Robag Wruhme is a mysterious German man who has been haunting my record box for nearly a decade. I always wondered what it would be like to be named Robag. There were other times when I wondered if such a man could even exist. His music sounds like it’s from outer space. Formerly one half of the infamous Wignohmy Brothers and currently opting to fly solo, the man, the myth, and the legend performed at Igloofest this year and despite the fact that it was -25 with wind chill, I bundled up and voyaged onward ho to catch some of his mind-bending musical meanderings.
The guy delivered. Not only did his tracks kick my ass, but the guy has a serious arsenal of dance moves ranging from pseudo-German stylized disko moves to straight up sideways fist pumping and the robot. And he did something really magical with his selections as well–instead of merely opting to play the type of fucked up amazingly forward-thinking minimal techno that he is well-renowned for, he played a connoisseur’s melange of fresh sounds alongside some real classics. Among these was Aphex Twin’s Windowlicker. When I heard the distinctive melody kick in, I could not help but feel overwhelmed by a sudden rush of euphoria. I looked all around me and it seemed that there was some mega-synergy happening in the crowd; everyone was dancing to the same beat, smiling and starry-eyed, mesmerized.
Needless to say, as soon as I got home that night I immediately went to download the track to add to my own collection and discovered that there was a fantastic remix that came out midway through 2009 by Run Jeremy, which was indeed the very same version Robag slammed down at Igloofest; the Run Jeremy X-Rated Mix, with extra drums and a little added oomph.
This inspired me to dig into my vinyl collection a little bit and unearth some older records that had been gathering dust, in hopes of finding MY long-lost classic. Surprisingly, the tracks that grabbed my attention were not even dance music tempo but thoroughly downtempo. Back in 2005 Tipper released a double 12″ of downbeat broken beats that he described as ‘Tip Hop‘; a genre which he claims fuses together breakbeat, hip hop, and trip hop a la Tipper. The stuff is killer. Dirty, groovy, bassy, and badass.
Meanwhile, back in the digital realm I have developed a recent obsession with Kate Simko, whose smooth grooves are simultaneously sexy, subtle and slamming, as well as a particular track by Claude VonStroke called ‘Aundy‘, which also happens to be the last track on his very own Fabric 46 mix.