The collection will be sold at a record shop in London
An extensive record collection belonging to late Scottish DJ Keith McIvor, aka JD Twitch, is to go on sale, a year after he died of a brain tumour.
The collections dates back to the DJ’s childhood, when, growing up in Balerno, Edinburgh, he spent all of an inheritance from his grandfather on records, much to the disapproval of his father.
“Neither of them could have known then that those records, and the curiosity that drove him to buy them, would become an important investment in a remarkable life and career in music,” said his widow, Marissa Costello. “Keith believed records are ultimately there to be played, discovered and loved.”
McIvor was a prolific producer and one half of Glasgow club duo Optimo with Johnnie Wilkes, who has continued to play around the world under the Optimo name following the death of his musical partner last September.
Earlier, McIvor fouded the legendary and long running techno club Pure at the Venue in Edinburgh.
Some of the records, which Ms Costello describes as a “working collection”, have been carefully protected in sleeves and meticulously looked after, while others bear the scars of years spent being pulled in and out of DJ bags and played in booths around the world.
Each album has been meticulously graded and will be stickered as part of the “World of JD Twitch” and sold over several weekends at record shop World of Echo in London. Part one of the collection - around 8,000 records - will be sold next month, while part two will follow in 2027.
Ms Costello said: “Keith's collection could never remain intact forever in quite the way it existed around him. For us, allowing these records to go back out into the world — to DJs, collectors and music lovers, where they can be played, discovered, shared and loved all over again — feels much more like Keith than allowing them to sit untouched in an archive, which was never what he was about.”
She added: “Each record from the collection will carry a “World of JD Twitch” sticker, so wherever individual records eventually travel, there will be a small reminder of the collection they once belonged to and the person who chose them.”
The family has launched the Keith McIvor Glioblastoma Research Fund, which will support research into glioblastoma in Scotland. A limited number of Keith McIvor/JD Twitch memorial fanzines, created by friends and family to celebrate the DJ’s life, music and community, will also be available in person from World of Echo in return for a donation to the research fund.