WAEREA (140g LP)

MOKOTRON is a Tāmaki-based Māori producer from Ngāti Hine, who spreads seismic waves of low frequency Indigenous electronic music. Exploring ancient futurism through music, MOKOTRON imagines a reality without colonisation, where the ancestors transition from the ancient world into the modern, creating futures of hope juxtaposed with the hard realities of urban disconnection.

Following a string of sold out short run vinyl releases (Mind Control Krew, Tatau O Te Pō and Embrace The Bass) and award winning digital albums (2022's TAWHITO and 2024's THE UNITED TRIBES OF BASS) MOKOTRON returns with his new record WAEREA, delivering nine tracks of pure Dark Māori Bass.

The foundation of WAEREA is Te Reo Māori, traditional forms of song and chant, and the voices of puoro, colliding with breakbeats, bars and basslines to reflect the worldscapes of urban Māori.

WAEREA's kaupapa and lyrics speak to what MOKOTRON has witnessed over the last two years - the passing of his father, the death of Queen Elizabeth, increasing attacks on Māori culture, rights and language, the need for a united left in the aftermath of the 2023 election, oppressive government policy, and the stories of the community in Ōtautahi and Ōhinehou. As the title of the album, 'waerea' is a challenge, bordering on a threat, to clear away our small-minded colonial inferiority complex and make electronic music that unmistakably sounds like it comes from Aotearoa and Te Wai Pounamu. WAEREA could only have been made in Aotearoa.

WAEREA's nine waiata have been tested on dancefloors and sound systems throughout Ōtautahi, Tāmaki and Pōneke. Tracks have been mastered by Chris Chetland at KOG and pressed to vinyl by Stebbings Recording Centre.