Back in 1999 I received Moby’s PLAY album for review and was impressed and inspired by it. However, it seemed to me that the rest of the music media had overlooked or ignored it. Shortly after receiving it I was lucky enough to interview Moby in a bijou London hotel as he was packing to head to Germany for a gig in front of around a million people. Tracks from the album were eventually picked up by TV advertisers resulting in renewed interest in the album which eventually became the biggest selling album of the year 2000. This interview recorded in 2021 was in response to the release of his REPRISE album which includes many of his classic tracks.

The iconic musical pioneer Moby has released his anticipated new album REPRISE on the legendary Deutsche Grammophon label. Stream/download REPRISE HERE: http://moby.la/reprise. Additionally, Moby Doc, a powerful new feature-length documentary film opens in theatres in New York and Los Angeles, and is now available on digital platforms across the US including Apple and Amazon. The film will also have an international (ex-North America) premiere stream today. Watch the trailer for Moby Doc HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74ob6IuShpQ

REPRISE sees Moby revisiting musical highlights from his notable 30-year career. Together with the Budapest Art Orchestra, he has re-envisioned some of his most recognizable rave classics and anthems with new arrangements for orchestra and acoustic instruments. Reprise features an eclectic and impressive array of guests including Alice Skye, Amythyst Kiah, Apollo Jane, Darlingside, Deitrick Haddon, Gregory Porter, Jim James, Kris Kristofferson, Luna Li, Mark Lanegan, Mindy Jones, Nataly Dawn, Novo Amor, Skylar Grey and Víkingur Ólafsson. The seeds for the project were sown when Moby was invited to take part in his first-ever classical collaboration - a live concert of his music at Walt Disney Concert Hall with his friend Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2018. Watch the official music video for “Natural Blues” with the incredible Gregory Porter and Amythyst Kiah HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qphnmJN3FM

Directed and edited by Rob Bralver, Moby Doc is distributed by Greenwich Entertainment. A surrealist biographical documentary narrated by Moby, sees the artist reflecting on his turbulent personal life and iconic music, from underground punk bands to chart-topping solo artist, and from struggling addict to vegan activist. It features interviews with David Lynch and David Bowie along with extraordinary concert footage, utilizing a unique blend of re-enactments, interviews, and archival footage. The film is an insightful, unvarnished look at an artist whose traumatic childhood shaped him in profound ways.

Moby is a celebrated musician, singer/songwriter, producer, DJ, photographer and activist. The multi-platinum, Grammy-nominated artist has pushed boundaries with his acclaimed music, including his breakthrough global smash album, Play. Achieving worldwide sales of more than 20 million albums, Moby has additionally scored 11 UK Top 40 albums, 2 of which were Number 1 and 18 UK Top 40 singles including 3 in the top 10. A staunch vegan and advocate for animal rights and humanitarian aid, he is also the author of four books including a collection of his photography.

The Interview

This new, very comprehensive and open interview coincides with the release of his first best-of album, one of the most essential modern music compilations.

How did you select the tracks for your new album, GO-THE VERY BEST OF MOBY”?

Well, my criteria for picking what I think are the best songs I’ve ever written is criteria that no-one else would employ in picking their favourites of the songs I’ve written. My favourite songs tend to be the ones that no-one else really likes that much, so most of the songs that are on the Greatest Hits or the Best Of are actually songs that I let my friends pick and I let people at the record company pick, because I feel like they’re a lot more objective than I am.

Is it fair to say that the track-listing includes your most successful singles?

Yeah… I guess so. I mean, essentially when you’re releasing a “BEST OF”, there has to be a populist component in picking the songs; you’re ideally picking the songs that most people who are going to be buying the record would probably concur with you on.

Which Greatest Hits or Best Of albums do you listen to yourself?

Well, as far as Greatest Hits or Best Of by other artists that I listen to… Credence Clearwater Revival’s. I mean, the Rolling Stones, it seems like throughout the course of their career they’ve put out about 20 Greatest Hits records – there was “Green Grass and High Tides” and then “Hot Rocks”. “Changes 1” by Bowie is a great one, but again, David Bowie’s also put out about 10 Greatest Hits records. Marc Bolan and T Rex’s Greatest Hits. Mmmm… I can’t think of a Greatest Hits from the last 15 years that I actually listen to.

When you look back over your musical output in the last 15 years, do you see a common spirit or ambition to what you do? Could you define your underlying drive in making music?

I make music. Sometimes I’ll do interviews and I’ll be asked a question that’s a really good question and I feel that my answer’s kind of not necessarily up to the standards of the question. So, the reason I make music is because I love making music (it’s the only thing I know how to do) and I feel like of all the art forms, it’s the one that’s best at communicating emotion. Yeah, I never sat down at an early age and thought to myself, “OK. Well, you know, the things that live inside me can only be given voice by expressing through music.” It was more just I loved music and my heroes made music and no other art form affected me as strongly.

In the press you’re often described as controversial. Why is this? Do you feel controversial?

I don’t necessarily think I’m very controversial. I just think I’m kind of a loud-mouth and I’m opinionated and especially with the genre that I came from, that of electronic dance music. Most of the other people in the early 90s who were making electronic dance music pretty much only had opinions about electronic dance music and club culture and along came me with my punk rock background and I, for better or worse, have opinions about everything, and I think that’s why I maybe got the reputation for being controversial. You know, maybe it’s coming from a punk rock background, maybe it’s just being a narcissistic loud-mouth. I don’t know…