Moby DJs For Virgin

08/25/08 1:14pm

by Jared Morano (CHARTattack)

Moby has some serious love for Canada.

"Every time I come here, I'm sort of tempted to move here," he says. "Especially Toronto, because it's got all of the nice elements of New York, but it's such a progressive city... it's multicultural and cosmopolitan, but it's got this really nice spirit of progressive civility.

"I live in New York, which is a very tolerant place. In a weird way, I feel more of a sort of cultural kinship with Canada than I do with the rest of America. America feels to me, for the most part, like a very conservative, very provincial place, whereas Canada definitely feels a lot more civilized and progressive."

Moby's recent album, Last Night, is described as a return to the club-pumping style of his early DJ career. It wasn't an accident.

"In the course of my life, I've made a lot of different types of music," he explains. "I grew up playing classical music, played in punk rock bands, was a hip-hop DJ for a while, I was into all these different types of music.

"So when it comes time to make a record, one of the big questions for me is always, 'What type of record do I want to make?' I wanted to make a record that actually sounded like the music I was listening to when I went out in New York. So sort of on one hand, almost like a nostalgic look back at the dance music I grew up with in New York, but also kind of a celebration of the dance music that I'm hearing in New York in 2008."

In case you're wondering, of all Moby's musical diversions, he prefers his punk moments the most — though the only material he's recorded that he enjoys listening to is the ambient stuff.

"In 1996, I made a record called Animal Rights, which is this very difficult punk rock record. And of all the records I've made, that's probably my favourite one. The only records I've made that I listen to are the more quiet, instrumental ones. The records I've made that are more song-oriented, I never go back and listen to.

"I've been making music since I was nine years old, and I hope to make music until the day I die. I don't imagine people will want to listen to my music forever. I don't imagine I'll be making records forever. I certainly don't imagine I'll make money from music forever. At this point in my life, I make music because I love making music, and if it generates money, that's fine. But if it doesn't, I don't really worry about it."

Moby signed up with Virgin Galactic to rocket into outer space on the first space tourism flight in 2010 for $207,000 U.S. Maybe he can seek a discount after DJing in the Bacardi B-Live tent on Sept. 7 as part of Toronto's Virgin Festival.