Lunar Tool - demo tape

1. To The Moon
2. Cheggers Smokes Pot

Album Cover:

Total Playing Time: - m:s

Review date: 12/07/2000

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The band describe their music as "kind of funky psychedelic grooves combined with electronic sounds and hip-hop, plus a hint of rock". A diverse set of influences includes James Brown, George Clinton, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Public Enemy, De-La-Soul, Super Furries, Stevie Wonder, Beastie Boys & Gomez. After listening to tape and then going back to re-read the bio to write this review, I can hear a few of those influences coming through.

First track, "To The Moon", floats in on a sea of funky guitars. The mid-tempo verse gives way to the speeded up, more forceful stance of the chorus. I detected some distinctly Jimi Hendrix influenced guitar happening on this track as well. "Cheggers Smokes Pot" once again has a "funk thang goin' on". This largely instrumental track has got just about everything thrown in, including the kitchen sink - hip-hop samples, what sounds like a siren and a lead synth part that is a dead ringer for "Telstar", all superimposed on the funky/blues guitar backdrop. A few reference points from my own record collection would The James Taylor Quartet, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Hawkwind.

This is a bit of a departure from the normal style of music reviewed here at Mood Swings and the first listen was a bit of a shock, albeit a pleasant one. I listened to this quite often between the other albums reviewed this month and found it let me approach the more conventional Mood Swings albums with a new perspective.

At the end of the day, the band's approach might just be that bit too contemporary to make me go out and buy an album by the band, but, based on this demo, I think the band have enough ideas to create an interesting and worthwhile album.