Bogdan Raczynski
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Bogdan Raczynski is a Canada-based braindance artist. He was born in Poland, c. 1977, but he moved along with his family to the U.S. during his childhood. During the mid-1990s he used trackers to compose techno tracks, which were released on the netlabel Kosmic Free Music Foundation under his alias "Karl". At some point between mid-1996 and 1997 he left the US for Japan where he attended and eventually dropped out of art school. He then spent time playing trumpet in Japanese jazz clubs, eventually becoming homeless and living on the streets of Tokyo or in the homes of friends. During this time he was still making music on his computer; the song Nihon de Homeless on Samurai Math Beats is a reflection of this period of his life. He was eventually signed to Richard D. James's Rephlex Records label. Some of the songs on his first album, Boku Mo Wakaran, had been previously released on the Internet.
His style is similar to that of Squarepusher's, mixing complex beats with strange sounds and samples. He sings in both Japanese and English (and occasionally Polish), usually with melodramatic, exaggerated lyrics in a funny, strained voice. Raczynski enjoys playing games with his listening audience and generally being odd; he has performed shows wearing a Power Rangers costume, performed shows only 10 minutes long, and included a poster of himself wearing a dress in his album Thinking of You. His records and songs are often 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. Bogdan, like many artists on Rephlex Records, rarely gives a straight answer when speaking to the media or interviewers.
[edit] Discography
All of Raczynski's non-netlabel albums have been released on Rephlex Records.
- Boku Mo Wakaran (Japanese: ボクも分からん) (1998) (Title means "I don't understand, either" in the Kansai dialect.)
- 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 (album) (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]
- Who Is It (Shooting Stars and Asteroids Mix) (2005) [First version of Björk track Who Is It (Carry My Joy on the Left, Carry My Pain on the Right)]
- Alright! (2007)
