Around The World in 80 Raves: Robotic, Oklahoma City

Around The World in 80 Raves takes you into the basements, warehouses, and back rooms where the magic happens—from Caracas to Calgary and back. Photo credit: Brandon Bales, Doug Schwarz and William Raines

NAME: Robotic

LOCATION: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

RESIDENTS: Gosteffects, Kids at the Bar, Crystal Vision, Ed Crunk

RECENT HEADLINERS: Crizzly, Lucky Date, Baauer, Aarab Muzik, The Loops of Fury, Figure, Etc Etc, Reid Speed

VIBE: The one time in the week when dance-music-deprived Oklahoma kids can party to this kind of music.

VENUE: Kamps, a grocery store from 1910 that's been gloriously transformed into a DIY music venue.

WHEN IT HAPPENS: Every Wednesday

UNFORGETTABLE MOMENTS: 

Robotic's infamous Valentine's Day underwear parties have been known to get pretty wild. (Pics don't really do it justice.) What started as a house party in 2008 turned into an annual gathering of the scantily-clad and horny. Last year, some blood was even added to the mix when the party became a vampiric affair. Things got weird enough that some guilty parties had to beg Robotic not to release incriminating photos.

WHAT'S THE DEAL THO:  

Grab a beer from the meat freezer because Oklahoma City is the unexpected home of Robotic, the city's biggest electronic weekly, which is now going into its eighth year. Founder and resident Gosteffects of Sex Cult Records brings his goth-infused, macabre style of electronic style to Kamps, a converted, century-old grocery store.

Previously at a 33-person capacity dive bar, and a slightly larger lounge, Robotic decided they needed much more space. So they upgraded to a former grocery store with a Funktion-One sound system created for 2,000 ears, and have been blurring the line between high-end and DIY every humpday ever since.

Originally a 21+ party, Robotic changed its door policy to 18+ to accomodate OKC's collegiate crowd. The once leather jacket-clad and black-banged crowd has therefore become increasingly more like a teenybopper-tinged rave, but the Robotic crew doesn't mind. The dance floor is consistently packed, and familiar faces line up every Wednesday night for parties with themes like "Nerds in Space," "Polkadot," and "Zombie Shipwreck."

A part-time New York City resident, Robotic founder Gosteffects is constantly inspired by the bigger city's art and nightlife worlds. "I'll take some inspiration from things I see around (New York) and take them back to Oklahoma City. There's an exhibit by Yayoi Kusama right now in Chelsea.  It inspired me to do a polkadot-themed party for Robotic where we covered much of the venue in polkadot fabric," he said, adding, "I try to look outside of regular nightlife and EDM culture for ideas."

Pretty decent for a state I kinda forgot existed.

Keep tabs on Robotic on Facebook and Twitter.

Lina Abascal has been hot since 1990 - @linalovesit