Borgore has risen to the top of the game in EDM with and become known for his grimey dubstep sounds and his Buygore label; but there’s more to Israeli born Asaf Borgore than parties and dub. On May 9th the classically trained jazz musician dropped his jazz album, Adventures in Time. The next day he played a showcase of the music in Los Angeles before traveling to Atlanta to play Shaky Beats Music Festival. We caught up with Borgore to learn some more about his different styles before his afterparty at the Masquerade in Atlanta.
FMF: So we caught your set earlier, it was awesome. How’d you feel?
Borgore: It was very hot! The crowd was great, the production was great. I love the fact that it’s a festival in the middle of a city, it’s a really sick vibe.
FMF: During your set you said you played a song that you had just finished. Do you have a bunch of new music that we can expect?
Borgore: I have enough stuff probably for an album, but I don’t know if we’re gonna release it actually as an album or singles. We’re very bad at planning, my team and I are very spontaneous about releases.
FMF: You just released your jazz album but also have more new electronic music; how are you balancing the two moving forward?
Borgore: I think it’s completely parallel streams, I don’t think any one takes from the other. I see jazz as a passion, as a hobby. I didn’t expect a reaction like this, I was very, very surprised in a good way. I wish I could play more jazz shows; lets see if there’s a crowd for it.
FMF: Adventures in Time is very different than the music you’ve been putting out, were you nervous leading up to the release?
Borgore: I recorded the album a year ago, and really wanted it out a year ago. The only ones who were nervous were my managers, because they weren’t sure how to release it – what’s the right time, what’s the right approach – I just wanted it out. I wasn’t nervous I was just eager. I want people to hear it and know that it exists and it’s a side of me. My worst case scenario was just that no one would notice it, but we ended up with the best case scenario and people love it. [Listen Above]
FMF: Have you gotten a lot of feedback from people in the industry?
Borgore: A lot of people in the industry hit me up. My closest circle all come to my house and see that I play the piano a lot; they know that I’m in that world. It was my outer circle who was a little surprised.
FMF: We saw you tweeted out about being excited to have Big Gigantic working on volume 2 of Adventures in Time. Is that confirmed? Or anyone else you want to work with?
Borgore: I’d seen them hitting me up mentioning it, but I think it would be cool to have the next album or one of the next jazz albums have collaborations from people outside the jazz world or maybe outside my circle of the jazz world. Just working with other people on my music is super cool.
FMF: When you were producing the album what was the process like?
Borgore: I was playing the piano at the same time as the drummer and the bass player. The bass player is actually a really good friend of mine from day one, like the high school days. He’s a little older than me, someone I’ve always looked up to. So I hit him up and I was like, “look I know we’re always talking about electronic music but I want to do a jazz album. I need you to find me a drummer. A really, really good one.” It was important to me that the other players be really good to cover that I’m mediocre (laughing). So I picked literally the best people and we recorded it live, then I mixed and mastered it myself. And I’m really happy with the result.
FMF: We saw your Instagram post of you playing the bass and had to ask.
Borgore: I can play the bass, just probably not these songs. I’m way better on the drums, I’m almost the same level as my piano on the drums.
FMF: You had your showcase out in LA last Thursday; how did it go? We were expecting the camo blazer and bow tie up on stage today!
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Borgore: It went really well. The guys that I did the live show with actually weren’t the guys I did the album with. They were actually people I met two days before the show. So we had two days to get the songs, two days to get familiar with them. Because playing with different members is a different vibe. They were really, really good too. The rehearsals were maybe like 70-80%, but then in the show, something clicked. Maybe it was the crowd, maybe it was the excitement, but we played 10% better than I expected.
FMF: What’s your grand vision for yourself as an artist going forward? Do you want to try to incorporate the two styles together or keep them in parallel?
Borgore: Definitely incorporate. I keep saying that people just didn’t notice but it was always there. My past albums I had my favorite tingz, body, and soul, cry me a river, afro blue these all are jazz standards. I always had jazz in my music, people just didn’t realize. I’m doing both until I get tired of it.
FMF: You’ve been coined as the man who ruined dubstep, the man who ruined Hannah Montana – what will you be for jazz?
Borgore: I hope not, but some people might think I’m ruining jazz. In a weird way, I think I could be a sort of savior for it though. There’s gonna be a lot of people that listen to jazz who normally wouldn’t because of me, and hopefully, that can get some more kids into jazz.
FMF: That’s awesome. Thanks for taking some time to talk to us and we’re looking forward to your set!
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