Börft is a treasure trove of music. The label, almost thirty years old, has evolved parallel to Electronic music. No style is left unturned from a roster of small name artists with bold sound statements. An excellent and experienced imprint that caters for all electronically minded folk.
ONE of the most wondrous things about Electronic music must be the constant discoveries. It is a style that has a wealth of labels and artists, most so obscure that it takes some detective work to find them. Sometimes blind ignorance can play a role too. My recent discovery of Sweden’s Börft Records was with a little digging and a little luck.
Börft is no spring chicken, the Karlskrona based imprint has been releasing since 1987. This Scandanavian synthesizer stalwart has looked at the gamut of Electronics in its time: House, Electro, Techno, Experimental and Synth Wave have all been explored on the main imprint, Börft , and on the sublabels Djuring Phonogram, UFO Mongo
Börft has been enjoying recent attention with some excellent House records it has released. True, House has hit overload but it is still a genre with a lot to offer. Frak (aka Jan Svensson) is the boss of Börft and the label’s first artist back in the late 80s. Since then Svensson has explored a spread of sounds on a variety of imprints. Of late Frak has been focusing on House, with some great results on labels like Kontra Musik (and of course Börft.) Deep Twist sees Frak combining freaked out Electronics with 303 and 808 movements. Bass subtleties are reformed with industrial undercurrents for a gritty moody sound. Dark full flow Chicago.
In a similar vein comes Peel MD. Grip turns up the cruelty. Acid lines coil and snap as machine beats bludgeon the floor. Think somewhere along the lines of recent Bunker or Nation and you’re on the right track.
Djuring Phonogram has focused on Synth Pop and the echoes of New Wave. Kord has been a staple of the label, Johan Sturesson starting his life with Techno musings before turning his hand to Synth Wave. His excellent I Play the Flue brought together catchy hooks with raw beats and vocals. For his latest mini-LP, Soviet Stars, Sturesson takes reverberating chords and blends them with a mix of warm melodies and laconic computer beat to produce a rich modern Wave sound. Djuring Phonogram has also re-issued some obscurities, such as the sorrow-filled Masters 1992 by Njurmännen and resurrecting the sounds of Jonas Palm.
UFO Mongo is the experimental wing of this multifaceted label. Noise, Industrial Abstraction and Synthesizer Solitude are introduced by artists like Enema Syringe and Goz Mongo Alliance. The musical glass ceiling is shattered. No-holds barred, bar one: no run-of-the-mill music.
Börft is a treasure trove of music. The label, almost thirty years old, has evolved parallel to Electronic music. No style is left unturned but all is done with the personal touch of small name artists and bold sound statements. An excellent and experienced imprint that caters for all electronically minded folk.
Visit Börft Records at www.borft.com.
