This kind of hit me unexpectedly, Moby’s been busy. I just found out that he did the entire musical score for the David E. Kelly (Of Donnie Darko fame) movie Southland Tales. I should have figured something was up, because there was the song “Blue Paper” off of his Hotel bonus ambient disc in the trailer. Moby is no stranger to having his songs in movies as “God Moving Over the Face of the Water”, “Go!” and many others have popped up from time to time. His unique relationship to this aspect of film making has also prompted him to offer his tracks for free or at very little cost to film makers via the website mobygratis.com
Now, onto the main event, Moby’s new album Last Night is being released early next year, and a sampler was released on his website. After listening to it a few times, I can honestly say I’m looking forward to this release more than anything after 18. His last album Hotel was only tolerable because Moby is one of the few artists from my high school days that I’m not embarrassed to say I still like. Although with songs like “Beautiful” it seems like he sure was trying hard to change that. I understand that he was going for a much more organic feel to his music, because what he’s well known for is electronic music and samples. Change is good, and different perspectives are great, but I missed the cryptic Moby poetry vocals, the thumping beats, and the rumbling basslines. There were a few good tracks on that album, but only the ones that resembled the music that made Moby famous. The thing is though, good music is good music, whether it’s sampled, live, or a digitally altered cat in a bathtub. That said, I really enjoy his “Animal Rights” album.
Onto the sampler though, it seems that all of Moby’s ambient experiments and soundtracking have yielded some neat new effects in his music. I’m glad to see that Moby’s returned to the electronic wizardry that made me love him in the first place. That’s right, expect thumping basslines, funk guitars, soaring female vocals, and even raps. Even Moby himself raps on the album, he sounds kind of Brian Eno-esque in the raps, which makes sense as Moby is very similar to Brian Eno (Bald, Electronic, Ambient). Those yearning for some old school moby will even find some piano house. I think the album is at least going to be as good as 18. Keep your fingers crossed.
here’s Moby’s take on the album:
Moby – Last Night Album Sampler
Moby – Blue Paper
