Ep. 28 - Moby

Rave Curious Podcast

Moby on Aphex Twin Calling Him a "Buffoon." This week's guest on Rave Curious is one of the most iconic yet misunderstood musical minds to come out of the electronic music scene. To many, Moby will always be the face of electronic music, an avatar for all things techno. This is, of course, despite the fact that only a portion of his sizable musical catalog could be considered dance music. Even his most famous work, 1999's double platinum-selling Play, is more of a pop album than anything meant for a dark nightclub. Yet when the backlash against electronic music came in the early '00s (see the Eminem bullying incident), Moby was already a veteran of the fickle nature of fame. He tells Rave Curious that as early as 1994, he had already experienced harsh criticism from his so-called peers, like Aphex Twin, who he says once called him a "buffoon" in the press while they were on tour together. "It's hard to continue to like someone's music when you know they hold you in contempt," he tells us of the IDM icon. His latest album, These Systems Are Failing, just dropped on Mute Records, and as the title suggest, it focuses on the many challenges facing our current society—as does much of our conversation. And it's not just Trump that's the problem. In addition to that wide-ranging conversation, we also learn what it takes to reassemble a sound system that once lived in one of Detroit's most storied dance music venues, Club Heaven, from Dr. Carleton Gholz of the Detroit Sound Conservancy.