Member Since: 02/01/2006
Band Website: www.myspace.com/borg9
Band Members: Former drummer for The Sarnos, Don D., handles the battery aspects of BORG9. Sika K., former guitarist for The Love Mummies, and Grendel, plays an assortment of instruments in BORG9 including all guitars, guitar synthesizers, keyboards, sound modules, multiple delays and very sparse vocals. Jim Jagus is a former guest guitarist/singer for BORG9. Sadly our beloved friend and musical cohort has passed away. He will always be loved and missed. (JJ can be heard on our song "Preemptive Strike")
Only occasional samples are added to BORG9 music. All music is recorded live WITHOUT DUBBING.
Influences: A quick tale from Sika: Many years ago I was jamming with Brad Elrod (former drummer for Today is the Day) and our friend Abe. Abe remarked at one point how my guitar work sounded like a band known as "SubArachnoid Space". Now I had never heard their music before but became immediately intrigued. So I picked up a copy of their "Endless Renovation" album (highly recommended listening) and discovered a musical landscape parallel to my own. Thus the seeds of BORG9 were sown, and, with the aid of drummer Don D. (Known for his work with the seminal indie band The Sarnos) we continue to explore the vast uncharted frontier known as Space Rock. We've discovered many fellow pioneers in this field over the years: Tarentel, Tarantula Hawk, Trans Am (their Futureworld album in particular) to name a few, but the beauty of the genre is in the originality and unpredictability of the material. We went to see SubArachnoid one year at Cafe DuNord in SF and I was close enough to the stage to shout out a request (it wasn't Free Bird). The answer, as I recall it, was the answer to Space Rock itself: "We never do the same songs twice"!
Sounds Like: BORG9's sound is massive though the output is from 2 people only. Rhythmic patterns collapse upon themselves like an imploding sun, dispersing in a conflagration of musical debris, then reforming and striking at the heart of the mind's eye.
The following is a review from Stefan of HAPPY ENDING and NIGHT GERM:
Dear BORG GUYS, I've listened to your disc twice already- while barbecueing and while going to sleep. All I can say is that these seven pieces are truly great. All the right elements are here and the playing is with precision. Even more remarkable is that this is your debut CD. One can only imagine what's next. So, this means that you guys should definitely play out as much as you can, record some new material and release it, and promote the shit out of this disc (keep up w/ MySpace). As far as labels go, I personally feel that they are no longer relevant. I'm from the 80's/90's too and I remember when being on a label was it, but times have changed. Do it yourself. Okay, time for the review:
BORG9- "TRANSMISSION" /B9 MUSIC 2006 At first listen the sounds here recall CAN at their spaciest, but these two guys from San Francisco (drummer and guitarist/keyboardist) definitely hold their own and succeed at making a stunning debut- minus the arty posturing that is so omnipresent these days. Each one of these pieces is a bizarre soundtrack for the mind's eye, exploring various moods, textures, and sounds. While the music is as unstructured as it gets, there is no question whatsoever that the experimentation here is truly in earnest and the playing precise and competent. "Transmission" is definitely a trip worth taking. Let's just hope that these guys don't fade away into obscurity.
-STEFAN GRAHAM
BORG-O-LANTERN
Record Label: BORG9MUSIC (Self-produced)
Type of Label: Unsigned