Dance music auteur Moby is in the midst of completing his next album, which he hopes to finish within the next month or so and have ready for release in early February via Mute.
He tells Billboard.com that the currently untitled disc -- his first set of all-new material since "Hotel" in 2005 -- is "dance-oriented ... in a more late '70s, early '80s sense of dance music, that post-disco period. It doesn't sound like big, banging techno tracks; it's more Grace Jones and Donna Summer inspired."
The album features mostly vocal tracks, but outside of old school MC Grandmaster Kaz, Moby says he "decided to forego the celebrity guest vocalist route" in favor of unknown and up-and-coming singers.
Those wishing to get a hit of Moby before the album can check out the soundtrack to "The Bourne Ultimatum," which features a new version of his single "Extreme Ways." The song has appeared as the end-credit theme in all three "Bourne" films, but Moby made the fresh version this time at the request of director Paul Greengrass.
"I wanted it to sound sort of like, in my own weird way, an early '70s (Rolling) Stones record," Moby says, "not that it ended up sounding like that, but that's kind of what I was going for with the African-American background female vocalist and the wah-wah guitar. It was an exciting prospect for me."
Besides a rock band called the Little Deaths NYC that's playing small venues around New York, Moby's other main musical project right now is also related to films. He's launched Moby Gratis on his Web site, which offers 70 unreleased pieces of music for free to independent and non-profit filmmakers.
Moby, who minored in film studies in college, says that "I've always had a lot of friends who work in that world of indie or experimental or non-profit film, and they routinely complain that the hardest part is licensing music. They have no budget, obviously, so either the labels don't take them seriously or quote them astronomical fees. So (Moby Gratis) is not a commercial venture; it just seems like an interesting way to maybe help out the independent film community. I hope they find it and take advantage of it."
He tells Billboard.com that the currently untitled disc -- his first set of all-new material since "Hotel" in 2005 -- is "dance-oriented ... in a more late '70s, early '80s sense of dance music, that post-disco period. It doesn't sound like big, banging techno tracks; it's more Grace Jones and Donna Summer inspired."
The album features mostly vocal tracks, but outside of old school MC Grandmaster Kaz, Moby says he "decided to forego the celebrity guest vocalist route" in favor of unknown and up-and-coming singers.
Those wishing to get a hit of Moby before the album can check out the soundtrack to "The Bourne Ultimatum," which features a new version of his single "Extreme Ways." The song has appeared as the end-credit theme in all three "Bourne" films, but Moby made the fresh version this time at the request of director Paul Greengrass.
"I wanted it to sound sort of like, in my own weird way, an early '70s (Rolling) Stones record," Moby says, "not that it ended up sounding like that, but that's kind of what I was going for with the African-American background female vocalist and the wah-wah guitar. It was an exciting prospect for me."
Besides a rock band called the Little Deaths NYC that's playing small venues around New York, Moby's other main musical project right now is also related to films. He's launched Moby Gratis on his Web site, which offers 70 unreleased pieces of music for free to independent and non-profit filmmakers.
Moby, who minored in film studies in college, says that "I've always had a lot of friends who work in that world of indie or experimental or non-profit film, and they routinely complain that the hardest part is licensing music. They have no budget, obviously, so either the labels don't take them seriously or quote them astronomical fees. So (Moby Gratis) is not a commercial venture; it just seems like an interesting way to maybe help out the independent film community. I hope they find it and take advantage of it."
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