Robotzen
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Robotzen

Band EDM Avant-garde

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This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

Music

The best kept secret in music

Press


"review: Alice Meets The Caterpillar"

[from Issue #235, October 2003]

Robotzen's "industrial trip-hop" avoids the biggest pitfall of trip-hop by tightening the song structures to make focused, actual songs that speak through their content rather than bloated, droning atmospherics. The catchy refrain of "Little Robot" almost qualifies as pop. Alice Meets the Caterpillar, their debut, is concise and effective, and while the mysterious title might suggest some sort of overreaching concept, the songs here work more as a good collection than an album-oriented project. Sue's vocals and melodies and Steve's guitars, synths and programming work great together. So much so that it's easy to see how fully they give themselves to the songs rather than personal showboating. Steve's compositions are sharp, sometimes routine, but never overreaching, and Sue's vocals are the same, spiking each song with personality but never overflowing into a vocal showcase. Alice is a very good debut, and Robotzen is bright new talent. (Michael Delano) - The Noise - Rock Around Boston


"review: Alice Meets The Caterpillar"

"Trippy art rock that has a smooth, dark feel with seductive female vocals. ...damn good and infective." - Brian Czarnik - Punk Planet magazine [January/February 2004]


"review: Alice Meets The Caterpillar"

"...this is some trippy psychedelic electronica. What's cool about [RobotZen] is that they don't settle for the usual boring soundscapes - they've actually bothered to construct SONGS"

Full review here: http://www.readmag.com/Reviews/r.html - Read magazine [October 2003]


"review: The Violence Factors In, by Robotzen"

"With an intriguing name such as this, with a sound such as this, RobotZen is a refreshing change from the ordinary expectations of a scene that has long needed a good injection of diversity... If you want unusual and innovative, go with RobotZen, they truly are a refreshing change from the ordinary."

Full article here: http://www.northeastintune.com/robotzen.html - Northeast In-Tune webzine [May 2005]


Discography

2005 - The Violence Factors In
2003 - Alice Meets the Caterpilliar

Photos

Feeling a bit camera shy

Bio

Robotzen formed in the bleak Boston winter of 2002. Sue Zen, vocalist and lyricist, is a native of Vienna, Austria, and has been performing on the Boston scene for several years in various Goth and Experimental bands. Steve Robot, who handles guitar, synthesizers and programming, hails mainly from the Providence, RI scene, and draws inspiration from artists like Parliament-Funkadelic, Curtis Mayfield and Jimi Hendrix, as well as those like Aphex Twin, Atari Teenage Riot and Switchblade Symphony. Live, the duo is joined by DJ-1988 who mixes up Steve’s loops using the highly reliable software Ableton Live.

Even though the group can be identified as electronic, they are not quite Electronica or Synthpop. Their work is neither club music, nor pop, and while the beats and raps may tip the hat to the days of old-school hip hop, there is very little about the band’s music that references the 80’s. Winding guitar solos, intermixed with complex electronic harmonies layered over noise, create a sound that is tense, yet listenable. The music can also be considered organic, in a way, since every note on the album was played live in their studio—Robotzen neither sample the works of others nor utilize pre-packaged loop libraries. The band, records, mixes and masters all of their material on Mac G4 Powerbooks in Steve’s modest home studio, Secret Lab. “It actually just looks like a pile of books and junk. It really is a secret,” notes Steve. In addition to their studio skills, they have a strong live show, and have performed regularly in the Boston area since early 2003. Through these live performances, their sound has slowly evolved, moving from an almost Trip-Hop sound, to something harder to describe.