…but we sure are sleepy, having spent many months tirelessly working day jobs since we saw you last. Some folk might of course consider these two situations as being broadly similar, the big difference being that DJing is a fair bit more difficult when you’re in the grave.

And DJing we are, at a gig organised by Radio Black Forest, which sees a headline set from J-Folk duo Tenniscoats alongside support from the lovely Arc Vel and the rather more mysterious Ampersand.

I confess, I don’t know a great deal about Tenniscoats other than that they’re from Japan, weave soulscraping folk-tinged psychedelic symphonies and have collaborated with Deerhoof. “A convincing and beguiling melange of whispy folk, hazy psychedelia and murmuring electronics among which deft melodies blossom almost unnoticed”, reckoned The Wire at some point apparently, not that I read The Wire. Youtube presents a particularly rich seam if you’re after a taste, although they also have a couple of tracks up at Myspace which you should definitely check out.

Arc Vel on the other hand we know pretty well, and indeed regular readers of this blog (not that we’ve many these days!) may know that we like him just a little bit. “Mesmeric, delicate, yet punctuated by occasional bursts of raging intensity, like watching a beautiful thunderstorm” wrote The Wire a few months back. No wait, that was me! Maybe I should write for The Wire?

And finally, Ampersand, of whom we know almost nothing. “Do they have any stuff online?” I wrote in an email a few days ago. The reply was a resounding no, given that they’re such a very newly-formed project, although fans of Cities Prepare For Attack and Skarabee should understand that they feature their members. Actually, sod The Wire, they’re better off without me I think.

The gig takes place at the Flapper in Birmingham on Wednesday 3rd June, with entry costing £6. Find Facebook event details here. And as previously mentioned, we will be on-hand to play other people’s records between sets. Splendid! Don’t miss out, especially since chances are we’ll be drifting back off to sleep afterwards…

Infos:
Tenniscoats
Arc Vel
Radio Black Forest

As previously mentioned, Robot vs Dinosaur will be returning to Island Bar come Friday 21st November and as ever we’ve all manner of electronic thrills and spills in store. On the live front we’ve got a headline set from London-based techno merchant The Third Man (of whom we wrote about at great length in our previous post) as well as some deft yet laid back electronics from fellow smoke-dweller Sunosis.

We’ll also be DJing an all-conquering electronic selection featuring the likes of aphex twin, arovane, autechre, battles, boards of canada, the books, broadcast, ceephax acid crew, chris clark, cornelius, cylob, dntel, the flashbulb, four tet, germlin, holy fuck, hood, kid 606, M83, matmos, max tundra, mouse on mars, polysics, the postal service, prefuse 73, ulrich schnauss, squarepusher, stereolab, tortoise, venetian snares, luke vibert and pretty much anything else with an electronic element to it bar the Pet Shop Boys- drop us a comment or email us via info [at] robotvsdinosaur.co.uk if you’ve got any requests…

Entry as ever is £3, or just £1 if dressed as a robot or dinosaur. Doors open at 8:30- see you there?

Ai Records technomancer The Third Man, one of the participants on the imprint’s recent triple-split EP alongside Plant43 and Najem Sworb, has recently released his debut album ‘Clarion Call’. More of a mini than a full-length LP, the release sees him distilling his love of techno, acid and the classic Detroit sound with the rather more hard-edged influences he appropriated while studying at Glasgow university.

Opener ‘Hemsby Acid’ acts as a gateway: written on a BLOC weekend comedown, its initial ambient wash soon reveals a dancefloor stomper underpinned by steely hi-hats and an evolving 303 melody. From here on, the London-based producer- real name Toby Leeming- continues to explore his own musical psyche, riding a knife edge between the digital crispness of today and the distorted, primitive yet comfortingly intimate sound of electronic music’s early days. More mellow numbers such as the title track and the blissful “Attacks” could have existed since the mid-80s, whilst on the likes of “Synchronise” and “Flaccid House” Leeming delves into decidedly more dark territory, brutally beating both acid and electro influences into submission to create music unmistakably his own.

Having been exposed to a mere spoonful of this electro-alchemist’s talent, ourselves at RvD Towers can’t wait to sample his next concoction- without doubt, ‘Clarion Call’ continues to cement Ai’s reputation as possibly the most exciting electronic label the UK has to offer. And, as standard with all Ai releases it comes presented in a package as beautiful and exciting as the music- in this case, a dirty great fleshy slab of vinyl encased within artwork by German anatomical artist Karl Wesker. Grab a copy from the Ai shop while you still can…

Best of all, you lucky people will be able to witness The Third Man’s work first-hand at the next Robot vs Dinosaur, where he’s all set to take our headline slot- this is a show not to be missed! Taking place at Island on Friday November 21st, the bill will also see a set from the rather more chilled Sunosis- a fellow Londoner, commander-in-chief of Shepherd’s Bush’s premier (and currently under-threat!) beat bunker Ginglik. Check out his sun-kissed yet resolutely beat-driven mini-LP ‘Warmth’, available via the famously unpredictable Rednetic label.

Enough talk- this is all set to be our most exciting RvD yet! Full details will be up on our events page, just as soon as we get a moment’s pause to update it…

Robot vs Dinosaur are all set to DJ this Saturday as part of the upcoming Gigbeth festival, topping a bill of exciting and innovative new acts performing on the 4Talent stage, located in the Dragon Bar at Birmingham Barfly.

Confirmed to perform are Rich Batsford, The Icarus, Iain Woods & The Psychologist, Keyboard Choir and Einstellung as well as a series of mid-set improv performances from Pete Ashton and his mind-boggling light-sensitive mini synths, the Thingamagoop and Thingamakit (pictured). We will be DJing following the acts at around 11- expect the usual ultra-eclectic RvD selection taking in abstract techno, breakcore, laptoptronica and other general electro-nonsense.

Tickets for the Saturday cost £18 (although please bear in mind this includes a whole host of acts and stages, not just the above- check out the Gigbeth site for more details) whilst a pass for both days can be procured for £25. For more info about Gigbeth’s 4Talent stage, check out their page right here or have a wander over to their Facebook event.

So: Mechakitten, our long-mooted joint event with The Autumn Store, came and went just over a week ago. Thanks to everyone who took part and helped make it such a fantastic evening including Seeland, Arthur & Martha, Arc Vel (pictured) and Mexican Kids at Home for providing cracking live performances, Leon Chromatouch for orchestrating the visuals, Mark and Annelise for documenting the event in pictures (check the gallery, they’re online now), and most of all Dunc Autumn Store himself for… er, doing most of the actual work!

Thanks also to everyone who came down- hope you enjoyed, if you did then watch this space: we may well be doing another one some time next year. Leave us a comment or drop us an email if you’ve any feedback on how we can make things even better next time…

Mechakitten- the long-mooted joint event between Robot vs Dinosaur and indiepop promotions outfit The Autumn Store- is finally on the horizon, taking place at Island Bar this Saturday!

The night features a rare headline performance from ex-Broadcast/Plone duo Seeland, plus motorik madness from London’s Arthur & Martha, electronic epics from previous RvD performer Arc Vel and a warm-up set of joyous, multi-vocaled indiepop from Derby-based five piece Mexican Kids at Home as well as DJs playing everything from Battles to Belle & Sebastian until the small hours!

Entry is £4, with a free badge on entry- no cheap admission for robots or dinosaurs this time around I’m afraid, although we may well make concessions for robotic cats? Doors open at 8:30 with the night running ’til late- more info can be found on our events page, and in somewhat confusing fashion we have not one but two facebook events for the night, which can be found here and here. See you there?

Giant mechagodzilla thank-yous to everyone who came down to October’s Robot vs Dinosaur! Drink was poured, music was consumed and minds were blown: mostly our own, given how good the turnout was in spite of our not having a great deal of time to promote the night as of late.

Special thanks go out to everyone who helped make the night what it was: Line (pictured) and Cyan341 gave stunning live performances, Kone-R’s DJ set gave us a thing or two to think about regarding our own DJing whilst Chromatouch provided visuals which fondled the eyes as much as they violated the brain. Thanks also to Andy Bullock and Annelise for capturing the event for posperity, and to Dunc for stepping in at the last minute to man the door!

Robot vs Dinosaur will be invading your airspace once again come Friday November 21st. More info soon, and meanwhile roll on Mechakitten this Saturday!

Don’t forget that our October event’s just around the corner, taking place at Island on Friday 17th. We’ll be hosting live performances from Cyan341 (the headliner- ignore the flyer!) and Line, plus DJs and visuals from Chromatouch.

Entry is £3, or just £1 if dressed as a robot or dinosaur- doors open at 8:30. More details are available via our events page- meanwhile, we’ll be DJing again at BUSK this Wednesday if you don’t have to be up for school in the morning…

Final reminder: we’re DJing tonight at BUSK, as part of their BOOST event. Entry is free, with the night running from 10:30 ’til 3am. More info can be found via their myspace, whilst BUSK itself can be found on Gough St opposite Island Bar. See you there?

RvD June performer Arc Vel has released an mp3 single entitled ‘Lin’ via new digital music emporium Indmill. The single features three amazing tracks including a brand new number called ‘Bed Sidde’, which quite frankly took my breath away on first listen. Sounding like Ryuichi Sakamoto gleefully hurling Tortoise’s equipment down the stairs, find an excerpt on the release’s page if you’d like a sneak preview.

Costing just £1.25 45p for all three tracks (which come as 256kbps DRM-free mp3s, I hasten to add), what sets this apart from most other independent mp3 releases coming out as of late is that 90% of the proceeds go to child protection charity Kidscape. And, given that the music itself is of such incredible quality- mesmeric, delicate, yet punctuated by occasional bursts of raging intensity, like watching a beautiful thunderstorm- I urge everyone who reads this to lay down some cash and buy it. Anyone who considers less than the cost of a pack of gum as too much to pay for three amazing pieces of music, plus the chance to support not only a local musician of massive potential but also a very worthy cause indeed, should be thrown into a pit and drowned.

Anyway, enough talk of pit-based water-death: you can catch Arc Vel playing live at our forthcoming Mechakitten event, whilst he will also be manning the decks at the forthcoming (and highly recommended) Pivot gig at the Rainbow this Thursday.