The Robotnick Dance

Well, if Derrick May is the Godfather Of Techno, then Alexander Robotnick must be the Grandfather Of Italo Disco. We were fortunate enough to be graced with his presence last saturday at Embryo for what I believe was his virgin appearance in the city. He played a nostalgic set of italo classics and some more upfront reinterpritations of the sound he championed in the pre-house days of the mid to late eighties. The tag 'Grandfather' comes not from the fact he is getting on a bit, but from the way he danced behind his laptop: swaying from side to side like a fragile puppet whose strings had just been cut, intererupted sporadically with funky air-guitar poses, the ash continually falling from his cigarette.

Someone else who is rapidly reaching that age is Mr John Riley, whose birthday we were celebrating. Happy birthday John, hope you enjoyed it!! A mention must be also given to "The Model" from the International Gigolo records camp, whose birthday it was too.

Velorutia

Tomorrow see's the global anti car day come into effect and to coincide with this Bucharest will be holding a cycle demo called Velorutia. The ride starts at Arcul de Triumf at 4pm and will follow a route through town, finishing at Terasa E-Uranus.

Of all the cities i've ever visited Bucharest has the worst traffic problems i've encountered, and as a direct result of this is one of the most polluted. Add the fact that Romanian's are the most selfish, ignorant and impatient drivers ever and you see why this particular demonstration means so much. If you have a bike come and join us, and make Bucharest a better, calmer, healthier and more beautiful place to be. We are campaigning for cycle lanes so cyclists can travel in safety, and general awareness to those idiots in 4x4's that they are not the only people on the roads.


more info for Romanian speakers here VELORUTIA.RO

You're The Greatest Dancer...

I had my face trapped in front of the computer today so not much to report apart from killing a couple of buzzing insects, who although providing an initial flighty distraction soon distracted too much and had to die!

Instead of a photo of bluebottle juice on a ruler here's a short documentary i shot a couple of summer's back when work was all about going to music festivals in europe and having parties in huge marquees in the glorious countryside. The Japanese and Asian crew in the bright outfits / white boiler suits were with us, the rest should hope thier mum's aren't watching.

Thanks Heineken!

Actually, anyone got a contact for Heineken in Romania?:)

Filminute - Vote Now!!!!!

Yes ladies and gentlemen, it's time to get out the popcorn, ease yourself into a comfortable chair and vote for your favourite one-minute film on Filminute.com. Now in its second year, and after 100's of entries, the Filminute team have whitled it down to the final 25 entries from all over the world.

Now it's up to you to decide who wins the people's choice. Please take half an hour out of your dreary office schedule to vote:
CLICK HERE TO VOTE!
You have until the end of the month.

rOBOTS 6 Photos

September Mix 2007

"It's a fuckin' techno, before and after, I fuckin' hate that techno shit! I'll fight you till you die, you techno dogs!"
so rants Iggy Pop who was filmed in paris this year leaving a club in a huff because it was playing techno music.
Chill out Iggy it's really not so bad, for our generation Acid House was our Punk Rock.... Cheers!

Lawrence - "Compulsion"
Riley Reinhold - "Light In My Eyes" (mokum rmx)
Roland Appel - "Dark Soldier"
Anja Schneider - "Belize"
Gel Abril - "Very Wrong" (Chaim rmx)
Dusty Kid - "Psika"
Laurine Frost - "Ulisses"
Lucio Aquilina - "Magic M"
Aural Distortion - "Plasma"
Ulysse - "Sometimes"
Vincent Casanova - "Travelling With Felix"
Dani Koenig - "Floatet"

DOWNLOAD MIX HERE

rOBOTS Recharge

This month it's very simple... We have taken one of Bucharest's most loved Dj's (Tom Wilson) hostage. We have brainwashed him with technology you earthlings have not even dreamed of yet. You will see him play the best set of his life. You will also witness the rOBOTS with their new audio inventions create dANCEFLOOR dEVESTATION (in the nicest possible way) for you Earth People and your rhythmic self expression. The outcome is up to you...

Friday 14th September 2007
THE WEB CLUB
DJ's: Tom Wilson, Logan, Dj's With Bad Haircuts

A Little Bit Of Acid House History

Holy Shit! I've been looking for this video for ages. It's the original video of Candi Staton's "You Got The Love". It was shot in 1991, on a lazy sunday in Camden, London and I was fortunate enough to star in it. Check it out from 2.04mins to go. If I remember rightly half the budget was spent on alcohol and the like, which was wheeled into the studio in a convoy of Sainsbury's shopping trolleys, and it shows, the video's awful. The song however remains, as one of the most enduring reminders of those good old acid house days.

Delta Music Festival

After another grueling drive of 10 hours it was a quick sleep back in Bucharest before heading off to the Delta Music Festival in the south east of Romania. The Delta is an entirely different proposition to Maramures. The festival was being held in a tiny village called Sfantu Gheorghe which is quite literally in the middle of nowhere, where the Danube meets the Black Sea. The only way of getting there is by a four hour ferry ride down the Danube from Tulcea, the nearest town. The festival was a three day affair with acts such as Coldcut, UNKLE and Shukar Collective.

We had booked a room in the village and were quite apprehensive about it as we hadn't actually seen any pictures of it. We were to be met by it's owner on leaving the boat, and sure enough there she was. The signs weren't good. The lady in question looked like a warty witch, and she even brought here broomstick. Our fears worsened as we followed her to the opposite side of the village from the festival. We arrived at her house, which looked ok, only to be ushered past it, to a room in the barn behind it! No toilet, no bathroom and a smell that reminded us of dead people greeted our unsatisfied glances as we walked into our home for the next three days. Suffice to say we waited for the lady witch to leave before picking up our bags and hot-footing it out of there as quickly as we could.

We found alternative accomodation pretty easily, and at half the price, so it was off to the festival. I won't bang on too much about it as it wasn't very good. The music was below par, the place was half empty and the storms came, which kind of took the fun out of it. The saving grace was the beach where the Danube meets the sea. An utterly amazing place... oh, and the fish was a welcome sbstitute for Romanias staple diet of meat.