. spoken .

interview for NEW EMPIRE. march 2000

NE: i want to avoid the boring question "who are you?" and better ask: "what world are you born into? what kind of life did you face when you woke up after birth?"

GB: i faced confusion, war, happiness, industrial, madness, pressure, love, hate .. so many things but after all i can say that the world is too complex to be understood. but i´m trying as far i can .. " it´s a giant thought"

NE: how does this world influence your music? where are the ideas of your music coming from? from external or internal inspirations? can music be a completely internal thing?

GB: sounds are everywhere! the influences for my audio sculptures are coming from everywhere; the internal and external inspirations are just one of so many perspectives. basicly i´m a syncronisator of all the things i´m facing on this planet. this sound is part of my subjective perspective of the environment in which i´m living.

NE: who should listen to your music and why?

GB: everyone who supports the underground movement which is independent and real or better said, which is part of the real world without filters ans masks or materialistic "commercial" motivations. at last for people which are open for communication and development.

NE: "elements" contains 4 lps and in western tradition there are four elements. do you refer to those elements? is there a special meaning behind every of the 4 lps? which is it ?

GB: no! this is just a coincidence.

NE: your sound is often cold and somehow angry. is it an accusation?

GB: yes!

NE: one question about major malfunction. it contains a track called battle youth. this cought my attraction. what is a battle youth? a youth born into a battle? or the battle of the youth? please explain this song to me.

GB: battle youth is the soundtrack, inspirated by the youth, which is programmed to behave like warriors of the post industrial world. i´ve seen so many of them little soldiers ready to fight for materialistic advantages for more and more and more and more .. and this is not enough. this track is the retrospective of the smell the produce.

NE: in which relationship stand the music and the layout of your covers? the new lps feature a triangular symbol. will this be your new logo? what does it stand for? how do you select the motives for the covers?

GB: the three parts of the triangular symbol are standing for mind, body and environment and should demonstrate the harmonic relationship between those factors. this symbol will be a active part of the common graphic designs.

NE: how do you feel before and after the release of a record? what do you think about concerning this release?

GB: since the cooperation with maurizio blanco and boris may from the mhz label concept, ther was a new paltform opened which along the way brings to me a new volume of potentialities. so i can be concentrated on my own perspective of work. this mental freefall allows me to form audio sculptures with my own original syntax. elements is the result of a vision i´ve had and a personal electronic script created by using automated technology. the sense and view about this album is also a personal view of the other people from the scene. the point is that we like electronic music from the progressive underground.

respects, goran besov

interview for RE:MOTE INDUCTION. may 2000

After a couple of pieces Goran Besov joined the German label Mega Hertz - first with a track on their compilation and then with the LP Major Malfunction. After the success of this LP, tracks from which could be seen cropping up on DJ lists, Goran followed it up with the 2 LP release Elements. Following our review of this piece of work we spoke to Goran.

Re:mote Induction : Your second LP on Megahertz - Elements is a double LP - 20 tracks across four sides. Could you tell us something behind the ideas that shaped this work and if there is any structure behind the positioning of the tracks across the sides?

Goran: Elements follows Major Malfunction as a compilation of different tracks from various times. After publishing Major Malfunction we (MHz) decided to produce an album, by working first with the title chronos vs. chaos, but after that we came to Elements. So I've recorded the work of eight months, which includes high and low levels of quality, this whole output was the elements archive at first. From the "most chronological" I took the best and the most important tracks together as an organized program, which stands for experimental audio activity. The rest of them were deleted.

Re:mote Induction : Looking at your discography it would appear that Elements is your fourth LP - when was each LP recorded and how has your sound changed over the releases and was there a much greater time spent to produce 20 tracks for Elements than time spent on other releases?

Goran: The Story Becomes, Major Malfunction and the black hole project (which is a dj tool) are all excerpt from my personal library. The first tracks I recorded in 1991, together with Savas Pascalidis. So the difference between those three records and Elements is automatically the one that Elements was scheduled from its beginning. Elements is the greatest spectrum / volume of output that I ever did, the size of it was unexpected for all of us.

Re:mote Induction : Certainly comparing Major Malfunction and Elements there is a marked change - how would you describe the sound you were going for with each of these releases? Was the change an evolution for you or a deliberate jump? As a reviewer I find that categories can be restrictive and at times misleading - so while I might describe your work (particularly Major Malfunction) as being "techno" influenced someone who listens to "techno" might not see that at all - what do you make of categories and the way they are applied to you and your work?

Goran: Basically there is the fascination about the electronic platform "which is revolutionary." Then the expression of everything we see, smell or feeling and mental material, in other words: everything in our environment or so called life can be reconstructed and remodelled into electronic audio activity. For example: during the consuming of talk shows "consciously" and listening to the perfect TV concept I feel like "media termination" and then with this impression I am going on to record the result after using electronic equipment. so the sound is in most of the cases my personal view on the environment I'm living in. This sound must change because this is the natural process of independent development, I feel in me. Fact is, that everything I did until now is a result of the techno movement. I'm a part of this, very
subjective but technoid in every category.

Re:mote Induction : Both your Megahertz releases have had somewhat "classical" art on the sleeves - these are striking - how do you feel they fit in with the sound of Goran Besov? Do either of the sleeves have particular reference to the albums? Also with Elements you have adopted a new symbol - how does the classical imagery fit with your electronic sound compared to the more minimal symbol, which to me seems entirely appropriate?

Goran: The Major Malfunction cover shows a man which was used by Leonardo for medical studies. So this unknown element of this case was interesting for me. Who was he? How old? Name in a register? Nothing. So we were thinking that this man had to be reanimated in some way. By printing his face on the ep - the same happens with the Elements cover nobody can imagine the face of this warrior. This unknown something is also in my sound and in me at last. There are so many things happening around me and I don't know why. The triangular symbol stands for unity between mind body and environment and it is my personal symbol from old days.

Re:mote Induction : How did you come into contact with Megahertz and how did that lead to the release of your last 2 LPs with them?

Goran: Maurizio was going to the same music shop as me, so we heard each others ideas and motivations and we knew that some day something would happen. This was 1989, I think, then later he formed with Boris the "klangstabil project" (1994) which was for me the first real electronic band in the radius of South-Germany.

Re:mote Induction : You produced a track for the Alpha cassette compilation, which is also where the PAL track Dream And Bliss came from. What sort of track was They and what about Dream And Bliss attracted you enough to cover it? Have you ever done any other covers or are there others you would like to do?

Goran: They can be seen as a Major Malfunction track taken from my personal library. The Dream And Bliss Mix was a spontaneous act. I like the track and PAL's output. Currently I'm working on remixes of klangstabil's performance piece called krieg (war) . I saw the performance in Stuttgart at the Kuenstlerhaus, it was extreme and perfect in its purest energy. I'm trying now to concentrate on what I witnessed that day in a track, by using Klangstabil samples. Other mixes? We'll see!

Re:mote Induction : As I said earlier Elements seems to be your fourth LP - could you tell us something about your earlier releases - The Story Becomes (on wild traxx) and Black Hole Project a split with Savas Pascalidis (on shokoy)?

Goran: The Black Hole thing is a "dj tool" with Savas Pascalidis who is a friend of mine, but he is a traditional dj (techno scene). He was an active part of the implementation of techno in Stuttgart. But always in the background doing his own thing. Now - he runs successful his on own label called Lasergun. But my music is more the experimental perspective and there are our "barricades".

Re:mote Induction : As you produce more music how does your attitude and method change? Do your influences shift or do you find that with more experience you are better able to express your intentions? With Elements you have one track which features vocals by Melina Besov - is this something we are likely to see more of, and to what degree do other people have input in your work?

Goran: Everybody and everything is welcome. The track with Melina Besov was also a spontaneous thing. I think that there will be more things in this direction in the future everything is possible. This is also a fascinating part of electronic platforms, everything can happen! I'm searching and recording.

Re:mote Induction : Listening to both Major Malfunction and Elements there are various samples - taken together it would seem that you are using them for particular reasons - what place does sampling have in your work and how do the words suggest your meaning?

Goran: The sampler is the central act in this thing supported by drum machines and synthesizers. He is god given, for me. The samples I use are mental links to my personal experience most of them are taken from movies. I've been collecting samples since 1992 and my library is always present during the programming of a track.

Re:mote Induction : With Elements being your longest release to date, perhaps even becoming intimidating with its scale how do you follow it? Do you have any idea of what you will do next musically?

Goran: I'm standing on a "zero point" at the moment - I have no idea. The relationship between Elements and my work at all is very complicated now, because I feel an emptiness like a gun that has already fired all its bullets. One is sure, there will be no continuing story - I must find a new concept. Elements is the synchronisation of a current situation - maybe an audio analysis of our society. The next step can be the question about the future, maybe titles like "how shall the new environment be programmed" will be the leading stimulus for further recordings. I don't know …everything is possible, this is the greatest motivation to work with and on Megahertz.

Re:mote Induction : Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions and we wish you the best of luck with your work - do you have any comments that you would like to add as conclusion?

Goran: Yes I would, I would like to say thanks to everyone who supported us and to everyone who realizes music as something important and of course to the whole "underground movement" - respect!

goran besov 26.05.2000

interview for MUTE! magazine. september 2000

1. alright, for the readers, how did it all beginn?

it began in 1991, when i bought my first sampler. at first there was a "research and development" phase in which i discovered some perspectives of the immense neverending audio-sample spectrum. i took samples from movies other tracks or sample libraries and later step by step i have completed the "black hole" with futher electronic parts like drum machines, synthesizers and effects. but the sinister urge to express myself, in some way was always there before, it is now completed with the electronic medium.

2. in five words or less, describe goran besov musically.

a very sensible observer, consumer, worker or part of the industrialized and norm society which is reproducing "in experimental style "the collected various information as audio tracks.

3. how did you meet up with MHz?

i met maurizio blanco in a shop for electronic equipment from this moment on there was a third mind which holds us together. we know that the same voice was speaking to us.

4. can you tell us about your new lp, "elements"?

at first i must say that elements was a very heavy and complicated birth. this album is not ment to entertain somebody in classical sense, it is an audio script which describes current circumstances, feelings and emotions in a unorthodox experimental way. elements was an act of self destruction its fruits are bitter and sweet in same time.

5. how would you describe the evolution behind your music? from "the story becomes" to "major malfunction" to "elements"?

"the story becomes" is really the beginning of this thing but this ep has in some way this techno aspect. "major malfunction" is the indicator for "elements", this second ep is an excerpt from my archive at that time. the idea behind m.m. was to release an ep which contains sick music for special moments in what ever. "elements" is going further in me it is the total independence and stands for something own.

6. has signing to MHz helped in this evolution?

there are no contracts between us. this evolution is coming from inside and burns automatically in a neverending process. our relationship is based on friendship and on our love to electronic sound. but of course! it is great when somebody has the interest to publish your music in the way you want, it gives more energy, for sure.

7. what leads to the choosing of artwork on your covers? the leonardo man on "major malfunction", the masked warrior, the split triangle?

the triangle is my personal logo which stands for the unity between mind body and environment. the leonardo man is a man which was used by leonardo for anatomic studies. nobody knows who he was and nobody cares about him anyway. everyone sees leonardo in him, but i see the man himself this unknown man which is reanimated in some way with m.m. this known-unknown thing was also the link to the sound. the unknown fighter on "elements"stands for the unknown man which is building and destroying. he is unknown, the work and the process in which he is involved are the most important things like the sound on "elements". the building of constructions and the immediate destroying of them are some of the basic methods in creating the sound of this album.

8. can you give us one last thougt on electronic music today?

everthing is electronic and can be reproduced, remodelled and exploited, objective or subjective perspectives can be used for club purpose or psychoanalysis. it needs a small evident will, which is not everyone ready to make, to explore those audio worlds and systems, we as explorers of electronic sound must and can go further.

goran besov
12.09.2000