By The dance music community has been paying tribute to New York house legend Angel Moraes, who passed away suddenly. Moraes, 55, suffered a massive heart attack on Saturday 27th February. DJ, producer and co-founder of the legendary Stereo nightclub in Montreal, Moraes dedicated his life to pursuing the perfect club sound. Regarded as one of the best soundsystem architects in the business, Moraes died just months after unveiling his self-designed AM Mini Stack speakers.
Fellow New York house DJ David Morales knew Angel for almost 30 years. Morales said he was “destroyed” by Angel’s passing. “He had a good soul and always had a smile on his face. He was so talented,” said Morales. “I called him King of the Bass because whether it was his tracks or his soundsystem, he always had that bass that was his signature. He shared his world with me and that world gave me life and inspiration.”
Masterpiece
During the early ’90s, Angel co-founded the Hot n Spycy label. He broke new ground with tracks like Release Yourself, Heaven Knows, The Cure, I Like It and the house music masterpiece Welcome to the Factory.
Infatuated
Fascinated by the soundsystems of New York’s legendary clubs, Angel Moraes became infatuated with creating the perfect speakers. Based on his experiences at New York’s Paradise Garage, Angel designed and built Montreal’s Stereo nightclub. He designed, built and installed the club’s famous soundsystem.
Describing Moraes as “our founding father”, Stereo Montreal said: “No words can describe the sadness we are feeling right now. He was one of a kind, a great hearted individual who always lived life to the fullest.”
Privilege
British DJ Danny Howells said Angel’s early production work was “music for dark, sweaty clubs, where people would dance with their eyes closed and heads down”. Howells recalled how Angel came to his rescue during a set at Stereo. “I was exhausted from touring and was having a real problem connecting with the crowd,” said Howells. “Angel came down and really helped me out by hopping on for an impromptu back-to-back. We closed the night out together which was such a privilege for me.”
Club Souvenir
Tragically, Angel Moraes passed away as his life’s ambition was coming to fruition. In December, he unveiled his AM Mini Stack – a compact yet robust passive 3-way speaker system suitable for home use. “I designed every inch of these myself,” said Moraes at the time. Promising they were “the greatest set of speakers you will ever hear”, Moraes claimed his AM Mini Stack was “38 years in the making”.
Recalling the inspiration behind the project, Moraes said: “When I first saw and heard the stacks at the Paradise Garage I was absolutely captivated and seduced by the sound, power and the sheer presence of them and there was no question that I wanted to learn how to build them. That morning, as I was walking out of the Garage, I had only one wish – if only I could take those stacks home with me. Obviously, I didn’t walk out with them so I did the next best thing. I dove in headfirst to learn everything there was to learn about this type of sound. Since that fatal day at the Garage I always wanted to create the ultimate club souvenir.”
Also read: DJs and Bands in Dubai Unlikely to Work Again until After Ramadan
