Mokotron
{{Short description|New Zealand electronic musician}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=April 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}
Mokotron, real name Tiopira McDowell (Ngāti Hine) and often stylised MOKOTRON, is an electronic musician from New Zealand. His debut album, WAEREA, was named New Zealand's second-best album of 2024 by Rolling Stone and won the 2025 Taite Music Prize.{{cite web |last1=Lochrie |first1=Conor |title=The 50 Best New Zealand Albums of 2024 |url=https://au.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-new-zealand-albums-2024-70440/mokotron-waerea-70548/ |website=Rolling Stone AU/NZ |access-date=30 April 2025 |date=24 December 2024}}{{cite news |last1=Waiwiri-Smith |first1=Lyric |title='I'll dedicate it to David Seymour': Taite Music Prize winner Mokotron on what comes next |url=https://thespinoff.co.nz/pop-culture/17-04-2025/ill-dedicate-it-to-david-seymour-taite-music-prize-winner-mokotron-on-what-comes-next |publisher=The Spinoff |date=17 April 2025}}
Family and early life
McDowell grew up in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland). His mother was from Northland with whakapapa that connects to Ngātokimatawhaorua te waka, while his father was from Palmerston North and has British and Irish ancestry. His sister is actor, director and playwright Miriama McDowell.{{cite web |last1=Husband |first1=Dale |title=Miriama McDowell: Was I ready for this? |url=https://e-tangata.co.nz/arts/miriama-mcdowell-was-i-ready-for-this/ |website=E-Tangata |access-date=5 May 2025 |date=22 April 2017}}
Music production
In 1998 as a high school student McDowell worked with Micronism (producer Denver McCarthy) on an album, The Lonely Robots Club, that was never released. The experience left him feeling unsupported and discouraged from making music as anything more than a side-project.{{cite web |last1=Colquhoun |first1=Jack |title=MOKOTRON is carving his own path with Indigenous Māori Bass |url=https://mixmag.net.au/feature/mokotron-is-carving-his-own-path-with-indigenous-maaori-bass |website=Mixmag |access-date=5 May 2025 |date=6 February 2025}}
He started self-releasing music in 2011 but stopped again the next year. In 2020 he made a decision sparked by the death of producer Reuben Winter (Totems), and returned to music-making.{{cite web |last1=Schulz |first1=Chris |title=He made the best album of 2024 – but shh, don't tell him that. |url=https://boilerroom.substack.com/p/he-made-the-best-album-of-2024-but |website=Boiler Room |publisher=Substack |access-date=30 April 2025 |date=23 January 2025}} His home-recorded music falls into the genre of "Māori bass", mixing drum and bass and dub step beats with taonga pūoro (traditional instruments like wooden flutes) and vocals chanted in te reo Māori.{{cite news |title=Mokotron: 'Right from my first gig people were often on the edge of tears' |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/life/music/mokotron-right-from-my-first-gig-people-were-often-on-the-edge-of-tears |access-date=29 April 2025 |publisher=RNZ |date=8 December 2024}}
Mokotron released four EPs in three years: Battlezone in 2020; 2021’s TATAU O TE PŌ and TAWHITO in 2021; and EMBRACE THE BASS in 2022.{{cite news |title=MOKOTRON Releases Highly Anticipated Album, WAEREA |url=https://nzmusic.org.nz/music-industry-news/mokotron-releases-highly-anticipated-album-waerea/ |access-date=30 April 2025 |publisher=New Zealand Music Commission |date=6 December 2024}}
In March 2024 he released The United Tribes of Bass, a collection of remixes by eight different Māori and Cook Island Māori artists.{{cite news |last1=Stamp |first1=Tomy |title=Review: United Tribes of Bass by Mokotron |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/thesampler/audio/2018931110/review-united-tribes-of-bass-by-mokotron |publisher=RNZ |date=23 March 2024}} His first album, WAEREA, followed that December.
=Awards=
- TAWHITO - Te Tohu Hopunga Puoro Mariu (Favourite EP/Mixtape), 2022 Student Radio Network Awards
- Te Tohu Kaipuoro Toa (Favourite Solo Act), 2024 Mighty Aotearoa Alternative Awards
- WAEREA - Taite Music Prize, 2024
Academic career
Doctor McDowell is a senior lecturer in Māori and Pacific studies, and the head of Te Wānanga o Waipapa, at the University of Auckland.