Moby reflects on 31-year-old feud with Aphex twin

As the modern music industry has been watching the drama play out between Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Future, J.Cole, and other rappers, a much older beef between two electronic music legends was recently touched upon. 31 years after touring together, Moby reflects on what led to his fallout with Aphex Twin and where things stand today.

Way back in 1993, Moby, Aphex Twin, and Orbital embarked on a co-headline tour that for fans of the music would seem like an incredible experience all around. Unfortunately, tensions rose quickly behind the scenes, especially with Moby opting to fly to each gig while the other two artists traveled via tour bus. This choice by Moby seemed to lead to a rift between him and Aphex Twin. In his 2016 memoir Porcelain, the American producer stated, ‘He called me an elitist in the press, when actually I just had crippling tour-bus-inspired insomnia.’ The tension between the producers was heightened as Aphex Twin seemed to mock Moby in the press, going so far as to call him a ‘buffoon’ while questioning why the two were even booked on the same tour.

Despite the significant passing of time, the two have never resolved this animosity with Moby simply stating, ‘I don’t have any ill will towards anyone.’ Diving deeper into the animosity, he said:

‘What I loved about house music and rave culture was the celebration and joy of freeing yourself from all the repression and inhibition. [But] I felt like there was that period in the early ’90s where the intelligentsia were trying to kill off that joyful expression of emotion that made rave culture so transcendent. It did feel like, on the part of the intelligentsia, there was a collective embarrassment about the emotional expression of rave culture. It rubbed me the wrong way, because I love underground electronic music. I always have, even going back even to the ’70s and the ’80s.’

Although it is unfortunate that fans around the world will clearly never get to see Moby and Aphex Twin share the stage again, Moby is moving forward with his onw massive tour. In September, Moby will be celebrating his iconic album Play, the largest selling electronic album of all time, with a tour of Europe. Perhaps even more impressive, he won’t be making any money from the trek as 100% of the profits will be donated to European animal rights organizations. Check out his tour itinerary at the official Moby website for tickets.

Tags: Moby, Aphex Twin, Orbital, Play, tour, feud, Porcelain