Album Notes

File under Tiger rock: Ferocious yet beautiful.

Best new band in Boston is not a title given lightly to electronic rock innovators MOONRAKER. If a nod at the 2003 Boston Music Awards isn't enough to intrigue the listener, then check out Moonraker, their self-titled release on Immergent Recordings.

MOONRAKER met at school in Boston in 2000 and started experimenting with electronic music. As film students, David and Kody were immersed in off-beat cinema, which found its way into their long Friday night rehearsals. Their cohort Dan Mintzer soon found a passion for emulating the drum machine. With the addition of Daniel Chen and Kelli Scarr--by way of a street flyer --the band started playing gigs at TT the Bears and the Middle East. During the winter MOONRAKER won a Boston area contest that secured them enough money to record their debut LP Nada Brahma, which sold 5,000 copies independently.

Within the next two years, MOONRAKER was performing alongside Lake Trout, Elefant, Rainer Maria, Joan Osbourne, The Slip, DJ Spooky, and the Broken Social Scene, developing a faithful fan base across the border. The band won WBOS' Best New Band in Boston [in 2001] and received regular airplay on the Boston stations WERS and WBCN. Most recently, they were announced best new band at the 2003 BMAs.

The past year has brought big changes for the band's music, touring, and locale. They now reside in Brooklyn but are often touring across the country in the van; it shows in the music. Their new album serves as a document of a group constantly in flux. The self-titled Moonraker contains new recorded versions of songs from the LP Nada Brahma, tracks off the out-of-print Moonraker EP, and four new tracks ("Courageous World", "Salimander Skin", "Connected" and "Can I Love"). The album delivers a solid introduction to the eclectic sound of MOONRAKER. File Under: Björk, Portishead, early U2 and the Police.

From the band's inception, their creative purpose was, and still is, to let the music form itself. At an average age of twenty-two, they still have many creative frontiers to explore. They observe and contribute, but ultimately the music takes its course. They realize that music can be shaped but not controlled. Although the members of MOONRAKER are aware of music from the past, they do not let themselves be defined by it. Instead they look for new ways of crafting a song and performing it. Never stale for a moment, they are changing (even as you read this).