The list of electronic music scenes has always been associated with cities like Amsterdam, Berlin, and Ibiza, but today another city is starting to call the attention of those in the know: Bucharest. This is due to their insane electronic music clubs, outdoor parties and top-notch DJs. We interviewed two talented Romanian DJs /producers who are making their mark in Romania and across Europe. Below they share with us their stories, music recommendations, and a little about the music scene in Romania.
Faster – Laurentiu Suciu
Getting his start in the underground hip hop culture in Romania at 16 years old, Faster can now be found playing in the best electronic clubs in Romania (Studio Martin, Bucharest) and throughout Europe (Fabric, London). His passion for electronic music is influenced by artists such Luciano, Ricardo Villalobos, Sasha, Richie Hawtin, Steve Lawler and others. He has also played with artists such as Booka Shade, Sven Vath, Onur Ozer, and many others. In only his sixth year of DJing, its safe to say you’ll be hearing a lot more from Faster in the years to come.
How did your interest in DJing arise and when did you get started?
It starting way back, 7 years ago when I was just a kid that fooled around with hip-hop beats, making tracks for his friends for free-styling. That time, i was really interested in this whole dj passion, so i called some friends and asked them if they can teach me to dj for real. Here i am now!
How would you define your style and how do you choose the music for your sets?
My style is not really defined, but I would say dub techno, techno, house, micro. The music chosen for my sets is basically random tracks which I pick after week-by-week digging.
What was the most memorable show that you’ve played?
For sure my gigs in Fabric London were the best so far. Incredible crowd, incredible vibes and sound system.
The Romanian music scene has been getting lots of attention and praise lately. Can you tell us a little more about the scene there? What makes it so exciting and unique from other parts of Europe?
The scene is going good, we have plenty of nice festivals, plenty of parties which foreign people can attend at any times. It`s pretty good here in the east. I guess the sound is that unique thing that people always want to hear, nevertheless the whole country is very beautiful and you have a lot to see, once here!
If we visit Romania, what electronic clubs should we go to?
Well, Midi club in Cluj, Kristal Club and Studio Martin in Bucharest for sure.
What are your top 5 tracks at the moment?
Crash Course in Science – Flying Turns (Villalobos Mac Hawking remix)
Cabanne Cercle – Concentrique 2
STL – 2 Ya Ear
Pheek – Ice EP
Anton Zap – I’m Fine
Where to Follow Faster
http://www.facebook.com/Fasterofficial
http://www.residentadvisor.net/dj/faster
https://twitter.com/fasterdj
http://www.beatport.com/artist/faster/57087
Lucian Rotaru
26 years old and hailing from Iasi, Romania, Lucian Rotaru describes his sound as “the ideal 2 a.m., middle of the crowd, intoxicated, clubbing experience” with groovy, moving bass lines, delayed wooden percussions and atmospheric musical themes. His passion for electronic music started back in 2004 and has brought him all the way to international known clubs such as Studio 80 in Amsterdam. Along with DJing and producing tracks, he is also launching a net label to promote up and coming Romanian musicians.
The Romanian music scene has been getting lots of attention and praise lately. Can you tell us a little more about the scene there? What makes it so exciting and unique from other parts of Europe?
To be honest, during the last few years the Romanian electronic music scene grew immensely in most part thanks to the A:rpia:r guys, which through their passion and devotion for electronic music have succeeded in making Romania known on an international scale. I can’t say that we’re any more special than other places on the globe. There’s good artists everywhere which bring their own vision of electronic music to the table.
If we visit Romania, what electronic clubs should we go to?
If you’d come to Romania, my first recommandation would be Club Midi in Cluj Napoca, placed 51st in 2013 by DJ Mag in the world’s top 100 clubs alongside clubs like Watergate (Berlin), Fuse (Bruxelles), Rex (Paris) and others. In Bucharest there’s lots of outdoor parties during the summer, either in parks, on roofs or at various pools and when the warm season is over the action moves along in clubs like Kristal Glam or Studio Martin, the latter hosting numerous underground parties in it’s 18 years of activity. There’s also club Modern and the list can go on. As far as festivals go, of course, there’s Sunwaves which has reached it’s 13th edition this year.
What DJs and other musical artists are your influences?
Obviously like any electronic music fan I could say that the strongest influence is Ricardo Villalobos, each of us wishing to acquire at least a quarter of his musical knowledge, public entertainment abilities and vibe! Other artists who have left their footprint along the way are Thomas Melchior, Bruno Pronsato, Onur Ozer , Baby Ford , Zip , Steve O’Sullivan and so on all the way to names like Gary Martin, head of Teknotika Records from Detroit, DJ Buck, Mark Ambrose, Dj Catt, Dj Foxx and the list can keep going…
What is the specific electronic music aesthetic/style you are curating with your label Housecommunity? Who are some up and coming DJs on your label that we should check out?
First of all, Housecommunity will not be a label due to the fact that all the releases will be free to download, therefore there will be no profit. The concept took birth simply out of passion for electronic music and the wish to share as much quality music as possible. I wouldn’t want to disclose the names involved for now but I can assure you there will be some top Romanian artists as well as international. So I recommend you keep an eye on our Facebook page for any updates. Here is the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Housecommunity/175183059178508
What are your top 5 tracks at the moment?
Tough question. I’ll just list the first 5 tracks that I can think of off the top of my head right now because I love many tracks.
Ultra Nate – Found a Cure (Mood II Rascal search dub mix)
Dj Q – Fogbound
Pathfinders – Turnpike
Octave – Dust
Dubtil – Basi te joaca
Where To Follow Lucian
https://soundcloud.com/libe87
https://soundcloud.com/housecommunity-1