Kasbo Interview - Forward Thinking Electro

Photo by Jack McKain

Meet Kasbo, one of Sweden's golden children of production. Over the years, the artist has grooved his way into our hearts with an abundance of outstanding releases. We had a chat to Kasbo about his career in music, his upcoming album Places We Don't Know, and of course cocktails!

Futuremag Music: What's your relationship with music been like over the years? 

Kasbo: I think for me it's always been the typical "escape". Like me just wanting to disconnect from everyone else or anything that's happening. I remember in school I always walked around with headphones, never really stopped listening to music. I think that's why I listen to more cinematic, or vibey, or emotional music. I want it to take me places. I never really listen to stuff more like hip hop, not cause I think it's bad but I feel that's more about making the listener feel a sense of like energy, confidence, and maybe rush. There are 100% situations when I'm looking for that and listen to that kind of stuff but those feelings are typically not what i'm after

Futuremag Music: How'd you move into production? What's the creative process when you produce a track? 

Kasbo: I've been doing music since I was really young, but mostly guitar stuff and playing music with my friends, but eventually, my drive and dedication severely surpassed my friends' which got frustrating, so I decided to do things on my own and production was a way to do that. 

Usually it's me finding interesting sounds or samples, like I said I'm very much into the feeling of music taking you places, which leads to soundscape, delivery, and like HOW a melody sounds (rather than what notes it plays) so important, therefore sound design and sample selection is something that really inspires a lot of music in me

Futuremag Music: What can fans expect from your upcoming album Places We Don't Know? What are some of your favourite aspects of the album?

Kasbo: I think for me it's just such a distinct piece in terms of feeling, I love it so much and for me, it's very distinct where it takes me, this ideal naive world where everything is beautiful and everyone is friendly. Familiar yet interesting, a world you wanna explore, but you're not afraid of what you're going to find.

Futuremag Music: Foreign Family Collective label heads ODESZA have been talking you up quite a bit, what influence have they, and Foreign Family Collective, had on the album and the development of your sound as a whole?

Kasbo: The In Return tour back in 2015 was my first shows ever, and it was the first time I saw electronic music live. It kind of inspired the hell out of me and showed me what is possible in terms of artistry. After that I lost all need for 'making a dope tune with a cool drop that people will like on SoundCloud', it became more about creating a world people could delve into after that, and an album felt like the only way for me to do that.

Futuremag Music: If 'Kasbo' was a cocktail what would be in it to best describe yourself and your music? 

Kasbo: Hot chocolate, Coffee, and I'd say Kahlua, mainly just cause I feel like anything else would taste like shit with hot chocolate and coffee.