Moby Artist Profile

“New Album Out Now... Wait For Me”Moby
  • Genre: ELECTRONIC
  • Location: New York, New York, US
News:

How about books? why isn't there a 'favorite books' section for bands/musicians? isn't that kind of sad? well, i'm the only member of my band, so maybe i'll use this section to write about some books that i like. but then i'll sound even more pretentious than i usually do. so, what to do? how about some random books i like....john cheever's journals. walker percy's 'the moviegoer'. wittgenstein's 'tractatus'. frank herbert's 'dune'. anything by flannery o'connor. dostoevsky's 'the idiot'. anything by f. paul wilson. rudyard kipling's 'the jungle books'. 'the once and future king'. danny gregory 'everyday matters'. david james duncan's 'the brothers k'. anything fun by neil gaiman, especially 'stardust'. legs mcneil 'please kill me'. lawrence wright 'saints and sinners'. bill bryson's 'mother tongue'. bertolt brecht's 'mother courage and her children.' ok, i'll stop there for now.

Moby Playlist



Moby’s Bio

While listening to filmmaker David Lynch speak at the BAFTA Awards in February 2008, Moby had an epiphany. Lynch's message & creativity for its own sake is a beautiful, wonderful thing was a simple one, but it hit Moby with the force of the Zen master's cane. At that moment, I decided to just make records that were more personal, says Moby, maybe more experimental, and a little more challenging, maybe not as easy to like, but things that I found to be artistically and creatively more satisfying. That was the idea behind making the new album.

The album resulting from this epiphany, Wait For Me (released on June 30, 2009 via Mute), is a radical departure from Moby's recent albums last year's paean to the dance floor, Last Night, 2005's flirtation with modern rock, Hotel, the shimmering ambience of 2002's 18, and the zeitgeist-defining melancholy electronica of 1999's Play. Liberated from the pressures of trying to please himself at the same time as the radio programmers, journalists and his label's marketing department, in making Wait For Me Moby decided to forego the expensive studios, state-of-the-art equipment, big name guest artists, and phalanxes of graphic designers and image consultants that have characterized some of his previous albums. There s something so relaxing about doing everything yourself, and not trying to second-guess the market, Moby says. I don t know if anyone s going to like this record, I don t know if it s going to sell anything, but it s nice to try to do things for the right reasons and not give a second thought to radio play or sales just make a record because you want to make a record.

Indeed, this DiY approach pervades all of Wait For Me, from the recording process to the album cover. A friend of mine shot the photos, Moby says. I did the art work. I made the record in my bedroom, and mixed it with a crazy punk rocker who got lost on the way to the studio every night.

That crazy punk rocker is the legendary Ken Thomas, who has worked with everyone from The Buzzcocks, Wire, Boyd Rice, and Chris & Cosey to Sigur Ros and M83. Working with Thomas and Wait For Me s DiY approach hearkens back to Moby s punk roots as a member of the early 80s hardcore band Vatican Commandos. And while the music contained on Wait For Me is the sweeping, emotionally expansive music Moby has become known for, some of the songs bear the influence of Moby s punk days, albeit in odd ways. Mistake is an homage to the emotional post-punk of Joy Division and Echo & the Bunnymen, while the title track s depiction of quiet despair was inspired by Black Flag s Damaged album.

Sonically, though, Wait For Me takes inspiration from a kinder, gentler era long before punk, before the dawn of rock n roll even. I wanted to make a record that was beautiful and warm and open and inviting, and also a little more idiosyncratic and personal, Moby says. The way it s recorded and mixed, it s not supposed to be a bombast. A lot of my issues with modern records is they, from start to finish, are just in your face, they re loud and brash and demanding. Sometimes that can be great, but when every instrument is mixed as loud as it can go and when vocals are constantly in your face and everything s bright and there s no subtlety, I don t want to invite records like that into my house. They sound great when you re in a rental car listening to Top 40 radio, but the records that I find myself more drawn to are very minimally recorded old blues records, records that are quite austere and simple. So I did want this record to have that austere quality.

While Wait For Me does have a certain Spartan feel to it, it is also a warm, intimate and conversational record. Instead of trying to make something that is commercially palatable or that the market will respect, Moby says, I wanted to make something that a 26 year-old woman, in her apartment, depressed can relate to.

In order to try to achieve this one-on-one connection with the listener, Moby drowned Wait For Me in reverb and made judicious use of stereo panning. The things that inspired me were the background vocals on In the Ghetto , the Elvis song, Surrealistic Pillow by Jefferson Airplane, and I Only Have Eyes for You by The Flamingos, Moby says. And also eBay because through eBay I was able to buy a lot of old crappy equipment that served my needs perfectly: old reverbs, old delays, old amplifiers, old synthesizers, things that were technically imperfect but felt right to me.

You can hear the ghosts in these old machines, and when combined with the cavernous reverb, long sustained guitar chords, warm strings, and the occasional torch song, Wait For Me may bring to mind the album s catalyst David Lynch and his work with composer Angelo Badalamenti. Lynch, in fact, has directed the video for Shot In The Back Of The Head , a song that also conjures up Phil Spector with its crashing waves of sound. It is indeed fitting that Lynch provided the inspiration for Moby s creative rebirth on Wait For Me as samples of Lynch s Twin Peaks appeared on the record that kick-started Moby s career, the Top 10 1991 rave hit Go .

But instead of aspiring to climb the charts or appeal to a market segment, Wait For Me is aimed at connecting with the listener on an individual basis. In the past, record companies and musicians didn t deal with listeners as individuals, they dealt with them as a mass because they re selling millions of records, Moby says. I think a lot of people lost sight of that relationship. Not to sound crazy and new age, but I think there s something really humbling for the musician about someone taking a record home and listening to it. I think a lot of really successful musicians assume they ll always have an audience, and that breeds an air of complacency and arrogance.

With the quiet and graceful but occasionally unsettling music of Wait For Me, Moby has taken a large step toward avoiding that trap.


Influences:

david bowie, kraftwerk, roxy music, public image ltd, suicide, echo and the bunnymen, television, led zeppelin, grace jones, pantera, joy division, flaming lips, massive attack, antony and the johnsons, donna summer, eno, nick drake, derrick may, the birthday party, bad brains, the feelies, polyrock, john lee hooker, george gershwin, blind willie johnson, the gun club, silver apples

Moby’s Fans (22)


Moby’s Comments


  • 02 Sep '10 03:45am

    getting ready to fly to chicago. although my travel plans might be messed up by impending earl.

    getting ready to fly to chicago. although my travel plans might be messed up by impending earl. earl is a hurricane. here's a picture of earl. i think it's kind of amazing that hurricanes are bigger than entire states. in this case you'll see that earl seems to be the size of pennsylvania. or bigger. which is big. and with global warming it's posited that hurricanes will get bigger and stronger and more frequent. leading most sane people to hold off on their plans for coastal real estate...

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  • 01 Sep '10 10:19am

    moby.com video blog entry #14 - graffitti outside mars bar

    Todays tiny video: Some great phone graffitti outside mars bar. Crazy drunks might be annoying at times, but they do make some compelling graffitti. I don't know what the chinese characters say, but I'm sure its interesting. Moby

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  • 31 Aug '10 06:31am

    moby.com video blog entry #13 - mini kewpie dolls in tiny mini hats

    Todays tiny mini video is of tiny mini kewpie dolls in tiny mini hats, all looking tiny and mini together. And there's a hurricane barreling towards new york. Earl. Neither tiny nor mini. Apparently its a monster. Uh oh. Moby

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  • 31 Aug '10 03:04am

    last night i was in san juan puerto rico for electric daisy carnival

    so, last night i was in san juan puerto rico for electric daisy carnival. it was my first trip to puerto rico (hopefully i'll go again, but in february when it's cold and miserable in nyc...it's actually hotter in nyc today than it was in san juan...92 in san juan, 94 in nyc. odd.). the event was great, but what made it amazing was during 'thousand' when the heavens opened up and the biggest torrential downpour i've ever experienced broke over me and the audience. it wasn't a shower, it was...

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  • 28 Aug '10 10:42am

    moby.com video blog entry #12 - new york on the nicest day of the year

    9 seconds of new york on the nicest day of the year. The sky is scrubbed blue and everything looks almost too idyllic. I'm headed to puerto rico now for electric daisy. Have a nice weekend. Moby

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  • 27 Aug '10 02:24am

    Moby.com Video Blog entry #11 - shooting gallery from coney island

    Random video of the day: I was in a salvage store earlier today and the very nice woman working there said, 'we just bought a 1920's shooting gallery from coney island! And it works!'. So here is a salvaged 1920's shooting gallery from coney island. Its amazing. Not quiet. But amazing...

  • 26 Aug '10 02:37am

    Moby.com Video Blog entry #10 - random demons in nyc

    Ok, todays tiny video: random demons in nyc.

  • 25 Aug '10 02:48am

    Moby.com Video Blog entry #9 - union square

    Ooh, I realized my phone can make little accidental and rough edits in camera. So here's 15 seconds of me in union square at night, with accidental edits.

    Union square used to be full of junkies. Now: less so.

    Moby

  • 23 Aug '10 09:19am

    Moby.com Video Blog entry #8 - metal guitar in a drop D

    todays video blog: me sitting in my living room playing metal guitar in a drop D tuning

  • 23 Aug '10 02:22am

    Todays VERY IMPORTANT VIDEO: me sitting on amtrak wearing my bill plympton 'free hugs' shirt

    Todays VERY IMPORTANT VIDEO: me sitting on amtrak wearing my bill plympton 'free hugs' shirt. We're pulling up to bwi thurgood marshall train station. Its nice that thurgood marshall has a nice train station named after him. What would be a fitting memorial for scalia? the 'antonin scalia slaughterhouse and salmonella discount outlet'? Sorry, that was mean. I just naively believe that the world would be a better place if scalia moved to wyoming and devoted his life to fly fishing or mutant animal taxidermy.

    Headed to nyc now, going to see 'looking for mr goodbar' at east river park and then punk rock vegan boat cruise with h2o. Oh, and last nights art smith wedding was great(with food prepared by tal ronnen and friends). So nice that all dc residents can get married if they so choose.

    Moby

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  • 19 Aug '10 02:49am

    i'm a bit confused as to why the end of u.s combat operations in iraq isn't a bigger news story?

    i'm a bit confused as to why the end of u.s combat operations in iraq isn't a bigger news story?

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38744453/ns/world_news-mideastn_africa

    in the google news round-up it was actually listed below blagojevich's trial and something about justin bieber. one would think that the end of 7 1/2 years of u.s combat operation in iraq would merit a bit more news coverage? maybe if there'd been some celebrity endorsements? like: 'the cast of true blood presents: the end of u.s combat operations in iraq! (sponsored by diet coke and summer's eve)'.

    in any case: good luck to all involved. the iraqii's, the u.s soldiers, and the allied soldiers. it was a war that never should have started, that cost the u.s over $1,000,000,000,000.00 dollars, and that took the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers and citizens.

    i, for one, am truly glad to see the end of u.s combat operations in iraq.

    good luck to all.

    -moby

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  • 18 Aug '10 08:47am

    a few years ago laura and daron and moveon and i made a little film about challenges to net neutrality

    a few years ago laura and daron and moveon and i made a little film about challenges to net neutrality. and, well, almost no one cared. which is sort of understandable, as it seemed like a distant and esoteric issue. but, like herpes and the ghosts in poltergeist, it's baack. here's the film we made: here's a sort-of explanation of the issue: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/posttech/2010/08/whats_next_for_fcc_on_... essentially the internet is currently egalitarian and equally...

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Moby(thelittleidiot) on TwitterView my twitter page

  • Aug 06, 2010
    thelittleidiot: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-robbins/the-dark-side-of-vitaminw_b_669716.html
  • Aug 06, 2010
    thelittleidiot: coca-cola sued over vitamin water health claims: "no consumer could reasonably be misled into thinking vitaminwater was a healthy beverage."
  • Aug 05, 2010
    thelittleidiot: New post: it is my pleasure to announce the return of diamondsnake to nyc, on october 2nd at mercury lounge http://tinyurl.com/2co4abb
  • Aug 05, 2010
    thelittleidiot: diamondsnake returns to nyc! http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/000044FBF1C5B14C?artistid=1472523&majorcatid=10001&minorcatid=200
  • Aug 05, 2010
    thelittleidiot: New post: so i just had 4 back to back odd and odder things happen http://tinyurl.com/2wovkgd
  • Aug 04, 2010
    thelittleidiot: 2010 hottest year almost everywhere. people still doubt global warming? http://news.discovery.com/earth/heat-record-climate-change.html
  • Aug 04, 2010
    thelittleidiot: congratulations california on prop8 being overturned. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-mew-prop-8-10042010,0,7711145.story
  • Aug 04, 2010
    thelittleidiot: happy birthday president obama. i'm really happy that you're our president.
  • Aug 04, 2010
    thelittleidiot: i still can't believe that lake tahoe is 1,700 feet deep and that it seems to be free of monsters.
  • Aug 03, 2010
    thelittleidiot: What flight from la to nyc would be complete without pornstars and their little dogs?
  • Aug 01, 2010
    thelittleidiot: Clay aiken is singing show tunes behind me on my flight from reno. I believe its a harbinger of the apocalypse.
  • Aug 01, 2010
    thelittleidiot: Just leaving wanderlust. Thank you for a great weekend. Have fun at princess superstar's disco party tonight. Thanks again.
  • Jul 31, 2010
    thelittleidiot: Last night was great, sorry we had to stop at midnight. Today: im talking on animal rights at 2:30, then acoustic show with kelli at 5:30
  • Jul 30, 2010
    thelittleidiot: Lake tahoe is 1640 feet deep! There must be giant monsters living down there with cool names.
  • Jul 29, 2010
    thelittleidiot: New post: headed to san francisco and then on to wanderlust http://tinyurl.com/2wh34sk
  • Jul 29, 2010
    thelittleidiot: Friday I dj at wanderlust at 10:30, then Saturday vegan talk 2:30pm and acoustic set w/ Kelli at 5:30pm. -hippiemo
  • Jul 29, 2010
    thelittleidiot: San francisco might be the only city other than paris where an old prison is a celebrated tourist attraction.
  • Jul 28, 2010
    thelittleidiot: this is good, america becoming marginally less racist: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jasmine-tyler/congress-passes-historic_b_662625.html
  • Jul 28, 2010
    thelittleidiot: Police and secret service everywhere in my neighborhood. Hi president obama.
  • Jul 28, 2010
    thelittleidiot: hopefully see you at wanderlust friday and saturday. i'll be the bald vegan. oh, oops. i guess there'll be no shortage of bald vegans there.
  • Jul 28, 2010
    thelittleidiot: no surprise, but good: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/criminal-probe-takes-shape-over-gulf-spill-report-2010-07-28?reflink=MW_news_stmp
  • Jul 28, 2010
    thelittleidiot: New post: kelli scarr http://tinyurl.com/32ely54
  • Jul 27, 2010
    thelittleidiot: I just saw the joan rivers documentary. I think I want to marry her.
  • Jul 27, 2010
    thelittleidiot: kelli's album is released today with a nice piece on npr: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128719179
  • Jul 25, 2010
    thelittleidiot: not new, of course, but connecticut boy makes good...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY


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