Alexander Robotnick - Problèmes D’Amour (Dub Version)

Alexander Robotnick, “Problemes d’Amour” (Fuzz Dance, 1983) Hear It In: Metro Area, Space Dimension Controller, Miss Kittin Translated from its original French, “Problemes d’Amour” is like what Blade Runner’s Roy Batty would cut loose to in a Rimini discotheque: “Oh! This is the cry of a robot in love, oh / Oh! Even without tears, he cries always, oh.” Alexander Robotnick was the alias of Maurizio Dami, a cabaret singer from Florence who programmed his way into dance music’s history books with this quixotic ode to robotic romance. The third release on the short-lived Fuzz Dance label, the track paired sing-songy chants and fluttery funk synthesizers with a crisp machine groove halfway between Kraftwerk and Cybotron. In both its instrumentation and its cadence, it has as much to do with electro-funk as disco, and its wriggly 303 line anticipates Chicago acid, then just around the corner. But arriving just as Italo disco was becoming a recognized thing, it also represents a crucial moment