This came out in 2005 — or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Hotel is a pretty funny album title, coming from a guy who records everything in his bedroom. Then again, Moby is a pretty funny guy. Funny and eclectic.
During the last 15 years, the Mobester has made all kinds of different music: Techno and ambient, electro-blues and rock, punk and metal. This time, he’s made yet another kind: Music without samples. That’s right; for the first time in a long time, Moby has stopped borrowing bits of other folks’ songs and opted to write and play everything himself (well, except for the live drums, which he got a friend to play, and except for a couple of female vocals that he got a friend to sing, but you get the idea).
Which is not to say that he’s reinvented himself from scratch or anything. Most of these 15 tracks more or less pick up where 18’s We Are All Made of Stars left off, with plenty of glammy space-rock guitars, grand pianos, shimmery new wave synths, giant hooks and arena-sized choruses. And despite the icy post-modern ambience and Moby’s dusty, restrained vocals, not to mention a second disc of burbly ambient soundscapes, most of this 57-minute set is undeniably streamlined and commercial.
To put it another way: Without all his samples and loops, Moby sounds kinda like David Bowie circa ’78. And Hotel sounds a little like the missing link between Lodger and Scary Monsters. Which is pretty funny. Even for a guy like Moby.
