Octo Octa

Known professionally as Octo Octa, Maya Bouldry-Morrison stands among the foremost producers in underground house music. Her initial output arrived in the early 2010s via smooth, hazy 100% Silk releases, among them the 2013 full-length Between Two Selves, before she shifted toward a sound centered on breakbeats, a direction showcased on later projects such as the 2019 album Resonant Body. With partner Eris Drew she established the T4T LUV NRG label; the two regularly co-produce material and perform back-to-back DJ sets, appearing at festivals around the world. Their debut collaborative mix CD, Fabric Presents Octo Octa & Eris Drew, surfaced in 2020. Octo Octa has sustained this trajectory with hypnotic EPs, including 2023’s Dreams of a Dancefloor.

Born in Chicago, Bouldry-Morrison acquired her first drum machine during high school to experiment with friends, around the same period she began immersing herself in electronic music. While enrolled at the University of New Hampshire she started producing IDM and experimental electronic under the Octo Octa name, later pivoting to house music. In 2011 the Brooklyn-based artist joined the fledgling 100% Silk imprint, a Not Not Fun subsidiary, and introduced herself with the four-track 12" Let Me See You, whose highlights included the slightly off-center Amerie-sampling cut “I’m Trying” and the track “Coldwaves,” at once blissful and faintly ominous. By year’s end she compiled a cassette of continuous material titled Rough, Rugged and Raw that circulated on tour before receiving a digital release. The next year Bouldry-Morrison crafted Freedom 2K for fellow 100% Silk act LA Vampires and delivered another four-track 12", Oh Love. May 2013 brought the eight-track album Between Two Selves, consisting of dreamy yet dancefloor-focused material.

After one additional 100% Silk EP, Cause I Love You, Octo Octa began issuing music across numerous underground house labels such as Argot, Running Back, and Deepblak. Bouldry-Morrison publicly identified as transgender in 2015 and spoke at length with Resident Advisor in early 2016. Her second proper album, Where Are We Going?, emerged in 2017 on HNYTRX, the Honey Soundsystem-affiliated San Francisco label; characteristically lush and inviting, it carried a modestly heavier breakbeat emphasis than prior work. The 2018 split EP with Eris Drew ranked among that year’s most celebrated dance releases. Technicolour, a Ninja Tune subsidiary, issued the 2019 EP For Lovers, anchored by the nearly ten-minute track “I Need You.” Later the same year T4T LUV NRG, the label operated by Bouldry-Morrison and Drew, released the third full-length Resonant Body, captured inside a New Hampshire cabin and characterized by the producer as her “most spiritual and nature-connected work.” The mixtape Love Hypnosis, Vol. 1 arrived in April 2020, followed later that year by the duo’s all-vinyl set Fabric Presents Octo Octa & Eris Drew.

Octo Octa delivered the progressive breakbeat EP She’s Calling in 2021. A Fabric-issued split single with Drew, Day After a Night with U/Stars & Water, surfaced in 2022, as did Love Hypnosis, Vol. 2. The trance-inflected Dreams of a Dancefloor EP followed in 2023.