Self-taught musician with a degree in Communication Sciences, Valerius Borcoș created the electronic band Karpov not Kasparov in 2011. After a successful first release (nominated ‘album of the month’ by Vice Magazine and included in ‘best of the year’ lists by radios like New York’s WFMU, Romanian Cultural Radio and Radio Free Europe) the band began touring in 2014 and played eversince around 250 concerts at festivals, cultural centers or underground venues in almost all European countries (38 out of 44).
Karpov not Kasparov released several vinyl LPs at labels form Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands and Romania. The band’s latest material “The Vocal Edits” was declared “Best Romanian Electronic Release of 2016” by Scena9 magazine and stamped “probably the best Romanian album of its genre in the last 30 years” by the journalists of musical blog Muzici & Faze.
Karpov not Kasparov is a self-managed, independent, free-thinking artist duo consisting of composer, keyboard player, vocalist Valerius Borcoș and drummer Eduard Gabia (coreographer, conceptual artist, actor). They make music based on the concepts, mathematics, and strategies of chess. The output is a very danceable electronic music with oriental, classical and jazzy flavours.
