October 2011 has proven to be an unusually busy month for Robot vs Dinosaur, with more going on than we normally do in a year these days.

First off comes our latest stint at 8Bit Lounge. We’ll be providing the soundtrack to your retro gaming pleasure alongside regulars Chromatouch and 8Bit Pete at the Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath, later this very evening. Games on offer include networked Wipeout and Quake as well as a host of other classic titles on formats including Amiga, SNES, MAME (arcade game emulation) and much more. Doors open at 8ish; entry is absolutely free; your enjoyment is guaranteed whether you’re a gamer or not. Find Facebook event details here.

Moving on, later this month sees our first ever set outside of Birmingham: we’ll be jetting off to faraway, mysterious Stourbridge to do a set as part of Carnage Club at The Temple of Boom on Saturday October 15th. The £3 entry also includes live sets from History of the Hawk, Papayèr, Crushing Blows, Vicious Bastard, Crash Night and Mothertrucker so you’ll be getting plenty of bang for your buck. No bar, so bring your own beer- but since the venue is next door to a Tesco Express, that shouldn’t be too much trouble. Full details right here on Facebook.

Finally, towards the end of the month we’ll be dropping some hard techno bangers at… Stitches & Ho’s, the Hare & Hounds’ monthly knitting/needlecraft event. Entry is free, whilst their website states “Everyone is welcome – you don’t even have to be good!”. That’s us covered then. Tuesday October 25th.

More pertinently, the amazing 3D Maze Crew will be coming all the way from Bristol to assault all and sundry with their unique blend of chipcore, visuals and nostalgia (see below video), whilst there will also be the return of the Amiga Kick Off 2 tournament.

Entry is free, and more details can be found on this here Facebook event, if you’ve the stomach for Facebook these days.

That is all. Nothing more to see here.

Following almost a year of silence I’ll be briefly coming out of retirement next week to do a set next Tuesday (the 13th) as part of 8 Bit Lounge, which takes place at the Hare and Hounds in Kings Heath (map).

In spite of the event being imminent, information is still pretty thin on the ground but as well as my good self there’ll also be sets from organisers VJ Chromatouch and Subcitizen, whilst 8BitPete should also be making an appearance.

In addition, expect the usual blend of vintage and not-so-vintage multiplayer gaming, eye-baiting visuals and maybe the odd Game Boy camera or two! Admission to the night is absolutely free, so hopefully we’ll see you down there.

…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

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?

NME‘s usually shoddy standards of journalism took a dramatic turn for the better last week, what with the inclusion of Robot vs Dinosaur in their Indie Map of Britain and Ireland supplement! Stating that “DJ duo Robot vs Dinosaur have been making quite a name for themselves at venues around town”, the Birmingham-themed article also mentions our brothers-from-another-mother Tropical Hotdog, who by sheer coincidence will be hosting the next instalment of their confoundingly ace ’80s sexy shindig this Friday.

Thanks to Johnny Foreigner, our guys on the inside, for swinging us the coverage. Meanwhile, we’re off to check out that brand new development, the Custard Factory!

…who came down to the last Robot vs Dinosaur! To those who couldn’t make it: you missed a double bill of crunch-tastic technomadness from Jade One and QXTC! You missed live visual jockeying from Chromatouch! And most of all, you also missed exceedingly good cake, and all the cake-related dual-birthday hilarity which invariably comes with it! Thanks to Meeno for cookin’ it up for us…

However, every silver lining: unfortunately we weren’t able to document the event in pictures in a particularly effective manner, meaning we have a paltry six photos from the night in our gallery. Yes, six. We spotted a few camera-wielding dinobots lurking about so if you cranked a few shots off then please get in touch via info [at] robotvsdinosaur.co.uk- we’ll be your best mates in the world ever if you might like to donate a few photos, or perhaps some interpretive abstract art.

Anyway, Robot vs Dinosaur will return to Island come Friday October 17th. We’ve got lots of funs in store, of which we will reveal sooner than you might think. À bientot!

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for! Robot Vs Dinosaur will be back at Island on Friday September 19th, provided that the world doesn’t get destroyed by the Large Hadron Collider come this Wednesday (EDIT- didn’t happen in the end… how disappointing!). Sounding a little like Autechre and Mouse On Mars after having been smashed together at 99.99% of the speed of light, Brum’s own Jade One will be bringing his unique brand of mangled abstract techno to the party plus we’ll also have a repeat performance from recently-blogged Mancunian laptoptronicist QXTC, of whom the elephant-minded amongst you may remember kicking off the proceedings at our very first night back in Feb- has it really been so long?

And, as ever we’ll also be DJing an ultra-eclectic selection of epic proportions! Taking in everything from Hrvatski to Herbie Hancock, expect your noodly matter to have been consumed by a black hole or two come the small hours. Doors open at 8:30 with the night running ’til we’re too drunk to DJ properly, and as ever admission is a mere £3 or just £1 if dressed as a robot or a dinosaur! Find full details and a slightly more buff playlist over at our events page, and until then we’ve got some serious work to do…

Robot vs Dinosaur will be DJing as part of Brum-based creative media network Project X Presents‘ next event, entitled “Digital Dystopia”. Taking place on Saturday 13th September at newly-unveiled Birmingham club BUSK, the performance will further develop and explore the group’s remarkable “Omnimedia Experience” format, presenting a seamless flow of art, music and visuals via three stages.

As well as our good selves (well, one half to be specific- I’ve got a wedding to get to), the event also features a performance from former RvD highlight Arc Vel alongside a diverse range of artists and DJs of all genres including Marc Reck, Mixmaster Morris, Steve Loopz, Rich Batsford, Shana Tova, 360 and many more. Meanwhile, those of a slightly more experimental bent can expect to have their appetites sated by the many art installations, spoken word pieces and VJ performances on offer. Believe me when I say that the above description merely scratches the surface of what this event has to offer: the promoters ask you to “leave your expectations at the door” and, for once, I would pay heed to that advice.

Entry to the event costs £10, and doors open at 8:00pm with the night running ’til 3. Meanwhile, BUSK can be found on Gough Street, opposite Island Bar and the Alexandra theatre. For more info, please check out the Project X Presents website.

Thanks to everyone who turned out to the last Robot Vs Dinosaur, after a slightly patchy Summer it was the best night we’ve had for quite some time- hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did! Special thanks are of course owed to Mike In Mono and Girljoy (pictured) for coming down and playing some blinding sets- if you liked Girljoy then buy her album immediately, and we’re also beginning an email campaign right here to try and pressure Mike into finishing his album as we really want to hear it! While we’re waiting though we’ll console ourselves with the superb ZX Spectrum Orchestra stuff currently available from Warm Circuit.

We’ve also got photos from the event up in our gallery, please do make sure to check them out. Thanks to Andy Bullock, Pete Hodgson and Stu Roland for contributing photos, you all did a bang-up job- and yet, at this point I have to express some disappointment. Island Bar was awash on the night with photographic equipment, there were digital cameras, phone cameras, lomographic cameras, even someone wielding an old game Boy camera and yet we’ve only received photos from the above-mentioned few. If you’ve got photos taken at any of our nights then please email them to us via info [at] robotvsdinosaur.co.uk and we’ll proudly feature them in our gallery (yep, replace the “[at]” with an “@”, unless you’re a spammer!).

Anyway! Keep your ear to the ground, we’ve got lots of stuff in the pipeline: Robot vs Dinosaur returns to Island Bar come Friday September 19th, plus there’s also a few other developments which we very much want to talk to you about shortly. More info very soon, we promise! Keep it salty…