Going beyond with [BORDERS]

I first discovered his music late last year through his live recorded sets that had been posted on Soundcloud, so there was great anticipation to hear these first releases and for what's to come. His combination of melodic synths, techy rhythms, balanced neuro sound design, obscure compositions and drive to step into other realms of bass music had me very intrigued, excited for everyone to hear. His most recent releases exhibit the potential of how this new unnamed style of Drum & Bass can make it into the mainstream-dancefloor audience so I’m looking forward to hearing him push it even further. This year being the first of his releases, he has become my favorite newcomer this year in this peculiar realm of Drum & Bass and I hope you enjoy what you hear. I reached out earlier this year to chat and learn more about himself, see what he has planned for his music and beyond.

What was your first experience with electronic music?

I’ve actually been making music all of my life. I started when I was 9 years old and got inspired by artists like Skrillex but that music was a bit too complex for me at the time. I started going towards music that artists like Hardwell and Martin Garrix were doing, the Big Room House music. I was doing that for a couple of years just for myself and I started DJing a bit. Eventually labels like Monstercat started to blow up, so I got more into that side of the EDM scene, the Dubstep, Future Bass music.

I went back to House because Future House was becoming a thing. On the side I did Hip Hop beats, I worked with two friends who are now actually doing their own Hip Hop projects. I wanted to become a rapper myself at some point but that was mostly due to the area I used to live in, urban and hip hop were the main things everybody listened to. I thought if I want to make it in the music industry I’ll have to do the thing that people listen to. I started doing Hip Hop and Rap shit but it just wasn’t for me, I’m not that kind of guy, rappers are all about, “Look at all the money I have, look how cool I am”, and I’m not that kind of person.

About 2-3 years ago, I went to a music school, the Herman Brood Academy which Martin Garrix actually went to. I got into the school with my Future House music. When I got into a class, I was like NICE, I’m in a class where like twelve other guys make the same shit as me, I’m never going to stand out from them. Around that time I just turned 18, I went to my first House party, I met a group of guys who are my friends now and they were like you should come to this Drum & Bass party with us. I knew about Drum & Bass but I wasn’t really into it as I am now. I was like sure I’ll come with you, I went to the party and I was like OH MY GOD THIS IS AMAZING. I immediately fell in love with the genre. There I decided I’m going to quit House music and start doing Drum & Bass because nobody in my class made it either so it was also good to stand out for doing a different genre from everyone else. I do want to keep making other genres, I’ve been going back to a bit of Future House but not like commercial Future House more like the Zonderling sound, I’ve been really into that.

Did you have a different alias back then?

I’ve had many aliases actually. My future house alias was Jaimz and my hiphop alias was Young Jameson. Jaimz was derived from people nicknaming me James which I did use for my Future House music but I didn’t release anything at the time so it wasn’t really a set thing. Eventually when I switched to Drum & Bass, I was like well I’m going to need a new name. I came up with [BORDERS], which is derived from my last name Borgers. It's fitting because I always push boundaries, I try to go as far as I can with everything in life. With music, I’ve been doing a lot of different genres and I’m always trying to do something new in a genre. Again with Drum & Bass, I’m not trying to do what everybody else does, I’m trying to find a different kind of sound in the genre.

Life, growing up, what was it like where you are from?

I’m originally from the southwest side of the Netherlands, it’s called Hellevoetsluis. It’s not very known, it’s like 30 minutes by car from Rotterdam. It is considered a city but if you are there, it doesn’t look like a city. What I felt living there, is that people have a certain mindset and everybody has the same kind of mindset and it wasn’t my mindset. I didn’t match with the people there so that’s why I really wanted to move.

My school was in Utrecht and I really enjoyed being there so I decided to move to Utrecht. I feel really good here. There’s more different mindsets, people have more of their own opinion instead of like “Oh you should have this opinion because everyone has it”. There’s different kinds of people here and I really enjoy it. In terms of Electronica music here it’s very broad, a lot of different genres. We have Blackout here, a label/events company by Black Sun Empire who throw Drum & Bass parties. The genre is growing a lot here, I wouldn’t say it's the main genre here obviously but it is becoming more popular, a lot of events are starting to come to Utrecht.

Any musical background in your family?

No not at all actually. My parents keep telling me from the day I was born I was already into music, from a very young age I was into it and I wanted to become a radio DJ. I had started an online radio thing where I had five listeners and I would be like “Oh my god I have five people listening!”. I was probably 9 at that time. Then I got my first Dj controller which led me to finding out about FL Studios and everything fell into place.

So FL Studio is your preferred DAW, any others?

I use FL Studio and Ableton but mostly FL Studio. Ableton is just for fun, when I feel like doing something different. I have my sort of way working in FL Studio so I usually stick to that pattern. I know Ableton, just not as well as I know FL Studio, in Ableton I’m more so doing stuff randomly, it’s a different kind of sound when messing around instead of following the patterns that I'm used to.

Who are some of your inspirations in music, old and new?

Like I mentioned Skrillex, I would say Hardwell but that was more like he inspired me to start making music and he’s not inspiring me to do Drum & Bass. Back then a little Martin Garrix. If we really go back I’d say, The Prodigy. My dad listened to a lot of The Prodigy and I think that caught me a bit more into the Electronic music side but it was still mostly me exploring music. I’ve always been a big fan of the genre and per genre I have people that I really liked but it was never really one person. For Drum & Bass, I would say NOISIA, there’s a couple people that I really enjoy listening to but it’s like they're not my biggest inspiration, it’s kind of hard to explain. Yeah NOISIA obviously because they are the same as Skrillex in my opinion, whatever they touch is just good it doesn’t matter, which I really value.

I guess I can say that inspires me to be an artist like that as well. I want to be someone that whatever is done, it sounds good. I want to make whatever I want to make. I'm focused on Drum & Bass right now but eventually I want to start doing other things like Future Bass, Dubstep, House, etc. It’s not just going to be Drum & Bass because I love all kinds of music.

For newcomers I do have a couple, Synergy, The Caracal Project, Buunshin, Malux, I really love Malux, he’s been on my radar for quite awhile, not many people know about him which is a shame. He isn’t very active in the community either, he’s choosing for it which I think is a bummer because he literally produces the perfect Drum & Bass in my opinion. It’s good, its unique, the best way for me to describe it is like, when we talk about neurofunk, people always think of the Eatbrain kind of stuff, to me it gets repetitive, it’s all the same kind of stuff and Malux keeps doing new stuff, interesting things while maintaining the neurofunk label. So yeah he’s a big inspiration.

Do you play a lot of gigs in your local area?

It does look like it doesn’t it haha, it’s not that many. It sort of started this year since covid is gone so events are able to continue but these gigs are small shows, I’m not getting paid for them. It’s still nice to do obviously, it’s just fun. I do hope that the actual bookings start coming because I love playing out music, performing, and putting on a show. It's where I think I differ from other artists because a lot of artists just come to play their music. When I do a gig, even at these small events, I like to put on a show, make it interesting, and I like to come prepared. Say I’m going to a neuro event so I got to play heavier stuff than usual but if I go to a softer event then I can do more of the melodic stuff which I really enjoy. Hopefully by next summer I’ll be able to play a bigger event like Liquicity or NOX but in October I will be making my UK debut for a In The Lab Recordings showcase so I’m looking forward to that!

You mentioned you started a radio thing in your early days and now you have started Obscurity Radio, how’s it been going? What plans do you have for it?

So with Obscurity Radio it’s full circle because I started with a radio show when I was 9 years old and I really wanted to be a radio DJ so that’s why I started it. It’s going pretty well, the last two episodes weren’t really listened to much but I guess that's mostly because I’ve been very active lately with posting stuff so Obscurity now ended up in the shadow I’d say. I do want to keep it going, it was every two weeks but I’m going to down it to every month when more gigs start coming because it does take time to make it. I really enjoy doing it, looking for new music, and sharing my taste in music with people because I have a very specific taste.

It’s inspired by NOISIA Radio/ VISION Radio. I really love the concept and idea behind it but the music in there is not always to my taste. They go too deep for me sometimes, more towards deep Drum & Bass, it’s cool, I like it but it’s not interesting enough. I want to showcase the new stuff, the underground people that are starting to come up, names like Secula, Missin, Maysev…they are already above underground I would say so like my friend Ewan Bristow for example. I want to give them more light, like look at these people, they are finding new stuff, they are not doing what has already been done, that’s the kind of stuff I like.

That’s why I’m in love with the label NËU because they release the craziest, weirdest new stuff. When I’m searching for music and I find something I like, I have to be like is this good enough for Obscurity? Or am I just looking for songs to put in the show because I do want to put songs in the show I actually like, and want to support. Not songs I just hear and I’m like “Oh yeah this sounds pretty cool”. It has to have that extra little bit, which sometimes can be very hard because I need about 12 songs to fill up 30 minutes so there’s going to be occasions where I say fuck it, I’m going to put this in becuase I need the 30 minutes.

What’s next for [BORDERS]?

Well my debut EP is came out on ProgRAM, RAM Records sub label. I’m excited it finally came out but on the other hand I’m not excited because I’ve already heard these tracks so many times. I worked on this EP for like two years so for me, I’m already over the tunes. I was excited for people to hear them. I’m busy with releases that are on the way, the newer, better stuff I would say. I do have a lot of tunes with In The Lab Recordings, I have a single on the new Sinful Maze compilation, with RAM on another track, and High Tea Music. Possibly another EP on the way but I’m not sure yet so keep on the look out.

How’s it been working with RAM Records for your EP?

RAM is probably the most easy label to work with. I sent my EP and they were like this is cool we’re going to sign it with you. I kept working on the tracks to perfect them and they were cool with everything. Everytime I had a question or was unsure about anything they would answer the same day or the next day. It was nice working with them, they’ve done a lot in terms of preparations for the promo so that was really cool, I didn’t have to do anything.

Did you have a voice in the artwork?

I did so because the opening track is called “Geyser”, I wanted the artwork to be either something with a geyser because it’s unique, I’ve never seen an artwork with it and it resembles the opening track. Or I wanted something more abstract because I really like abstract designs that are simple with a lot of depth. The artwork artist sent over the cover and I was like yeah this is perfect. It was nice to be able to tell them what I liked.

Any labels you’d really love to release with next?

NËU. They are my number one label I want to get on. I love their sound, I love what they stand for, I love nearly every single artist on there. Their style, sound, and everything, it’s the big one. Obviously VISION because whatever they release is quality. If you can release with them, then you can actually say I’m a good producer, that’s what I feel like because those guys really have a taste for quality. Also, the new label by Camo & Krooked & Mefjus, MODUS, I’m really interested in that, the first track that came out “Overture”, is mind blowingly good so I don’t know how I’m going to reach that level but I hope to release with them someday.

Do you have any dream collaborations or people you want to work with?

Malux is a dream collaboration but if I ever collaborate with him, I’m just going to be too nervous, he’s going to do the whole track, I’m just going to be sitting down like “Is this okay?”. There’s a lot of names. I'd love to work with Buunshin because he really knows what he’s doing, he’s such a nerd, I love that. Anyone from NËU, Secula, Maysev, Missin, Synergy…then if I could dream big Camo & Krooked, Mefjus, Phace because they know what they’re doing, they know what works. At this point in my career, I know what I’m doing but I’m still fiddling around, doing random stuff. Those guys do that as well but they do it with knowledge. Anyone that’s upcoming in the melodic techy neuro side, I’d love to work with them! I’m actually working with a couple of people, collab with someone else on In The Lab Recordings and I am going to work with Archaea.

Your sound is a part of this excitingly new melodic neuro fusion techy Drum & Bass, what would you like to hear more of in this wave of music?

For me I want to bring the techy side of Drum & Bass, not the crazy techy side but the more melodic kind of stuff, basically what Camo & Krooked are already doing. I want to bring that to a more public audience, not commercial but bring it more out there. We have Jump Up, Liquid and Neurofunk that's very popular but the genre I do is not. First of all it doesn’t really have a name, it first needs a name I guess. I want people to know more about it because I feel like the most talented artists are producing this sound.

Right now you have people like Macky Gee who get millions of streams and every song sounds the same. It’s not talent, it’s literally using the same presets and drums for every song. I say listen to these new guys, every track is mindblowing, they have this new thing every time and I’m like how do I compete with them. I could make the simple stuff but I don’t want to do that, I want to grow big with this new sound. It’s honestly the reason I switched to Drum & Bass because obviously I could have stuck with House, I could have become the next Martin Garrix per say, make a lot of money with songs that everybody is already making, I don’t want that, I want to make something new, and push this new genre. I’m not the most innovative producer in this genre, there’s many others that are way more creative and that’s why I’m also pushing Obscurity Radio to help those producers get more attention.

Eventually I want to have my own label, and events, pushing that sound as well, not anything soon yet. Especially here in Utrecht, we have Liquicity for Liquid, we have Blackout for Neurofunk, then we have NOX, and a couple other ones. I want to do events where most of the line up is new artists, upcoming stuff with new sounds and bring more light to that. That’s the goal.