MOWO! INC presents ‘BOOMBOX’, the long awaited new album by Mocean Worker, dropped on out October 27th. An extremely funky, bass-driven mix of breakbeats, electroswing & jazz. Mocean Worker, a.k.a. Adam Dorn, has spent the last two decades galvanizing the sounds of electronic, jazz, soul, & funk to produce a singular and unmistakable style. Now, after an eight-year release hiatus, he returns with his tenth LP, ‘BOOMBOX’: a high-energy, deeply reverential, danceable, and genre-rejecting project that marks a fresh chapter in Mocean Worker’s acclaimed discography. Guided by the inspiration of Stevie Wonder, Wayne Shorter, The Gap Band, and Motown sensibilities, Dorn sees BOOMBOX as as stylistic arrival. Dorn’s bass playing is the heart and soul of the album. While his career originated with his virtuosic bass playing, he opted not to play on his own records for his first eight albums—he focused on hyper-detailed mini-sampling, digital production, & synthesizers. But now, bass hooks take center stage in this new record’s melodies, with a careful intention to avoid the overwrought cliche of the bass solo. After spending the last decade focused on composing for films & television, he reached a revelation about his own creative practice. The 12 tracks poured out of him in less than three weeks time, christening his new studio space in the woods of New York state. The boombox is equal parts metaphorical and material. Along with creating beats, a boombox allows blasting music for a party. Through recent years of societal upheaval, mass crises, and personal grief, Dorn offers a collection of upbeat tracks, but which never sacrifice substance. “BOOMBOX” is a metaphor for partying, community, and gathering. This is about people gathering and enjoying something” Many of the songs are tributes to Dorn’s personal friends, including the late Hal Willner and Gerald Lee, and his musical heroes like Wayne Shorter and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Above all, ‘BOOMBOX’ epitomizes the musical philosophy of Mocean Worker — it is at once an elegy to art and artists of a bygone era and an upbeat celebration of the sound of the present.
I had a great time hanGing out and talking this new music (and music in general) with Adam. I have been someone who has felt so much of what he been a part of over the years that it felt so right to be talking about this project. We go after the making of ‘BOOMBOX’ – with the passion that came with it. The image you see on the cover has a story, it includes his famous father and is something that as you hear it come out of Adam’s mouth, you can feel how special it is. The ability to apply some ‘back then’ into anything new where it actually fits in, is a gift that I dig, and anytime you hear a Mocean Worker piece, you’ll hear the expertise/knowledge getting dropped right where it needs to be. The bass – getting back to where it all started and having that bass anchor run the show most of the time, while honoring so many spirits that came before, this is another blending that enhances this new album deeply. We talk about album covers, as I noticed Adam has been reminiscing with some of his father’s collections cover art and I remembers swimming in the depth of many of those, and there’s a set list built. This is as close to two good buddies getting together at a record club discussing what’s what that I have been a part of – natural and fluid and I think that’s the reason why this new music feels me as much as I feel it. How often does Fonzie AND Mr. Jefferson get brought up in an interview???
