1. Hi there and thank you for taking the time to talk to us. For those of us who don't know you, who are you and what do you do?
Hi there! We're Robosonic, a DJ & producer team based in Berlin. We composed and DJed a lot in the past 4-5 years, focusing on electronic dance music with an open mind...
2. Tell us a little about how you guys came together and how long you have been DJing/producing?
Sacha : I've started DJing in the mid-nineties, together we've been producing since 2005. Cord released some instrumental hiphop records a couple of years earlier on his own label...
Cord : ...and Sacha came up with some funky dance music that we would put out on vinyl together. At that time I was also involved in the "Broken Bootlegs" collective, so our very first collaborations have had that mashup approach...
Sacha : True, actually the first thing we released together was a track on a "Broken Bootlegs" vinyl in 2005!
3. I remember your BKI podcast series as being a leader in pushing new and upcoming talent with cool insightful interviews and brilliant mixes, do you plan to restart it any time soon?
Sacha: BKI has stopped doing regular podcasts on a certain time and day of the month in order to not take part in the "music spamming" process that's going on in the internet. Now BKI features new musical sessions when I think it makes sense to be shared to the world.
4. You boast an impressive discography including an album on your own imprint Diskomafia Records, what sort of releases have you got as Team Robosonic coming up in the near future?
Sacha : We've got 4 tracks we're looking to sign right now, three of them are related to the "Punchi" project Cord will tell you about in a second. Also, Sweat It Out asked us to make a track for them, which we are working on right now. More Robosonic tracks coming soon!
Cord: In the meantime, check out some of our unreleased music on our brand new mixtape (see below)
5. Tell us a little about your Punchi project, how it came about, what it is you are promoting etc.
Cord : Long story short. With Robosonic we've been sporting yellow towels on stage and dancefloors for quite a while. Mostly for practical reasons but also representing our team color. Last year me and our friend and designer Kim realized a spontaneous idea of remixing the towel with a scarf. There was no such product yet we could find, so we felt the urge to develop that multifunction item in a fresh way. We got more and more passionate about it and created that PUNCHI experience. The whole thing for us was rooted in the "punchi punchi"-music (spanish slang : 4 to the floor) so we made a "Robosonic Yellow" version of the Punchi towelling scarf to tie a bond of love to our fans. After most of the music became digital only, we thought it would be nice to attach it to another physical format. We produced a bunch of new tracks and right now promote the Punchi Punchi mixtape for free download at www.punchi.de .
6. Do you guys have separate musical projects that you pursue on your own with a different vibe to that of Robosonic? If so, tell us a little about it.
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Sacha : Yes, I started producing music and DJ solo under my full name not long ago. My first release was "Tingly Trumpets" on Takt Records, in the past year I got more and more involved in Klasse Recordings - the first release on this new label was a collaboration between Luca Lozano and myself called "Bartok", with Jet Project and Siopis remixes. On Klasse I also remixed Mr. Ho's debut release "What We Want", as well as the Adana Twins "Heliumcowboy" on Jeudi Records and "Kunstkopf" by Roland M. Dill & Triple R on Noice. A Klasse EP is due out before summer as well! Keep updated on www.klasserecordings.de . Until then, I'm playing a few gigs - coming up is Watergate on the 13th of April.Cord : The past years of professional work in electronic music and the whole rhythm of Robosonic are right now infecting my ever lasting passion for hiphop and bass music in general. In my free time I try to find a balance.
With DJ Gaucho I'm about to debut as "C&G" presenting a sort of minimalist low frequency club crunk or so, still looking for a proper description. Soon to come: a very personal and scenic mixtape of music that I love, field recordings I made and bits of own production work.
7. Do you have any artist and label top tips for 2011?
Sacha : Personally, I think Klasse Recordings is a label to watch in 2011 and 2012 and beyond ;). I also love Ibadan (which I recently re-discovered), Clap Your Hands, and lately Play It Down have released some gems. Artists to watch in 2011 is hard to say, but right now I'm watching Martin Bros, Rafael Kakudo, Olene Kadar, Round Table Knights, Oliver $.. - and last but not least my KLS buddies Luca Lozano, Mr. Ho and Johanna Knutsson.
Cord : Totally agree. Talking house and things tropical, I also like the recent works of Rubix, Mowgli and James Teej. Talking rap I'd say Fashawn or Gangrene, great producers Apollo Brown or Amplive, Lunice...plus maybe Flying Lotus and his Brainfeeder camp.
8. Do you have any plans to start up your own label or club night or anything else of that ilk?
We have our own labels: 2005-2008 Diskomafia for vinyl, and from 2009 onwards the digital music imprint 0001, for our music only. So far we haven't started up our own clubnight, maybe in the future!
9. Would you mind sharing with us a current top ten or even top twenty tracks you are feeling at the moment?
Those are a few tracks we've lately been playing a lot on Robosonic gigs, in no particular "top 20" order:
Daft Punk - Solar Sailer (Robosonic Punchi Remix)
Munnibrotherz - Moon Chon Chayo (Zombie Disco Squad Remix) - Dirtybird
Round Table Knights - Say What - Made To Play
DJ Gregory - Block Party (Alvaro 2010 Bootleg) - Good News
Bass Kleph &am Filthy Rich - These Mornings - Azuli
Sascha Braemer & Philip Bader - Honey - Dirtybird
Dr Dru - Baby - Unreleased (Jeudi)
Rubix - That Rhythm/Soul Train - No Brainer
Luca Lozano & Sacha Robotti - Bartok - Klasse Recordings
Loleatta Holloway - Dreamin (Pol_On Edit) - Unreleased
Robosonic - Punchi Black (Bella Berlin Edit)
Rafael Kakudo - Work - Clap Your Hands
Johanna Knutsson - Heavy Baby - Klasse Recordings
Maya Jane Coles - What They Say - Realtone Records
Maetrik - So Real - Dumb Unit
Dapayk - Uma (Olene Kadar Remix) - Mo's Ferry
Caytas & Patz - El Mendigo (Pol_On Remix) - Caramella Records
10. Finally, is there anything you would like to get off your chest and share with the blogging world?
Yes! A track which is a month old IS NOT OLD! :)
And also: thanks you for your attention!
No, thank you Robosonic for taking the time to talk to us.
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Robosonic were also kind enough to offer up this exclusive re-edit of The Buckethead's The Bomb which you can download here:
The Bucketheads - The Bomb (Robosonic Edit)
As well as a great mixtape they put together very recently. In one word? HUGE.
Robosonic - Punchi Punchi Mixtape
O. Massey
