Matos loses faith, turns on Moby! Onlookers stunned by puddles of blood!

Moby's cd's have always left me cold, but I did admire his willingness to take on the rave culture for it's occasional lapses into insular political bullshit. That said Simon Reynolds' assessment of him circa the end of '99 seemed dead on - here was the rock critics idea of what an electronic artist should be, and Play seemed especially calculated (combine two of the bigger stories of '97: "electronica" and the Harry Smith reissue and...voila! 9/10 from Spin magazine). Then he started to sell a shitload of records, and I have to admit that in the context of top 40 Moby sounds great and when "Porcelain" or "South Side" come on the radio I turn it up. Loud.

Me, I could live without another "funny" "great white whale" quip. But I'm sort of cantankerous that way. The rest of the article made me laugh, though. Lordy!

I like the (intentional?) slip of calling it Everything is More. Somehow that seems appropriate these days.

the "More" is their fuckup, not mine. and I don't write the picture captions.

Matos is the only writer who's ever made me wonder if I was wrong about post-Move Moby.

A question for Matos and anyone else who's heard 18: from what I understand it's a virtual "replay" (and let it be noted I've seen that pun in every single review I've read) of Play, with gospel replacing Alan Lomax. Stasis is the focus of Matos' review, and I wonder is 18's stasis due to the commercial success of Play ("if it ain't broken..." + "give the people what they want") or to the simple fact that Moby is at (or indeed past) the point in his career when the ideas dry up. Is the lack of inspiration on 18 natural or due to a willing compromise to the marketplace?

I'm betting the answer is 'yes.'

I think I'm the only person who likes We Are All Made of Stars. But I think I like it better than I should because Kato Kaelin is in the video.