Brendon Moeller

Equally prolific as Echologist and Beat Pharmacy in addition to his own name, Brendon Moeller is a highly respected producer of deep, dubby techno and house. While all of his work is united by a penchant for spacious grooves, his material as Beat Pharmacy has explored influences such as Afro-beat (2005′s Earthly Delights) and vintage dub reggae (2006′s Constant Pressure). 2009′s Jazz Junk Safari blended jazzy bass lines with aquatic dub textures, while Echologist releases such as 2013′s Storming Heaven have housed some of his most abstract, alien material. Moeller has collaborated with artists such as Speedy J, DJ Spider, Certain Creatures, and Pearson Sound, and has released material through labels such as Echocord, Electric Deluxe, Deep Space Media, and his own Steadfast.
Brendon Moeller grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa. He took some piano lessons as a child, and later played drums in a band when he was a teenager. After discovering electronic styles such as acid house and ambient, he moved to New York City in late 1993 and began making electronic music as soon as he could afford to buy gear. He released a few house tracks as Mono Blanco on Sm:)e Communications in 1997, switching his moniker to Beat Pharmacy shortly afterward. His track “The Next Big Chill” was included on Unknownwerks, Astralwerks’ 1999 compilation of fledgling artists. A Beat Pharmacy EP titled Farm Beats appeared on Penguin Records in 2002, and Moeller soon became associated with Deep Space NYC, the dub-fixated weekly party launched by dance legend François K in 2003. Beat Pharmacy released several albums and EPs on Deep Space Media throughout the remainder of the decade, beginning with the Afro-beat-inspired Earthly Delights in 2005. The project’s subsequent releases focused more on dub and roots reggae influences, featuring several guest vocalists and musicians. Mutabaruka and Mikey Dread guested on 2006′s Constant Pressure, and Paul St. Hilaire made appearances on most of Beat Pharmacy’s full-lengths. He dove deeper into dub-influenced techno with his works as Echologist, beginning with 2005′s Explorations Vol. 1 on Mule Musiq. Releases under Moeller’s own name also began appearing in 2006, with the jazz-meets-minimal-techno full-length Jazz Junk Safari arriving on Third Ear Recordings in 2009. Moeller also founded the Steadfast label that year, releasing material by himself as well as producers like Area and Roberto Clementi.
Moeller kept up his prodigious pace throughout the 2010s, with releases under his three concurrent solo names as well as short-lived collaborations with Speedy J (the Watchers), Pearson Sound (Shetland), Area (Lightness), and others. He’s released some of his most experimental material as Echologist, including 2011′s Subterranean and 2013′s Storming Heaven; later Echologist EPs included collaborations with Matrixxman and TM404. Moeller’s second album under his own name, Works, appeared on Electric Deluxe in 2012. Following EPs on labels like Styles Upon Styles and Silent Season, Moeller’s full-length Fallen Angels was released by Epidemic Sound in 2019. By the end of the decade, Beat Pharmacy had taken to releasing limited-edition dub 7”s rather than albums or EPs. ~ Paul Simpson