Moby: 18
Getting past the abhorrant and nearly intolerable first single, "We Are All Made of Stars" (thankfully it's track one so you can just skip it the moment you pop the disc into your player), 18 is a surprisingly crisp and solid effort from Moby.
While nowhere near a progression in sound, it is a logical extention of Play, expanding upon similar themes and recontextualizing the atmosphere. It's as mellancholy as Play, but oddly it conveys a greater sense of happiness, despite the relatively dour piano loops and epic electro-sweeps.
The status quo isn't maintained, as Moby plays with some older styles, revisiting some formulae from "everything is wrong" on "In My Heart", going forward with a very hippin-hoppin sound (which he should examine further) on "Jam for the Ladies" (feat. Angie Stone and MC Lyte!), and dabbling in trip-hop with "Another Woman" and "At Least We Tried".
The liner notes come complete with Moby in his spacesuit in the desert, the usual Moby rant, and a happy-Moby-picture-fun-foldout (including Moby shot with a Lomo!).
Definitely not the blockbuster Play was, but smooth and palatable for almost every crowd.