We Was Robbed!

Rob Rooowwwwwlaaaaaannnd! It s Saturday night, it s 2FM s top 50 dance records of the year and Mickey Mac is having a particularly large one. The tune he s just played is a steely, melodic techno number, the kind of production that usually only emanates from the futuristic sound labs in deepest Detroit.
This time, however, the record is from Dublin and is called Point Monster . The producer of Point is Rob Rowland, a 23-year-old studio wizard, who has given us many of 1996 s most memorable techno moments: from the relentless, pulsating rhythms of Glocomm , through the blissed out sounds of Neurotik to the deep, flute-led melodies on Bomb Bonus , Rowland s work comes with effortless talent stamped all over it.
Rob s three discs have all been released on D1 Records, the Dublin based dance label set up and run by Eamon Doyle. Although only three records old, the imprint has already gained the kind of global respect normally reserved for longer standing labels.
With stories of Dave Angel hammering Neurotik in his sets and UK house eccentric Herbert begging for D1 promos, 1997 looks set to be the year that, with the D1 flagship steering the way, Rob Rowland becomes Ireland s first international techno star.
However, before we peer into the electronic crystal ball, it s time to look back with Rob at his eventful year.
I think we re happy with what we ve achieved this year. We ve got far more done than we d planned to do. I don t know what level of success we enjoyed during the year, but my immediate response would be that you don t judge it on a financial basis. I m not making a living out of it, but I m not confusing that with the interest I have in music. With regard to correct media coverage and techno producers whose attention we would have liked to have got, I think we ve gone further than we d imagined.
This interest from abroad has already resulted in UK techno wunderkind Mark Broom lending his own magic touch to Point Monster , ready for release in the new year. Rob is quick to explain how important this collaboration has been: The first D1 record was only released in March, so the Broom remix was head and shoulders above anything we thought we would get done this year. Although he is not yet at liberty to tell us who else will be working with him in 1997, the names that have been suggested from a list which reads like a who s who of international techno producers.
The last 12 months have seen Rob Rowland take his sound from the studio and transfer it to a live arena. For Rob, the best of his live performances was the Friday night gig at Alien just before the In the City merry-go-round hit Dublin. If ever there was an antidote to the corporate gravy train mentality that the conference espoused, it had to be Rowland s twisted minimalist funk.
I pushed the boat out the most that night, he says. It wasn t all drum rolls: I played all the freaky stuff that I d always wanted to use. In a club like that you get away with that kind of stuff. The crowd went with what I was playing and didn t lose interest. I don t know if you can call them educated but they were definitely enthusiastic!
For a producer who is only in the infancy of his career, Rob Rowland s profile is already at the stage where MTV are knocking on his door. Party Zone, the station s flagship dance programme, put the video of Point Monster on their playlist, and now want to do a feature on Rowland and D1. However, Rob is typically unfazed by the attentions of a multinational entertainment company.
I haven t seen it on MTV yet but my little brother has, so I ll take his word for it! For the feature, MTV want three different videos. In true techno fashion we re doing a remake of the Point Monster video for the Mark Broom remix, one for Lettin On which will be released with the Point remix and probably a video for Donnacha Costello who will be the next release on D1. Donnacha comes from a minimal, Plastikman territory, and I d place my bets on him getting pretty big.
If anyone believes that either D1 or Rob possesses only one sound, then Costello s release and Rowland s own Lettin On track will blow away any preconceived notions people might have had. The latter in particular is a hard and frenetic disco-techno stomper that sounds unlike anything you will hear in 1997.
My sound has progressed because I m getting a lot more educated, Rob says. When the first release was recorded I was going clubbing all the time, but I hadn t gone headlong into it all. I think I might have been slightly preoccupied with what worked and with what was cool.
With a D1 CD compilation featuring tracks from Rob himself, Donnacha Costello, Declan Canning from Vinyl Meltdown and Francois from Alien for release in the new year, is it possible that Rowland has any other plans for what already seems like a hectic schedule in 1997?
If I get the time, I want to work on my debut album. I ve stockpiled loads of tunes, so the ammunition is already there.
Expect Rob Rowland to fire with both barrels over the next 12 months.