S.L.R. Magazine

Acclaimed electronic musician, producer and activist Moby shares all-new remixes with two disc, 58-track album, always centered at night remixes out now via Mute alongside “wild flame (dark1 remix)” featuring Danaé. The whopping LP comes following Quiet Home DJ Mix and a sold out September 2024 EU/UK tour celebrating 25 years of Play.

Moby opens up the sheer scope of the acan album project with a meaty 58-track remix album. The latest single, out today, is the cosmic “dark1” remix of “wild flame” which finds Danaé delightful vocals shimmering over loose congas, spacey synths and intricate rhythms. The new, re-worked tracks see Moby breathe new life into the 2023 original body of work. Thrilled to share the jam-packed project, Moby says, “I felt that the collaborations on ‘always centered at night’ were each so special that I wanted to create remixes to give the vocals as many sonic backgrounds as possible.”

Even by Moby’s standards, always centered at night is a bit special. The album features 13 collaborations in all, from names one might recognize to others listeners undoubtedly will come to recognize. Lead single “dark days” was recorded with acclaimed soul-jazz singer-songwriter Lady Blackbird, a defiant, rhythmic work propelled by her alluring, deep vocals and earnest soul. Other collaborators include serpentwithfeet on the achingly beautiful “on air,” and Benjamin Zephaniah on the propulsive, break- beat driven “where is your pride?,” a spoken word with a powerful message delivered in the late dub poet’s characteristically warm Handsworth burr. “As a vegan activist, and as a wise and compassionate man, Benjamin inspired me for many years,” says Moby. “I hope that ‘where is your pride?’ honors his legacy and also draws people’s attention to his life, work, and principles.”

Other wonderful voices on always centered at night include Sudanese, Netherlands-based chanteuse Gaidaa on “transit,” London based Burundian royal refugee J.P. Bimeni, and Kingston raised, London based Aynzli Jones.

Always centered at night–the album–is the continuation of the project of the same name that Moby announced in 2022. He saw this project as a similar service to the idiosyncratic New York record shops that he frequented in the late 1980s, where he’d hear something recondite and exciting and it would open up whole new worlds. always centered at night was his way of working with special writers and vocalists to make songs inspired by the spirit of musical discovery.

In his pursuit of new sounds, Moby has become something of a collector of voices. He’s a connoisseur of the timbre and texture of human vocal chords, whether sampling artists like Bessie Jones, Vera Hall or Boy Blue on Play, or working with superstars like David Bowie, Ozzy Osborne and Britney Spears; “I’m always looking. Sometimes it’s about going on YouTube. Sometimes it’s Spotify. Other times, it’s just walking around Lower Manhattan going to karaoke places, where I’ve actually found a couple of singers. It’s this constant process of looking for voices, and getting excited and inspired when I find a wonderful voice.”

These are often personal songs, and the personal is the political, as is the border-defying nature of the work. Moreover, they’re crepuscular, conceived at twilight, with many of the styles of the last 30 years in electronic music coming to the fore, such as the trip-hoppy “we’re going wrong” featuring Brie O’Banion, the broken beat, almost drum ‘n’ bass influenced “medusa” (with the aforementioned Aynzli Jones), or the Latin house of “feelings come undone” with Raquel Rodriguez.

Moby is a multi-platinum-selling, multi-award-winning singer, songwriter, producer, author, and animal rights activist. He has been a vegan and vegan activist for 35 years and last year released his directorial debut Punk Rock Vegan Movie via his production company Little Walnut, a passionate and stylistically idiosyncratic look at the ongoing relationship between the worlds of punk rock and animal rights. It includes interviews with some of the biggest names in punk and rock history.

The expansive, fresh remix album, always centered at night remixes–complete with two discs and 58 tracks–is out now via Mute. Keep up with all things Moby on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

always centered at night remixes (LP)

Tracklisting

Disc 1

1. transit (july 2 remix) ft. Gaidaa
2. transit (dec 31 remix) ft. Gaidaa
3. transit (oct 1 remix) ft. Gaidaa
4. where is your pride (remix 3) ft. Benjamin Zephaniah
5. where is your pride (act tone remix) ft. Benjamin Zephaniah
6. where is your pride (minimal moby remix) ft. Benjamin Zephaniah
7. where is your pride (march 29 remix) ft. Benjamin Zephaniah
8. wild flame (dark1 remix) ft. Danaé
9. wild flame (dec 31 remix) ft. Danaé
10. wild flame (dec 31 shorter remix) ft. Danaé
11. wild flame (dubbed moby mix) ft. Danaé
12. on air (intervals remix) ft. serpentwithfeet
13. precious mind (dark remix) ft. India Carney
14. dark days (dub mix) ft. Lady Blackbird
15. where is your pride (Essel remix) ft. Benjamin Zephaniah
16. dark days (Nitefreak remix) ft. Lady Blackbird
17. should sleep (Prins Thomas extended mix) ft. JP Bimeni
18. feelings come undone (piano remix) ft. Raquel Rodriquez
19. on air (house remix1) ft. serpentwithfeet
20. feelings come undone (dec 27 remix) ft. Raquel Rodriquez
21. feelings come undone (remix 2 remix) ft. Raquel Rodriguez
22. feelings come undone (june1 remix) ft. Raquel Rodriquez
23. precious mind (april 23 remix) ft. India Carney
24. sweet moon (remix1) ft. Choklate
25. on air (breaks remix) ft. serpentwithfeet
26. fall back (july9 dub) ft. Akemi Fox
27. dark days (analog remix) ft. Lady Blackbird
28. precious mind (lo fi remix) ft. India Carney
29. fall back (quiet version) ft. Akemi Fox
30. ache for (quiet version) ft. Jose James
31. dark days (remix 2) ft. Lady Blackbird
32. medusa (808 mix) ft. Aynzli Jones
33. should sleep (two guitars remix) ft. JP Bimeni

Disc 2

1. should sleep (prins thomas diskomix) ft. JP Bimeni
2. precious mind (cassette remix) ft. India Carney
3. dark days (vanco remix) ft. Lady Blackbird
4. dark days (undercatt remix) ft. Lady Blackbird
5. dark days (tonic walter remix) ft. Lady Blackbird
6. dark days (reznik remix) ft. Lady Blackbird
7. sweet moon (jung remix) ft. Choklate
8. we’re going wrong (moby remix) ft. Brie O’Banion
9. transit (lafayette remix) ft. Gaidaa
10. transit (west st remix) ft. Gaidaa
11. ache for (915 remix) ft. Jose James
12. ache for (breaks remix) ft. Jose James
13. ache for (a cappella) ft. Jose James
14. fall back (coco bryce remix) ft. Akemi Fox 
15. fall back (remix 1) ft. Akemi Fox
16. fall back (ama remix) ft. Akemi Fox
17. fall back (a cappella) ft. Akemi Fox
18. on air (strings version) ft. serpentwithfeet
19. on air (4am version) ft. serpentwithfeet
20. on air (shadows version) ft. serpentwithfeet
21. on air (analog version) ft. serpentwithfeet
22. on air (a cappella) ft. serpentwithfeet
23. medusa (innocents mix) ft. Aynzli Jones
24. medusa (moby mix) ft. Aynzli Jones
25. medusa (a cappella) ft. Aynzli Jones

About Moby

Moby was born Richard Melville Hall, in Harlem, in 1965. His father gave him his nickname, Moby, when he was 10 minutes old, because of his hereditary relationship to Herman Melville. Moby started playing classical music and studying music theory when he was 9 and came of age musically in the punk rock scene in and around New York in the early 80’s. He released his first single, “Go,” in 1991 (listed as one of Rolling Stone magazine’s best records of all time) and has been making albums ever since. He has sold over 20,000,000 albums worldwide.

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