Sunday, May 14, 2000
 
2. Moby - Move (You Make Me Feel So Good)



I can’t seem to escape Moby’s “Play” album, and I don’t even own it. Between the critical acclaim, the radio saturation, the tv commercial backing tracks (latest offender: BBC World’s use of “Porcelain”), and being pressured by my friends to buy the album (and Macy, and Travis), my indifference for Moby’s genre-fusing trickery is fast becoming active dislike.



However, it occured to me that since I do actually own a Moby cd, I should dig it out and see whether it still held a place in my heart. Surprisingly, 1993’s “Move” ep does, oh yes indeed. I don’t know why “Move” works so much better than any of Moby’s work before or after. Maybe it’s because it was Moby’s last significant release before becoming the American ambassador for techno, following which the personality completely consumed the producer. Anyway, there’s no sense of the artist hiding anywhere inside this track, although there are definitely signs that Moby knows his craft, and that craft seems to be genre-fusing after all. With its delirious diva wail and cheesy, triumphant piano fills, “Move” is basically handbag house. But Moby wraps its uplifting melody in a cool, trancey Euro-production, while the emphasis on glistening textures, eerie harmonies and studio effects places it firmly in the progressive house camp. Now I’m not saying that this elevates it to some superior plane - “intelligent handbag” anyone? - but the use of musical craftmanship stolen from too overwhelmingly serious sub-genres, trance and progressive house, in the service of something so delightfully frivolous means far more to me than a whole album of self-conscious artistry. Moby’s real gift is for making anonymous, peerless house music, and right now he should be hanging his head in shame.



Other great tracks on this release: “Unloved Symphony”, which combines anthemic ambience with totally nutter breakbeats, sounding a lot like DJ Crystl’s “Warp Drive”, only harder.


0 Comments:

Post a Comment


 

everything here is by tim finney

 

 

mail me... here

 

songs

Jamesy P
Nookie

Patrick Cowley
Mindwarp

Isolee
It's About (Lopazz & Casio Casino's Maxi Mix)

Glass Candy
Sugar & Whitebread

Beats International
Dub Be Good To Me (Smith & Mighty Remix)

Depeche Mode
A Pain That I'm Used To (Jacques Lu Cont Remix)

Girls Aloud
Wild Horses

Tweet
Steer

Bobby Valentino
Gimmie A Chance

Freeform Five
No More Conversation (Richard X Remix)


links

House Is A Feeling

1471

A Wild Young Under Whimsy

And So This Is Christmas

Anthony Is Right

Bitchcakes

Blackdown

Blissblog

Bowling Ball

Breaking Ranks

Chantelle Fiddy's World of Grime

The Church Of Me

Cis Don't Like It Easy

Clap Clap Blog

Country Glamour

Cucina Povera

DJ Martian

Doubt Beat

Dubplate.net

Epicharmus.com

Everything's Usable

Fluxblog

Fop

Freaky Trigger

Freelance Mentalists

Freezing to Death in the Nuclear Bunker

Gel & Weave

Gutterbreakz

Haibun

Heronbone

The House at World's End

Hyperdub

I'm So Sinsurr

ILXOR

Josh Blog

Kin

">Lex Scripta

Maura.com

Home of Matos

Must Try Harder

New York London Paris Munich

Orbis Quintus

The Original Soundtrack

Pearls that are his Eyes

Pearsall's Tunes

Philip Sherburne

Pop Life

Popshots

Poptext

Prancehall

Quicksilver Shapeshifter

Radio Free Narnia

Sasha Frere-Jones

Shards, Fragments & Totems

Silver Dollar Circle

Sink

Somedisco

Somnolence

Spizzazzz

Spliiiish (Atommick Brane)

Symposiasts

Tufluv

Vain Selfish and Lazy

Why I Stopped Smoking

Woebot

Words, Words (??????): A Catalogue of Errors

Worlds of Possibility

 

archive

February 2004

January 2004

December 2003

November 2003

October 2003

September 2003

August 2003

July 2003

June 2003

May 2003

April 2003

March 2003

February 2003

January 2003

December 2002

November 2002

October 2002

September 2002

August 2002

July 2002

June 2002

May 2002

April 2002

March 2002

February 2002

January 2002

December 2001

November 2001

October 2001

September 2001

August 2001

July 2001

June 2001

May 2001

April 2001

March 2001

February 2001

January 2001

July 2000

June 2000

May 2000

 

articles

Daft Punk

Ludacris

Ian Pooley

Outkast

Artful Dodger

The Loft

1