DJ Onlee (aka Boris Romanov) grew up in communist Russia listening to Russian, French and Italian pop music and the classics - Chaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Verdi, Prokofiev and Shostakovitch. His first vinyl was a copy of The Beatles’ For Sale album that he borrowed from a friend (son of an ambassador, hence the access to such luxuries). Boris then proceeded to save his lunch money (one rouble a day) to buy as many albums as possible from the likes of Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Slade, etc. He tried many different careers - as an aeronautical engineer, a courier, served in the army and even started training to be a doctor, only to decide (after 4 years) that it was not the right path for him. Eventually with the collapse of communism came new opportunities - in 1994 Boris achieved one of his dreams and opened a record shop. In 1995 Boris’s discovery of Harthouse and Global Communication’s 76:14 album lead to new developments in the stock of his shop as all things electronic hit Moscow City. Boris Romanov’s Only Records was one of very few shops in Moscow selling electronic music at the time. He also launched Only Records the label, releasing mix compliations from Glasgow Undersround and 20:20 Vision, plus albums by Tetris, a forward-thinking Moscow band, whom he helped to release an album on Pork Recordings, and Karl Uhan Street Spring, favourites of Dougee Dimensional (The Gentle People) and Michael Reinboth (Compost Records).
He began to dj in his forties, and presented a radio show called Pin Tweaks on Hope Radio (the so-called “Moscow women’s radio station”), playing a mix of electronica, downtempo and uptempo from the likes of Plaid, Future Sound Of London, Heights Of Abraham, Underworld, Bjork, Funki Porcini, Brian Eno, DJ Cam, Fila Brazillia, Hector Zazou, etc. Unfortunately his tastes were perhaps a little too avant garde for the average Moscow woman, and the show was taken off air after the radio’s manager heard him play a track from Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works Vol. 2 album (”Why is my station transmitting this noise?” - she demanded on the phone in the middle of the show. - “This is NOT music!”). In 1997 Boris djed extensively on Radio Substance - a unique subdivision of the Radio Station (later Station 2000), and 1998 saw him infiltrate a very mainstream rock station, Radio ROKS, playing his usual bewildering selection of underground music that struck his fancy at the time.
1998 was a challenging year. The infamous Russian economic crash lead to the closure of Boris’s shop, but he picked up the pieces and started Thursdays at Propaganda - the night that has become synonymous with quality music, the weekly event at which many of the world’s top DJs ask to play. This night has seen DJs such as Steve Bug, Booka Shade, Guido Schneider, Roy Davis Jr, Derrick Carter, Derrick May, Joe Claussell, John Tejada, Jori Hulkkonen, Damien Lazarus, Martin Landsky, M.A.N.D.Y., Richard Dorfmeister, Mixmaster Morris, Baby Mammoth and many many more grace its floors. Over the years Boris, who debuted as a club DJ in 1997 at Club Luch, has played all over Moscow and at such places as The Social Bar (London, UK), Friends & Family @ Roadhouse (Manchester, UK), Pork @ The Lamp (Hull, UK), Skansen (Oslo, Norway), Unity @ Rockfeler (Oslo, Norway), Fabrik (Corintia, Austria), Sequence Network Festival @ Meierei Club (Vienna, Austria), Dubdelight @ Paradise Garage (Lisbon, Portugal), Mecca (Setubal, Portugal), Moog (Barselona, Spain), House Cafe (La Coruna, Spain), Cafe D’Anvers (Antverp, Belgium), Tropical House (Los Angeles, USA), Soul Sessions (Eugene, USA), Finish First @ Robert Johnson (Frankfurt, Germany), Q Club (Zurich, Switzerland), Passage (Vienna, Austria), Muna (Germany), Stern Radio (Berlin, Germany), Velvet (Leipzig, Germany), Kadok (Algarve, Portugal), Weekend (Berlin, Germany), Weekend (Madrid, Spain), Guggenheim Museum (Bilbao, Spain).
In 2002 Boris Romanov started a 2-year Friday weekly residency at Propaganda, Moscow with Alison Marks, where they played the best in quality underground electronic sounds.
In 2005 Boris organized a Saturday night event at Club Shanti in Moscow specifically to showcase live acts such as Touane, Pantha du Prince, Max Mohr, Tigerskin, Duplex 100, Mike Shannon and many others. The night continues to grow as is the way with everything this man touches. Next year will see Thursdays at Propaganda celebrating its 9th anniversary - quite a feat for a Thursday night event anywhere and a testament to the quality of Boris’s taste and strength of his intuition. Constantly evolving as a DJ and refining his sound, DJ Onlee continues to quietly cause a storm wherever he goes - with impeccable timing and vision.
He began to dj in his forties, and presented a radio show called Pin Tweaks on Hope Radio (the so-called “Moscow women’s radio station”), playing a mix of electronica, downtempo and uptempo from the likes of Plaid, Future Sound Of London, Heights Of Abraham, Underworld, Bjork, Funki Porcini, Brian Eno, DJ Cam, Fila Brazillia, Hector Zazou, etc. Unfortunately his tastes were perhaps a little too avant garde for the average Moscow woman, and the show was taken off air after the radio’s manager heard him play a track from Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works Vol. 2 album (”Why is my station transmitting this noise?” - she demanded on the phone in the middle of the show. - “This is NOT music!”). In 1997 Boris djed extensively on Radio Substance - a unique subdivision of the Radio Station (later Station 2000), and 1998 saw him infiltrate a very mainstream rock station, Radio ROKS, playing his usual bewildering selection of underground music that struck his fancy at the time.
1998 was a challenging year. The infamous Russian economic crash lead to the closure of Boris’s shop, but he picked up the pieces and started Thursdays at Propaganda - the night that has become synonymous with quality music, the weekly event at which many of the world’s top DJs ask to play. This night has seen DJs such as Steve Bug, Booka Shade, Guido Schneider, Roy Davis Jr, Derrick Carter, Derrick May, Joe Claussell, John Tejada, Jori Hulkkonen, Damien Lazarus, Martin Landsky, M.A.N.D.Y., Richard Dorfmeister, Mixmaster Morris, Baby Mammoth and many many more grace its floors. Over the years Boris, who debuted as a club DJ in 1997 at Club Luch, has played all over Moscow and at such places as The Social Bar (London, UK), Friends & Family @ Roadhouse (Manchester, UK), Pork @ The Lamp (Hull, UK), Skansen (Oslo, Norway), Unity @ Rockfeler (Oslo, Norway), Fabrik (Corintia, Austria), Sequence Network Festival @ Meierei Club (Vienna, Austria), Dubdelight @ Paradise Garage (Lisbon, Portugal), Mecca (Setubal, Portugal), Moog (Barselona, Spain), House Cafe (La Coruna, Spain), Cafe D’Anvers (Antverp, Belgium), Tropical House (Los Angeles, USA), Soul Sessions (Eugene, USA), Finish First @ Robert Johnson (Frankfurt, Germany), Q Club (Zurich, Switzerland), Passage (Vienna, Austria), Muna (Germany), Stern Radio (Berlin, Germany), Velvet (Leipzig, Germany), Kadok (Algarve, Portugal), Weekend (Berlin, Germany), Weekend (Madrid, Spain), Guggenheim Museum (Bilbao, Spain).
In 2002 Boris Romanov started a 2-year Friday weekly residency at Propaganda, Moscow with Alison Marks, where they played the best in quality underground electronic sounds.
In 2005 Boris organized a Saturday night event at Club Shanti in Moscow specifically to showcase live acts such as Touane, Pantha du Prince, Max Mohr, Tigerskin, Duplex 100, Mike Shannon and many others. The night continues to grow as is the way with everything this man touches. Next year will see Thursdays at Propaganda celebrating its 9th anniversary - quite a feat for a Thursday night event anywhere and a testament to the quality of Boris’s taste and strength of his intuition. Constantly evolving as a DJ and refining his sound, DJ Onlee continues to quietly cause a storm wherever he goes - with impeccable timing and vision.