Mocean Worker: Mocean Worker

KCRW has no better musical friend than Mocean Worker. Producer and bassist Adam Dorn, who has been recording under the MoWo moniker for nearly two decades, has made some of the freshest tunes that we’ve had the pleasure to play over that time, deftly combining fun, uptempo dance energy with a jazzman’s smarts (his family’s roots in the genre – father Joel Dorn was a multiple Grammy winner as producer to many jazz and R&B greats – reveal themselves throughout the Mocean Worker catalog).

Thus, the release of any new Mocean Worker record is cause for celebration around these parts, and his new, self-titled album hits the mark nicely, fulfilling a need we almost forgot we had. Over the course of its eleven tracks, MoWo builds funky, instrumental dancefloor fillers, dropping the occasional jazz riff, vocal drop and, most prominently, killer basslines throughout. Tracks like “Clap Yo Hands” echo classic 80s jams from the likes of Zapp and Cameo. The song “The Actual Funk” lives up to its name, and the presence of “Sweat Pea” Atkinson of Was (Not Was) fame makes one wonder if it was intended as a subtle jab at the chart-topping Was (Not Was) soundalike, “Uptown Funk.” And the album’s closer, “Colette Ma Belle Femme,” scales things back to give Dorn a chance to really stretch his jazz muscles with a bass-driven ballad.

We’re lucky to have a musical friend in MoWo. I bet he’d be your friend too!

-Eric J. Lawrence

Tracklist:

1. Soul Swing

2. I Told You Twice The First Time

3. The Actual Funk (feat. Sweetpea Atkinson)

4. Julius, Irving, Berlin

5. Clap Yo Hands

6. RubberBand

7. Savoy Strut

8. Ralph and Marcus

9. Now That's What I'm Talkin' Bout

10. Punk Disco (Jaco)

11. Colette Ma Belle Femme

You can pre-order the album on iTunes here.