Morakestra
El Paso, Texas, United States | INDIE
Music
Press
"Morakestra play the kind of irresistible garage-tinged rock that movies about young love in the hot city summer are made for. With catchy hooks, bittersweet melodies, and lyrics that recall the best psychedelic stadium hits of the 70s." - Flavorpill.com - Flavorpill.com
"Rambling, vaguely math-y songs that often spin in circles before they come together. There's plenty to explore here." - Aiding and Abetting - Aiding and Abetting
"Exquisite production of genres bending light and sound... The Mora boys have really carved out a unique sound." - The Latino Slant - Latino Slant
"Nothing feels alien or indistinct, rather it all fits like a pattern," absolutepunk.net wrote of the album's disparate elements, while praising their "lack of pretense and their apparent love for what they do."
- absolutepunk.net
"The Morakestra's biggest selling points on Witness To Connection are the addictive guitar riffs that populate every track" "Songs show both pop sensibility and a unique style that belongs solely to The Morakestra" "Witness To Connection is a powerful effort" - Atlanta Music Guide
- Atlanta Music Guide
"The Morakestra' s sound is an interesting mix of Americana, spacey psychedelic sounds and jangly indie rock" - Austin Vida
- Austin Vida.com
Brothers Will Mora (vocals, guitars) and David Mora (guitars, vocals), the founding members of the Morakestra, hail from El Paso, TX, and are performing in the late 2000s, but from the sound of their second album, Witness to Connection, they might as well be from London, England, and have been performing in the late '60s. They write and record melodic pop/rock songs, many of them clocking in at under three minutes, full of chiming guitars and harmony vocals singing romantic and uplifting lyrics. ("If angels were human, you'd be one," Will Mora sings in the opening song, "Angels," and the brothers end the album with "Different Names," declaring, "We're all the same with different names.") Such music would have been considered mainstream pop/rock 40 years earlier; in the 2000s, it's indie pop. But it is potentially appealing not only to new listeners, but also to fans of its antecedents. Witness to Connection could be slipped into a CD changer with There Are But Four Small Faces, Something Else by the Kinks, and the Rolling Stones' Flowers, set to random sequencing, and it would fit right in. 4 out of 5 Stars - by William Ruhlmann
Discography
Morakestra
Album Name: Witness to Connection (First National Release June 2nd 2009)
1.Angels (XM Play- 45 Spectrum, College Radio)
2. Tell You Something(XM Play- 47 Alt Nation, College Radio)
3. Tonight( XM Play, College Radio)
4.Space Bar
5.Good-Bye
6. Butterfly
7. English Channel (XM Play, College Radio)
8. Hollywood
9. Sunshine
10. Perfect Memory
11. Different Names
All songs available soon to stream on Morakestra.com
The Morakestra- Live from Moraq(Stratking Records)Released Early 2008
1. Engine
2. Independent Women
3. English Channel
4. Last Time
5. California
6. Good Night Austin
7. Tonight is the Night
8. Shoulder
9. Do you Believe?
10. Girl, White Dress, Central Park
11. Though I Told you the Truth
12. She Said
13. In my Head
14. Ovation
Photos
Bio
Founders and key creative minds David and Will Mora are twin brothers who were proudly born and raised in the West Texas border city,El Paso, Texas. Fellow El Pasoan Jim Ward contributed to the rebirth of Morakestra via production and recording of the bands latest album, Witness to Connection, released June 2nd on indie label Stratking Records. A musical legend in El Paso, Ward founded post-hardcore innovators At the Drive-In, rock quintet Sparta and alt-country act Sleepercar. Witness to Connection is the first for Ward's new producing partnership with jack-of-all-trades musician and sound engineer Gabe Gonzalez, who is getting greater acclaim for his production work with bands like San Antonio's Girl in a Coma.
The twins took guitar lessons as children from local guitar legends Mario Otero and Charles Teitsworth, who pushed the boys towards honing original compositions into solid tunes. In early 2007, the Moras began recording their debut album Live from Moraq in Austin. An acclaimed line-up of session musicians contributed to the project, including Robert Palmer drummer Donnie Wynn,Eric Johnson's bass player Chris Maresh and the Tosca String Quartet. The brothers did all the guitar work and vocals themselves, also producing it on their own. Live from Moraq was released in Summer 2007,while the brothers continued to assemble an ever-revolving cast of musicians around them for live gigs. Word of mouth built up about "the twins who were dueling guitar players." Success with recording Morakestra's, Witness to Connection, was Gonzalez and Ward's expertise. "The guidance we gave them I dont think I can put into words ...thats the intimate part of making a record with someone,"says Ward. "I've had that experience as an artist with producers that I look up to. It's so much more than just music; you end up spending so much time together in close confines that it extends to a personal life.I want to leave younger bands with a more positive experience, be a positive role model "it's fun to be around that energy, that push of, "I'll do anything to get my music heard thing, because that inspires."
For while the subject matter of their songs is universal, the Morakestra sound is very much their own. Ward felt a felt a greater connection to the Moras' music beyond the city kinship. " They have interesting chords, which I like, and even though their voices are similar they're distinct enough to complement each other really well," he explains. Witness to Connection displays interesting guitar signatures, thunderous drums, and effective melodies. Drummer Daniel Gomez and Bassist Guillermo Vargas joined the Morakestra in post-production. They have played together in bands in the past and have a similar connection with the twins in time signature and musical structuring.
Links
