The Booking
ARTBAT is the Kyiv duo, Artur Kryvenko and Vitaliy Limarenko, credited with pushing melodic techno out of a niche Diynamic Music catalogue and onto festival mainstages. On 18 September 2026 they brought that trajectory to Fratelli Studios in Bucharest, with Omiki and PolTom filling the support slots. The booking said as much about where Bucharest's club circuit sits in 2026 as it did about the headliner.
Untold presents ARTBAT was a one-off club date staged by the promotions team behind Romania's biggest festival brand, rather than a weekly residency booking. That distinction matters for how the night is judged: this was a festival organiser's idea of a big Bucharest night out, not a scene promoter's.
From Kyiv Clubs to Festival Mainstages
Kryvenko and Limarenko met on Kyiv's club circuit in 2014 and found, within three months, a shared production language that produced the breakout single "Mandrake" - a track Richie Hawtin played often enough to put the pair on a label's radar. Two Diynamic EPs, "Planeta" and "Upperground," followed by the end of the decade, and a fantasy-tinted remix of Monolink's "Return to Oz" turned into one of melodic techno's defining club records, earning ARTBAT a Breakthrough Artist nod at the DJ Awards. A decade on, they play Tomorrowland and Ultra as comfortably as club rooms.
That makes the Kyiv-underground part of their story worth checking against what Mood's own data says about a night like this one. In Mood's data, the show rates 0.2 on undergroundness, under half of the 0.48 average across the 51 techno and house bookings Mood is currently tracking in Bucharest - a low reading for an act whose origin story still leans on their early years in Ukrainian clubs.
A Bigger Room, a Harder Door
Fratelli Studios is one of Bucharest's larger clubbing venues, built for touring names rather than intimate scene nights, and Untold's booking leaned into that scale rather than away from it. Mood rates the night at 0.8 on capacity, against a 0.54 average for the same set of Bucharest bookings, and 0.6 on selectivity, close to double the 0.35 average - a bigger room with a harder door than the typical Bucharest club date, closer to a festival-brand showcase than a weekly residency.
The Verdict
None of that is a complaint about the music. ARTBAT's catalogue - from the Chemical Brothers and Armin van Buuren remixes to originals like "Tibet" and "She the Last One" - is built for exactly this kind of room: big, polished, built to peak rather than to surprise. Mood puts the night at 0.67 on commerciality, well above the 0.46 average across the wider Bucharest set, a reading that matches a booking closer to a festival mainstage import than a scene test. What the data doesn't flatter is the support bill: Omiki's psytrance-leaning catalogue and PolTom's single-genre listing on Mood read as scheduling filler around the headline slot rather than a considered local pairing, the kind of gap that shows up when a promoter buys a name rather than curates a night.
Untold presents ARTBAT worked as what it was sold as: a big, well-produced night built around a globally touring act, in a room designed to hold that kind of crowd. It did not read, by Mood's own numbers or by the support bill, as a night built to extend Bucharest's underground techno scene - and it likely wasn't trying to.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who are ARTBAT?
ARTBAT are Artur Kryvenko and Vitaliy Limarenko, a Ukrainian production and DJ duo from Kyiv who formed in 2014. Known for melodic techno records like "Mandrake" and their remix of Monolink's "Return to Oz," they have gone on to headline festivals including Tomorrowland and Ultra.
Where is Fratelli Studios in Bucharest?
Fratelli Studios is a multi-room event venue on Strada Glodeni in Bucharest, used for concerts and touring DJ bookings rather than weekly club residencies. It regularly hosts larger international electronic acts passing through the city.
What genre does ARTBAT play?
ARTBAT's sets sit across melodic techno, melodic house and progressive house, built around long, cinematic builds rather than the harder, faster end of techno. Their Bucharest date also carried psytrance and trance support from Omiki.
Is Untold presents ARTBAT connected to Untold Festival?
Yes. Untold presents is a year-round club night series run by the team behind Untold Festival, Romania's largest electronic music festival, held annually in Cluj-Napoca. The Bucharest club dates operate separately from the festival's summer edition.
Where can I find more techno events in Bucharest?
Mood tracks techno and house bookings across Bucharest venues including Fratelli Studios, Forge, Control Club and Platforma Wolff, updated as new dates are confirmed.
For more upcoming techno and house dates in the city, browse techno events in Bucharest on Mood.
