I've been away and now I'm back

My Name is Adam Dorn. Mostly I watch old comedies and I’m the east coast chapter president of the Larry David Fan Club. In my spare time I make music under the name Mocean Worker ( its pronounced “motion” , I figure if people can say “bjork” they can finally figure out how to say “mocean” 11 years after I came up with the name! ).

I write music that’s mostly inspired by 30′s and 40′s jazz mixed with 60′s soul grooves and lots of bips and baps of found audio. The rest of the time I am a degenerate Football and Baseball fan.

Eat any good food lately?

Yes, I just had an amazing birthday meal at a restaurant in Philadelphia called Amada , it’s part of the Garces restaurant group and the head chef is Jose Garces. It is an amazing tapas restaurant.

What are some of your favorite pieces of gear?

Recycle by Propellerheads Software, Reason by Propellerheads Software, Record by Propellerheads Software, Pro Tools and my Nord Lead 1. I like to keep its simple.

Every artist has a process in one form or another, what is yours?

I listen to tons of records and earmark things to sample and eventually recycle beyond recognition. I recently got my entire vinyl collection back after having in storage for 4 years. Almost 3,500 albums of sweet unknown sounds , beats , blips , baps and textures. I think I will be very busy digging digging digging for sounds for a while before the new album is finished.

I tend to listen and search and then once I find something that moves me, I sample and then recycle. I then open up Reason and create a REX2 player and see what I have. Between my library of beats and samples off of CD’s I’ve gone nuts for the last two albums ( of course coupling that with live recording and playing). Now that my vinyl is back in the fold and I have not had a chance to make a MOWO! record based on really sampling my vinyl. I think my process should change greatly and the overall sound should change as well. I envision a truly low-fi but insanely hi-fo album in the works.

If you could collaborate with another artist (doesn’t need to be a musician) who would it be? What would you want to do?

Not too long ago I wrote a tune with Cindi Lauper. It was for an album she was making that was mostly a dance music album but we wrote a tune together for it that ended up not making it. I’d like to continue working on that tune and get it out on the right type of album. Mostly because its a great track, just totally not a dance track. Having said that the one singer on earth I’d like to really really really work with, without a doubt, is Annie Lennox. I think she is one of the most soulful, amazing singers of the last 25 years. She can really do anything.

So, let’s see if Peter Gabriel, Salif Keita, and Annie Lennox would all agree to sing on tunes on my next album. Everybody all cross your fingers now. Maybe we can make this happen! With Annie Lennox I’d like to make an actual neo-soul record that is actually both Soulful and Neo and just show off how she is the queen of any of these girls coming out of England.

With Peter Gabriel I’d love to do something really minimal and haunting with all sound design and ambience. He’s done so much of that I’D probably do a shitty version of it, but I’d like to try.

With Salif Keita, I’d love to just finally NOT TRY TO MAKE A WESTERN sounding album. I hate how African Artists like to try to sound western and have beats and synths and a “pop” sound. There was a remix on his last album I bought where you could tell they were going for like European radio play and it sucked. I’d like to make a song or two with him that was as organic as possible AND THEN mess around with additional production and sounds. His voice is so soaring and amazing. I’d hate to have synths in the way and loops and a 4 on the floor beat. He should never border on sounding like a bad Pet Shop Boys album!

Your thoughts on silence?

Man, to know me, is to know that in my presence things are rarely if ever silent. There is always something going on. Someone riffing, or interrupting or laughing. I grew up the youngest of 4 boys so – silence didn’t exist. Silence is NOT normal for me.

Regarding music, silence is where all the magic happens. The magic happens between the notes. Listen to almost any Miles Davis solo. It’s more about how he doesn’t play and rests that’s magical ( not to say that the notes played aren’t usually insanely lyrical ). In summation, a little more silence might be good. I just don’t always trust the silence. I always think something is going wrong when things are a little too quiet.

I believe music heals – your thoughts?

I know it does. When I need a lift Peter Gabriel, Salif Keita, Old Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Donny Hathaway, and Sam Cooke never fail to break me out of the funk I’m in. It’s like listening to the solution every time.

Your father, Joel Dorn, was a historic figure in the music industry, providing major producing contributions to some timeless creative works, from Roberta Flack to Lou Rawls – to being recognized by the Smithsonian Institute . How did he play a role in your life musically?

Well, its hard to really where to start on this one. He influenced me in every way really. We were best friends. We worked together extensively – he constantly turned me on to amazing music I didn’t know about and he was always the first person I played any new music I’d written first. It went through his filter first. It’s probably why since his passing I haven’t released any new music. Its still been tough to write and stay focused, it’s not that I don’t trust myself, I just don’t have my editor anymore.

I’m starting a new album though when I finish building this new studio and its gonna be dedicated to him and basically an homage to his body of work and influences on me. Some will be obvious but many will be inside and very personal. In your question you mention Lou Rawls and Roberta Flack, amazing artists but the thing about my old man is he also worked with The Allman Brothers, Leon Redbone, Charles Mingus, Jow Zawinul, Bette Midler, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Les McCann, Eddie Harris, Buddy Rich, The Neville Brothers, Aaron Neville. Just on and on and on and on the body of work is mind numbing. He once won a Grammy for Best Country Music Instrumental with Asleep at The Wheel. Just a ridiculous body of work when you think about it.

Producers with a grasp of knowledge like that don’t exist anymore. Nor have they for years and years. His main influence on me musically though was my window into the changing music business. He hipped me to the fact ( along with his best friend and legendary song writer Doc Pomus ) owning everything you do and taking the road less traveled of doing as little business with major labels as possible and owning your own masters was the future. He was dead on. He exposed me to major label projects when I was in my very early 20′s in the mid 90′s and showed me by example what it was like to work for “the man”. After being around that and seeing that that wasn’t for me with the exception of 2 of my 5 Mocean Worker albums I’ve self released and done everything on my own. It’s been really tough and its been hard to get access to certain audiences as a result because budgets just aren’t there – but I think I’m taking the marathon approach to my career. Maybe after 5 more albums folks will catch up? I don’t know I do know that it’s far more fun to do this myself and have creative control and scheduling control over releasing music and licensing. My old man is hard to talk about in one question. His influence went far beyond music with me. We shared so much together, especially laughter. He was such a great fucking guy. Imagine having George Carlin as a father mixed with Larry David and Lenny Bruce. That was my old man. How could that not be awesome?

What are artists / bands are you currently stoked on right now?

Adele is an amazing singer. I think she just sings her ass off, I watch her sing live and I think to myself singers like this don’t come around very often. She looks like she is literally using NO energy when she sings and yet all this soul and emotion comes out of her. She is amazing.

I’m also really digging Lady Gaga. I know that might seem like a “HUH!?!” kind of artist to mention but I like the major pop icon type artists that throw a lot of quality in there. Her tune BAD ROMANCE is a little symphony. She is just really on top of her game, no stone is left unturned.

I just finished a record with a great new artist named Cochemea Gastelum. He is in The Dap Kings and also tours with Antibales and numerous other artists. It’s really a sick album.

On another note, a producer named Sunny Levine has my ear, he is just making great records and is also a really hip solo artist. He is someone I think that is also gonna over the long haul hopefully get some major love for just putting some serious thought and soul into his work. He produced that Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson album and the last two Happy Mondays albums. Just a really good talent.

On a final note, If you could have a mythical creature as a buddy, who would you roll with?

Well who says I don’t already roll with some mythical creatures? I dont’ know about you but a Dragon can get you in and out of a lot of trouble. Nobody fucks with anybody that’s hanging out with a dragon. I’m thinking dragon on this one. ya feel me?

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Many Thanks to MoWo for his time and candid replies!

Check out these Mocean Worker titles and add ‘em into your iTunes for some added groove to your day and night:

You can also visit MoceanWorker.com to get the latest sounds, words, images, and all around adventures of MoWo, safe travels!

This video is amazing. Kudos to Alex Roman who did everything in this film, from shooting it, to post, to the CG, to the music. Inspiring and a job well done. Check it out below:

The Third & The Seventh from Alex Roman on Vimeo.

Click Here To Download The .PSD!

He is not meant to be taken too seriously.

Jogo, indeed, is floating in the sea aka the Jogo aka the sea.

by Gianni Arone 2009

MEOW – The Zombie Kitten Apocalypse!

(the below resources for this posting were taken verbatim from the YouTube channel of Cyriak , who is also the animator of this video)

• Featuring the lovely illustration of Sarah Brown: http://domestica.spreadshirt.co.uk/
• The music is available here: http://www.beatsdigital.com/track/213625
• And if you like the video there’s a t-shirt to go with it: http://tinyurl.com/yg8d94f

ENJOY

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10. General Surgery “Corpus in Extremis: Analysing Necrocriticism”

This record fucking slays. It’s a pure European grindcore record from start to finish. It’s starts crushing and fast and it ends the same. There were many great grindcore albums put out this year in the vain of this Carcass worship, but this one was just so compulsively listenable. When it came out I drove around headbanging to it for about a month straight. I would try to listen to other albums but I would just feel this itching to pop this on again and go apeshit. Great sound too, I loved the beefy guitars, the grindy bass, gutteral vocals, and battering ram, hummingbird fast drums. This one just had to make the list based purely on mindless listenability.

9. Diocletian “Doom Cult”

Dirty and evil, that’s the best way to describe this record. Great black metal from Australia. I had never heard of Diocletian before this record, as far as I know it’s their first record, that’s because I’m not all too trve. It’s got that dirty black thrash sound being drowned in a tar pit of fire. Low fi as hell, just as it should be. I like to put it on late at night on my headphones and just lie down with my eyes closed and listen to hellish images fly from my mind. Punishing blast beats and grimy guitars, truly music of the southern cross.

8. Saviours “Accelerated Living”

This was a pleasant surprise, considering that their last record sucked a fat cock. Saviours pulled a fast one on the ol’ Kevster and put out their best, most versatile record yet. They reverted back to their original nasty sound, still not quite as nasty as their earlier releases, but that fresh-from-Macys polished sound from the last one was NOT HAPPENING. A handful of the songs are what you would expect from Saviours, riffy, stoney headbangers at a mid-fast tempo, but they upped the epic solos and engaged the thrash button in a big way. Strangely and good handful of the songs were very reminiscent of Iron Maiden meets Judas Priest, but with a Saviours signature. Once again, a truly complusively listenable record.

7. Yob “The Great Cessation”

Doom and gloom invading your room. This is the slowest release on this years list, but nowhere near the least heavy. I’m a huge Mike Scheidt fan, I think he has one of the most unique and original voices in modern heavy music. He was the guitarist/vocalist for legal martyrs Middian, whose career was cut short but some retarded band from butt fuck Egypt that thought they had the rights to the name. It essentially bankrupted the band and got them kicked from their label, but it also led Mike to reform Yob and put out the best doom record in ages. It starts off at a punishing drawl and drags you along to the end without ever losing you. This was another one that I would like to put on laying around at home and just get lost in it. Still waiting for the fucking vinyl release, but patience is a virtue, right?

6. Katatonia “Night is the New Day”

This is one of the most beautiful and haunting records I’ve fallen in love with in a long time. It’s hypnotizing from start to finish. Layers of instruments, synth/keys, and soft but strong vocals mix perfectly to set a really dark, tragic vibe. It’s one of those records that you find yourself needing to listen to again as soon as it’s done. A lot of it sounds like a mix of Opeth’s melodic parts and somehow a non electronic new wave, I get glimpses of Depeche Mode here and there. Really well produced and, well, haunting.

5. Magrudergrind “S/T”

Fun party time record of the year. These guys know how to rip shit up. Much like General Surgery, this album is not groundbreaking for the genre, just extremely well done power violence/grindcore. This is an adrenaline fueled sound bomb from start to finish that’s not extremely diverse but really easy to listen to over and over. They also put on one of the best live shows I saw this year.

4. Kylesa “Static Tensions”

This album completely blew me away the first time I listened to it, it totally took me by surprise. I was not a huge fan of Kylesa before hearing Static Tensions. I had listened to a couple of their older albums and been all too underwhelmed. From reading around I gathered this was a bit of an evolution for the band, incorporating more straight forward aspects and giving it more of a cohesive sound all around. It all sounded really forced and uninspired, from what I remember. This album has a great fuzzy sound and rhythmic drumming (for whatever reason they have two drummers playing the exact same thing) that pick you up and carry you along for the duration. It speeds and slows here and there but the record is really well paced.

3. Propagandhi “Supporting Caste”

It amazes me how much better Propagandhi gets with each album. From day one they have added new and exciting elements to each new release, even their older stuff before homeboy left to start the Weakerthans, the change between “How to Clean Everything” and “Less Talk More Rock” was pretty amazing. Since Todd Kowalski, formerly of Swallowing Shit, joined the band they have gradually become one of the most original punk bands around, separating themselves from the herd and defining themselves as innovators along the way. This record is an absolutely perfect blend of punk, hardcore, crust, thrash, and the pop punk sound that made them famous. Every song is different, completely, and yet every one is clearly Propagandhi which seems to been near impossible for any band in this day and age. I can only imagine what their next release will sound like.

2. Tombs “Winter Hours”

Winter fucking Hours. This record is so hypnotic and creepy but beautiful and melodic. The album changes pace so abruptly but effortlessly at the same time. Listening to this album always changes my mood and seems to have an emotional impact on me. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Tombs is one of the most unique and original bands to come out in the past 5 years and this record did not disappoint. They added more layers and texture than the first self titled outing that made it more of a methodical journey than the first. It may be noted that there was a long while where I thought this album would be number one on this list.

1. Converge “Axe to Fall”

It may be completely predictable, seeing that everybody and their great grandmother is going banana nut bread bonkers over this album, but any heavy music fan that puts a release above this needs to get the cocks surgically removed from their ears. Like I said earlier about Propagandhi, Converge has just evolved with every release and has literally defined a genre that they continue to expand. This album is probably their most refined release to date, probably as a result of playing together for so long. I can only imagine what their writing process is like because this shit seems to be like an instict or second nature. Ben Koller continues to drop my jaw with his drumming, Kurt Ballou plays some of the most intricate yet accessable and digestable riffs and Jacob Bannon continues to write some of the most compelling and heartfelt lyrics in history. Still, Converge manages to evolve even more including gritty ballads and electro infused lurkers that fill in the record emaculately. I may go on record saying this is the best Converge record ever, but we’ll have to wait for the next one to see for sure.

Honorable mentions (in no particular order):

Cobalt “Gin”

Portal “Swarth”

Coalesce “Ox”

Pulling Teeth “Paranoid Delusions/Paradise Illusions”

Church of Misery “Houses of the Unholy”