Artist: AC (dot robot)
Title: 'London 2026'
Label: Self released

AC (dot robot) has her own name for what she makes. “I call my own music Cunty techno,” she told FAME magazine, and her Bandcamp page says the same. 'London 2026' is four tracks, self released, and she wrote it one season at a time.

Each track was started and finished in a different season, which is why there are four. “The seasons naturally became a part of the story behind the music,” she says, “almost like markers of where I was emotionally and creatively at each point in my life.” She calls the result a mini audio diary.

The year it covers came after she finished studying. She first came to London from China at eighteen, and the opening track was written on a flight back five years later. Her line on that journey: “I didn't choose to stay, London chose me.”

One of the tracks features a pipa. She did not record the instrument: the part is MIDI, and she spent her time watching players and reading about the instrument before programming it. “I have kept adjusting the dynamics and velocity of each note, as well as the rhythmic changes and playing techniques,” she says. The aim was to get a traditional Chinese instrument in front of people who would not otherwise hear one. “Culture is cunty,” as she puts it.

She does not see any of that as a step away from the dancefloor. “I don't see reflection and dancefloor energy as opposites,” she says. “For me, dancing can be a form of thinking, thinking is when your brain is dancing.”

She only started DJing in 2024. Village Underground, E1, Colour Factory, The Cause and XOYO have all had her since, along with SXSW and FKA twigs' album release party. Before any of it she was a songwriter and singer in China, which she says is why she is so sensitive about melody. She talks the record through at length with Magnetic as well, and her Resident Advisor page and Linktree carry the rest.

Out now, straight from her Bandcamp.