Bas Mooy Interview: Techno Without Arrogance

Photo: Bas Mooy

The evidence is everywhere - techno is enjoying one of its strongest eras since its birth in Detroit all those years back. In Europe, masses of music lovers are converting to the genre as they hunger for music that delves into deeper and rougher terrain, challenging whilst at the same time wholly engrossing. Even in the past few weeeks, clubbing mecca Berghain won a landmark court ruling and its legendary techno parties are now regarded as high art, making it culturally as important as classical music.

One of the outstanding record labels in amongst this surge of creativity is Rotterdam's Mord, an imprint launched by long serving techno producer and DJ Bas Mooy. With a huge following and busy release schedule, the label has in little over three years become one of the go-to destinations for quality techno that explores the darker catacoombs of club music.

From the brutal, blood-curdling acid of Paul Birken to the clean, broken styles of Radial, via the industrial power of newcomer Lag to, most recently, Oscar Mulero's finely honed, atmopsheric compositions, Mord has set itself apart as a label that focuses as much attention on releasing club-ready bangers as it does on experimentation, held together with a sense of fun that is mirrored in Mooy's monolithic DJ sets (witness that in his Boiler Room set below).

Whether it's running a busy record label, producing, curating label nights, or DJing across the globe, Bas Mooy is a man that is quietly shaping the direction of modern techno. We caught up with the Mord mastermind ahead of his label night with Meat Free in Manchester on October 1st to discuss how the Mord empire has evolved, how family helps him keep him grounded, and why it's important to avoid any form of snobbery.

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In a few weeks time, Mord will be making its label showcase debut in Manchester for Meat Free. Are you looking forward to it? You’ve had a few label nights now already across Europe, what can first timers look forward to from the night?

I’m looking forward to this one a lot actually, since I think it is a great and diverse line up that shows exactly what I want to show with the label. We’ve done about 40 label nights in the past two years I think and most of them were very special to me, all in their own way. Some of them were small and some of them really huge, like some weeks ago in Rotterdam, where we had nine Mord artists divided into two rooms.

We've done Berghain twice now, also very special, but Ghent last weekend was awesome too. Anyway, good memories from most of them. Diversity has been high on my list from the start and it seems to work very well, since even though most artists bring a completely different sound, it always has a certain common factor. It’s great to be able to hang out with friends and play at a party, beats being on the road on your own all the time.

We did label nights in loads of the leading techno cities in Europe, like Berlin, Paris, Rome, London, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Stuttgart, Vienna, Basel, Bratislava, Lyon, Ghent, Antwerp, Stockholm, Copenhagen and so on, which is something I’m really proud of.

First timers can expect a crew of dedicated techno artists that will bring them the best they have to offer, showcasing their own unique sound and by that, what Mord is all about. 

Mord has in the space of just over three years become widely regarded as one of the best underground techno labels on the planet - and even at the last Meat Free night we noticed at least five people in MORD t-shirts - did you ever envisage the label would become so successful when you launched it back in 2013?

Thanks for the compliment, really appreciate these kind words! Of course I never expected the amount of support and success the label has had from the start. I had no idea it would go off like that. Seeing the t-shirts everywhere always makes me feel at home, so that’s great actually.

For me it was mainly about starting something I wanted to do for a while already and getting back the fun in running a label and putting out music from people I like to support, both established names and new talent. I think people really feel what I’m trying to do. I've been really trying to avoid any ‘techno-snobbery’ or arrogant purism getting in my way of signing music I like.

It’s great that I was able to introduce people to slightly unknown names or completely new talent, such as UVB (below), Ansome, Endlec, Damcase and Lag, who all have been doing so well recently in their own way, helping the label get a face and identity. It’s great to see their career’s taking of the past couple of years and hope Mord has contributed to that in one way or the other.

Your first release was with your old label partner Radial who you ran Audio Assault with starting in ‘02, how has your approach to Mord differed from Audio Assault?

With Audio Assault it was all about trying to find music that we both liked, since we both had a veto so to say. With Mord I wanted a wider bandwidth and I’m releasing stuff that would have never made it to Audio Assault. Jeroen and I have a different taste, some tunes we both like, but when it comes to what we play there’s not a lot of similarity.

When I started Mord it gave me the freedom to release music according to my own taste and it was liberating to make every decision on my own, but on the other hand it was a bit scary in the beginning.

Running a label together gives you a certain safety net of not signing tunes you might regret later on. Since I’m making every decision on my own now I do feel insecure in certain situations, but I decided to not let that get in my way too much. You can’t please anyone all the time anyway and I’m not running the label to please people. I like to show case my view on techno and present a wide range of artists I respect.

It’s a privilege to have a platform to launch and support artists that mean a lot to you. The reason I released the first release by Radial was mainly because it’s just a very strong release in general and I wanted to show from the start that I just do what I do with Mord, instead of thinking too much about a certain strategy or letting the past I share with him influence my decisions.

I had that release ready to go and it felt like a great start of a new label, maybe looking back it’s sort of symbolic in the end, Radial being the bridge between my old and my new label. Anyway, I’m happy I was able to release that EP, since it’s a quality release and I would immediately release it again. Look out for the new Radial on Mord by the way, out in a couple of weeks!

The label certainly seems to be one of the most prolific out there, averaging about a release a month which is no mean feat for a vinyl label - how do you balance your DJing schedule with producing and of course running the label? Do you ever sleep?

Haha. I don’t sleep a lot these days and I've actually realised it is time to quit some of my activities. I've been running parties, the label, DJing, studio work, two webshops and most importantly I take care of my kids during the week, since my girlfriend has a career too.

My life has been pretty hectic the past couple of years, but since you are doing what you always dreamt of I guess it’s something that just goes natural for a long time. With the rise and succes of Mord I realised I need to take a step back at some point and I will. I basically quit doing my own parties and some people have been taking over certain parts of the work for my businesses. I want to focus more on my studio work again, since I haven’t been in the studio a lot recently and I want to focus on Mord mainly.

The artwork and visual identity behind MORD is particularly strong, what’s the process for picking images for each release? And what’s been your favourite artwork so far?

The artwork has been really important for me, I select everything myself, but try to be diverse in my selections too, just like when it comes to the music I release. I’m always looking out for new artists, sometimes I approach them, sometimes they approach me, I’ve been working with artists from all over the world, but also select a lot of the art myself, sometimes even from my own photo archives.

I try to have a different approach every time and I usually select the art last-minute, trusting something will come up that fits. It’s hard to pick a favorite of all those releases, but for me it was a great honor to work with my friend and legendary artist Ziggy from Stockholm. He did the art for the box and for my release on MORD006. I love his skulls and skills.

The recent Rafal Karcz photo on the Mulero release and the painting by Brett Amour on MORD031 are also very special to me. But it’s almost impossible to choose, I just really like this side of the job too. I’m kind of a control freak, so I need to be the one selecting the art for my label too, can’t imagine letting someone else do that for me. Selecting the art is so much fun and it’s another side of running a label that I really enjoy.

You’ve given debut releases to the likes of Lag and Shards, as well as out out records from longer serving producers like Exium and recently Oscar Mulero, what is your process for picking your releases? 

Basically I’m open to demos, I listen to everything that comes in and I ‘scout’ artists myself or approach people I like to have on the label, such as Oscar. In general the whole process is basically something that ‘just happens’. Ideas pop up, people get in contact, sometimes people tip me. Sometimes you get in touch with people at a party, after a party, in the hotel lobby, a car, backstage or during dinner. Partnerships sometimes just fall out of the sky.

I try to stay away from strategy as much as I can, but in the end it is a business of course, so sometimes I do take some advice from people around me, cause it’s easy to get lost when you are like me. I can be a bit over enthusiastic sometimes, but I guess I’m doing something right, since the label has been doing quite well so to say.

I try to stay enthusiastic and keep the fun in the running the label. Discovering new people is probably the best part of running a label, so I keep searching for those hidden treasures and raw diamonds.

As well as the artwork, there seems to be a sonic theme that runs through every Mord release. Do you intentionally pick artists with that sound, or do you have a mastering engineer who helps achieve a kind of cohesion with each release?

Even though a lot of people say there’s a trademark sound I don’t hear that myself and I don’t think it’s really there to be honest. When you listen to the different releases there’s such a wide range of tempo and styles. When you listen to Ansome, Sleeparchive, Radial, UVB, Lag and my tracks I don’t think they have a lot in common, accept the fact that it’s all techno.

I've released tunes from 120 till 140 BPM and some tunes are really clean, some really distorted, some sound like the nineties and some have a modern vibe. I think there’s a lot of labels that have a signature sound, but I don’t consider Mord to be one of those. It’s the same with the line ups of the Mord nights, we all do something different, but in a way it fits well. In the end it’s all my taste, that’s the common factor I think.

If you listen to my DJ sets, you basically hear the kind of music that you will hear on Mord. I guess most of it is heavy, but there’s always room for experimentation, different flavors in every set, from broken beat, offbeat stuff to heavy industrial stuff, some acid influences, classis techno or very clean loopy stuff... a big room tune here and there.

Like I said before, I have no interest in being too purist about techno, since I think it’s important to stay open minded about music in general. Regarding the engineer part, I’m working with The Exchange for a while now, but the first 11 releases were done by Matt Colton for example, in-between I worked with several other people. Currently I’m really happy with the work Simon from The Exchange has been doing, he does a really good job and all artists seem happy with his work too.

Since I worked with different engineers since I started I guess their influence on the sound is not really what shapes the sound of Mord, that’s basically the selection of artists and tracks probably then. I still think there isn’t a trademark sound to be honest, but if others say so they might have a point, maybe I’m too closely involved to be seeing it!

Aside from the techno, what are some of the other loves in your life? How do you unwind?

My family is the most important, always! They give me the needed stability during the week. Without my girlfriend I wouldn’t be able to live this hectic life, she's the solid rock in all this chaos. My kids make me realise techno is only techno. Don’t get me wrong I live for techno, but having kids definitely put things in perspective for me. When you've played a gig that wasn’t so good or when someone hates on you online or talks shit about your label or music or whatever, it just makes it all so much easier to handle.

I do experience it as quite tough being away in the weekend, missing my kids and girlfriend, not being part of all social and family events, birthdays of friends etc, but on the other hand I have a lot of time with the family during the week.

Besides spending time with my family I really enjoy reading, literature has been my biggest love since my early teens and i actually wanted to be a writer before I became a DJ and producer. During my traveling I read a lot, at least 1-2 books, mainly novels, every weekend. That’s a way for me to actually enjoy the massive amount of traveling.

I love movies and music, listen to a lot of different non-electronic music, although not as much as when I was younger. I started collecting vinyl again recently too, mostly non-techno. Anyway, loads of things that keep me busy...

And this is going to be a tough - can you run through your five favourite MORD releases so far?

That’s a choice I really can’t make I think. I tried to do it some time in the past, but these things also change. Some releases have a special place, because they are the start of something, a partnership a friendship a special gig, a start of someone’s career... But they are actually all special to me, mainly the process fascinates me, of how it all falls into place sometimes.

'What if this guy didn’t send me that email back then?' Or 'what if I didn’t hang out after that gig with this artist and drink whisky until the early morning?' Some things are meant to be, thats really how I approach the music I sign, the art I select. Sometimes I have the feeling that Mord leads me instead of the other way around, without trying to sound to creepy or weird. 

Haha! We know what you mean. Can you tell us about any releases in the pipeline you’re particularly excited about, either your own or on the label?

Loads of releases to be excited for actually. I’m excited about the Stanislav Tolkachev album that will be out around November, but also about some new releases I recently signed. I usually don’t tell who will be out on Mord in the near future, since I like to unleash one release at the time, so let’s leave it with this for now. Next up is my friend Chris Finke, whose done a He/aT EP that’ll be out in a couple of days.

So on the Meat Free night, which has to be one of the best techno line ups we’ve seen in the North of England for some time... there’s you, UVB, SHXCXCHCXSH, Sleeparchive, Tripeo, Zadig and Stanislav Tolkachev - who are your picks out of that line up? Who are you most excited about on the night?

I’m mostly excited about the whole line up in general. It’s cool to have Stanislav on the line up, since he’s releasing an album in November on Mord, it’s great to have UVB and Sleeparchive on there, since we have been doing so many gigs together and I love what they do.

It's nice to have Zadig on the line up since he’s such an awesome DJ. Really pleased with Darko (Tripeo) too, since he’s someone I’ve known for so many years and I was really happy to add him to the Mord catalogue, great to have him on one of the nights now too. 

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