"A Cheerful Temper", the name of Robert Babicz’s debut album for Systematic Recordings is
arguably the best way to describe the Cologne based Pole. Answering the question why he is
choosing this specific name, Babicz explains that he feels caught between two worlds: “The
real world of everyday life and a surreal dream world comparable to the backdrop of a fairy
tale.” Robert’s musical career starts out quite exceptionally and indeed rather fabulously in the
early 90s. Right after the phenomenon of Chicago and deep house, techno began to establish
itself as a brand new and totally original part of youth culture. In 1989, the year the wall came
down, Berlin sees the first big techno happenings like Love Parade and Teknozid. But Cologne
also sees many new clubs like the Space club or the Sweatbox. Pioneers of these days were
Reinhard and Wolfgang Voigt (now running the Kompakt empire), The Modernist, Mate Galic,
Roland Casper and Rob Acid (aka Robert Babicz). Robert’s first release “Happy answer”
becomes an unexpectedly big hit. Especially in the UK, on the label London Records the track
storms the charts at the same time as M.A.R.R.S. “Pump up the volume” and “Theme from s-
express”. More and more acid house influenced records come out and soon they dominate
club culture. Of the time Robert wistfully remembers: “It was an incredibly exciting but also
very excessive time of my life with loads of wonderful moments and parties.”
At the end of the 90s Robert withdraws somewhat in order to reflect and to reinvent himself.
He begins to produce records as Atlon Inc and Dicabor, with an identity completely opposite to
that of Rob Acid productions. The quality and the sound standard of these ambient projects
become more and more important in his work and at the same time they improve it as he
masters new equipment and techniques. In 2001 he meets Marc Romboy and Klaus Derichs
and together they create a new platform called Shortcut Recordings dedicated to Robert’s club
tracks. After a period of calm and relaxed tracks it is now time to pump up the volume and
raise the BPMs again. His productions become very technoish at this stage, moving away from
his acid house influences. After Robert collaborates with Marc Romboy on the label Le Petit
Prince, Romboy creates Systematic Recordings in the summer of 2004. He asks Robert to
remix his first single with the Detroit legend Blake Baxter and to do a new version for Berlin’s
house impresario Phonique. On top of that Robert starts to release singles on high profiled
imprints like Kompakt, Treibstoff and Steve Bug’s Audiomatique.
Those who are following Robert’s career over the years, know that his sound and the standard
of his productions reach almost audiophile standards. No surprise then that many well known
artists like Martinez, Minilogue or Gabriel Ananda request his special abilities for mastering
their productions. One reason for his famous sound stems in part from his collection of old
analogue equipment (even from the 60s and 70s) which Robert uses alongside his computer.
Besides drum machines like the famous Roland TR808 and TR909, Robert owns a variety of
unique machines like special effects and EQs the size of living rooms, some taken from
German TV stations to edit their movies and crime shows. He even uses equalizers used by the
secret service and compressors used by East German radio stations.
It is no wonder then that the sound quality of the album is both graceful and crystal clear.
Tracks like “Sin” and “Loosing Memories” surprise with their club compatible deepness while
at the same time moving between the genres of Electronica, Techno and classic House. ‘A
Cheerful Temper’ is indeed a very special and genre-breaking album full of beautiful electronic
club music.
Please have a look on Robert ́s webpages not to miss one of his legendary live shows in your
area. Apart from other producers Babicz does not play as a DJ but as a real live act without
any playbacks. Any of his shows is distinctive and individual as he never performs the same
songs and sounds. Robert is on extended album promotion world tour in 2007.
