevin Bridges and Alasdair Gray take top 3 spots

Our annual chart of the people from Scotland being interesting, successful and creative

16 Dec 2010

The Hot 100 is a list of Scots who’ve made a sizeable creative splash in 2010. It includes musicians, artists, writers, actors, fashion designers, technological innovators, shop owners, festival directors, record label heads and one mad cyclist.

Hogmanay 2010/2011 clubbing highlights in Edinburgh and Glasgow

The best New Year's Eve club nights in Scotland

15 Dec 2010

Hogmanay is the biggest night of the year in many clubbers’ calendars, and, as usual, crowds in Edinburgh are spoilt for choice. The Official Edinburgh Hogmanay Afterparty (HMV Picture House) will rock to the frenetic live show of electro-house heroes…

Glasgow club Blast Off 2011 hosts Optimo's JG Wilkes on Jan 1st

Nice’n’ Sleazy’s now-traditional New Year’s Day party

10 Dec 2010

Name Area 51 Presents Blast Off 2011 What is it? Nice’n’ Sleazy’s now-traditional New Year’s Day party, for anyone who thinks one whole day of partying just isn’t enough any more. Residents Gordon Mackinnon, aka GK Machine (Zoo Muzik), one…

The best Christmas clubs in Glasgow and Edinburgh 2010

Optimo, Tackno, Colours, Taste, Karnival and Madchester among Christmas and Boxing Day highlights

10 Dec 2010

If staying in with the family just isn’t your thing over Christmas there’s a few options to get you out on the dancefloor. Things are a bit quieter on Christmas Day itself with a few chart and party venues opening their doors (including the North Pole…

Mandy, DJ Sneak and Cosmo Vitelli among highlights of The Wee Chill

Glasgow electronic festival takes place in Queens Park Glasshouse

27 Oct 2010

Occupation Boutique clubbing mini-festival taking over the Glasshouse at Queens Park in Glasgow. Bit late for a festival isn’t it? Admittedly it has been moved back from their original September date but it’s all indoors so who cares about the…

Liquid Liquid headline the Electric Frog Street Carnival

New York post-punk top bill at Glasgow electronic festival

23 Jul 2010

The ‘end of Optimo’ we called it when DJs and promoters JD Twitch and JG Wilkes finished their Sunday night Sub Club residency in April this year. And yet here they are, curating one of the line-ups of the year for the Optimo (Espacio) marquee stage at…

Music festivals 2010: Festival profiles

28 May 2010

Big or small, loud or quiet, dry or muddy – we love festivals whatever their size, sound or likelihood to leave you soaking wet. Over the next 20 pages we'll give you the lowdown on every major fest hitting Scotland this summer, and information on a few…

Labels of love: Display Copy

19 May 2010

Based in Glasgow Roster Konx-Om-Pax, with more to follow. Bosses Sound designer, director and animator Tom Scholefield, also known as Konx-Om-Pax, who has worked with labels like Warp, DFA, Planet Mu and Numbers. Sounds like…

Chrome Hoof

19 May 2010

It’s a distinction of which they might be unaware themselves, but London-based prog orchestra Chrome Hoof are the first band to play the Sub Club’s new post-Optimo Sunday nighter Hung Up! The suspicion is that they’re exactly the type of group this…

Various Artists - Fabric 52: Optimo (Espacio)

21 Apr 2010

(Fabric) Optimo (the club) will be over by the time you read this, but you can now own another slice of Optimo (the sound) to recreate the glory days in your own living room. Just close the blinds, paint the walls black and turn this on. Despite…

Optimover: The end of Optimo - A legendary club night

15 Apr 2010

Somehow, phrases like ‘the end of an era’ seem too melodramatic for Optimo (Espacio), a club which just cut the crap and got on with defining Glasgow’s Sunday night. For the past thirteen years, its residents JD Twitch and JG Wilkes (aka Keith McIvor…

Murray Grigor shot-for-shot remake set for Glasgow Short Film Festival

3 Feb 2010

The GFF short film strand contains some of the festival gems, writes Miles Fielder. ‘Short film is something of a catch-all term,’ says Matt Lloyd, co-curator of the Glasgow Short Film Festival and co-founder of Scotland’s independent shorts…