Mixed sets - live or otherwise

AUM New Year's Festival 2022. This is my set from the Kānuka stage on new years eve, recreated in the studio (because I forgot to record it).

The Kānuka stage is the underground house and techno zone at AUM, a nightclub vibe surrounded by trees which runs for two days and nights. It was my debut set with the LO-FI Productions takeover crew and I brought my brand of oddball house, ethnic rhythms and high tech soul.

Music by Cirque Du Soleil, Ken Ishii, Orlando Voorn, Carlos Nilmmns, Carl Craig, Miss Kittin & The Hacker, Glenn Underground, Urban Blues Project and more.

@ken-ishii-70drums
@orlando-voorn
@carlosnilmmns
@misskittin
@glenn-underground
@abe-duque
@fredjorio

Aum Festival 2022

AUM Festival 2022 (Kanuka Stage)

Our Explorations 44 has been served up by illustrious Auckland based Dj Rob Warner.

Rob is a gifted Dj that paints his sets with a classic sound, his knowledge on dance music has great depths and his helpful nature makes him a pleasure to be around.

Growing up in a household filled with 80s hits from Split Enz, Boney M,Sister Sledge, a love of music consumption was born.

An older brother later guided that taste towards the sounds of early electronic crossover hits like MARRS 'Pump up the Volume', The KLF '3am Eternal', Snap! 'The Power' and this helped form his fascination with early rave.
His Dj career  began in 1992, attending local parties and the fascination of how/why the music never stopped grew, Ths interest led to buying vinyl, and discoveries of artists such as Ce Ce Peniston, Inner City, Kym Sims, and labels such as Tribal America and Strictly Rhythm meant that a personal sound was forming.

Taking influence and guidance from locals such as  Andy Vann at Quaff Records who gave him his first club residency at Redzone (Hotel De Bretts), Simon Grigg at BPM whose suggestions steered him towards edgier artists, and Miles at Markbecks on Queen Street who introduced a young rob to dub techno and raw Detroit sounds.

Robs Dj career has been long and full of highs, but his standout moment is but remixing a heros and having it released on one of the all-time iconic house labels  (Celeda and Danny Tenaglia "Be Yourself" - remixed with Shaveer) and this moment will not to be forgotten.

His sound can be described as hypnotic and percussive tussle between soulful, harder, and classic and futuristic sounds.
and his approach to this mix brings all these elements together. In his own words...

I was Inspired by the theme of "explorations", I wanted to span each corner of my passions - from future-jazz to vocal house, drum tracks, early dub techno and the freshest house. I created it in Ableton Live and many of the tracks are edited or overlaid with additional elements.

Enjoy People.

Music by:
@carlosnilmmns
@vincewatson
@gerd
@boo-williams
@daniel-stefanik
@john-beltran
@simoncino
@ueberlingen-deemkeyne
@cod3qr
@hardrockstriker

Rob Warner - LO-FI Presents EXPLORATIONS 44

The 2024 festival season was filled from start to finish with good times, incredible music and amazing humans across all the wonderful events we played. This season we were asked by Earth Beat Festival to run a stage takeover right at the end of the season, what a way to cap it all off!

We put together a lineup the we are incredibly proud of; it was diverse, fun, filled with talented musicians and didn't cater to just one type of four to the floor. We asked our artists to record if they felt comfortable, we are very grateful that most of them did. We are also very grateful they are all allowing us to release their work.

Right before our set we asked one of Auckland's longest-serving DJs to play. We've both been friends with Rob Warner for years. His knowledge of music and the scene is unrivalled by anyone we know. He worked tirelessly to ensure Auckland's clubs were able to stay open past 3am when the government pulled back the operating hours, he sits of the UNESCO Auckland City of Music board, and he endlessly supports all the crews running events in the City of Sails. 

Rob was one of the first people we asked to play our stage, his professionalism, musical bandwidth and track selection is second to none. Rob warmed up for us on the Kaipara Stage at Earth Beat last year, so it was a no-brainer for us to have him do the same again this year. 

In his words:

"It’s always a pleasure to DJ at NZ festivals. I have a goal to always bring something a bit different, even compared to the great artists I get to DJ alongside. At Earth Beat I played my favourite time of night, the crossover from day-to-night, where ethnic and tribal sounds are in their element. What a great time and vibe to do it with a great group of people loving the COMMUNICATE takeover.

Going with more tribal-themed music was an easy choice for a dance floor in such beautiful surroundings."

So sit back and enjoy our good friend doing what he does best. COMMUNICATE proudly presents: Rob Warner.

@peacey-music
@carlcraignet
@damswindle
@sunshine-jones
@arno-e-mathieu
@sam-screnci
@akio-nagase
@timmyregisford
@boo-williams
@siliconesoul
@2diy4
@ame
@emotional-especial

COMMUNICATE Presents: Rob Warner Earth Beat Festival 2024

Rob Warner’s mix for Bangkok Community Radio spans the house and techno sounds of artist including Carlos Nilmmns, Vince Watson, Kerri Chandler, Ame, Sunshine Jones, Bassekou Kouyate, Shazz and more, and covers more than 30 years of music.

A native New Zealander, Rob has played regularly throughout Asia over the last 20 years and performs at many summer festivals in New Zealand each year playing his unique fusion of tribal house and futuristic Detroit techno.

Instagram:   / djrobwarner  

Rob Warner - 2nd November 2024

A classic style mix of deep, tribal, tech-house and a little bit of techno blended into one New York style "whole night" mix.

By today's standards it has a broad variety of music on it, from new/unreleased to very old, with one theme in common: groove. If you are after the next 'big in Ibiza' sort of thing then this definitely wont bake your noodle.

Contains: Abe Duque, Alex Santer, Itokim, Milton Jackson, Renato Cohen, A Guy Called Gerald, Quicksound, Departure Lounge, Big Black Boot, Danell Dixon, Masse Memoire, Vangellis and more...

Mixed March 2010/

Rob Warner - The Way You Groove Me

I played a full vinyl set of classic underground house and techno at the Silent Studios 'Locals Weekender' in Auckland in July. The event theme was "This-Is!". The music I played was all from the golden era of the mid 1990s to early 2000s.

This was one of my favourite gigs I've played in a long time. It was awesome to hear music from a special period played on a great sound system, and to see how well it still worked for new dance floor generation.

We planned to record the sets but it didn't quite work out so I digitally recreated my set here from start to finish using mostly vinyl rips. All but 2 records I played are here so it's just like the live set, but with better mixing (obviously) and minus the couple of record skips that happened - which are always part of the fun of playing live vinyl.

Cheers to those who came and danced, and to Silent Studios for having me - especially the other DJs on the night who all rocked: Logan Baker, Kirsty Hargreaves, This.Is.Ross, and Reverse Panda.

Music by Danny Tenaglia, Oscar G, Deep Dish, Carl Craig, Underground Sound of Lisbon, Ananda Project, Jephté Guillaume, The Daou, The Youngsters, DJ Q and more.

If you prefer to have an MP3 for yourself, download it here: https://bit.ly/RobW-SilentStudio

@djloganbaker @this-is-ross @pipsqueak-1  cover photo by Kyle D

Rob Warner - Silent Studios (July 2025)

COD3 QR label showcase on George FM on 14 Oct 2025. (Auckland, New Zealand)

COD3 QR is a broad-format record label run by French techno legend Laurent Garnier and UK techno wiz Oliver Way (from Detroit Grand Pubahs). It's quite unique in that it releases almost monthly EPs each with a handful of tracks spanning different styles from future jazz to techno to electro or bass.

This model is perfect for curious, adventurous music lovers and has unearthed some amazing emerging artists for me like French artist Voltaire, and given modern icons like Kmyle and Carlos Nilmmns an outlet for their wacky sonic creations. COD3 QR is one of the best labels for discovery of new sounds and artists and well worth checking their Bandcamp - especially for their limited vinyl releases.

Tracklist:
Carlos Nilmmns - Riviera
K 'Alexi Shelby - Flame (Laurent Garnier Edit)
ProOne79 - Lysergic
Manuel-M - A Night in Charleroi
Hilit Kolet feat Juliet Mendoza - Sunbed Tripper
Manuel-M - Take
Kmyle - Drill
Onur Ozman - Flash Back
Voltaire - Wave Function
DCLVIII OFC - Countdown
Voltaire - Detune
Monfort - La Musique

@cod3qr
@carlosnilmmns
@a-salvatierra
@mr-k-alexi
@hilitkolet
@voltaire0music
@kmyle
@gioele-cantoni
@658_official
@onurozman

COD3 QR label showcase - Rob Warner live on George FM

From time to time something pleasant lands in our inbox, something out of the ordinary.

They often say that the best disc jockeys and record collectors are not the ones who play out every week, tour the world or who are spoken of the most. Rob Warner sent us a mix all the way from New Zealand and by George were we surprised with the result. House music can become a little stale, a hell of a lot of people play house records, a hell of a lot of people have also heard a hell of a lot of people play house records, and so on. Hence when someone steps up and absolutely knocks it out of the park it is right to recognise their accomplishment. Introducing Rob Warner, a disc jockey you might just love...

Read & Download

Rob Warner: The 'Shine A Light On' Mix

A collection of underground house tracks from the year 1998, a great year in house.

Music played at the infamous Box nightclub, Auckland in 1998.. The Box was NZ's Sound Factory, Zouk, Hacienda and Tresor> all jammed into one sweaty low-roofed basement.

1998 @ The Box (part 1)
> Intro: Green Velvet - Preacherman (acapella edited)
1. Moodymann - U Can Dance If U Want 2 (Rob's Edit)
2. Blaze - My Beat (D's Disco Circus Mix - Rob's Edit)
3. Freestyle Orchestra - Twi-Lite
4. Etienne De Crecy - Prix Choc
5. Bob Sinclar - Vision Of Paradise
6. Bjork - Alarm Call (Alan Braxe & Fred Falke mix 1)
7. Trankilou - Atom Funk
8. Atmosfear - Motivation (Dimitri's Motivated Respect)
9. Constipated Monkeys - Cro Magnon
10. Mood II Swing - Do It Your Way
11. Eddie Amador - House Music (Message mix)
12. Angel Moraes - Hairy & Big
13. Satoshi Tomiie ft Robert Owens & Cevin Fisher - Darkness (Dubness)
14. Adam F - Music In My Mind (Deep Dish Twister Dub) (Rob's Edit)
15. Love & Rockets - Resurrection Hex (Deep Dish Hex Beats/Luv N Dub mash-up)

Plus elements/acapellas:
Intro Green Velvet - Preacherman (acapella)
MAW Pres A Tribute To Fela - MAW Expensive (Acapella Pt 4)
Terra Deva - Fresh Start (Acapella elements)
Jephte Guillaume - Priyè-a (Akapele)
Satoshi Tomiie - Darkness (Cevin-A-Pella + Robert-A-Pella)
Underground Sound Of Lisbon - So Get Up (Get p-ella)
Jesus Loves You - After The Love

Rob Warner - 1998 at The Box: The Funk

A mini-mix of Chicago house classics from the 80s to the mid 90s. Some gems in there by Adonis, Armando, Lil Louis, Glenn Underground, Farley Jackmaster Funk, Fingers Inc, Frankie Knuckles.

Mixed 19 Aug 2009

Tribute to Chicago House (A Mini-mix)

A mix of underground house and tech classics that defined the sound in 1998. As played at The Box nightclub, Auckland.

Music by: Stacey Pullen, Quakerman, Green Velvet, Dahlback & Krome, G Flame & Mr G, DJ HMC, Carl Craig, Inner City, Danny Tenaglia, Oscar G and more.

This is "Part 2: The Sweat" (2am-5am), a sampling of music played at the infamous Box nightclub, Auckland in 1998. It was NZ's Sound Factory, Zouk and Tresor all jammed into one low-roofed, sweaty basement (part 1 of the mix can be found here: http://snd.sc/LKxA3P ).

The Sweat
1. Ladina Whitfield - Time Out For Love (Ebola Mix/Rob's DJ Tool)
2. Thomas Krome - Real Jazz
3. Danny Tenaglia - Elements (The Dtour vs The Tracks)
4. Keiji Shimazaki - Under The Moon
5. Oscar G - Movin' On (Vapor Rub Dub)
6. The Swingster - Blunted Boobie
7. Quakerman - Schlamm Me
8. Christopher Just - I'm A Disco Dancer (Salt City Orchestra remix)
9. Inner City - Good Life (Carl Craig Remix)
10. Thomas Schumacher - Lust
11. Green Velvet - Answering Machine (The Chicago Connection Remix)
12. Bionic Men - Danse
13. G Flame & Mr G - Who Knows
14. DJ HMC - Hypnotizin' Funk
15. Ultraviolet - Union (Stacey Pullen Remix)
16. Paperclip People - The Floor
17. Black Odyssey - Sweat
> Plus assorted DJ tools

Rob Warner - 1998 at The Box Part 2: The Sweat

A DJ since the early 1990s playing sounds which span house, tribal and techno - a mix of forward-thinking music with a nod towards classic New York and Detroit sounds. Through the 90s Rob's sets at events and residencies were synonymous with big-room and tribal house sound and he's been a champion of these sounds for almost 30 years.

He's performed at events, clubs and festivals throughout Aotearoa New Zealand, as well as in Australasia, and has been the head of marketing since 2019 for AUM Festival which is one of the largest independent festivals in New Zealand.

Productions for TWISTED Records (Celeda/Danny Tenaglia), Ready Mix Records, and Pure Substance. Compilations mixed for Ready Mix Records and Sony BMG.

Longtime support DJ for Global Underground/Renaissance tours down-under, DJing alongside the likes of Carl Craig, Deep Dish, Steve Lawler, Sasha, Danny Howells, Nick Warren, Pete Heller, Satoshi Tomiie, Sander Kleinenberg, and also for Stacey Pullen, DJ Pierre, Mood II Swing, Terry Francis, Derrick Carter, Phil Asher (RIP) among many.