ROX-TV’s continuing Halloween Season coverage is back tonight with our friends Morphiction. They’ve been working on overdrive, producing some Murder Mitten music that is a perfect fit for the Fall. Read on.
Morphiction, welcome back to the ROX-TV lab. We are always happy to have you guys in the house and especially during the Halloween Season. It’s been a minute since we chopped it up. As many of the readers know, Morphiction was recently featured in my latest book release “Echos for the Machine” which is out on Amazon. The project features some of the very best interviews I’ve done while writing for ROX-TV. For the benefit of the readers here at the website, can you talk a little bit about that appearance and your own feelings on capturing the underground history for those yet to walk this earth?
First, thank you, it’s an honor to be in the book as a permanent fixture in underground history. It’s even more awesome to be curated with such an incredible group of artists and interviews.
We believe that the concept of Echos for the Machine is as unique as it is important because it’s a collection of underground interview sessions that essentially creates a two-year narrative/snap-shot in time of filmmakers, artists, poets, musicians and more. So again, it’s an extremely special feeling for us to be included in that mix.
When I saw the announcement for the book I was really excited about it. I knew from reading your prior book “Forever in the Jects” with Project Born the depth of which you chronicle events, real life and storytelling. So I had two parallel thoughts driving the excitement:
- This book fills a void that no one else has recognized. It documents the underground artists that form this ultra-innovative sub-segment of music history over a snap-shot in time that would otherwise be long forgotten or unknown altogether.
- The stories are told by the artists because by design it’s a curation of interviews that are guided by the way you craft the questions which promotes depth, essence, and backstories that you’ve taken such care to uncover in your work as an author (as mentioned above).
Another feeling hit me when talking about this book being available for those yet to walk the earth: we’re lucky to be alive right now and experiencing this segment of underground music and art in real-time as it’s unfolding.
Finally, the experience of doing that original interview last year: it was really important to us. It was the first time we received coverage or interest like that, and it was cool to have an opportunity to tell a bit about our story and work. We’ve been doing this for a long time now and although we’ve never built a huge fan base we have consistently reached a niche group of people with dope quality & creative output that we’re proud of and we’ve always received love. We are a brand that can be trusted in that regard. Doing that interview with you and then seeing it published on ROX-TV.com was a really awesome thing.
I’ve recently got a chance to hear some new tracks from Morphiction, that are set to be released on an upcoming body of work. Can you talk about the new release? What exactly will be on the feature? When is the latest drop coming? Can you talk a little bit about why this release will really excite Halloween music enthusiast the most? You already know I’m excited.
Thanks for asking this and here’s the rundown:
Our latest EP is called “Versatility”. It was released and hit the major streaming sites on Sept. 24th. Each of the tracks are very different from each other which why we gave it that name. There are elements of trap, phonk, pop, and our overall wheelhouse of melodic rap.
Except for one track… it’s called “I’m Country”
This is the first country song we’ve ever done. Although there’s a bit of horsin’ around going on in the track and video (pun intended), overall it’s serious. We actually put down a straight-up country track. It was fun to make, we think it’s dope, and we’re getting tons of positive feedback.
Our historic core has been melodic rap, dark rap, paranormal stuff & Halloween tracks. Although we never envisioned the group deliberately putting out country music, some things are happening.
Country music is evolving like everything in the world, especially in the past few years where it’s fusing heavily with pop and hip-hop. Modern Country doesn’t sound like the old stuff. Some of the production is being done with undeniable trap beats and it’s entering into entirely new realms of what it sounds like.
The parallel for us is that our mission as a group has never been to define ourselves by serving a primary genre. Our mission continues to be to evolve as we follow our desires as artists and make the kinds of music that we want to. So, we will be making more “country” music. Or call it what you will… maybe just music.
Back to your question and to the drop that’s about to drop: Halloween.
The project is called “The Book of Halloween” which includes all 13 tracks from The Halloween EP parts one and two plus four new bonus tracks. This creates seventeen tracks of Halloween madness. It’s gratifying for us that our body of Halloween EP work is at the point where we’re now putting it out as a full compilation plus bonus tracks.
Titling it as a book is symbolic of the stories that are told in each song plus the overall narrative they form when they’re all put together. It’s like an evil Voltron. You can feel the essence of Halloween just by the sound of the beats and the effects, plus you can concentrate deeper into the lyrics and get into the stories.
The original tracks from the first two EPs include stories that range from decorations coming alive to aliens hiding amongst us and even us escaping from an insane asylum on Halloween night. The new batch features a story of somebody coming back as a spirit to dig up their own grave to a book that brings the cemetery to life when it’s read there on Halloween.
Here’s the full track list:
Haunted Visions: The Halloween EP
- More Than a Nightmare
- The Decorations
- Only on Halloween
- Released
- Haunted Visions
- Outside the Gates
The Halloween EP: Part II
- How to Survive a Haunted House
- I Draw Evil
- In the Picture
- Dead Speech
- Aliens on Halloween
- Witches Brew
- Cemetery on Grave Street
Book of Halloween: Bonus Tracks
- Everyday is Halloween
- Ghost in the Gravestone
- Diggin up Myself
- The Book of Halloween
This should excite Halloween enthusiasts because it can be played both for atmospheric feel and yet it will deliver for anyone who wants to listen through on the Halloween storylines.
We have another project that hasn’t been talked about yet: Morbit has a solo project that is virtually done and about to drop with some absolute masterpieces. If it has to be cataloged, much if it is technically pop but with a twist that only Morbit could put on it. Plus, it includes a couple features with SuperFiction so there’s a touch of that fully-assembled Morphiction flavor too. You don’t want to miss this one, it’s seriously fresh and there are some infectious tracks on there.
Since we are on the topic of Halloween and all the wicked fun that goes along with this time of year. For the readers outside of Michigan, can you talk about some of your own perspectives on Halloween in Michigan?
Fall in Michigan is indeed the most awesome season and Halloween makes it even better.
That’s a great question about physical changes that come with the season. I believe that simply describing it can set a mental atmospheric for writing new and creative material (especially evil and darker stuff). If you’re cool with it lets run a quick experiment in this interview: I’ll provide a brief rundown/scenario of what happens with the seasonal change here in Michigan and attempt to put you (the reader) on the ground in the scene… play along and see if it takes you somewhere:
The leaves on the trees change from flush and green to brown, orange, burgundy, pink, and blood fire red. Then they dry up, turn brown, and fall to the ground. You’re walking in the forest at dusk as it slowly turns to darkness, and even though it’s dark you can still see rather well with the moonlight that’s emerged. You hear & feel the crunching sounds of the leaves and sticks under your feet. The branches of the trees have become empty, looking like snarled arms and jagged evil fingers. There’s a full moon and you can see the silhouette of the branches in front of it. There is life in the branches, and you can feel it. Bats flutter but you can’t pinpoint them directly except for quick glimpses when they are in front of the moon. Make your way out of the woods and into a midwestern neighborhood on a sidewalk. It’s brisk and almost cold so you pull your hood up over your head. You see your breath for the first time of the season. Pumpkins sit on porches lit with candles.
Did that take you somewhere? I hope so. If you’re an artist, treat that as a writing prompt and go write something while it’s fresh. And if you did participate in this experiment and you create something from it please share it with us and Mike, we’d love to hear and see it!
And Mike, thanks for putting us on the topic of the wicked fun that goes along with this time of year. Spread the word: Michigan may be the best place on earth for fall and we’re grateful to be here.
So, I got a sneak peek at the new material coming down the line. How was it in the studio, recording these new tracks? Can you talk about the process when you guys are putting music together? Do the seasons in Michigan affect your music in any way? They say the rain was a major influence on Grunge music being cranked out of Seattle in the 1990’s. Does the changing seasons here do anything like that for Michigan Underground Music? My bet is that it does.
We are always evolving in the studio and there definitely are some things we implemented new for the Versatility EP, The Book of Halloween compilation, the upcoming Country project, and 2023 stuff overall.
The changing seasons definitely affect us. By the way, that’s a great reference example of the rain in Seattle and grunge music. I’ve read about that too and some of my most favorite music is from that era and area. I believe that the early dark nights and the changes of the fall season overall definitely affect the mood and the writing. Hopefully we demonstrated that with the experiment we just ran.
There is also an irony about the timing of our Halloween music in that we are usually writing & recording it in the middle of the summer. So I’ve come to associate late summer with Halloween while channeling Halloween into late summer. It’s kind of a strange thing but I like it because the more of the year that can be associated with Halloween the better.
We do have some new process elements that were applied to these projects, and they are helping us expand our music output in new directions and into a deeper level. If you’re an artist as well maybe you’re already doing stuff like this or maybe this will provide some ideas & inspiration.
Morbit is always innovating new paths, and most recently has pushed the envelope of exploring & executing with different genres. It’s given a whole new energy to our group & the brand of Morphiction. In addition to our established wheelhouse of dark trap, melodic rap & Paranormal stuff he’s currently infusing elements of pop and country while looking to expand even beyond that and literally put out projects in every genre that exists.
We are deliberately asking ourselves how we can draw from virtually any genre of music and apply it to expand and put out dope & interesting music.
Morbit also has a really effective process of freestyling to either create experimental songs in real time or extract phrases and unique cadences of which he continues to flesh out into hooks, verses, bridges and finally into fully arranged new tracks that are unique and nothing sounds the same.
SuperFiction applied a new process with writing after being inspired by an idea in the book “How To Think Like David Bowie: Habits of Mind for Leading a More Creative and Successful Life” by author Jonathan Tindale. It’s loaded with inspiration and ideas. One that SF has been using is for writing lyrics (hooks in particular) is Bowie’s “cut-up technique”. It’s a sweet hack that can help anyone create compelling stuff from disassociated ideas that exist as random excerpts and phrases within the text of books, magazines, websites or wherever you’re reading content. Check out the book and here’s a BBC interview with Bowie talking about the process.
For the gearheads out there, we’ve also continued to upgrade. We make most of our music from our home studios. Since last time we talked we both upgraded our audio interfaces to Universal Audio Apollo units and Morbit added a Neumann TL-103 mic.
Morbit uses Reason and Cubase for production, mixing and Mastering. SuperFiction uses Logic Pro X and Reason.
And a short list of our go-to plugins: FabFilter Pro-Q3, UA’s Teletronix LA-2As, FabFilter Pro-l2, Black Box HG-2, Waves Renaissance Axx.
Once the new album drops featuring some really great content, what is next for Morphiction? What does the next year look like for your camp?
We are so excited about what we’re dropping now and into 2023.
Here’s a rundown of the stuff we have on deck:
- Versatility the EP just dropped – seven new songs from trap to phonk and country
- “Voices” was the first single and video
- “I’m Country” just came out as the second single and video
- The Book of Halloween – this will hit a couple weeks ahead of Halloween, it has seventeen total Halloween tracks in one place with dope stories and an overall narrative
- Morbit: the solo project – TBA
- Full Country album – TBA
- And we’ll probably drop a couple EPs throughout 2023.
Before we wrap up this Halloween Season interview, is there anything else you like to add? Perhaps a statement to the fans that follow your sound or who maybe just learning about your music?
Mike, thank you, as always, it’s always the coolest thing talking with you. You’re invested in the underground community at the deepest levels as an author, advocate and more. To the readers: order and read “Echos for the Machine” you will not regret having this in your collection.
About our music, we are thankful and grateful for anyone willing to listen, share, comment, like, stream, etc. Here’s a few places to check us out:
We are Morphiction: Morbit and SuperFiction.
Underground music for life
So, my friends, there you have it. Morphiction is working hard to bring the Underground Sound to the fans. It’s always a pleasure to have them on with us and I recommend that you check out their expansive body of work. I’m looking forward to picking up the “Book of Halloween” and adding it to my collection for all time. If you know me, then it’s no surprise. Halloween is my favorite time of year for more reasons than I can list here. I believe that the weather in Michigan and the changing seasons around this time of year contribute as much to our scene as the rain did to Seattle during the 1990’s. If you live in Michigan and pay attention to music history than this will be a logical conclusion. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, get hip. There’s no shame in catching up, it’s part of life.
I’d like to thank Morphiction for coming back to ROX-TV and chopping it up with us. I’m sure we will be hearing more from them in the near future so stay tuned. For now though it’s time to fire up some “Trop C”, break out the tower, and vibe to the Halloween Sounds.
Signing Off,
Mike Shepard
ROX-TV Head Writer
“I wish to be moved. I can not feel in life. I must have others do it for me in the theatre”
John Wilmont
2nd Earl of Rochester
