Alexander Robotnick

Maurizio Dami, a jazz keyboardist and vocalist, operated under the alias Alexander Robotnick for several years in the mid-'80s, issuing Italian synth-pop and disco hybrids through the domestic imprint Materiali Sonori. Despite its European origins, the project cultivated an extensive international following, with countless imported pressings of the single "Problèmes d'Amour" reaching DJs who would later shape house and techno in Chicago and Detroit.

Having launched his career in the early '80s intent on becoming an electronic cabaret performer, Dami acquired a pair of Roland machines—the TR-808 and TB-303—to capture his initial tracks. Label executive Giampiero Bigazzi at Materiali Sonori persuaded him to target the still-vibrant Italian disco market for a rapid commercial success, resulting in the 1983 recording and release of "Problèmes d'Amour" on the subsidiary Fuzz Dance. The track registered strongly as an import in U.S. club circles and prompted the same-year mini-LP Ce N'est Qu'un Début. Follow-up singles "Computer Sourire" and "C'Est La Vie" surfaced on Fuzz Dance through the mid-'80s, yet Dami had already shifted direction, issuing material under his own name and as GMM before joining the ethno-ambient ensemble Masala in the 1990s.