And Now I Know That This Is Going to Be the End…

Long before he was the target of taunts by homophobic Detroit rappers; Way before his grave-robbing, schmaltz-ified 40’s spiritual soul-samples became the de rigeur soundtrack of bourgeois cocktail parties, Banana Republic shopping sprees and brunch; Moby was one of electronic music’s most innovative and adventurous sonic wizards.

In the early 90’s Moby, aka Richard Hall, broke new ground, introducing rave to house in a headlong rush of storming euphoric techno-pop songs–”Feeling So Real” “Everytime You Touch Me“–that effectively emulated the ecstatic effects of dance and the drugs that often accompanied it.

However, like Bono, whose pomp and didacticism, became more pronounced and insufferable the richer and balder he got, by 2005’s Hotel LP, success and self-importance had made Moby nothing more than a purveyor of audio wallpaper for car commercials and elevators.

So that’s why it’s pleasant and surprising that one of the first views into the diminutive domed one’s new LP Last Night is such a throwback to his heady salad days. “Disco Lies,” featured in Cloverfield–the latest cinematic attempt to render Manhattan back to the bedrock upon which it is built–is classic Moby.

Repeated, foreshadowing “woo-hoo-ooh” chants etch a tale of tech-house romantic paranoia that cast suspicion as the monster in this relationship disaster-movie of a song. As the beat builds, call and response wails recall false promises, which build and climax in a crescendo of volcanic, finger-wagging disco diva accusations.

It’s a shame though that the video is so emblematic of Moby’s post-Play visual schtick, awkwardly mixing his personal politics –in this case veganism–with his need to appear ironically hip and humorous, Tarantino-style, for the “kids.”

Recipe for rendering a great song irrelevant? One pimp chicken, overcooked in revenge.

Last Night drops April 1.

~ by agitpoptimist on February 21, 2008.