Review:
“The great iconoclast of techno returns with a smooth, sacred, and exhilarating record.” MC “Following a notorious flirtation with alternative rock, Moby returned to the electronic dance mainstream on the 1997 album I Like to Score.” JB “With 1999’s Play, he made yet another leap back toward the electronica base that had passed him by during the mid-‘90s.” JB “Play’s concoction of breakbeat rhythms, ambient mixology, and inspired blues and gospel samples cry out across musical genres and histories, imparting a time-tested wisdom to beat-driven ears.” MC
“Those who have followed Moby’s career are familiar by now with his deep convictions and spiritual connection.” BM Here he “celebrates his faith in a masterful, unobtrusive way, channeling gospel and other inspirational samples through beats so earthy they could grow grass on a cement dance floor. It’s impossible to separate the joy of the message from the joy of the grooves.” BM
“Moby’s devout faith – in both God and his own musical whims – give this approach a sort of legitimacy that another, less sincere artist would never have. That sincerity reverberates through the beats and instrumental eclecticism like a pulse.” MC “The first two tracks, Honey and Find My Baby, weave short blues or gospel vocal samples around rather disinterested breakbeat techno. This version of blues-meets-electronica is undoubtedly intriguing to the all-important NPR crowd, but it is more than just a bit gimmicky to any techno fans who know their Carl Craig from Carl Cox.” JB
However, “the soulful refrains and proclamations in ‘Find My Baby’ and Natural Blues somehow nestle between straight-up dance-floor rave-ups (‘Bodyrock’) and melt-in-your-mouth ambience (Inside) with an effortless grace. Moby reaches across his turntables and finds something pure – almost organic. In fact, the album feels more natural than techno is ever supposed to feel, more spiritual than what DJs are supposed to be able to muster, and more alive than it has any right to be.” MC
A “spate of tracks” JB on the album return Moby “to the evocative, melancholy techno that’s been a specialty since his early days. The tinkly piano line and warped string samples on Porcelain frame a meaningful, devastatingly understated vocal from the man himself, while Southside is just another pop song by someone who shouldn’t be singing – that is, until the transcendent chorus redeems everything. Surprisingly, many of Moby’s vocal tracks are highlights; he has an unerring sense of how to frame his fragile vocals with sympathetic productions.” JB
Occasionally, the similarities to contemporary dance superstars like Fatboy Slim and Chemical Brothers are just a bit too close for comfort, as on the stale big-beat anthem Bodyrock. Still, Moby shows himself back in the groove after a long hiatus, balancing his sublime early sound with the breakbeat techno evolution of the ‘90s.” JB
Review Source(s):
2.5
1.82
8.32
