Moonraker

Ever since the band's formation in the late 1990s, Moonraker has been extremely difficult to categorize. Alternative pop/rock is part of what they do, but the East Coast residents' dreamy, hypnotic, jazzy work has just as much to do with urban contemporary, funk, disco, and club/dance music. Portishead, Radiohead, Björk, U2, David Bowie, and Steely Dan have all been cited as influences, but Moonraker's sound also brings to mind the soulful grooves of Erykah Badu, India.Arie, N'Dea Davenport, and the Brand New Heavies. In fact, Moonraker's lead singer, Kelli Scarr, has such an R&B-minded vocal style that she would probably sound perfectly natural singing in the Heavies or performing a vocal duet with Badu, Davenport, or India.Arie. One term that Moonraker's members have often used to describe their music is "livetronica," which is their way of saying that they have been greatly influenced by certain types of electronica but aren't totally electronic themselves. Moonraker's approach does, in fact, owe a lot to the softer, smoother, side of electronica -- as opposed to techno and the harsher, more abrasive forms of rave music -- and they have obviously been greatly influenced by trip-hop, chill-out, acid jazz, and downtempo. But unlike electronica artists whose recordings are totally or mostly programmed, Moonraker sounds like an honest to God band and uses real guitar, real bass, and real drums played in real time. They owe more to electronica's beats, rhythms, melodies, and harmonies than its totally high-tech production style. Moonraker got started around 1998, when three students at Boston University -- guitarist David Moltz, bassist Khodayar Akhavi, and drummer Daniel Mintzer -- started jamming together. Deciding that they needed a vocalist, the three of them placed...