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Morr Music - Not your average electronic music

There are a lot of labels around but few seem to be able to create their own musical universe. One of those that do is Berlin-based Morr Music. Two years after the succesful compilation Putting The Morr Back into Morrissey mister Morr and label artist Styrofoam talk about the release of the follow-up Blue Skied An' Clear.

Tekst: Koen Mariën

Publicatiedatum: 04 oktober 2002

How did Morr Music start?
Thomas: Our first release came out in June '99, a 12" by Bernd Fleishmann, but I had been playing with the idea to start a label for a very long time. In '99 it was the ideal time because I was working for a music distributor, so I had a lot of contacts. I was also an A&R man for electronic music at the time. Besides that I have always been a collector of weird music. At the beginning it was very low scale. We were pressing like five hundred copies of every release. The first breakthrough came with the release of Lali Puna.

How would you describe the sound of Morr Music?
Thomas: That's a very difficult question to answer. I would say it's melancholic electronic music.
Arne Van Petegem (Styrofoam): I don't think there's a specific sound, maybe there was a while ago, but these days everyone is going in different directions. I think it's about a general attitude towards music.
Thomas: Our artists also have different backgrounds. There are a lot of guys that came from the indie scene and started using new techniques to make music.

Manual uses an electric guitar during his live performance. Is the Morr Music philosophy about mixing old and new techniques of producing music?
Arne: I think it's more about being different. There's an overload of electronic music labels. I think a lot of people think IDM is a dead-end street. Most people are looking for new directions and there are a lot of possibilities.
Thomas: I think our music corresponds to a general feeling. People are bored of unemotional music, the whole clicks&cuts hype. That's why we make melancholic electronic music. Arne: Although meanwhile even that has become a cliché in itself: melancholic IDM.

Is that why a lot of Morr Music artists use vocals?
Thomas: I simply like the singing. Actually it was Arne who started singing (laughs). No, I just like it, there's no philosophy behind or something. It's also a general trend. A lot of artists are using vocals, from IDM to shitty vocal house.

Lali Puna got a lot of press attention with their last album. How important is the success of Lali Puna for Morr Music?
Thomas: I think the most important thing is the fact that Lali Puna introduced a lot of new listeners to the sound of Morr Music. We already did a few video clips for Lali Puna, although I always wonder why we bother. When they're finished it's incredibly hard to find a tv station that wants to play them. Channels like MTV are not interested in playing Lali Puna.

The compilation album Putting the Morr back in Morrissey also had a lot of success.
Thomas: It was our second biggest release after Lali Puna. Putting together that compilation took about half a year. It was released in a time when there was a total overkill of electronic music, and certainly compilations-wise. I saw that while working at the distribution firm. The numbers of those releases were steeply dropping. But Putting the Morr Back in Morrissey was nevertheless a big success for us. We had to repress the album every four months and it's still selling.

What are the plans for the future?
Thomas: In the very near future we will be introducing stuff from three new artists: Ms John Soda, Guitar and Populous, an Italian artist who composes downtempo music with guitars. There's a lot of stuff on our release schedule. I think we have something lined up each month. Besides that I'm working on a re-release label for Slowlife releases. It's going to be called Codeïne records. It's stuff from the old Indie scene, but all the music I want to re-release is music that has a special impact on artists.

Are there plans for a Morr Music tour?
Thomas: At the moment we are working on an American tour. It's going to feature Lali Puna, Styrophoam and Opiate. The label guy from Plug Research accepted to work as our American booking agent and he's checking who's interested in booking us, so we'll see. It's quite exciting.

Ready to conquer America?
Thomas: I hope it works out fine, but it's one big adventure for us. Everything is different in America. The way they promote music, you have to get the attention of the independent radio stations, the way they distribute music is also different. But we will see.
Arne: I think it's the perfect timing to try to conquer America, with the success of Lali Puna and the release of the new compilation. But it's true, it will be difficult. In the USA people are still very focused on US labels, it's very hard to get stuff in.

Thomas, you run the label and act as a DJ, but you're not a producer. How come?
Thomas: It's true, I don't produce. I once had a list of equipment I would need to start producing, but then I saw the prices. It would've cost a fortune and I was already spending lots of money on records. It just never happened. I'm a real music collector, I'm always searching for new things and I'm also buying lots of old stuff.

How important is it to be a DJ?
Thomas: Actually deejaying is not so important for me. I haven't done it for years on a regularly basis. I was an indie-DJ from '88 'till '94. I mainly played in between concerts, and I never thought of it as a big thing, it's just a service to the crowd. When I play there's no build-up, because that's not my thing. It's more like putting together a compilation with good music, more like a radio show or something. Now with the Morr label tours I try to deejay a bit, because it's a nice way to travel and meet all those people.

Visit the Morr Music website

http://www.kindamuzik.net/interview/709/morr-music-not-your-average-electronic-music/1924/
Meer op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/709