I Am M|O|O|N, an electronic musician. You probably know me from the Hotline Miami soundtrack. Or other stuff. AMA

How does it feel to be in a game with the best soundtrack ever?

S'ALRIGHT

I have this 80s BMW and I live in Tokyo right now. It's my evening routine to drive home with music playing and order a pizza at this place around the corner. Hydrogen was added to the playlist after I played that game. Now it's Moon's Hydrogen and Kravinsky's Nightcall.

Now I just need to find someone with a pest problem that needs to be "dealt with".

Edit: Holy shit Chlorophyll. Any plans on coming to Japan?

Would love to at some point. Japan is the tits.

Sick. PM me when you do and we'll eat pizza and drive around.

depends on what kind of bmw you have, I don't get out of bed for anything less than a 325

I could bring a pickup truck and we could bring the bed with us?

SEXUAL UTILITY VEHICLE

Is there anything less than a 325? I thought that was practically base?

That was kind of the joke but there is a 318. If it's 80s though it's possibly an E30 in which can the 318 is way more fun than the 325

Hey! Remember that time we recorded half of a shitty Kesha cover in your basement and called our cover band "Keshup"? Remember the time you let me borrow your PS3 because I bought Demon's Souls without having a PS3? Remember the time we were the only guys at the Passion Pit show at Wellesley? I remember those times. Those were solid times.

I'm making games now (Currently at the DSGA) and you're occasionally making music for games now so maybe we should put those things together sometime!

ROBBIE! How are you man? I was just talking to nate (from PP) the other day about that show lol. add me on facebook if we aren't already friends.

Do you think that making hotline's OST made you too popular for that, as in other people know you really just for that or do you think it was a great decision and a big step up in your career?

Honestly it can be a little frustrating that every single thing I post online gets a comment asking 'is this going to be in the sequel??' or some other reference to the game. But, because of the game I have opportunities very few people ever get, and it's exposed me to a great fanbase. Plus the devs and team behind the game are great dudes who I'm glad I get to work with.

Do you like Huey Lewis and the news?

bud

Hey hey! As you said yourself, I first heard of you on Hotline Miami. I have your stuff downloading via Google Play Music and listen quite a bit! Thanks for the hours of entertainment!

• Do you know how your music go picked up for Hotline Miami? Did someone just contact you via twitter/FB/email and ask? Are there any offers you would reject?

• Would you be opposed to having your music in a AAA game?

• Aside from Electronic/Techno, what is your favorite type of music to listen to?

Jonaton contacted me through my facebook page after finding my stuff on bandcamp. He originally wanted to license 'Paris', 'Hydrogen', and 'Crystals', then eventually 'Release' as well. I had never licensed anything before so I was stoked.

Definitely not opposed to AAA. You know how much those dudes pay???

I like disco. If I didn't make techno I'd make disco. I still do make disco sometimes

Do you have a job outside your music career? (or school or any other tedious obligations)

Nope. I'm a two time high school dropout and one time community college dropout. I'm really banking on this music thing working out lol

How were you staying afloat before the Hotline Miami money?

I was in high school when the game came out so I didn't really have to. I worked part time at a country club

i've seen you've been over in europe lately, any american tours in the works?

Not right now. I fired my agent last year and haven't found a new one that's the right fit, so it's tough to put stuff together. I'm playing Mexico in November. That's technically the americas right?

Are you aloud to tell us why you fired him?

Yeah I don't give a fuck lol he booked me for support on a small tour (basically opening act for a bunch of shows) which was cool but I said I wanted to approve each show. He ended up booking me for like show in like bumfuck michigan in an 80 person bar for no money. I only found out when I was invited to the facebook event.

that was that. I felt bad at first cause the guy I was supposed to support (TEEEL) was super nice and I was looking forward to the other shows.

EDIT: A lot of people are taking offense to this, I didn't cancel it because of money, I cancelled it because it was booked without my consent

Have you ever remixed anyones songs?

a few, the only ones I really was stoked to do were the juan maclean and shit robot, and those were unofficial, i just know those dudes so they gave me the stems

You should see if Kele Okereke (Bloc Party) would like to do something with you.

From his past album and remixes it sounds like you'd fit in.

Would love to work with him. It's not like i can just call him up though lol

Reach out to his manager!

Or Twitter! He's on twitter.

you do it. I grant you managerial status for this one thing. you get 0% of the money but I will give you a thank you in whatever we do.

Hi M|O|O|N! My question is why does the cover of "Chlorophyll" say "Chloropyll"? Where is the other H? Thanks :)

FUCK. SAGE FUCKED UP.

Marry me

give my father a cow

Who is the girl on the front of the M|O|O|N Ep?

Ah, I knew this question would come up. The girl on the M|O|O|N EP is a friend of mine from high school, Madison Mckenna. She's a really really good photographer, and one of her friends, another photographer named Drew Swantak, took that picture of her. I was putting out that EP and just asked if I could use it, they said yes, Mady edited it square and did the lettering, and that was that.

Fun fact, I was just going to be MOON until she put the |'s in there. I really liked that.

I wish I knew their websites so I could link them. Google them. They're good.

I think this might be her page in case anyone is interested.

That's it!

Have you been requested to provide music for other games other than Hotline Miami? If so, do you have permission to share a few?

I had one track in an iphone game called RGB Warped. It was this track..

I met a dude at E3 who's making games for the oculus who I would love to work with but nothing is real until contracts are signed.

It's an AMA, so:

What is your favourite animal and why?

My dog cause he's the fucking best. I miss my dog.

I am going to sound like a dick, but have you thought about branding and search engine optimization?

This is not my field, but it is hard as HELL to find your stuff on Spotify for example. The pipes are really cool, but they break in Google--the first result for M|O|O|N is some Cirque du Soleil show and next is a classic movie. Doesn't make the first page until I get to the bottom and see it recommends "m o o n bandcamp," and I know that's you.

spotify is the only search engine that accepts the pipes. I fucked up with google BUT I recently found out that if you google 'moon music' I'm all over that shit. They have all my songs in a special box and everything.

How much have you made from Spotify, if you don't mind me asking? Is it as bad as they say?

A couple thousand MAYBE

Out of all the songs you've made, which one is your favorite? And why is it Hydrogen?

Hydrogen is the song I hate the most.

Every time I hear Hydrogen now I think of your last AMA when someone said "I once listened to Hydrogen for X hours straight". You replied, "That sounds horrible"

I stand by it.

what do you visualize when making your music? When are you doing a show in New York?

I don't visualize anything really. Sometimes I go for a mood.

New York would be rad. I want to play Beats in Space more than anything.

Oh man...Beat in Space would be unreal. Please do...

The dream man. I've met Tim a bunch of times and he's the dude. I've been listening to the show for years. Victor, Washington Heights does terrify me though.

Great to see you doing an AMA - Hydrogen is so ridiculously catchy as a dance beat! What is your favorite dance track that you've made, and do you have one that you like more than any other from another artist?

My favorite track of mine is Case Logic. I don't know what my favorite track from someone else is.

wait, is that sample from that sesame street game they did remixes of on something awful like ten years back?

no but please link me cause that sounds incredible

Hey man, I own every vinyl and digital release of yours. I loved MOON ep so much I had to buy it twice just to hang the other one on my wall, haha. Warehouse is one of my favourite tracks, have you considered collaborating with GLASS TEETH again? Also, what's your number one VST?

I want to work with Glass Teeth again for sure. He has a new project but I'm not sure if he wants it connected to I won't say the name here. I love Xavier, I haven't seen him in years :( miss that fool.

Number one VST is either Massive or PSP Easyverb.

Thanks for buying my things!

I have some friends who are developing a game. It's a 1v1 first-person-shooter with the ambition to carry the torch, so to speak, of the Quake-scene.

They are fans of your music and feel that it would be such a great addition to their game and its AD. I mentioned your AMA and they asked me to ask you. Would there be any chance to set up a dialogue between yourself and the developing team? Thank you.

email me. it's on my website

Are your aware that your M.O.O.N. EP vinyl has been sold for 100 euro, plus its for sale at 50 and 100 euro right now on Discogs? Also, do you plan on keeping your vinyls/t-shirts/whatevs limited and rare? Big up from Copenhagen!!!

Yeah that shit is hilarious to me. Wrong Island Communications is going to repress it should we're going to flood the market relatively soon. They're going to be different though, probably no art on the sleeve. So those original pressings will probably still be sought after. I hope I get really famous and those are worth shit loads in 15 years, cause I'd sell one of my copies lol.

Copenhagen is tight as fuck.

You seem like a cool ass dude. Are you a cool ass dude?

I'm a cool ass-dude

Your suff is great. Hydrogen is on my commute playlist.

1. Whats the shortest time its ever raken you to produce a single song?
2. The longest?
3. What do your parents think of your music?
4. What do your parents think of HM?

Thanks!

1) A day

2) A year

3) Both my parents are amazing and therefor pretend to like my music. My dad has both my records even though he doesn't own a record player. They also came to my boston shows which was fucking hilarious.

4) My mom probably doesn't know all that much about it, my dad may know more because he follows my career pretty closely. He doesn't have a facebook but he checks my page all the time so I can't talk about drugs on it. In fact he might be reading this. I don't do drugs that was a joke dad.

I was introduced to your music through Hotline Miami (and I've heard that you are involved in HM2), do you have any other plans to produce music for videogames?

I don't know. I didn't set out to make music for videogames, in fact I've never technically done that. All the tracks in HLM and HLM2 were made separate from the game and then licensed. I think if I were to do a soundtrack I would want to be involved from the start and do the WHOLE score.

You are from Boston, play any shows or any DJ gigs in the area?

Also, I may have heard an internet rumor somewhere that you were gonna do a track with Perturbator? Got a comment?

Anyway, keep making killer tracks, kid. Cheers.

I played a couple terrible shows in boston before I moved to LA. I'm not sure if I would play going back. There's a lot of promoters out there I would not like to work with because of how they act and treat others in the community, which in boston is very small.

I was going to hang with Perturbator when I was in paris but something came up unfortunately and he had to leave the city for a while. We still want to work together but the whole paris/LA commute is a bit of an inconvenience

I feel that. It seems like Boston clubs can never really get their shit together. How they can book great acts in the shittiest of venues is beyond my ken.

That sucks that those plans didn't come to, would love to hear that collaboration. Either way, can't wait to hear what's next. Ever do, or consider doing a mixtape?

There's a couple things working against boston's electronic scene.

1) The city government hates nightlife. Boston is a fucking college town. There's so many kids who want to go out and spend money in the city and have a good time, but they can't because the bars close at 2. But wait, bars closing at 2 doesn't matter, because the trains stop running at 12:30. Couple that with the nearly impossible task of getting a liquor license and you've got a recipe for a bunch of sports bars catering to older folks and no growth.

2) It's too close to NYC. If you're a talented DJ, musician, or promoter, why the fuck would you stay in boston if NYC is right there? Based on the earlier points it's obvious the city doesn't want you, so you take your talents south. This means that it's hard to build meaningful lasting nights and events because the only people who want to are college kids, who then leave after a couple years.

It's incredibly frustrating. With over 50 colleges in the area there's so much talent and audience but no way to capitalize. Try convincing a bunch of 22 year olds to come all the way to fucking cambridge on a thursday when they have to either leave at midnight or pay $40 for a cab home.

Yeah, it seems the city wants to shut down at dusk. Every club show I have been to has to be off by 11 (the the club re-opens and people drink 'till 2). It seems it's only sports bars, and to a lesser extent, comedy clubs get the pick of the litter.

Not only Boston, but Providence, Manchester, Worcester, Hartford, and Springfield all suffer with NYC right there. It's a crapshoot. It would seem that is the stop right before, or right after going to Montreal.

I mean all those other cities I understand, but Boston could be absolutely killing it but the city just seems to not want to.

Why are you smushing that girls face on the front of your EP? And how do I get involved?

Those aren't my hands unfortunately

Which DAW do you use?

Ableton Live

In order to produce the music you have early access to the game?

Not in order to make music but I do have early access to the game. I COULD BE PLAYING IT RIGHT NOW BUT I'M NOT. HOW DOES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL?? YOU WON'T PLAY IT FOR MONTHS! HA

What have you been doing to make yourself sleep deprived?

It's what I haven't been doing, which is sleeping

what are you listening to right now?

The new caribou album has been on repeat for the last two months for me. I'm still trying to find the leaked SBTRKT album...

Yo MOON! big fan here. I was just wondering, any idea when you're gonna have some more merchandise in stock on your website? I've been meaning to buy a shirt or anything else to support you, but I have never seen it in stock.

I love your work by the way!

Haha I have like 20 shirts in my apartment, I took them off the website cause too many people were ordering them and I was doing all the shipping. I'm very lazy. Now I just give them to people if they want one and come over. Very rare and exclusive limited edition.

I'll do more merch if I ever get an intern or someone to do it for me.

I would pay a lot (ok, not a lot) of money to have a white T-Shirt with your first M|O|O|N ep album image.

Make it yourself at the mall my dude

Would you consider yourself a full-time musician? If so, how did you transition to that point of income where you could work on this full time and still cover bills?

I am full time. It took a long time and accepting that I'm not going to be rich as fuck right now, but I wouldn't trade it.

What do you think of the chemical brothers?

I like them a lot. Exit Planet Dust still holds up.

How do you come up with the names for your songs? Can you give us any examples?

My last few songs I literally ask a friend for an interesting word and call it that. My friend Ashley gave me 'Quixotic', my friend Tim gave me 'Rubber', and my warehouse bud Johnny Mons gave me 'Chlorophyll'. Omar Doom named voices but that one wasn't random. It's in the song.

I'm sorry in advance.

Rail.

Timestamp.

Location.

Fluid.

Blank.

Mirror.

Defeating.

Source.

Manipulated.

Heartvalve.

Eternal.

Vagina.

Trap.

I might legit use timestamp

i have no question or request, only that you acknowledge my existance, this making my day

you seem adopted

How come you didn't play in Copenhagen, when you visited? We would have loved a M.O.O.N show here!

I was in Copenhagen for a wedding, I wouldn't have had time! I definitely plan on coming back though, it's one of those places I knew very little about but I really loved it.

Any chance of visiting Finland while you're at it?

Would be pretty chill. I want to go everywhere. It's not up to me though.

Is it true your uncle is James Murphy?

When you guys gonna do a jam together? big fan of you both

Yep, he's one of my 9 uncles. I don't know if we'll ever work together. It would be amazing, but nepotism is something I try very hard to avoid. I don't talk about our relationship a lot, or try to use it to get ahead. I think that puts me in a horrible light.

I basically don't want people to be able to say 'he's only achieved X or Y because of his uncle'.

I don't want that macasterisk.

How long does it usually take for one song to get completed? Do you plan the song out and begin composing it, or do songs spontaneously come from other things you are listening to? For example, say you're working on a song, but as you're working on it you hear a piece that could be it's own song and start from there?

That last sentence is really the best way to describe how I start songs. I sit down and fuck around for a while, get something I like, keep working on it, it branches off into another thing, etc etc

Whats your favorite pokemon?

Charmander. Not charizard. Charmander.

a while back I asked for permission to use one of your songs in a video I had on Youtube. I would just like to say thanks once again for being so chill about the whole process. :) Question: Favorite hobbies?

I don't really have many hobbies. I go out all the time, mostly to sus warehouse parties in DTLA. I guess music is my hobby.

I really dig your music, I was introduced through Hotline Miami.
What musicians influence you in your style, and who do you listen to currently?

Influences: Daft Punk, Justice, LCD Soundsystem, Chic, Gesaffelstein, Cybotron, James Blake, old disco, weird baleric stuff, joeFarr, Sound Pellegrino, Ed Banger Records, Tiga and Turbo Records, idk. Lots of stuff.

The most relevant influences to a musician I think are the people closest to them. My friends that influence me directly are dudes like Thee Mike B, Pipes, Sage Caswell, Brodinski, Louisahhh, Sir DSS, and others in the LA scene

I really liked your answer concerning Spotify in this ELI5 thread, and actually discovered your music through that comment! Funny how different these things sometimes go.

Should I play the game as well or is the soundtrack good enough?

If you like games like that it's apparently very good.

Whats the most amount of time you have spent working on a song?

I've been stuck on one song for like a year so far

Big fan! Love your work, especially with the HM soundtrack.

How do you spread your music? What do you think are the easiest channels to meet other musicians or interested listeners and put your work out into the world?

Where does your inspiration for the more 80's themed work come from? Are there any specific artists or pieces of culture which you cite as essential to your sound?

Thanks!

The best and easiest way to meet other musicians is to go to parties and shows in your city that are in the vein you want to be in. Don't hand out flyers though, that's being thirsty. Just be nice, and talk about stuff.

Do yu think making more surreal slowed down trippy music is more fun? or do you prefer more dancy tracks.

I'm moving more into dance music now but I like making 'listening music' as well.

Hey, I've actually been waiting for this for quite some time! I hope I'm not too late to the party.

1. Not a question, but as a producer I appreciate the shit out of what you.

2. What inspired you to make the kind of music you make?

3. Are you hype about Hotline Miami 2?

4. What DAW do you use?

5. Did you have any prior musical training to producing music?

1) Thanks

2) I have no idea. it doesn't really make sense.

3) I'm excited for the game to come out yeah.

4) Ableton

5) I wish

Would you like to DJ my wedding this Saturday? Not sure what I could pay you, but you can have all the free food and booze you want!

is it in or near LA, can I wear a t-shirt, can I bring friends

What's up, M|O|O|N?! The Hotline Miami soundtrack was on point! Up there for me with Austin Wintory's Journey Soundtrack, for execution.Two question for ya today:

1) It's probably as easy as a Google search, but what DAW do you use???

2) What would you say is the most crucial step to get your foot in the door, to set you up with something as awesome as a videogame soundtrack contract?

Thanks for keeping music alive!

Answered Number 1 elsewhere, but Ableton Live.

There's no key to 'getting your foot in the door'. I got HLM because Jonaton say it on bandcamp cause it was free. It's a lot of luck. Just make good stuff, always try to get better, and worry about 'networking' later or never.

What was something that surprised you about the music business that you didn't think of before. Was it/has it been all expected or has there been any changes to your life you just aren't used to? Very broad question so i apologize haha but yeah! Huuuge fan!

Well it's sort of related to music but as someone who was very NOT popular growing up it's weird having people want things from me, like thirsty motherfuckers. I'm not even remotely famous but people see you talking to someone successful and all of a sudden you're seen as a stepping stone

Hey I just wanted to say I'm big fan! Warehouse has been my jam for like 2 months. I just wanted to show my support here. Guess I have to ask a question so.. I remembered reading somewhere that you don't play any instrument, so I assume you just picked up some sort of software and started tinkering with it. Which was it?

My first piece of software was a terrible program called mixcraft that I only had a trial for. with the trial I could do everything except export, so what I would do was make a loop with a headphone cable from the headphone jack of my pc into the mic jack. Then I would record with audacity while I played it in mixcraft.

I soon moved on to ableton live but if you listen to this TERRIBLE remix of tiga that I did in the beginning you can hear two clicks, that's from using that cable to do that and my probably fucking with it. That's also why there's basically no bass in that song.

Hey man! Huge fan. Really loved the Dust EP, a LOT!

What're your favorite label these days? Have you been approached by any yet? I remember DFA retweeting a track of yours back in the day...

In addition, what have you been listening to lately? Always looking for new tunes...

Thanks!

A label called Wrong Island Communications has been putting out my records, but new stuff is still up in the air. I've been approached by loads of labels but they're never the right fit.

Ghostly?

Haven't talked to them. Would be rad, as I love a lot of their lineup, like Com Truise, Shigeto, Recondite, etc.

Just the idea of some collaboration between you and Com Truise gives me butterflies in the stomach. I think I'd melt. Like, galactically.

we could have vhs sex

What studio monitors do you use?

I have KRK 8s which suck but they're cheap I don't mix/master on them.

What's your musical guilty pleasure?

there's a lot. childish gambino, drake, that one katy perry song with the terrible juicy j verse, and a lot of internet trap shit

What got you into the kind of music you make?

the french

Are you currently making your entire living out of being a Musician, or do you have any side-jobs to make it through?

I'm lucky enough that I can live only on my music, though I'm not balling out my any means. I get by.

Oh man! Like most people I heard of you through Hotline Miami, but WOW your songs are awesome. When's the next time you'll head up through NorCal? If you're ever anywhere near San Francisco that would be amazing!

I love san francisco. The show I played there a couple years ago is one of my favorites of all time. I got very drunk with my friends. SF is also really terrifying at night.

Don't know when I'll play there next but follow my social media stuff I announce everything there obviously.

If you could produce the soundtrack to a sequel to any movie, which movie would you choose?

This is a tough question, because some of my favorite movies with amazing soundtracks, like blade runner or drive, definitely shouldn't be remade. I guess in theory one of those two, but I would feel terrible doing it.

What was the first video game that you ever played?

oof. idk. I remember buying a gameboy color that had pokemon yellow and red, and donkey kong country. I also had a ps2 with spyro and some other stuff. Not sure of the timeline though.

Any huge projects on the horizon? Look forward to you touring in the UK! (Manchester, for example:)

I was just in Glasgow, you should have taken the train bud

How do you describe your music?

sad

What video games do you play in your spare time?

Since I only have a PS4 right now, just fifa until GTA5 Remastered is available. Actually the last of us remastered is out right? I gotta get that.

Will you ever re-release your first EP on vinyl?

Soon

If I wanted to start making music like yours using my laptop only, what program should I start with that isn't too complicated to learn?

I would just start with ableton, it's pretty easy to learn the basics.

Do you feel your best work comes from songs that you worked on for a long time to get right or ones that came a lot easier, and were a bit more 'inspired'?

Every song is different. Some tracks take forever to get a small breakthrough, then it's done, some are really quick but take forever to finalize.

Nothing is ever really easy.

What's your next move? Any new stuff in the works?

After illegally downloading the Hotline Miami OST I bought all of your stuff on bandcamp btw

Thanks! I'm currently working on a new project that has a bit of a different vibe than the M|O|O|N stuff. More info on that later.

Hey M.O.O.N, I love your stuff, man. Just wondering what is your favorite game to play, and do you ever get any influence from other games to make your music?

Not really influenced by games. I love skyrim and the gran tourismo series, as well as the uncharted and far cry series

As a video game composer, do you have any fixed prices or do your prices depend on who's asking (eg an indie team vs a big studio), or depend on the interest you may have in the project?

I'm not a video game composer. I negotiate everything on a case by case basis. I always just ask to not be fucked with. be honest about what you can afford etc

I found the Hotline Miami soundtrack to be absolutely mind-blowing, with your contributions being a large part of the reason.

I also find that the soundtrack as a whole feels strongly cohesive: no song feels out of place in the context of the eerie drugged up psychotic atmosphere of the game. From your perspective as an artist, do you agree? Or did some of the other choices of songs by the developers to throw in there together with yours, in an apparently thematically cohesive work, surprise you?

idk man seems like you're thinking a little too deep about it

What do you use to make your music?

Is it a more hardware or software driven process?

I'm mostly software. I have two synthesizers, a waldorf blofeld, and an access virus. I use those sometimes but I work quicker in the box

I found you through a remix you did of this indie band midwave - are you planning on remixing other artists or them again?

I like doing remixes but to be honest I usually do the ones I do for the money. I haven't had the opportunity to remix something I was really stoked on.

I highly enjoy listening to your music while I play PAYDAY2.

How did you get into the industry?

I have family in the industry, but I basically just started. With electronic music all you need is a computer, not even a good one. There's so much information online it's easy to teach yourself. that's what I did.

I heard somewhere that your are LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy's nephew. Is this true? You're both a couple of great musicians.

Answered Elsewhere

Well my last comment got removed because I didn't ask a question so... I know you're sick, but I'm on a flight to Long Beach, want to grab a drink?

ps - no other questions. Love your stuff. Keep it up.

I'm going to a party at the standard dtla rooftop tonight, if you want to give me alcohol that's where I'll be lol

Any chance you will be putting out some more of your stuff on vinyl?

Every link I can find is sold out!

Also your work is badass, you deserve the recognition.

If you have like $100 I think there's a moon ep for sale on discogs lol.

We're planning on repressing the MOON EP soon, then day/night. not sure about beyond that.

Any influence from Stephen King's "The Stand" on your name?

Nope

Why is it when I am subjected to electronic music for long periods of time, I start envying deaf people and get the desire to stab a pen or pencil int my ear to make the music stop?

You're listening to the wrong electronic music