Music
SXSW: Playboy Party with Moby and Justice
AUSTIN, Texas — A Playboy party is pretty much everything you’d expect. Almost all the drinks involve Jack Daniel’s. Everything you sit on is glittery enough for a Mariah Carey video. Bunnies and the men who guard them stroll amongst the common folk (although in this alternate universe the “common folk” look like they were flown in from Los Angeles). Dudes in raccoon costumes are posing for photos. And, oh look! It’s Perez Hilton!
But if said Playboy party happens to be at South by Southwest, then the musical vibe has to be a little more raw. This is indie rock spring break after all, and it’s likely that Kid Rock wouldn’t fare as well here as he would if he were throwing down at Hef’s. So for Playboy’s Rock the Rabbit party the likes of Moby, French electronica duo Justice, Brooklyn rockers MGMT and the U.K.’s own the Heavy were brought in to entertain the revelers.
“We were just like, ‘This will be a great opportunity to let people believe that we are playboys and cool guys, when actually we are just fucking dorks,” Justice’s Xavier de Rosnay joked to me before he went on. “Because tonight there’s like Moby. I mean, Mo-motherfucking-by, who I think is like the biggest playboy and gangster on Earth. We’re just Christian boys.”
In retrospect, he had a point. Even though MGMT and the Heavy put on first-rate sets, it wasn’t until Moby took to the stage that even the most jaded revelers, Playmates included, got into the groove. Moby’s been getting some props lately for his return to making great dance music, and he deserves it. But if Thursday’s, or rather Friday morning’s, performance is any indication, he’s back to prime form as a straight-up turntable man. By the time he dropped the apropos “Paradise City” by Guns ‘N Roses to end his set, a large chunk of the crowd was on stage surrounding his turntables as he played. More…
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