Moonshake was formed in 1991 by David Callahan (vocals, guitars, samplers), formerly of The Wolfhounds, and New York musician Margaret Fiedler (vocals, guitars, samplers). Callahan and Fiedler recorded a demo for Creation Records, and were joined by John Frenett (bass) and Miguel Morland (“Mig”, drums) to record and release the First EP for Creation in 1991 . They took their name from a 1973 single by Can. Both Fiedler and Callahan wrote songs, and they would (generally) sing on the songs that they wrote. Their output of shared inspiration produced wildly different results - Can, PIL, Kraftwerk, MBV, Erik B & Rakim were a melting pot that made Moonshake somewhat uncategorizable, and as Margaret noted in an interview, “Moonshake was a collision - it was supposed to be a collision.”
Their debut album Eva Luna took its name from a novel by Chilean author Isabel Allende and the tracks on it are split evenly between the two songwriters. Callahan’s songs are somewhat
angry, dissonant, post-punk affairs, while Fiedler’s are just as angular, but her quieter sometimes near whispered vocals compliment her writing partner’s equally. Producer/engineer Guy Fixsen, fresh from his work on My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless, was instrumental in making the album cohesive.
This album has been critically revisited often since its original release, with Tiny Mix Tapes describing their sound as “an updated take on Can and Public Image Limited’s rhythmic propulsion with noisier guitar work and a predilection for sampling influenced by The Young Gods.” Last year, in a wonderfully long piece to celebrate the album’s 30th anniversary, Louder Than War wrote that they were blown away by the album’s “utterly spellbinding, dizzyingly genre-defying approach at articulating explicitly the sound of a city in the throes of urban psychosis and derangement...Eva Luna really is one hell of a ground-breaking record, and it stands resolutely alone among all of the albums released in 1992 as no other band has managed to create anything remotely similar before or since. It really is a unique album with few equals.”
In 1993, the original incarnation of the band split up, and Margaret Fiedler and John Frenett went on to form Laika with Guy Fixsen. Callahan and Morland continued on with guest musicians, with Callahan ultimately remaining the band’s sole original member. Moonshake ended in 1997 but their legacy is indisputable.
Their debut album Eva Luna took its name from a novel by Chilean author Isabel Allende and the tracks on it are split evenly between the two songwriters. Callahan’s songs are somewhat
angry, dissonant, post-punk affairs, while Fiedler’s are just as angular, but her quieter sometimes near whispered vocals compliment her writing partner’s equally. Producer/engineer Guy Fixsen, fresh from his work on My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless, was instrumental in making the album cohesive.
This album has been critically revisited often since its original release, with Tiny Mix Tapes describing their sound as “an updated take on Can and Public Image Limited’s rhythmic propulsion with noisier guitar work and a predilection for sampling influenced by The Young Gods.” Last year, in a wonderfully long piece to celebrate the album’s 30th anniversary, Louder Than War wrote that they were blown away by the album’s “utterly spellbinding, dizzyingly genre-defying approach at articulating explicitly the sound of a city in the throes of urban psychosis and derangement...Eva Luna really is one hell of a ground-breaking record, and it stands resolutely alone among all of the albums released in 1992 as no other band has managed to create anything remotely similar before or since. It really is a unique album with few equals.”
In 1993, the original incarnation of the band split up, and Margaret Fiedler and John Frenett went on to form Laika with Guy Fixsen. Callahan and Morland continued on with guest musicians, with Callahan ultimately remaining the band’s sole original member. Moonshake ended in 1997 but their legacy is indisputable.
TRACK LISTING
1. City Poison
2. Sweetheart
3. Spaceship Earth
4. Beautiful Pigeon
5. Mugshot Heroine
6. Wanderlust
7. Tar Baby
8. Seen & Not Heard
9. Bleach & Salt Water
10. Little Thing
11. Secondhand Clothes
12. Blister
13. Beeside
14. Home Survival Kit
15. Drop In The Ocean
16. Coming (BBC Radio 1 John Peel Session)
17. Beautiful Pigeon (BBC Radio 1 John Peel Session)
18. Sweetheart (BBC Radio 1 John Peel Session)
19. Mugshot Heroine (BBC Radio 1 John Peel Session)