Maurice Anthony Moran
DJ | Producer
It’s impossible to listen to any of Maurice Anthony Moran’s tracks without thinking of Drexciya. Although the Irish producer has crafted his own sound and style within electro, there is a nod to the wavey, spacey and fantastical tones of the prolific Detroit duo in some of Maurice’s productions. However, due to Maurice’s well-tuned and technically trained ear, the Berlin-based producer pushes himself to create authentic and multi-layered productions that blur the lines between electro, techno and breakbeat.
Having learnt to DJ in 2016 via BIFE’s DJ Techniques and Music Production course, Maurice learnt the ropes from long-running tutors of the course, Ken Harte and Sunil Sharpe. It was here that Maurice channelled his energy and focus into making electro tracks, which soon led him to join the Irish collective Lepton. Currently run by Ngoni Egan, Adam Manning and Rich Murphy, Lepton acted an outlet for Maurice to bounce ideas off other like-minded producers, and play at various parties in Dublin alongside Alienata, AIROD, The Exaltics, Radial and Umwelt to name a few.
As a producer, Maurice has three monikers; Patient 808, Trans-Neptunian Orbit and Maurice Anthony Moran, the latter being his predominant identity. Patient 808 is a ‘concept piece based in a post-apocalyptic world annihilated by an airborne virus, with fast-paced dark electro and techno the main focal point.’ When it comes to more breathable themes of space and time, Maurice uses the alias of Trans-Neptunian Orbit. Anything outside of these realms fall under Maurice Anthony Moran.
With a solid set-up of an Analog Rytm MkII, a x0xb0x baseline synthesizer, Waldorf Pulse 2, Korg MS20, Korg Prologue and an Eventide Space reverb unit, Maurice produces most of his tunes at home in Berlin and is continually exploring different sounds and textures to add to his sonic pallet ahead of upcoming releases this year.
The below memory reflects a time when gigs were welcomed without a second thought. Going back to Bellurgan Park in Co. Louth, Ireland, Maurice recalls a frantic set that typically goes down well on the first night of a festival, particularly an Irish one. Detailing it all below, he also shares how he has remained creatively motivated over the last few months, and more about the new addition in his life…🐾
Photo: Sally Shipsie
Where was this photo taken and why did you choose it?
It was taken at Fuinneamh festival 2017. My friend Karl Taaffe was meant to play alongside Sean Reddy for Better Living, but Karl had last-minute commitments so I filled in for him.
The set was really cool and enjoyable to do as it was closing one of the stages so we could go absolutely ham if we wanted to. I had a lot of people ask me whether or not we were fighting during the set but we were actually just talking about what we were going to do, for the last 20 minutes we just said we would speed-mix and go up a BPM every track, and then we finished on 153 BPM. I had a bit of a hands on the head moment when for about 6 seconds when one of the faders went down while I had my headphones on and Sean was outside the tent, the music went off until I realised everyone was looking at me like I was wearing no clothes.
I was actually meant to be working all weekend but the idea of playing a closing slot on the Friday of the festival was too much for me and I tricked myself into thinking I would go down to the festival and come home at 8 am the following morning to go to work. As expected, this did not happen and I texted my boss to tell him I was in the hospital and then spent the rest of the festival worrying whether or not he believed me. Glad to say once I went back to work everyone was very sympathetic to me which was nice as I was in rag order from the festival.
How have you been over the last few months?
Not too bad, I have gone through various artistic stages as I would imagine most artists can relate. I went through a stage where I was finishing 3 tracks a week for about 3 weeks but then came the block and I decided to focus on the gym for a bit as I ate one too many chocolate bars over the quarantine.
At the moment I’m trying to find the balance of focusing on the gym, music and having a social life which for me is a very difficult thing. Once I start college this will become even harder and don’t get me started about when I find a new job. I am looking forward to there being more things in my life again such as college as it gives me perhaps more purpose to get out of bed early in the morning and go start the day.
Has the pandemic affected your motivation to produce?
At first, I was even more motivated and I was making finished tunes at will but it tapered off after a few weeks. I still got a good bit done in general as I made tracks for 3 separate digital V/As being released this year, one of them has just come out on Hot Seat Recordings. I also finished a track which I am contributing to the Lepton debut record which should be out in the coming months once we strike a distribution deal. Possibly most importantly, I finished a concept EP for one of the aliases I am producing under which is a mix of electro and techno, which I plan to release towards the end of the year on vinyl.
What about your connection to music; since there are no events on at the moment (of the legal kind), have you been listening to genres that aren’t related to dance/electronic music?
I have actually found myself listening to a lot of soul and funk, which I previously would not have done that often. I have begun to take breaks in listening to electronic music as it gives me bad ear fatigue sometimes and, in general, becomes less enjoyable in the grand scheme of things. I still listen to electronic music at least 2 hours a day but I’m just not hammering my ears out as much, as I do enough of that when producing.
If you’re ever in a creative slump or feel overwhelmed during this strange time, do you have a track or mix which significantly lifts your spirits?
Not really, I kind of just ride it out by doing other things in my life that are important to me such as general music jamming and exercise, or I just let it be and go outside for some beers with my friends.
I think exercise is a great tool to sort out my psyche, which impacts a large part of my life including my creative energy. I try to persevere through the blocks by jamming because even if I am not making a track, I am still getting remotely better at what I am trying to achieve, which is not just producing music but actually being a performer. I think this is really important because at the end of the day, the money in selling music is a fraction of what it used to be so if you can make banging tracks then you probably want to be able to back it up by being good at performing, be it a live set, as a DJ or otherwise - you might find yourself working as a Luas driver on the side. I think maybe reducing the number of creative slumps I have is a long term goal for me so I can get as much done as I possibly can without losing my marbles.
What has been a constant source of comfort for you throughout this time?
Well, I bought a kitten in June around my birthday because I only received my tips from January in May (because of you know who), which were a lot more fruitful than usual. My friend Sallie adopted a kitten and I decided I had to get one (I was already pondering this for several months). So I travelled to the middle of Germany by train with a facemask on for 3 and a half hours and back to get this kitten I saw online. I was picked up at Uelzen train station by this girl and she drove me 30 minutes to her house where her mother and grandmother lived who, I might add, spoke only German.
The day was really worthwhile but a stressful adventure as I had several stopovers and problems throughout, not to mention not having time to eat very much. At the start, he (the kitten) was a major distraction from music and college but now I have gotten to grips with his behaviour and he is an important part of my life. I named him Cinnamon because I was eating a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and it came to me mid-bite.
He acts as my emotional support pet which gets me through some of the Monday blues and even likes to sleep on my synthesizers while I make electro so we must be related (not sure how that whole reproduction stuff works).
Listen to Maurice’s latest release as Trans-Neptunian Orbit on Hotseat here and follow him below: