Mihai Popoviciu

Mihai Popoviciu built a career in deep house and techno from a country that, when he started out, had almost no infrastructure for either. Born in 1981 in Sibiu, Romania, he came up through the country's rave scene as it took shape in the 1990s, a formative period he has pointed to directly as the source of his interest in dance music, and turned that into two decades of records on some of house music's most respected labels.

From Sibiu's Rave Scene to Gigolo Records

Popoviciu started producing music in 2001, teaching himself with whatever software he could get his hands on and working through material largely on his own, without a local club circuit to test it in. His breakthrough came in 2005, when his first release landed on Gigolo Records, the Munich-founded electro and house label run by DJ Hell, an early vote of confidence that helped move him from a self-taught bedroom producer toward a working release schedule. Two years later, in late 2007, he joined Berlin's Highgrade Recordings alongside fellow producer Markus Homm, a partnership that produced a run of releases including "Deaf Sniper," "Lagoon" and "Urban Ballroom" and gave Popoviciu his first sustained foothold on a label with real international reach.

Cyclic Records and a Broadening Catalogue

As his own profile grew, Popoviciu's catalogue spread across several of house and techno's more respected imprints, including Poker Flat Recordings, Bedrock and Dessous, alongside continued releases on Highgrade and on Bondage Music, where his second album, "Home," arrived in 2016. Named for his home city of Sibiu and built in his own stripped-down studio, "Home" was followed by remix packages pulling in Poker Flat founder Steve Bug, among others. In 2012, Popoviciu launched his own label, Cyclic Records, based in Cluj-Napoca, the Transylvanian city he now calls home, giving him a direct outlet for his own material and a platform for other house and techno producers working in a similar register. His track "Telematiks" also appeared on "Party Animals," a various-artists collection mixed by Nick Curly and Marco Carola for Sven Väth's Cocoon label in 2010, the same Frankfurt imprint whose quarter-century run RTS.FM traced in our history of Cocoon Recordings. His most recent full-length, "Motion Manifold," followed in September 2020 on Poker Flat Recordings, a ten-track record built, in his own words, as an in-the-box production using samples and virtual synths rather than hardware.

Live at RTS.FM

Popoviciu's set for RTS.FM was recorded specifically for the channel's Chile broadcast, part of RTS.FM's push to bring its studio format to audiences well outside Russia and Eastern Europe. The video's own YouTube description states that Popoviciu was born in Sibiu in 1981 and was drawn into the city's rave scene during the 1990s, details that line up with his RA biography and with his own account of how he got into dance music.

FAQ

Where is Mihai Popoviciu from?

He was born in 1981 in Sibiu, Romania, and now lives and works in Cluj-Napoca, where he also runs his label, Cyclic Records.

What is Cyclic Records?

Cyclic Records is the label Mihai Popoviciu founded in 2012 in Cluj-Napoca, releasing his own house and techno productions alongside music from other artists working in a similar deep, dancefloor-focused style.

What labels has Mihai Popoviciu released music on?

His discography includes Gigolo Records, Highgrade, Poker Flat Recordings, Bedrock, Dessous and Bondage Music, in addition to his own Cyclic Records.

What are Mihai Popoviciu's best-known albums?

"Home," released in 2016 on Bondage Music and named for his hometown of Sibiu, and "Motion Manifold," his 2020 album for Poker Flat Recordings.

Has Mihai Popoviciu performed for RTS.FM?

Yes. He recorded a DJ set specifically for RTS.FM's Chile broadcast, extending the channel's reach beyond its original Russian and Eastern European audience.