Exclusive to readers of the Observer newspaper in the United Kingdom and available with that newspaper and from certain outlets for the day of issue. 8 tracks selected by Moby + exclusive Moby interview.

A double-disc compilation of over two and a half hours of remixes, Auntie Aubrey's Excursions Beyond the Call of Duty, Pt. 1 includes Orb reworkings of well-known bands (Primal Scream, Erasure, Depeche Mode, Killing Joke) and more obscure acts (Keiichi Suzuki, Love Kittens). Several mixes sound a bit dated, and the scattershot quality of the set can distract listeners, but the inclusion of several epiphanous moments (Material's "Praying Mantra," Primal Scream's "Higher Than the Sun," and Sun Electric's "O'Locco") makes the album worthwhile for fans.

One of many great, unusual "World" compilations by Gülbahar Kültur. Very nice, relaxed oriental mood without being too traditional. Modern, chill world grooves far from the standard chillout.

An enchanting journey through nine responses to love, Banco de Gaia’s ninth studio album arrives at a time when the world needs it more than many of us may realise. Featuring special guest artists, from Pink Floyd’s Dick Parry, Zero 7’s Sophie Barker, The The’s James Eller and No-Man’s Tim Bowness, The 9th of Nine Hearts is a celebration of the spark in all of us: the concept of love itself. Fusing ambient, psychedelia, art rock and acid house, each track evolves naturally into the next, with love the starting point to them all.

A lounge electronica compilation series by french DJ Stéphane Pompougnac.
Alif Tree's “Belle,” Soundstream’s remix of Rhythm & Sound's “Free for All,” Freedom Dub's hushed cover of the Rolling Stones' “Emotional Rescue,” Gotan Project's “Diferente,” and Status IV's “You Ain’t Really Down” highlight Stéphane Pompougnac's ninth commercial mix for Paris’ Hôtel Costes. Pompougnac opens the disc with his version of Ennio Morricone's “The Ballad of Sacco and Vanzetti” and gently settles into another assortment of contemporary dance tracks that mirrors his lush, downtempo aesthetic.

After the success of his album Apollo, Banco returns with Ollopa, a remix album that turns its source on its head: not only have the name and original track order been reversed, but the artwork is inverted too, with the sun becoming the moon and other symbols flipped upside down. The collection starts with Tripswitch’s sublime remix of Acquiescence, which builds slowly from an ambient opening into a downtempo delight, setting the tone nicely for both Antipodean duo, Deep Fried Dub, who add a cheeky dancehall lick to Oreia, and the high priests of sacred bass, Desert Dwellers, whose jittery yet soothing remix of All Sleeping is like sonic incense for the mind and body…

No one, least of all Moby, expected the album Play to be the runaway success that it was. The album had been out for nearly a year and a half by the time "South Side" was plucked for single release. "South Side," with added vocals courtesy of No Doubt's Gwen Stefani, proved to be a smash with considerable staying power, eventually peaking in the U.S. Top 20. The maxi-single, stocked with remixes and bonus tracks, proved quite a treat for fans. Not only did it include the Gwen Stefani version, but also the original album version (for comparison purposes), two remixes, one instrumental, and two bonus tracks. The version of "South Side" with Gwen Stefani is a no-brainer - turning the song into a duet immediately fleshed out the vocals and made it stronger and edgier than the original…

Recorded during the Hotel tour in 2005, the DVD features classic Moby tracks such as Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?, We Are All Made of Stars, Natural Blues, Go, Porcelain and Lift Me Up as well as a cover of Lou Reed's Walk on the Wild Side. Included on the DVD are the videos for Lift Me Up, Beautiful, Raining Again, Spiders and Dream About Me plus TWO bonus films, unavailable elsewhere. Little Movie #1 is a jaunt around the world, filmed by Moby with 'Dream About Me' as the soundtrack, and shows a glimpse of life on the road while Mr Fish is a humorous puppet film starring Mr. Fish. The DVD comes backed with an exclusive remix CD featuring tracks from the latest album Hotel remixed by, amongst others, Mylo, Tiga, Steve Angello, Booka Shade and Axwell…

Apollo is Banco's first new studio album in 7 years and brings together heavy dub beats, powerful vocal arrays, and lilting melodies, drawing inspiration from both old and new schools of sonic artistry, and in doing so blending the subtle flavours of the act's historical sound with modern day techniques and ideas.
Apollo opens with the powerful and evocative Lamentations, featuring the ethereal vocals of Zhenia Mahdi-Nau, before slipping into Wimble Toot, whose initially stuttering drums and bass build into a relentless rhythm, peppered with reggae style horns and saxophone, nicely setting the scene for the foot stomping, dust raising, dancefloor rousing Eternal Sunshine…

Following a notorious flirtation with alternative rock, Moby returned to the electronic dance mainstream on the 1997 album I Like to Score. With 1999's Play, he made yet another leap back toward the electronica base that had passed him by during the mid-'90s. The first two tracks, "Honey" and "Find My Baby," weave short blues or gospel vocal samples around rather disinterested breakbeat techno. This version of blues-meets-electronica is undoubtedly intriguing to the all-important NPR crowd, but it is more than just a bit gimmicky to any techno fans who know their Carl Craig from Carl Cox. Fortunately, Moby redeems himself in a big way over the rest of the album with a spate of tracks that return him to the evocative, melancholy techno that's been a specialty since his early days…

To celebrate two decades of creating ambient and downtempo electronica under the name Banco de Gaia, Toby Marks put together this enjoyable if slightly uneven two-disc set, a retrospective of sorts that takes a fresh look at his past rather than simply gathering and recapitulating it. On the first disc, he reinterprets both his own work (longtime fans will get a particular kick out of his Euro-trance reconstruction of "Soufie") and that of others - Hawkwind's "Spirit of the Age" is given a long, luxurious interpretation that incorporates elements of house, funk, and ska, while King Crimson's "Starless" gets an even longer - and frankly rather plodding - arrangement of its own. His most ambitious experiment on the first disc is a rendition of Pink Floyd's "Echoes" that lasts fully 22 minutes - an impressive feat, and one that does a fine job of blending Marks's own personal electronic vision seamlessly with Floyd's unique sound…

"Ferengistan" is a term used in Central Asia to denote an imaginary place that represents the superficiality and materialism that too often characterize Western culture. So there's no real secret to the message behind this album by Toby Marks, aka Banco de Gaia. While the music is (thankfully) free of didactic lyrics, its instrumental tracks were written with serious matters of geopolitics in mind: one track has reference to a law recently passed in Mongolia, reinstating the use of surnames (a practice previously forbidden under Communist rule); the ironically titled "Harmonious G8" consists of eight overdubbed vocals, each an improvisation by a singer from one of the G8 nations; "White Man's Burden" requires little amplification. If you're not interested in the politics, you can just relax and enjoy the variously danceable and relaxing moods that Marks creates…