Eclectic Moby
- INTERVIEW. Moby (photo Deirdre O Callaghan) released Last night, his seventh album, on April 1 2008.
- The songwriter met with the.point.is. news agency at his apartment in New York’s Nolita neighborhood.
- He wonders if Ossama bin Laden ever bought one of his CDs.
Would you describe this album as a classic Moby album?
Yes. The idea for the album was my neighborhood in New York, which has so many bars and so many clubs. I go out quite a lot. I wanted to try to recreate musically what it is like to go out in Lower Manhattan. I wanted to take the eight hours of a night out and condense it in 65 minutes. I was not worrying too much about trying to sound avant-garde or experimental. I just wanted to make a dance record that I enjoy listening to. Musically, New York is a very eclectic place, so I wanted that eclecticism to enter the record as well.
Did you really have 400 songs to choose from?
Every time I make a record, I write around 300-400 songs. There are all different types of songs. For this record, some of the songs were punk rock, some of them were funk, some were classical pieces of music, and some were dance songs. Once I decide what type of record I want to make, I focus on a few songs. I started this website called mobygratis.com and it basically gives free music away to independent filmmakers. Some of the music that didn’t make it onto the record goes onto this website. Some of the music will end up as B-sides. Some will be used in films. As the music business changes, there are lots of different ways you can put out music. In the old days, the only way to put out music was to put it onto records and distribute it. Now, if there is a piece of music I like, I can put it on my website and make it available for download.
What do you think of Radiohead putting up their latest album on the web for what you want to pay?
I like Radiohead but I think they did it for weird reasons. I think they did it as a marketing tool. Regardless of why they are doing it, I think that is very interesting. As time passes, more and more people just stop thinking about CDs. I hate to say this but I can’t remember the last time I bought a CD. If I buy music, I buy it online. When people look back at Radiohead’s decision to sell their record on the web, it might be seen as the last nail in the coffin of the compact disc.
New York / Jean-Cosme Delaloye
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