theartsdesk Q&A: Musician Moby

Moby, punk, electronic orchestrator and self-confessed nerd

New York electro star talks airport fiction, addiction, photography and Lady Gaga

Moby (b 1965) has been a presence on the dance scene and in global clubland for two decades. He is best known for the multimillion-selling 1999 album Play which, among other things, combined lush electronic orchestration with old field recordings of a cappella blues shouters. Moby's musical career, however, began at least a decade earlier.

Photo Gallery: Moby, Destroyed

'Unattended Luggage Will Be Destroyed': Moby makes stark photographic use of an airport sign

A photographic art book documenting the everyday reality of global touring

As well as a new album, Destroyed, Moby is putting out a book of photographic prints under the same title. The idea of the book is to capture the essence of being on a global tour, from the mundanity of waiting in airports to the majesty of landscapes and cities, from the explosive excitement of stadium-sized crowds to the solitude of hotel rooms at night. The images will also be on display in the Proud Gallery in Camden Town, north London. theartsdesk showcases a selection below.

theartsdesk Q&A: DJ Annie Nightingale

Annie Nightingale: 'There’s nobody I know in my age group who remotely likes this kind of thing. I don’t understand why. I really don’t. I’m driven by it. It grabs me by the throat'

The legendary DJ explains why she'll never be part of the mainstream

In 1970, Annie Nightingale became Radio 1’s first female DJ. The appointment was made somewhat grudgingly - DJs, believe it or not (and we’re talking about the likes of Ed “Stewpot” Stewart and Tony Blackburn here), were perceived to be “husband substitutes” and it was generally accepted that a female voice would alienate the listeners. And yet 40 years later, Nightingale is the only DJ left from the original line-up.

theartsdesk Q&A: Producer/DJ Richie Hawtin

Minimal techno kingpin Richie Hawtin deals with those allegations of over-seriousness head on

How big is it possible for minimal to get?

It's only after hanging up the Skype connection to Richie Hawtin that I realise how effective a branding exercise he has made the interview. In conversation the English-born, Canadian-raised Berlin resident is charming and smart, but listening back I realise that he has subtly repeated the names of his projects and products over and over, with the slickness of a high-flying salesman. But then you don't sustain a 20-year career making relentlessly odd music - yet still be regularly ranked in the very top flight of global club DJs alongside perma-tanned monstrosities more likely to be seen schmoozing Madonna or the Black Eyed Peas than in an underground rave bunker - without knowing a few tricks of the trade.

Mark Ronson & The Business Intl/ Rose Elinor Dougall, Hackney Empire

The perfect venue for the pan-Atlantic producer/hipster's aural revue

Hackney’s Empire is the perfect venue for pan-Atlantic producer/hipster Mark Ronson’s vehicle The Business Intl. New album Record Collection is an aural revue – with guests ranging from Eighties idols Boy George and Simon Le Bon through Wu Tang’s Ghostface Killah to Andrew Wyatt of Swedish dance-poppers Miike Snow. A former musical hall, it’s a fitting showcase for Ronson’s portmanteau sensibility. It’s as if variety was primed for a comeback at this show, the second of six smallish-venue road-test dates. In support, his Business Intl colleague, Rose Elinor Dougall, trod the boards on the heels of her recent solo album Without Why.

Charlie Gillett 1942-2010

Charlie Gilett: Influential and much loved

Worldwide tributes pour in to the much-loved world music pioneer

The music world is reeling from the death of Charlie Gillett. He was not just an influential DJ who was instrumental in widening the listening habits of millions of listeners on his World Service and other radio shows, a journalist, writer and a key figure in promoting global music. He was also a beacon of decency and rare integrity in the music world who affected so many people. Heartfelt tributes have been pouring into his site with postings from complete strangers the other side of the world, to members of his family and even his post-man.

theartsdesk Q&A: DJ Mary Anne Hobbs

TAD AT 5: A SELECTION OF OUR Q&A HIGHLIGHTS – DJ Mary Anne Hobbs

Radio 1's queen of the small hours on life, the universe and bootleg Maltesers

Immediately following the death of radio DJ John Peel in 2004, it became clear very rapidly that there was no obvious heir apparent. With so many specialist shows on the station, nobody ran the full gamut of leftfield and underground music in the same way that Peel had. But if anyone comes close, it is Mary Anne Hobbs.

Rustie, Dâm Funk, Lightbox

Electronic funk pioneers prevail in awkward circumstances

Londoners, we know, can be spoilt. Certainly the crowd, predominantly of nerds in rare and expensive trainers, at the Lightbox last night didn't seem to be overly bubbling with enthusiasm despite an exciting lineup of talent and astonishing surroundings. The main dancefloor area of Lightbox lives up to the club's name, being an arched space with the entire wall/ceiling surface covered in colour-changing LED lights that allow pictures and patterns to dance across the room. 

theartsdesk Q&A: DJ Kode 9

The philosopher-king of UK bass muses on five years of Hyperdub

Glasgow-born, south London resident Steve Goodman – better known to discerning lovers of modern music as Kode 9 – has a unique and privileged position in relation to the ever-shifting UK dance music underground.  In the mid 90s he formed part of the slightly cultish Cybernetic Culture Research Unit (CCRU) founded by Sadie Plant and Nick Land at the University of Warwick, where he gained a PhD in philosophy.

FaltyDL, Plastic People

Rising NYC genre-blending producer/DJ clicks with London's clubbers

Club music has always been a mongrel creation.  By definition, DJ-driven music – assuming the DJ is any good – is about combination, recombination and juxtaposition.  But even allowing for all that, we are currently going through an uncommonly fecund time in the clubs as disparate fringe innovations of the last decade collide and combine.