Although Moby has had a critically acclaimed career in both the electronic and pop scenes, he’s probably best known for being dissed by the great white hope — Eminem.
“Nobody listens to techno,” Slim Shady once rapped about Moby’s genre. But whether people are listening to techno or not, Moby is still making music that spins in commercials, hip coffee shops and even elevators.
In his latest atmospheric release, Hotel, Moby brings in guitars and a more mellow, subdued sound. If the break-dance beats and sampled vocals of his 1999 hit “Bodyrock” are what you’re looking for, you won’t find them on this album. Nor are there any big-name collaborations on this album a la “South Side,” featuring Gwen Stefani.
Instead, Hotel parallels upbeat music with breakout power choruses — such as the ones in “Lift Me Up” and “Raining Again” — with light-rock, Coldplay-esque tracks like “Spiders” and “Love Should.” The slower songs come complete with weeping strings and the sounds of some heart-tugging piano (probably tracks your little sister would swoon to while watching The OC).
The upbeat songs mix guitars with different electronic elements to create a rich folk-rock-techno blend. The best example of this patchwork quilt of genres is “Where You End,” in which Moby reminisces about a lost love and weaves it all together, masterfully creating a sorrowful yet engaging song.
He injects some sexual tension into the album with “I Like It.” The track’s sweaty, throbbing bass is complemented by moans and Nintendo-like beeps and blips. The music successfully creates a sensual atmosphere while the vocals, with a man and a woman reciting lyrics in short breath, sound like they were recorded while they were between the sheets. It’s pretty much a Calvin Klein ad waiting to be visualized.
On the formulaic “Very,” Moby slips into the clichéd techno formula of a woman belting over a generic head-bobbing techno beat. It sounds like the song could be on the infamous Roxbury Saturday Night Live skit that parodied this kind of unimaginative robotic music.
Moby’s lyrics and vocals are nothing to write home about. The lyrics usually try too hard to be meaningful, and Moby’s vocals are really mostly rhythmic talking. But this is electronica music — that stuff doesn’t really matter. What’s intriguing about Moby’s music has been the production; on Hotel he still manages to create an atmosphere with each song that can be perfect for whatever poetry reading, vegan picnic or advertisement you can imagine.
