Moby’s apartment in New York doesn’t look like the home of a million-selling pop star. A tin of soup rests on the draining board; shelves strain beneath the weight of records. Only a wall of gold and platinum discs – for 2005’s Hotel, 2002’s 18, and 1999’s global mega-hit Play – give him away.
Like Moby, the apartment block in Little Italy has history. Iggy Pop, Sonic Youth and the Beastie Boys used to rehearse in the basement. Dinosaur Jr’s old label, Blast First, had US offices downstairs. And now? “It’s filled with wealthy Europeans,” sighs the building’s longest-standing resident (he has lived here for 15 years). “It used to be little old ladies sitting in their apartments and Latino kids selling crack on the corner. Now it’s expensive shoe stores. If I let myself, I can get wistful about the changes.”
