MORIS BLAK

Massachusetts, USA

Blue Prison

Electronic

Behind the Music

We live in a world with a steady and frequently overwhelming information drip. Art has a way of piercing through the noise, captivating our minds and our hearts in a way that cold numbers and facts often cannot. 

For these tracks, I began with a core emotional response from the pages of Outlaw Ocean. I took these feelings and built sounds to color those emotions. I felt most impacted by the chapter describing those trapped at sea, a jail without bars. I spent days dwelling on the thought of stowaways drifting endlessly in an uncaring sea, punished for their ambitions to live a better life. I related to the loneliness they must have felt, not a soul knowing where they were, and no hope of being found adrift in this expansive nothing. I never took the time to consider just how uncharted and lawless the ocean was, or what kind of people and activities these borderless expanses would attract. 

Melding music with journalism could be the way of the future. I was initially attracted to this project by artists whose music I love, but I generally understand them as apolitical and strictly sound creators. These tracks they did for Outlaw Ocean stood out to me. They invited me to a place far outside my periphery. In a world saturated in information, this could be the new media for bringing social issues to the surface. I hope to do this for my listeners.

MORIS BLAK
About MORIS BLAK

MORIS BLAK’s debut release, “The Irregularity of Being,redefined the sound of dark electronics when it was unleashed on the dark club scene in 2019. The project’s unique blend of cold, industrial soundscapes with the beat-driven precision of modern, electronic dance music was delivered with a gut-punch of a stage performance, complete with self-programmed visuals sweeping the room in a vivid blood-red.

The project’s pioneering ‘industrial bass music’ means massive, destructive sound undergirded by an addictive, grooving beat and brutal aggression that drives club-goers to the dance floor. Cultivated over formative years spent in industrial clubs across New England, MORIS BLAK, now based in Boston, Massachusetts, fuses influences from the bass-heavy EDM of the late 2000s with an ominous post-apocalyptic atmosphere.

Since the release of his debut EP, “Dead Summer,” MORIS BLAK has gained a cult following from his collection of viral remixes and haunting live performances. He has shared the stage with legendary artists including Perturbator, Danger, Das Ich, Leæther Strip, and Diary of Dreams. After signing to Negative Gain Productions, MORIS BLAK’s much-anticipated first release through the label further defined the hybrid sound of industrial bass music.

Winner of the 2021 Scripps Howard Award for Excellence in Innovation in Journalism

The Journalism behind the Music

All music in this project is based on The Outlaw Ocean, a New York Times Best-Selling book by Ian Urbina that chronicles lawlessness at sea around the world. This reporting touches on a diversity of abuses ranging from illegal and overfishing, arms trafficking at sea, human slavery, gun running, intentional dumping, murder of stowaways, thievery of ships and other topics.

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