It’s an ambitious undertaking to make music that simulates the visceral surreality of a night out in Manhattan, encapsulating the flash, the freaks and the overwhelming stimulus in aural form. How can you conjure the smoky, sweaty clubs, the writhing lust-inducing hip gyrations, or capture the pumping fist-in-the-air-fury with the twist of a knob or the perfectly calculated punctuation of a growling bass line? Leave it up to aging club kid and house music enthusiast Moby to take on this tall order; serving up crazed dance fans a big slice of ’90s pastiche pie packed full with all of the makings of a tantalizing rave-ready album.
On his ninth CD Last Night, Moby–the shiny domed and bespectacled unassuming club-fiend–goes back to his shimmering house roots complete with twinkling disco allusions, diva-worthy guest-vocalists and haunting cryptic samples that are sure to make sense after a proper inebriation session. Very much like an eventful night out in the big city or a steamy heavy-petting rendezvous, Last Night ebbs and flows with instinctual timing that mimics the natural progression of dance or the buildup, climax and release of a hookup with moments of excitement, lulls and seamless transitions that make for lasting momentum.
The disc commences with the robotic chant of “Ooh Yeah,” a layered synth-driven track that manages to be both ethereal and dreamy as well as addictively rhythmic thanks to a steady, pulsating beat. “Move in Here” is a slinky jam with heartbeat-like percussion and a lazy Caribbean groove. Rounding out the song are airy vocals provided by R&B singer Chrissi Poland and some verses from legendary rapper Grandmaster Caz, who lends Moby his old skool-style street prose. “Everyday it’s 1989” is a seething mash-up of ’90s house must-haves: soulful yet shrieking guest vocals, exhilarating and cinematic keyboards and slightly discernible but inspirational lyrics.
I guess you could say that Moby got his groove back. By channeling the heart of the New York dance experience and time-traveling back to a musical time and place he helped to define, Last Night is not only a dance album, but a strangely transcendent sonic experience that would definitely make Larry Levan, the father of house music, feel proud.