CORPORATE LINE: Hotel, Moby’s fifth studio album, was recorded and mixed during 2004 at Moby’s apartment, Electric Lady Studios and Loho Studios in Manhattan, Hotel continues in Moby’s tradition of beautifully eclectic records and runs the gamut from quiet instrumentals, to anthems, to downtempo sultry jams, to uplifting electro-disco, to ballads.
The new fourteen track album features Moby’s vocals on ten tracks and two duets and contains two instrumentals. This is his first album without vocal samples. Moby has played every instrument on the album (except for the live drums, played by Scott Frassetto) and is joined by Laura Dawn on vocals.
THE GREAT:
“Life Me Up” – Finally Moby makes something unique.
THE AVERAGE:
“Raining Again” – Moby can make songs that sound beautiful yet you wonder how many times he can make the same song over and over again. Sure the hook is different but isn’t it really all the same?
“Beautiful” – Another delicious melody but wait—there is something missing here. It never screams “this is a great song.” It is delicious for a few listens yet it never carries itself with a grace of greatness.
“Temptation” – Perfect for insomniacs.
“Spiders” – A theme of beauty has emerged and honestly many of the songs sound too familiar.
THE BAD:
“Love Should” – Boring.
FRANKLY: After a while Moby’s Hotel gets exceedingly monotonous. If you want to be bored out of your mind you’ll do alright here. Perhaps if it were called Music for Insomniacs it would have been a valuable asset to humanity. Well, that is too harsh however it is exceedingly mellow and if you aren’t in the mood for Hotel it can really bring you down. By the way… disc two is a waste.
+ Rae Gun
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