Free Moral Agents was an American experimental hip-hop/fusion-jazz/psych rock/dub ensemble, active between 2003 and 2014 and based in Long Beach, California. Launched as a solo project of US keyboardist and producer [url=/artist/210843]Isaiah "Ikey" Owens[/url],
FMA gradually expanded to a full-fledged instrumental ensemble with six members. The band ceased to exist in October 2014, when 39-year-old Owens, who was at the time playing in [url=/artist/278763]Jack White[/url]'s backing band, died of a sudden heart attack amidst the Mexican leg of the
[m=695372] world tour. In 2016,
[url=/label/2798858]LA Weekly[/url] ranked Free Moral Agents as the fourth-greatest Long Beach band of all time, after
War, [url=/artist/98600]Sublime[/url], and
Suburban Rhythm (co-founded by Ikey's namesake and FMA bandmate, bassist [a=Dennis Owens]). In 2003, when Owens debuted as "
Free Moral Agents" with
[r=308115] 12" on Pete Records, he was renowned as the co-founding tenure member of
The Mars Volta, as well as the Orange County ska/punk/reggae scene veteran. As a lifelong hip-hop head, Ikey predominantly focused on hip-hop in his FMA productions. The inaugural EP featured Ikey's first collaborators and early members of Free Moral Agents, producer [url=/artist/681635]Jeff Harris[/url] and vocalist [url=/artist/659895]Jonathan "J" Ullrich[/url].
In 2004, Owens signed a record deal with [url=/artist/96218]TMV[/url]'s home label,
Pete Records, and released
[r=298125] 12" split with
Subtitle, featuring FMA's new track co-produced with [url=/artist/681635]Harris[/url]. The project's debut studio album,
[r=1419990] CD, came out later the same year. While the release boasted a "
debut solo album by keyboardist Ikey Owens of THE MARS VOLTA" hype-sticker, the liner notes listed
Free Moral Agents as a quartet, featuring [url=/artist/661287]J[/url] (words and vocals), [a=Mendee Ichikawa] (words/backing vocals), and [url=/artist/681635]Jeff Harris[/url] as "systems operator;" he also shared recording and production credits with Owens. Two tracks included samples of
The Mars Volta's early track,
[url=/master/9308]Cut That City[/url], recorded live at Pete Records in San Francisco. In June 2005, Free Moral Agents contributed to [url=/label/12131]GSL[/url]'s mailorder-exclusive "
[url=/label/640479]Special 12 Singles Series[/url]," which commemorated the label's 12th anniversary; a [url=/release/2531292]limited edition 7-inch[/url] featured covers of [a=Tom Waits] and
Visionaries. By spring 2006, Free Moral Agents had already begun performing in a six-piece formation, with "Ikey" Owens and Ichikawa joined by four new members. The FMA soon expanded beyond local shows around the Orange County and Los Angeles area, performing at New York's Pete Records in October 2007, among other venues. In 2009, Free Moral Agents played at the Eagle Rock Music Festival in Colorado and at Pete Records in Los Angeles (a live recording was subsequently released by Pete Records on a limited edition
[r=4894501] tape for the 2013 Cassette Store Day).
The band's sophomore studio album,
[m=1107389] CD, was released in 2010 by Chicago-based hip-hop/IDM/experimental electronica label
Pete Records. While not broadly publicized, FMA's sudden departure from [url=/label/12131]Gold Standard Labs[/url] was, undoubtedly, triggered by the increasing tensions and inner conflicts between
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez/
Cedric Bixler-Zavala duo and the rest of [url=/artist/96218]TMV[/url] members. In October 2010, Owens missed two shows in South America, at Estadio Bicentenario de la Florida in Chile and the SWU Festival in Brazil, due to scheduling conflicts with FMA. (Coincidentally, exactly one year prior, in October 2009,
The Mars Volta had to cancel the closing show on the North American leg of that same
[m=139576] tour in Raleigh, North Carolina, after [a=Thomas Pridgen], the band's drummer for the last three years, quit abruptly.) Even though Ikey Owens never had an explicit confrontation with the band, he was fired from TMV shortly after. Omar and Cedric, infamous for their somewhat vindictive and "bridge-burning" attitude towards collaborators, also dropped
Free Moral Agents from the GSL roster and even retroactively marked Owens as an ex-member on
[url=/artist/53557]De Facto[/url]'s long-defunct MySpace page. In April 2013, Free Moral Agents released the final 12" record,
[r=4759427], on LA-based Pete Records, followed by a Japan-only expanded CD reissue,
[r=4759427], in April 2014. Owens died less than six months later.
Lineup[url=/artist/210843]Isaiah "Ikey" Owens[/url] – keyboards, samples/beats, production
[url=/artist/681635]Jeff Harris[/url] (2003–2008) – producer, "systems operator"
[url=/artist/661287]J[/url] (2003–04), [a=Mendee Ichikawa] – vocals, lyrics, melodies
[a=Dennis Owens] – bass, falsetto vocals
[a=Ryan Reiff] – drums, beats
[a=Reid Kinnett] – keyboards, effects, noises
[a=Jesse Carzello] – guitar, noises
