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.

Given that it would seem we’ve got events coming out of our ears for Autumn, here’s a round-up of what we’re up to over the next month or so… Don’t forget, full details of all of our upcoming escapades can be found on our events page.

First up: we’re very pleased to confirm that the ugly rumours, baseless conjecture and wild speculation currently sweeping the internets with regard to a Robot vs Dinosaur DJ residency at brand-spanking new Brum club BUSK is all true- we will be DJing in their third room on a regular basis as part of their BOOST night from next Wednesday (the 8th), when the club finally opens for business following a few dry-runs including Project X Presents‘ recent Digital Dystopia event.

Entry to the night, which also serves as the aftershow party for the Johnny Foreigner/Sunset Cinema Club/Calories gig at the Yardbird, is absolutely free with the night running from 10:30 ’til 3am. Expect drinks offers and truckloads of great tunes, not just from ourselves but also from DJs Lex and Adam Eunson who respectively will be playing indie/electro/classic pop and alt-rock in the club’s other two rooms. Find more information on the event’s Facebook invite, and if you’re wondering where BUSK actually is: it’s on Gough St directly opposite our secret volcanic base, Island Bar- click here for a map.

As far as the future’s concerned, it’s currently undecided as to whether we’ll be DJing there on a weekly or bi-weekly basis but you’ll know as soon as we do. The best way to keep tabs on what we’re up to is to keep an eye on our Twitter feed as things tend to be announced there first- either follow us if you’re on Twitter already, subscribe to the page’s RSS feed or just bookmark it if this whole social internet lark frightens the bejeezus out of you for some incomprehensible reason.

Right, on to the next RvD night proper: October’s event sees us hosting a showcase for London-based electronic indie imprint Uncharted Audio, featuring live performances from label standards Line and Cyan341 plus a DJ set from their big boss Kone-R. Headliner Line, whom indie-heads may recognise as a former member of Matador Records folk-rockers Seachange, makes music which is best described as occupying the centre point on a Venn diagram describing the logical relationship between Drexciya and Joy Division. His fizzing, minimal backing and taut vocal delivery combine to deliver results which are both compellingly danceable and yet slightly unsettling.

Cyan341 on the other hand plays from an entirely different page, weaving together Berlin minimalism with the deeper, funkier techno of Detroit, whilst Kone-R promises to “mix together techno, breakbeat and lots of low frequency oscillations all in the spirit of rave”. We’ll be holding him to that! And of course, our good selves will be on call to DJ whatever we’ve nicked off the internet during the week prior.

As ever, entry is £3 or just £1 if dressed as a robot or dinosaur, with the event itself taking place at Island on Friday October 17th. Free pin badge on entry, huge cocktail selection of cocktails available! If you’ve got any music requests then leave a comment or drop us a line at info [at] robotvsdinosaur.co.uk, not that anyone ever bloody bothers…

Anyway, moving on: our good selves at RvD Towers are high on life and drunk on power, having finally managed to get a joint event together with top indiepop promotions outfit The Autumn Store. The event in question, entitled Mechakitten, is somewhat of an arranged marriage between the otherwise disparate genres of indiepop and electronica… indiepoptronica, if you will?

Taking place at Island on Saturday October 25th, the night sees us mining a rich seam of musical goodness, taking in a rare headline set from former Broadcast/Plone members Seeland plus motorik pop madness from the London-based Arthur & Martha, instrumental electronic epics from former RvD performer Arc Vel as well as an opening set of indiepoptastic boy-girl-vocaled funs from Derby’s Mexican Kids At Home.

We’ll have DJs on hand too, playing everything from Belle & Sebastian to Battles, whilst the £4 admission fee includes a free pin badge (no money off for dinosaurs or robots this time ’round I’m afraid!). Doors open at 8:30 with the night running ’til everyone goes home! More info will be available at www.mechakitten.co.uk very soon, but in the meantime check out our Facebook invite for full details.

Anyway, no doubt your mind is reeling after that 100%-proof RvD event-related action spectacular! More info on all of the above the second it spurts from the infopipe. See you anon…

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!

Just a couple of days to go before the next Robot vs Dinosaur! Taking place upstairs at Island Bar this Friday (the 19th), we’ll have brain-baking live electronic madness from Jade One & QXTC plus visuals from Chromatouch, as well as DJs playing all manner of electrogoodness- check out our events page for the full scoop. Not only that, but This Is Tomorrow will be making a welcome return downstairs at Island too, manning the decks to provide a musical smorgasbord taking in everything from disco to alternative.

Entry is £3, or £1 if dressed as a robot or dinosaur! Doors open at 8:30! Free pin badge on entry! Huge cocktail selection available! Plus, since at least a couple of people will be celebrating their birthdays at RvD on Fri there may well also be some cake knocking about if you’re good…

August RvD headliner Mike In Mono features on Botpop Volume One, a forthcoming electronic pop compilation from London-based indie Happy Robots Records. The album- released on September 29th via download and limited-edition CD- also features label bosspersons Arthur & Martha and the highly recommended Hong Kong In The 60s amongst a whole host of other indietronic pop treats.

“We at Happy Robots Records are pleased to announce the release of our first full length album.

Filled with exclusive tracks and rarities, it’s an album that has brought together artists from around the UK, US and Europe, in the collective endeavour of making the world a little bit of a better place to live in. Michael Jackson would be proud! It’s a collection to make you dance, laugh, phone a friend, raise a glass, change a fuse, stroke-a-beard or just grin like the Cheshire Cat.”

Hit their myspace for more details, including a full list of participants, while the album itself can be previewed via last.fm.

(via The Autumn Store)

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…