View source for Mixmaster Morris

{{Short description|English DJ and musician}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}
{{More footnotes|date=August 2011}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name             = Mixmaster Morris
| background       = non_vocal_instrumentalist
| image            = 
| caption          = 
| birth_name       = Morris Gould
| birth_date       = {{birth_date and age|df=yes|1960|12|30}}
| birth_place      = [[Brighton]], England
| origin           = 
| death_date       = 
| death_place      = 
| genre            = [[Electronica]], [[Ambient music|ambient]], [[downtempo]], [[trip hop]]
| occupation       = Producer, DJ
| years_active     = 1987–present
| label            = [[Rising High Records | Rising High]], [[Instinct Records | Instinct]], [[FAX +49-69/450464]], [[Ninja Tune]]
| associated_acts  = The Irresistible Force
}}

'''Mixmaster Morris''' (born '''Morris Gould'''; 30 December 1960) is an English [[electronica]] DJ and underground musician who has also recorded as '''The Irresistible Force'''.<ref name="AMG">{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/mixmaster-morris-mn0000578301 |title=Biography by Bradley Torreano |website=AllMusic |access-date=16 August 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|access-date=2022-12-28|title=Clubs picks of the week|url=http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jul/17/clubs-picks-of-the-week|date=17 July 2015|website=The Guardian}}</ref> His work in the 1990s blended [[ambient music]] and [[chill-out]] influences with UK dance styles.<ref name="Music">{{cite book |first=Paul |last=Du Noyer |year=2003 |title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music |edition=1st |publisher=Flame Tree Publishing |location=Fulham, London |isbn=1-904041-96-5 |page=395}}</ref>

==Life and career==
Morris Gould was born in [[Brighton]], Sussex, England, but grew up in [[Lincolnshire]] and was educated at [[Millfield]] in Somerset, and [[King's College London]]. At 15 he founded a [[punk rock]] band, The Ripchords, whose sole release, an eponymous [[Extended play|EP]] with four tracks, was championed by the [[BBC Radio One]] DJ [[John Peel]]. After leaving university, he began working as a DJ in 1985 with his "Mongolian Hip Hop Show" on [[pirate radio]] station Network 21 in London – the handle Mixmaster Morris was suggested by the station director. After a year of managing a club called "The Gift" in [[New Cross]], which had been founded by Keith Gallagher and named after a Velvet Underground song, Morris began releasing material as '''The Irresistible Force''' in 1987 in collaboration with singer-songwriter [[Des de Moor]].<ref name="Music" /> He became involved with the emerging UK [[acid house]] scene, after organising Madhouse at The Fridge, Brixton in 1988<ref name="LarkinDM">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Virgin Encyclopedia of Dance Music]]|editor=[[Colin Larkin (writer)|Colin Larkin]]|publisher=[[Virgin Books]]|date=1998|edition=First|isbn=0-7535-0252-6|page=224}}</ref> – which was the subject of a piece by Peel in ''[[The Observer]]''.

A show with the band [[Psychic TV]] led to him becoming full-time DJ with [[The Shamen]], and touring with them on their 'Synergy' tours for nearly two years.<ref name="LarkinDM"/>

The first release as The Irresistible Force was the single, "I Want To" (1988), but success came with the first album, ''Flying High'', released in 1992 on [[Rising High Records]].<ref name="LarkinDM"/> In 1994, Morris released the second album ''Global Chillage'' which featured a holographic sleeve, and was released in the US on [[Astralwerks]]. After a period of legal problems, the third album ''It's Tomorrow Already'' came out on [[Ninja Tune]].

In 1990, he made one of the first [[chillout music|chillout]] compilations, ''Give Peace a Dance 2: The Ambient Collection'' for the [[Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament]], followed by the series ''Chillout or Die'' for Rising High Records. A mix tape for ''[[Mixmag]]'' shared with Alex Patterson was also released as a CD.  ''The Morning After'' became his first major-label mix album, followed by ''Abstract Funk Theory'' for Obsessive.

Through the 1990s he was a regular DJ in the chill out room at [[Return to the Source]] parties in London, around the UK and abroad. In 2003 he released the mix CD ''God Bless the Chilled'' for the [[Return to the Source]] [[Ambient Meditations]] series.

He has produced many [[remix]]es since 1985, including [[Coldcut]]'s "Autumn Leaves". This remix was nominated by [[Fatboy Slim|Norman Cook]] as his favourite chillout track on [[BBC Television]]. His mix for [[INXS]] was a Top 20 hit in the UK. Other early remixes were of [[Lloyd Cole]], Dave Howard Singers, Bang Bang Machine, [[Stump (band)|Stump]], Higher Intelligence Agency, [[Sven Väth]] and Rising High Collective.

In the early 1990s his key residencies were alongside the Detroit masters at Lost, [[Megatripolis]] at London's [[Heaven (club)|Heaven]], and also the [[Tribal Gathering]] parties. He became known for wearing holographic suits, produced by the company Spacetime, which he modelled for ''[[Vogue (magazine)|Vogue]]'' magazine. Throughout the decade, Morris wrote about electronic music for the ''[[NME]]'', ''Mixmag'', and ''[[i-D]]''. He was resident on [[Kiss 100 London|Kiss FM]] for several years, and then a regular on Solid Steel, the [[Ninja Tune]] syndicated radio show. He made his film debut in ''[[Modulations (film)|Modulations]]'' (Caipirinha Films), and his music was used in a number of other films including ''Groove'' and ''Hey Happy''.

Morris has played in over fifty countries at [[nightclub]]s and parties, and particularly music festivals such as the Full Moon parties in the [[Mojave Desert]], [[Glastonbury Festival]], Rainbow 2000 and Mother SOS in Japan, [[Chillits]] in Northern California, and Berlin's [[Love Parade]]. He also ran the downtempo night Nubient in [[Brixton]]. In 1995, he played at the first [[The Big Chill (music festival)|The Big Chill]] festival, and then became a resident for the next 16 years.

He also collaborated with the German musician [[Pete Namlook]] under the name Dreamfish,<ref name="LarkinDM"/> recording two albums. Also with SF-based musician [[Jonah Sharp]] and [[Haruomi Hosono]] of [[Yellow Magic Orchestra]] he made the album ''Quiet Logic'' for the Japanese label [[Daisyworld]].

In 1998 he joined the UK's Ninja Tune record label, with whom he toured as a DJ and made three releases. 1999 saw him win 'Best Chillout DJ' at the Ibiza DJ Awards at [[Pacha Group|Pacha]], [[Ibiza]], and in 2001 he won the title for a second time, becoming the first DJ to achieve this. He has appeared in many lists of the world's top DJ's including the [[Ministry of Sound]] book ''The Annual'' and 2003's ''DJs by Lopez'', and ''[[URB Magazine]]'''s Top 100 DJ list. Morris records regular radio shows for the Japanese internet radio station Samurai FM. In 2006 he started a new club at the Big Chill House in [[Kings Cross, London]], and did a guest mix for BBC Radio 1's ''The Blue Room'' show. His essay about [[jazz]] was published in the book, ''Crossfade'', and he made a one-off appearance reading it aloud.

In March 2007, together with Coldcut, he organised a tribute show to the writer and philosopher [[Robert Anton Wilson]], which they performed at the [[Queen Elizabeth Hall]]. He also played in [[Goa]] for the first time with The Big Chill, and started a new residency at The Prince in Brixton. In May 2008 Morris undertook an ambient mix on BBC Radio 1, and put a The Irresistible Force band together to play at The Big Chill festival. In 2009, he compiled a podcast for [[Tate Britain]] to accompany their [[Altermodern]] exhibition, and opened a new AV night called MMMTV in Camden. The mix CD, ''Calm Down My Selector'' was released in January by Wakyo Records, and he made a tour of Japan to promote it.

In 2010, he won another Ibiza DJ Award, for the third time. In October that year, he was announced as Head of A+R for [[Apollo Records (Belgium)|Apollo Records]]. 2011 saw him rejoin [[Bestival]] as part of their "Ambient Forest" team.

2017 saw Morris continue to stay at the top of the psybient/downtempo movement and charts, especially [[Mixcloud]] where he held top positions in most categories relating to ambient music for the full year. 2017 also saw the triumphant return of Mixmaster Morris with his acclaimed release "Kira Kira", a lush soundscape that was received well by many publications and listeners and earned a spot in "Extreme Chill's" top twenty of 2017 along with releases by Brian Eno and Steve Roach.

==Discography==
* ''[[Flying High (album)|Flying High]]'' ([[Rising High Records|Rising High]], 1992)<ref name="LarkinDM"/>
* ''[[Global Chillage]]'' (Rising High, 1994)
* ''[[It's Tomorrow Already]]'' ([[Ninja Tune]], 1998)
* ''Kira Kira'' (Liquid Sound Design, 2017)

== See also ==
*[[List of ambient music artists]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==General references==
* {{cite book |last1=Gill |first1=John |title=Queer Noises: Male and Female Homosexuality in Twentieth Century Music |date=1995 |publisher=U of Minnesota Press |isbn=978-0-8166-2719-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xk4PDUiJ_fsC |access-date=15 April 2020}}
* {{cite book |last1=Prendergast |first1=Mark J. |title=[[The Ambient Century]] |date=2000 |publisher=Bloomsbury |isbn=978-1-58234-134-7 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Richard |title=Seduced and Abandoned: Essays on Gay Men and Popular Music |date=1995 |publisher=Cassell |isbn=978-0-304-33343-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kIXuAAAAMAAJ&q=Smith,%20Richard.%20%27%27Seduced%20And%20Abandoned%27%27.%20Cassell |access-date=15 April 2020}}
* {{cite book |last1=Toop |first1=David |title=[[Ocean of Sound: Aether Talk, Ambient Sound and Imaginary Worlds]] |date=1995 |publisher=Serpent's Tail |isbn=978-1-85242-382-7 }}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{discogs artist}}
* {{discogs artist|The Irresistible Force}} (as ''The Irresistible Force'')

{{DJ Award for Ambient, Chill Out, Down Tempo and Eclectic, Experimental DJ|state=collapsed}} 
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mixmaster Morris}}
[[Category:1965 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People educated at Millfield]]
[[Category:Alumni of King's College London]]
[[Category:Astralwerks artists]]
[[Category:English ambient musicians]]
[[Category:Chill-out musicians]]
[[Category:Trip hop musicians]]
[[Category:Ninja Tune artists]]
[[Category:Musicians from Brighton]]
[[Category:English progressive house musicians]]
[[Category:English electronic dance music DJs]]