Romanian producer Gojnea76 has never really fit neatly inside the lines. With roots tangled in metal and motorsport, plus a musical palette that pulls equally from funk, house and something far more abstract, he’s carved out a lane of his own. Now, he’s channelling that same no-rules energy into a new event series: FUEL.
‘Took a break from overthinking music to overthink something else,’ he jokes online. ‘It’s FUEL. A series of parties to move, get lost, and maybe find a better bassline.’ That line sets the tone. Fuel isn’t about curation for curation’s sake. It’s about movement, about losing the plot, and maybe finding something deeper in the wreckage. Then again, ‘It’s not that deep. Or maybe it is.‘
This laid back yet serious attitude is present throughout much of his sonic output. Often disturbingly brooding and tripped-out, yet often playful and ridiculous. The ‘Not Ok Relationship‘ collaboration with Zefzeed is a good example. Weird, dark and menacing, whilst flexing a sleazy vocal about relationships and their many trivialities.
What we do know about FUEL is that Gojnea76 will be behind the wheel, steering the whole thing with his usual irreverent sense of direction. And if his releases on his own Future Electronics label are anything to go by, the music is going to land somewhere between headsy and heavy, with just enough looseness to keep it human.
The debut event touches down June 7 at Bucharest’s infamous Club Guesthouse, a venue long known for its refusal to compromise. Slapfunk’s Samuel Deep joins Gojnea76 for the opening night. From there, the tour picks up speed, with stops already inked for Platforma Wolff, Los Angeles, Madrid, Bucharest again, Torino, and more dates will be coming towards the end of the year.
FUEL is as much about ethos as it is about the dance. It’s a continuation of Gojnea76’s story, one that’s seen him crash (literally), burn, and rebuild again. A near-fatal motorcycle accident in 2007 left him in a full-body cast, and a second injury in 2018 fractured his vertebrae, pausing his music career until 2022. But when he came back, he did so with new tools, new perspective and a sharper vision for what he wanted to say.
This June, he also drops his third EP under the FUEL banner: ‘Punisher Braila’. Named after his hometown, it opens with a low-slung menace and plenty of bite, warped pads, chopped vocals and trippy synths all tangled together with characteristic grit. The rest of the EP burns just as hot. ‘Nights’ roars with a mechanic’s growl; ‘Sash’ leans into the shadows with brooding strings and weird, fidgety edges; and ‘Let’s Chat’ rounds it off with a clash of twisted vocal snippets and unhinged percussion.
There’s a restless urgency in these tracks. They feel wired, like they’re trying to escape the genre boxes they’ve been placed in. But maybe that’s the point. Whether behind the decks, in the studio, or throwing parties, Gojnea76 doesn’t follow a script. He builds systems, breaks them down and then rebuilds them louder, groovier and somehow stranger than before.
The first release drops June 10. The first party is June 7.
More info on Gojnea76
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More info on FUEL
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