Moby sadly remembers his feud with Aphex Twin

Moby he reflected on relationships in the early 1990s with his colleague Aphex Twinadmitting that “there was a certain sadness” in what had happened and stating: “it shook me, because I love underground electronic music.”

The conflict between the two dates back to a 1993 joint headlining tour on which they performed Moby, Aphex Twin And Orbital. On that occasion, tension developed between the two artists due in part to Moby's insistence on traveling to every concert by plane, while the others went by tour bus. In a recent interview with Moby which appeared on Stereogum, the artist recalled regarding his desire to stop on the plane: “The press defined me as an elitist, when in reality I suffered from paralyzing insomnia due to the tour bus”.

During the interview the American electronic artist addressed the issue of the dispute with Aphex Twin by saying: “There was a certain sadness in what was happening, because I really liked his records. I particularly liked it”Selected Ambient Works 85-92”. I went on that tour with the feeling and the spirit of, “Hey, we're all in this together.” I realized pretty quickly that they didn't think the same way.”

“Luckily it happened a long time ago,” he added. “I have no hard feelings towards anyone. But there seemed to be a collective embarrassment among the intelligentsia about the emotional expression of rave culture. It shook me, because I love underground electronic music. I've always done it, even in the 70s and 80s.

Moby (Richard Melville Hall, great-grandson of the author of “Moby Dick” from whom he takes his stage name) had already spoken about the issue in 2016 in the podcast “Rave Curious”, recalling that Aphex Twin had called him “just a buffoon” and said he “couldn't understand” why Moby was put on tour with him.

The American artist said that in his opinion “it was a shame” because he had been a fan of Richard David James (Aka Aphex Twin), but it was “hard to continue liking someone's music when you know they despise you.”

Even in his autobiography “Porcelain” (2016) Moby recalled the episode, writing: “I wanted to like Aphex Twin, because I loved his records. But he rarely spoke to anyone and when he gave interviews he criticized me for playing the guitar on stage.”

In this new interview with Stereogum Moby continued explaining his relationship with electronic music. “What I loved about house music and rave culture was the celebration and joy of breaking free from all the repression and inhibition,” he said. “It's been going on for a long time. Expressions of emotion make people uncomfortable: I mean, I'm a WASP from Connecticut (WASP stands for “white Anglo-Saxon Protestant” (i.e. white people of Anglo-Saxon origin and Protestant religion and culture), but I have always gravitated towards art that openly puts one's heart on one's sleeve and I felt as if there was that period, in the early 1900s 90, where the intelligentsia was trying to kill that joyful expression of emotion that made rave culture so transcendent.”

In September Moby will return to tour Europe to celebrate the 25th anniversary of “Play”, the best-selling electronic album of all time.

It will be his first tour in 10 years and will start at the O2 in London on September 19th, then travel to Antwerp, Berlin, Dusseldorf and Paris.