Beyond Rominimal: Inside Romania’s Alternative Techno Scene
beyond-rominimal-guide
April 21, 2017
ready
18
# Beyond Rominimal: Inside Romania’s Alternative Techno Scene
Festival season kicks off in Romania today with the 12th annual edition
of the experimental music and art festival Rokolectiv in Bucharest,
which will be followed next week by the famous seaside tech-house
weekender [Sunwaves][1]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"}.
The two events represent an essential dichotomy in the country's lively
electronic music scene: on the one hand, there's a minimal tech-house
marathon that stars the country's usual big-name suspects and attracts
tourists from around the world; on the other, there's a homegrown series
that takes place at various local venues and showcases adventurous
artists---musical or otherwise---from Bucharest and beyond.
Rokolectiv founder Cosmin Tapu addressed the divide in [an interview
with Electronic Beats][2]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"}
last year. "In Bucharest, mainstream music is either tech-house or...how
should I call it...'post-minimal house' stuff," he said. "That's been
big in Romania for ten years or so, and it never dies. It doesn't
evolve, either; it's somehow stuck in its own bubble." His sentiments
recurred on and off the record in interviews with other sources who
contributed to the story. Several of them were constituents of the
homegrown underground scene that percolated in Bucharest while the
country's most famous DJs toured the world. This alternative sound seems
partly a reaction to so-called "rominimal" and the less appealing
aspects of its surrounding culture, which its detractors contend
are patriarchy, sexism, homophobia, nationalism and racism against the
Roma people. ("Villalobos has a lot of "godsons" here---god*daughters*
are quite hard to find," Cosmin told us---and indeed, we were hard
pressed to include females in our own [guide to rominimal][3]{:
target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"}.) Nevertheless the DJs,
producers and musicians who contribute to the non-rominimal scene---some
of whom we've included in our guide below---also seem to varying degrees
steeped in and heavily influenced by minimal tech-house's groove and
clipped drum programming.
[1]: http://www.electronicbeats.net/sunwaves-festival-2016-review/
[2]: http://www.electronicbeats.net/after-the-fire-how-the-colectiv-tragedy-changed-bucharest/
[3]: http://www.electronicbeats.net/guide-to-rominimal-2017/
[Image: Khidja-17-1.jpg]
## Khidja
Any guide to Romania's groovy take on dark psychedelia would probably
include Khidja, so it makes sense to start with them. Romanians speak of
this homegrown duo in reverent tones. Khidja's Andrei Rusu and Florentin
Tudor have so far experienced more international success than any other
artists involved in the country's alternative club sound---at least when
it comes to official releases. Since 2011 they've produced a series of
EPs on labels like Local Records, \[Emotional\] Especial, P-Balans, Love
On The Rocks and, as of this year, Hivern Discs. Yet they remain
something of a well-kept secret for those who know of their
trippy productions and skillful blend of influences, which ranges from
krauty electronics to wave and disco.
[Image: Ion-D-1.jpg]
## Utopus
[PREMIERE: Utopus - Southology \[P-Balans\]][1]{: target="_blank"
rel="noopener noreferrer"}
Utopus is the dance floor-oriented alias of Ion Dumitrescu, a man of
several record labels, many musical projects and one music studio in
Bucharest called N-am. In 2015 we worked with him on a [two-part][2]{:
target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"} [series][3]{: target="_blank"
rel="noopener noreferrer"} about Romania's much-maligned style of folk
music, manele, which genre has played a critical role in the music on
his co-founded Future Nuggets outpost and his bands Steaua De Mare,
Delusion Men and Raze De Soare. His Utopus moniker has so far mostly
appeared on P-Balans, an imprint he runs with The Holy Fix, with whom he
also runs Future Nuggets; *Utopics Vol. 1* appeared earlier this year.
## Borusiade
[Borusiade - Jeopardy EP (Official Video) - Cómeme][4]{: target="_blank"
rel="noopener noreferrer"}
The ICAS-affiliated experimental incubator [SHAPE][5]{: target="_blank"
rel="noopener noreferrer"} first tipped us off to Borusiade, a Bucharest
native who has since moved to Berlin. We tapped her to unpack the magic
of her trippy DJ sets in our [Played Out][6]{: target="_blank"
rel="noopener noreferrer"} series [last year][7]{: target="_blank"
rel="noopener noreferrer"} and have hotly followed her releases on
labels like Romania's P-Balans and Germany's Correspondant and Cómeme,
all of which balance brooding energy with seductive allure. Her
increasing success is nothing if not earned, as Boru launched her career
in the Romanian club scene in 2002.
## The Holy Fix
[SoundCloud Track (273299611)][8]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener
noreferrer"}
Camil Dumitrescu shares more than a last name with the aforementioned
Ion; they also play together in their live and loose dark disco band
Delusion Men and co-run the labels Future Nuggets and P-Balans. Late
last year he released an album of snarling acid jams under his artist
name The Holy Fix called *Tracks And Traps* and debuted a live set,
but he was previously known for killer DJ sets that move deftly between
disco deep cuts, slow-mo grooves and demented techno. He also works
outside of music as a photographer and took the photos for this piece,
our [features][2]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"} on
[manele][3]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"} and our
[in-depth story][9]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"}
investigating the aftermath of the Colectiv fire in Bucharest.
[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbquVT_egC4
[2]: http://www.electronicbeats.net/manele-part-one/
[3]: http://www.electronicbeats.net/combating-racist-stigma-in-romanias-manele-music/
[4]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyPlyrSwWSo
[5]: http://www.electronicbeats.net/the-feed/shapes-new-artist-roster-will-get-you-excited-for-2017/
[6]: http://www.electronicbeats.net/tag/played-out/
[7]: http://www.electronicbeats.net/played-out-borusiade-on-mastering-suspense-in-dj-sets/
[8]: https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/273299611
[9]: http://www.electronicbeats.net/after-the-fire-how-the-colectiv-tragedy-changed-bucharest/
[Image: Camil-EB.jpg]
[Image: CORP-7.jpg]
## Chlorys
[Chlorys @ The Attic Orion / Intergalactic FM][1]{: target="_blank"
rel="noopener noreferrer"}
If Romania's dual passions for straightforward minimal tech-house and
gloomy, sinister sounds appear somehow at odds with one another, Chlorys
reveals their compatibility. While the [SHAPE 2017 ][2]{:
target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"}artist delivered [goth
vibes][3]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"} for [The
Attic][4]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"}, her other
recorded sets explore the intersection between minimal, acid, drum-free
avant-gardisms and noisy beats, which demonstrates an impressive
knowledge of both traditional dance floor sounds and electronic
experimentations but a loyalty to neither. She also seems to play a
pivotal role in the development of Bucharest's scene as a regular
contributor to The Attic, a ["member of the Queer Night Family of
DJs"][5]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"} and a cofounder of
Corp, a studio and platform committed to promoting women in electronic
music, along with Admina and Cosima Opârtan. If you're in Bucharest this
weekend, we highly recommend you check her forthcoming set at the
Rokolectiv Festival, which runs from April 20-23.
[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL4MJOTH4bA
[2]: http://www.electronicbeats.net/the-feed/shapes-new-artist-roster-will-get-you-excited-for-2017/
[3]: http://www.electronicbeats.net/the-feed/a-3-hour-long-mixtape-of-goth-history/
[4]: http://the-attic.net/
[5]: http://shapeplatform.eu/artist/chlorys/
[Image: Chrlorys-2-Process.jpg]
[Image: Admina-7-Process.jpg]
## Admina
Admina's [Facebook artist page][1]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener
noreferrer"} identifies her as a native of Timisoara, Romania and a
member of Corp., "a project, platform and booking agency" that "aims to
represent and showcase female-identified DJ talent" (which, yes, [sounds
familiar][2]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"}). Her DJ set
for Intersections, a Romanian mix series that's a good resource for
discovering local DJ talent, reveals a techno disposition. On the other
hand, her [SoundCloud snippets][3]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener
noreferrer"} show a penchant for adventurous minimalism.
## Cosima Opârtan
[SoundCloud Track][4]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"}
Although Cosima doesn't produce solo tracks, she nevertheless plays an
important role in Bucharest's underground music community. She
co-founded Bucharest's Queer Night with Paul Dunca and Ion Dumitrescu,
the latter of whom is her collaborator in the "proto-manele" band Raze
De Soare, and occasionally performs as a DJ.
## Aleksa Alaska
[SoundCloud Track][5]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"}
It's hard to choose one mix to go along with a blurb about Aleksa
Alaska, as she regularly updates her SoundCloud with sets for her own
"imaginary radio show" and outside platforms that tap her for a
submission. That list includes Rinse FM and Corpcast, the podcast series
representing the Corp. collective and studio. Each of her submissions
displays a dizzying range that spans from ambient electronics to chintzy
electro and beyond.
## Dragos Rusu
[https://soundcloud.com/the\_attic\_magazine/dragos-rusu-live-at-ctm-festival-2017][6]
We get the feeling that Bucharest's alternative scene would not be what
it is today without Dragos Rusu. As the editor-in-chief of [The
Attic][7]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"}, a magazine and
a platform that live streams videos of DJ sets, and the director and
curator of the [Outernational Days Festival][8]{: target="_blank"
rel="noopener noreferrer"}, Rusu has brought a spotlight to his local
contemporaries, including most or all of the artists mentioned on this
list. Outernational, which runs this year from July 7-9, encompasses a
uniquely Romanian vision of uniting avant-garde sludgy dark disco
popularized by venues like [Düsseldorf's][9]{: target="_blank"
rel="noopener noreferrer"} [Salon Des Amateurs][10]{: target="_blank"
rel="noopener noreferrer"} with music from non-western cultures. In
addition to his work behind the scenes to benefit other artists, Dragos
shows his wares as an ace DJ in his own right with his regular radio
show on Intergalactic FM called [The Attic Copacabana][11]{:
target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"}.
## Bogdan Scoromide
[Scoro for The Attic @ Intergalactic FM][12]{: target="_blank"
rel="noopener noreferrer"}
Bogdan Scoromide's close relationship to The Attic magazine as a regular
contributor and frequent collaborator with its founder, Dragos Rusu,
should give some indication of the obscurity and eclectic breadth of his
taste. After some sleuthing we unearthed a [short bio][13]{:
target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"} about Scoromide that
indicates he started playing music in 2009 and blending "electroacoustic
improv, modern psychedelic and free-jazz pieces." He eventually
incorporated those influences into a somewhat clubbier sound. Fans of
Vladimir Ivkovic, Rabih Beaini and Toulouse Low Trax should listen up.
[1]: https://www.facebook.com/adm1na/
[2]: http://www.electronicbeats.net/two-female-djs-fight-sexism-in-dance-music/
[3]: https://soundcloud.com/adm1na
[4]: https://api.soundcloud.com/playlists/48272932
[5]: https://api.soundcloud.com/users/4552986
[6]: https://soundcloud.com/the_attic_magazine/dragos-rusu-live-at-ctm-festival-2017
[7]: http://the-attic.net/
[8]: http://the-attic.net/outernational/
[9]: http://www.electronicbeats.net/city-guide-duesseldorf-germany/
[10]: http://www.electronicbeats.net/the-feed/salon-des-amateurs-appears-reopened/
[11]: http://the-attic.net/news/1609/live-sessions:-the-attic-copacabana-at-intergalactic-fm-.html
[12]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWpy-ca_F5c
[13]: http://irtijal.org/irtijal/irtijal-2017-day-4/
---
id: a3b519d0-a644-4797-881e-a33576b51c81
blueprint: article
title: 'Beyond Rominimal: Inside Romania’s Alternative Techno Scene'
date: 2017-04-21T11:09:50+02:00
wp_id: '132133'
slug: beyond-rominimal-guide
teaser_image: legacy/beyond-rominimal-guide/Landscapes-1.jpg
contents:
-
type: text
text: '<p>Festival season kicks off in Romania today with the 12th annual edition of the experimental music and art festival Rokolectiv in Bucharest, which will be followed next week by the famous seaside tech-house weekender <a href="http://www.electronicbeats.net/sunwaves-festival-2016-review/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sunwaves</a>. The two events represent an essential dichotomy in the country’s lively electronic music scene: on the one hand, there’s a minimal tech-house marathon that stars the country’s usual big-name suspects and attracts tourists from around the world; on the other, there’s a homegrown series that takes place at various local venues and showcases adventurous artists—musical or otherwise—from Bucharest and beyond.</p><p>Rokolectiv founder Cosmin Tapu addressed the divide in <a href="http://www.electronicbeats.net/after-the-fire-how-the-colectiv-tragedy-changed-bucharest/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">an interview with Electronic Beats</a> last year. “In Bucharest, mainstream music is either tech-house or…how should I call it…’post-minimal house’ stuff,” he said. “That’s been big in Romania for ten years or so, and it never dies. It doesn’t evolve, either; it’s somehow stuck in its own bubble.” His sentiments recurred on and off the record in interviews with other sources who contributed to the story. Several of them were constituents of the homegrown underground scene that percolated in Bucharest while the country’s most famous DJs toured the world. This alternative sound seems partly a reaction to so-called “rominimal” and the less appealing aspects of its surrounding culture, which its detractors contend are patriarchy, sexism, homophobia, nationalism and racism against the Roma people. (“Villalobos has a lot of “godsons” here—god<em>daughters</em> are quite hard to find,” Cosmin told us—and indeed, we were hard pressed to include females in our own <a href="http://www.electronicbeats.net/guide-to-rominimal-2017/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">guide to rominimal</a>.) Nevertheless the DJs, producers and musicians who contribute to the non-rominimal scene—some of whom we’ve included in our guide below—also seem to varying degrees steeped in and heavily influenced by minimal tech-house’s groove and clipped drum programming.</p>'
-
type: images
images:
- legacy/beyond-rominimal-guide/Khidja-17-1.jpg
-
type: text
text: '<h2>Khidja</h2><p>Any guide to Romania’s groovy take on dark psychedelia would probably include Khidja, so it makes sense to start with them. Romanians speak of this homegrown duo in reverent tones. Khidja’s Andrei Rusu and Florentin Tudor have so far experienced more international success than any other artists involved in the country’s alternative club sound—at least when it comes to official releases. Since 2011 they’ve produced a series of EPs on labels like Local Records, [Emotional] Especial, P-Balans, Love On The Rocks and, as of this year, Hivern Discs. Yet they remain something of a well-kept secret for those who know of their trippy productions and skillful blend of influences, which ranges from krauty electronics to wave and disco.</p>'
-
type: images
images:
- legacy/beyond-rominimal-guide/Ion-D-1.jpg
-
type: text
text: '<h2>Utopus</h2><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbquVT_egC4" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">PREMIERE: Utopus - Southology [P-Balans]</a></p><p>Utopus is the dance floor-oriented alias of Ion Dumitrescu, a man of several record labels, many musical projects and one music studio in Bucharest called N-am. In 2015 we worked with him on a <a href="http://www.electronicbeats.net/manele-part-one/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">two-part</a> <a href="http://www.electronicbeats.net/combating-racist-stigma-in-romanias-manele-music/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">series</a> about Romania’s much-maligned style of folk music, manele, which genre has played a critical role in the music on his co-founded Future Nuggets outpost and his bands Steaua De Mare, Delusion Men and Raze De Soare. His Utopus moniker has so far mostly appeared on P-Balans, an imprint he runs with The Holy Fix, with whom he also runs Future Nuggets; <em>Utopics Vol. 1</em> appeared earlier this year.</p><h2>Borusiade</h2><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyPlyrSwWSo" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Borusiade - Jeopardy EP (Official Video) - Cómeme</a></p><p>The ICAS-affiliated experimental incubator <a href="http://www.electronicbeats.net/the-feed/shapes-new-artist-roster-will-get-you-excited-for-2017/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SHAPE</a> first tipped us off to Borusiade, a Bucharest native who has since moved to Berlin. We tapped her to unpack the magic of her trippy DJ sets in our <a href="http://www.electronicbeats.net/tag/played-out/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Played Out</a> series <a href="http://www.electronicbeats.net/played-out-borusiade-on-mastering-suspense-in-dj-sets/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">last year</a> and have hotly followed her releases on labels like Romania’s P-Balans and Germany’s Correspondant and Cómeme, all of which balance brooding energy with seductive allure. Her increasing success is nothing if not earned, as Boru launched her career in the Romanian club scene in 2002.</p><h2>The Holy Fix</h2><p><a href="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/273299611" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SoundCloud Track (273299611)</a></p><p>Camil Dumitrescu shares more than a last name with the aforementioned Ion; they also play together in their live and loose dark disco band Delusion Men and co-run the labels Future Nuggets and P-Balans. Late last year he released an album of snarling acid jams under his artist name The Holy Fix called <em>Tracks And Traps</em> and debuted a live set, but he was previously known for killer DJ sets that move deftly between disco deep cuts, slow-mo grooves and demented techno. He also works outside of music as a photographer and took the photos for this piece, our <a href="http://www.electronicbeats.net/manele-part-one/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">features</a> on <a href="http://www.electronicbeats.net/combating-racist-stigma-in-romanias-manele-music/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">manele</a> and our <a href="http://www.electronicbeats.net/after-the-fire-how-the-colectiv-tragedy-changed-bucharest/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">in-depth story</a> investigating the aftermath of the Colectiv fire in Bucharest.</p>'
-
type: images
images:
- legacy/beyond-rominimal-guide/Camil-EB.jpg
-
type: images
images:
- legacy/beyond-rominimal-guide/CORP-7.jpg
-
type: text
text: '<h2>Chlorys</h2><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL4MJOTH4bA" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Chlorys @ The Attic Orion / Intergalactic FM</a></p><p>If Romania’s dual passions for straightforward minimal tech-house and gloomy, sinister sounds appear somehow at odds with one another, Chlorys reveals their compatibility. While the <a href="http://www.electronicbeats.net/the-feed/shapes-new-artist-roster-will-get-you-excited-for-2017/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SHAPE 2017 </a>artist delivered <a href="http://www.electronicbeats.net/the-feed/a-3-hour-long-mixtape-of-goth-history/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">goth vibes</a> for <a href="http://the-attic.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Attic</a>, her other recorded sets explore the intersection between minimal, acid, drum-free avant-gardisms and noisy beats, which demonstrates an impressive knowledge of both traditional dance floor sounds and electronic experimentations but a loyalty to neither. She also seems to play a pivotal role in the development of Bucharest’s scene as a regular contributor to The Attic, a <a href="http://shapeplatform.eu/artist/chlorys/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">“member of the Queer Night Family of DJs”</a> and a cofounder of Corp, a studio and platform committed to promoting women in electronic music, along with Admina and Cosima Opârtan. If you’re in Bucharest this weekend, we highly recommend you check her forthcoming set at the Rokolectiv Festival, which runs from April 20-23.</p>'
-
type: images
images:
- legacy/beyond-rominimal-guide/Chrlorys-2-Process.jpg
-
type: images
images:
- legacy/beyond-rominimal-guide/Admina-7-Process.jpg
-
type: text
text: '<h2>Admina</h2><p>Admina’s <a href="https://www.facebook.com/adm1na/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Facebook artist page</a> identifies her as a native of Timisoara, Romania and a member of Corp., “a project, platform and booking agency” that “aims to represent and showcase female-identified DJ talent” (which, yes, <a href="http://www.electronicbeats.net/two-female-djs-fight-sexism-in-dance-music/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">sounds familiar</a>). Her DJ set for Intersections, a Romanian mix series that’s a good resource for discovering local DJ talent, reveals a techno disposition. On the other hand, her <a href="https://soundcloud.com/adm1na" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SoundCloud snippets</a> show a penchant for adventurous minimalism.</p><h2>Cosima Opârtan</h2><p><a href="https://api.soundcloud.com/playlists/48272932" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SoundCloud Track</a></p><p>Although Cosima doesn’t produce solo tracks, she nevertheless plays an important role in Bucharest’s underground music community. She co-founded Bucharest’s Queer Night with Paul Dunca and Ion Dumitrescu, the latter of whom is her collaborator in the “proto-manele” band Raze De Soare, and occasionally performs as a DJ.</p><h2>Aleksa Alaska</h2><p><a href="https://api.soundcloud.com/users/4552986" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SoundCloud Track</a></p><p>It’s hard to choose one mix to go along with a blurb about Aleksa Alaska, as she regularly updates her SoundCloud with sets for her own “imaginary radio show” and outside platforms that tap her for a submission. That list includes Rinse FM and Corpcast, the podcast series representing the Corp. collective and studio. Each of her submissions displays a dizzying range that spans from ambient electronics to chintzy electro and beyond.</p><h2>Dragos Rusu</h2><p><a href="https://soundcloud.com/the_attic_magazine/dragos-rusu-live-at-ctm-festival-2017">https://soundcloud.com/the_attic_magazine/dragos-rusu-live-at-ctm-festival-2017</a></p><p>We get the feeling that Bucharest’s alternative scene would not be what it is today without Dragos Rusu. As the editor-in-chief of <a href="http://the-attic.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Attic</a>, a magazine and a platform that live streams videos of DJ sets, and the director and curator of the <a href="http://the-attic.net/outernational/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Outernational Days Festival</a>, Rusu has brought a spotlight to his local contemporaries, including most or all of the artists mentioned on this list. Outernational, which runs this year from July 7-9, encompasses a uniquely Romanian vision of uniting avant-garde sludgy dark disco popularized by venues like <a href="http://www.electronicbeats.net/city-guide-duesseldorf-germany/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Düsseldorf’s</a> <a href="http://www.electronicbeats.net/the-feed/salon-des-amateurs-appears-reopened/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Salon Des Amateurs</a> with music from non-western cultures. In addition to his work behind the scenes to benefit other artists, Dragos shows his wares as an ace DJ in his own right with his regular radio show on Intergalactic FM called <a href="http://the-attic.net/news/1609/live-sessions:-the-attic-copacabana-at-intergalactic-fm-.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Attic Copacabana</a>.</p><h2>Bogdan Scoromide</h2><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWpy-ca_F5c" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Scoro for The Attic @ Intergalactic FM</a></p><p>Bogdan Scoromide’s close relationship to The Attic magazine as a regular contributor and frequent collaborator with its founder, Dragos Rusu, should give some indication of the obscurity and eclectic breadth of his taste. After some sleuthing we unearthed a <a href="http://irtijal.org/irtijal/irtijal-2017-day-4/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">short bio</a> about Scoromide that indicates he started playing music in 2009 and blending “electroacoustic improv, modern psychedelic and free-jazz pieces.” He eventually incorporated those influences into a somewhat clubbier sound. Fans of Vladimir Ivkovic, Rabih Beaini and Toulouse Low Trax should listen up.</p>'
---
Chunk #1 (Position: 0)
# Beyond Rominimal: Inside Romania’s Alternative Techno Scene Festival season kicks off in Romania today with the 12th annual edition of the experimental music and art festival Rokolectiv in Bucharest, which will be followed next week by the famous seaside tech-house weekender [Sunwaves][1]...
Chunk #2 (Position: 1)
# Beyond Rominimal: Inside Romania’s Alternative Techno Scene Festival season kicks off in Romania today with the 12th annual edition of the experimental music and art festival Rokolectiv in Bucharest, which will be followed next week by the famous seaside tech-house weekender [Sunwaves][1]...
Chunk #3 (Position: 2)
This alternative sound seems partly a reaction to so-called "rominimal" and the less appealing aspects of its surrounding culture, which its detractors contend are patriarchy, sexism, homophobia, nationalism and racism against the Roma people. ("Villalobos has a lot of "godsons" here---god*d...
Chunk #4 (Position: 3)
("Villalobos has a lot of "godsons" here---god*daughters* are quite hard to find," Cosmin told us---and indeed, we were hard pressed to include females in our own [guide to rominimal][3]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"}.) Nevertheless the DJs, producers and musicians who contribute to...
Chunk #5 (Position: 4)
[1]: http://www.electronicbeats.net/sunwaves-festival-2016-review/ [2]: http://www.electronicbeats.net/after-the-fire-how-the-colectiv-tragedy-changed-bucharest/ [3]: http://www.electronicbeats.net/guide-to-rominimal-2017/ [Image: Khidja-17-1.jpg] . ## Khidja . Any guide to Romania's groovy ta...
Chunk #6 (Position: 5)
Yet they remain something of a well-kept secret for those who know of their trippy productions and skillful blend of influences, which ranges from krauty electronics to wave and disco. [Image: Ion-D-1.jpg] . ## Utopus [PREMIERE: Utopus - Southology \[P-Balans\]][1]{: target="_blank" rel="n...
Chunk #7 (Position: 6)
His Utopus moniker has so far mostly appeared on P-Balans, an imprint he runs with The Holy Fix, with whom he also runs Future Nuggets; *Utopics Vol. 1* appeared earlier this year. ## Borusiade [Borusiade - Jeopardy EP (Official Video) - Cómeme][4]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener noref...
Chunk #8 (Position: 7)
We tapped her to unpack the magic of her trippy DJ sets in our [Played Out][6]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"} series [last year][7]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"} and have hotly followed her releases on labels like Romania's P-Balans and Germany's Correspondant and Cóm...
Chunk #9 (Position: 8)
Late last year he released an album of snarling acid jams under his artist name The Holy Fix called *Tracks And Traps* and debuted a live set, but he was previously known for killer DJ sets that move deftly between disco deep cuts, slow-mo grooves and demented techno. He also works outside o...
Chunk #10 (Position: 9)
He also works outside of music as a photographer and took the photos for this piece, our [features][2]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"} on [manele][3]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"} and our [in-depth story][9]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"} investigating th...
Showing 10 of 18 chunks