Bogdan Raczynski
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Bogdan Raczynski is a UK-based braindance artist. He was born in Poland, but his family moved to the USA while he was a child. He went to art school in Japan but dropped out, after which he spent time playing trumpet in Japanese jazz clubs and making techno songs on his computer using trackers which he would release on the Internet. Eventually he became homeless and lived on the streets of Tokyo, or in the homes of friends, still making music on his computer in the meantime; the song Nihon de Homeless on Samurai Math Beats reflects this. He was signed to Richard D. James's Rephlex Records label. Some of the songs on his first album, Boku Mo Wakaran, were taken from those he released on the Internet earlier.
He is similar in style to Squarepusher, mixing complex beats with strange sounds and samples. He also sings in both Japanese and English (and occasionally Polish), with usually melodramatic, exaggerated lyrics in a funny, strained voice. Raczynski enjoys playing games with his listening audience and just generally being odd; he has performed shows wearing a Power Rangers costume and included a poster of himself wearing a dress in his album Thinking of You. His records and songs are often confusingly or ironically titled, such as the album 96 Drum 'n' Bass Classixxx, on which each song was written by Bogdan but credited to a different pseudonym, and Ibiza Anthems volume 4, a play on the spate of similarly-titled dance albums (the album sounds nothing like the music heard in Ibiza). Bogdan, like many artists on Rephlex Records, rarely gives a straight answer when speaking to the media or interviewers.
Discography
All of Raczynski's albums so far have been released on Rephlex Records.
- Boku Mo Wakaran (Japanese: 僕もう分からん) (1998) (Title means "I don't understand, either.")
- Samurai Math Beats (1999)
- Muzyka Dla Imigrantow (1999) (Limited edition. Title means "Music for Immigrants" in Polish.)
- Ibiza Anthems volume 4 (2000)
- Thinking Of You (2000)
- My Love I Love (2001)
- 96 Drum 'n' Bass Classixxx (2002)
- I Will Eat Your Children Too (2002)
- Renegade Platinum Mega Dance Attack Party: Don The Plates (2003) [Compilation of tracks from I Will Eat Your Children Too and 96 Drum 'n' Bass Classixxx]
External links
- Official Bogdan Raczynski fansite (http://www.bogdanraczynski.com/)