Already in the second quarter of the year, the time it’s well passed to have a look back at what happened in terms of music production by Romanian artist in last year and what to expect in 2023.

2022 was pretty dry and chill year for the Romanian producers, with not many impressing achievements. We are still revolving around the same few figures, with very little coming forward besides the rominimal scene, but 2023 is looking more promising.

Khidja continued their penurious time from the last couple of years with just one release last year on Hivern Discs. “Something In The Water EP” is a tripped out vision of their musical interpretation that moods through open minded studio experimentation.

Besides this, they had release a track on a whypeopledance compilation as a fundraiser for Ukraine and two remixes for Platform 23 and Malka Tuti.

But, this year will bring their long-awaited debut LP coming via their favorite label Malka Tuti. The album called “Transmission” will be divided into two separate releases, first coming in June, while the second come will arrive in Autumn. The album, which contains 10 new tracks from the duo, was written and produced by Khidja over the last several years.

Borusiade is the other renowned Romanian representative in the alternative electronic music scene that in the last couple of years became unfortunately more quiet. She had a track on the whypeopledance compilation mentioned earlier, a remix for Mother on Mars and one track on the latest Les Yeux Orange compilation.

This Spring she started with a remix for Niklas Wandt, on Berlin label Warning.

One of the most active Romanian producers in 2022 was Andu Simion, 1/3 of the well known Lisière Collectif, the Ploiești trio. He started last year presenting a new project with Bogdan Ardeleanu of Lisière Collectif and Kosmogonik, called A Dublu. They released Polytraffic on the Romanian label Geodesic, a versatile EP with acid textures, warm synths for warm-up, but also more alert techno rhythms.

Last year, Andu also released his debut album on the label Diffuse Reality. “Random Studio Incidents” includes 12 tracks deep techno with an ambient aerie and his well known acidic lines.

Andu signed also a deep electro acid remix on the first Valva release and this summer he will release a track on a compilation from Stockholm’s Seaweed Rhythm label.

2022 saw also the birth of plugged:in, a label centered around the Lisière Collectif trio focused on releasing electronic music DYI cassette tapes. The first cassette release came more than a year ago with interesting tracks from Cheap Kebap (another Andu’s project), Fyodor and already mentioned A Dublu. Would be interesting to hear something new from this label.

Eduard Costea aka DYL is an experimental music producer, born in Deva and now living in Cluj-Napoca. Last year he released a new collaborative project with DB1, from Hidden Hawaii, and this year he landed on Rotterdam’s infamous label Nous’klaer with one of his most substantial work up to now. “Fjord” is a deep dive that starts out soothing and gets deceptively heavy and hypnotic as you swim further offshore.

His fifth album “Nothing As It Seems” just came out a few day ago on the Swiss label re:st. Here DYL dives deep in his personal moods and feelings, reflecting on influences and moments of confidence versus doubt in the past year, trying to interpretate these feels into sounds, healing his mental state. As always with DYL’s production it’s an exciting ride along futuristic rhythms, hazy atmospheres and loads of dub influenced elements. Ranging from drifting drum & bass to experimental drum work-outs, all captured in a foggy mist of beautiful pads and scapes.

Later this summer, he will release a cassette on the outlines label from Wrocław, featuring some variations on ambient, footwork and fast tempos

Weith is Sergiu Juravle, originally from Constanța (Romania) and now part of the Brainwaves Crew from Geneva (Switzerland). In the past years he had a brace of good contributions on labels like brokntoys, Mechatronica and of course Brainwaves.
Last year featured one track on a Hilltown Disco compilation and made a remix for Swiss breakbeat artist Fels.

Sergiu’s music is offering a varietal electronic onslaught with acidic basslines, jungle music and electronica soundscapes.

The mix Sergiu recorded for Hilltown Disco spans over a vast sonic territory with a focus on breakbeats, IDM and jungle.

Andrew Red Hand, dubbed by the late Aaron Carl as the “Romanian Underground Resistance himself”, has released in the past on some serious labels like M>O>S Recordings, Detroit Underground, Lobster Theremin or Chiwax, but in the last 3-4 years his productions got dried.
Happily, in the last year he published some mixes for Hypnotic Groove, Phormix, Lost In Ether and Groove Magazine. Also he is back on Chiwax label with his 3rd release, “Nostalgia” EP, a very personal and intimate release for him.

Last year we got acquainted with Le Brouf, a project composed of Edward Nicoara and Mircea Floruț, founded in 2017 in Oradea, Romania. After almost 2 years of experimentation, Le Brouf took its final shape towards the end of 2019 when they started working on their new music. In 2022, they presented “ProAntiAnti Going Nowhere” a six songs EP released on Diffuse Reality. The band goes through several musical genres and styles, from post punk to alternative rock with electro and industrial influences.

This summer, the duo will release a new 11 track album called “Pattern”, again on the Diffuse Reality label.