Borghesia

BIO

Borghesia is an electronic music group from Ljubljana, Slovenia, created in 1982 by Aldo Ivancic and Dario Seraval who were members of the alternative theater troupe FV-112/15. Along with Laibach, Borghesia is the most successful band from the territory of former Yugoslavia who launched the activist movement and managed to turn sexual freedom into an important political issue by creating the New Slovenian Art scene.
After two cassette-only releases the band recorded their debut vinyl LP Ljubav Je Hladnija Od Smrti (“Love Is Colder Than Death”) during the winter of 1983-84. The band was eager to use early sampling techniques to construct tracks from cut up radio noises and movie dialogue. They developed their own brand of EBM (Electronic Body Music) that combined symphonic synthesizers (Korg PolySix), funky basslines, military drum beats (Roland TR-808) and harsh, crisp sequenced rhythms that repeat in trance-like loops (Roland TB-303). All songs from Ljubav Je Hladnija Od Smrti are sung/recited in Croatian and use the imagery of the prohibited, tabooed and repressed. Equal parts Chris & Cosey, Cabaret Voltaire, Art of Noise and Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
Borghesia went on several Europe-wide concert tours, mainly in 1988-91, which were reviewed in large music magazines in England, Germany etc., such as NME, Melody Maker, New Life, and Zillo. They released four albums on Play It Again Sam, one of the more important indie labels, which were also licensed to Wax Trax in the USA and Canada. Further interviews and articles in the magazines above. Aldo Ivancic later formed the band Bast, and is famous in the Slovenian music scene today as a producer. Borghesia together with Laibach were prominent representatives of Slovenian alternative pop music, and topped the bill on the compilation albums Trans Slovenia Express, released on Mute Records. Borghesia live show in Gothenburg, Sweden in October 1988 was the subject of an hour long broadcast on Swedish national radio network, on the show P3 Live.
The duo continue to work on new music for a new album in September 2012 on Metropolis Records.