He's a strange bloke is our Moby, one of the most in-demand re-mixers of our time (he's done Michael Jackson, David Bowie and Blur). He's also on the "most wanted list" as a producer (he's just turned down the new Guns'n'Roses and the new Johnny Lydon albums) as well as producing his own original material. Currently in the top 10 with his updating of the new James Bond theme tune (there's a lot of about it these days) and his new album, I Like To Score (a triple pun on music, football and drugs) has just been released.
Moby, who is a direct descendant of Herman Melville who wrote Moby Dick (hence his name), is ultra-fashionable these days simply because he has positioned himself quite astutely on the post-rock end of the musical spectrum: "Well, the first album, Everything Is Wrong was full-on techno but the next, Animal Rights, was a heavy guitar album and on this new one I've collected all the stuff of mine that's been used in film soundtracks over the years; plus now I'm in Hollywood working for a massive movie studio on the new Bond film," he says.
A logical progression, obviously? "What I suppose people don't realise is that my roots are all over the place. I played classical music and played punk rock and I listened to bad pop music growing up. The `dance traitor' label I got when I abandoned techno didn't worry me; it was just a Pavlovian response. I got really disillusioned with the dance scene, the rave scene just degenerated but people are still very reactionary if you go back to using guitars and stuff. I like the whole post-rock scene now, bands like Stereolab and Tortoise. I've just finished doing a song for a Clash tribute album, I do Straight To Hell and I really stick out because the other bands involved are Green Day, Offspring and Rancid."
And now you're with MGM? "Well, the studio wanted someone `contemporary' to do the music for the new Bond film - and let me stress that this has nothing to do with the David Arnold project. I was really displeased that his stuff was released just before mine because I'm doing the official song."
How was Hollywood? "The people there have more money than they know what to do with. I know it was a corporate decision to get me to do the Bond soundtrack because they wanted the music to appeal to a hipper, younger audience. The funny thing is, despite doing the soundtrack album, I'm not really a fan of films. I only like the sort of films where things get blown up."
Moby's new soundtrack album, I Like To Score which includes the hit single, The James Bond Theme, is out now on Mute Records.
Dublin gets its first real taste of Speed Garage tonight when Tuff Jam take to the stage of The Red Box (11 p.m.). Blowing all other forms of dance music out of the water, Speed Garage, as the name suggests, is a rapid reworking of the old garage sound, with the trademark disco diva vocals being replaced (but not always) by more of a ragga-type vocal. With drum and bass going overground, this is the latest, greatest, up-to-datest sound to emerge from underground dance for ages and you can see and hear what all the fuss is about tonight. Support on the night comes from Aidan Kelly, one of Ireland's few Speed Garage DJs, who can also be heard on the pirate radio station, Power FM (98.7 FM).
Local heroes Sack are having a "big night out" (and why not?) at the Temple Bar Music Centre next Thursday night to celebrate the release of their fab new album, Butterfly Effect. It's a late-night extravaganza with support from The Brilliant Trees and a late bar and DJs after the main event . . . Ex-Undertone Sean O'Neill's new band, Rare, have just released their second single, Killer, on the Pinnacle label. Part David Lynch, part Portishead and another part Dubstar, it's a welcome taster from their first album, Peoplefreak, which will be out in February . . . Did I mention the E-mail? In case not, here's our address again: Sleevenotes@Irish-Times.ie. As our gesture towards the whole tree thing, priority will be given to any stuff received electronically.
