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Yet a miracle has happened, the core group of artists behind the magic has got back together (first and foremost Adrian Flanagan and frontman Lias Saoudi, here under the mantle of Johnny Rocket), and we now have a second record, 'No Rocket Required', the arrival of which has been heralded by a series of singles which already gave a sense of how broad the range of this album was going to be.
Being a band that is all but fictional, with a very loosely established line-up and very little pressure to attain chart placements, grants The Moonlandingz almost absolute artistic freedom. Where they had already taken advantage of this in the first album, there is an even stronger feeling that the band went into the studio with no holds barred, ready to follow whatever inspiration caught them to whatever end it took them. The result is a record that may well be described as beautifully demented, yet surprisingly cohesive despite the amount of ground it covers, jumping from one type of sound to the next to such an extent that any attempt to classify it within a music genre would be futile.
A quick run-down of the tracks is enough to spotlight the impressive range: you get a boppy, Krautrock-influenced earworm in 'Sign of a Man', easily the catchiest track on the album and perhaps the most obviously influenced by Saoudi’s other life as frontman of the Fat White Family; a postmodern, electronica-adjacent bop in 'The Insects Have Been Shat On' (truly a trademark Moonlandingz title), and a frantically danceable romp in 'Yama Yama'.
'All Out of Pop' keeps faith to its name by being pretty much the polar opposite of the pop tracks dominating the charts, with its slightly disorienting distortions and a production that brings the mind back to ‘80s Berlin. The album closer, 'The Krack Drought Suite (pt. 1-3)' is exactly what you might imagine from that title – an almost ten-minute long fever dream that catapults the listener straight into a rave, with sections that are pure gabba, classic Dutch EDM, something very close to jungle, and more. It is a fitting way to wrap up an album that never really does what you expect it to do – quite possibly because the band has made it impossible by design to cultivate any expectations at all.
The Moonlandingz are aided in this delightful mischief by a truly star-studded list of collaborators. Syd Minsky-Sargeant, elsewhere of Working Men’s Club, is credited in several of the tracks, and his influence in the studio is clearly heard, especially in the way that the synth sections are incorporated in the music. Jessica Winter lends her unmistakable brand of subversive pop to 'Stink Foot', and Nadine Shah’s vocals make for a deeply atmospheric texture as she duets with Saoudi to great effect in 'Roustabout'. Iggy Pop himself is the voice of the most intimate, most deeply touching track on the record, 'It’s Where I’m From', which marks the midpoint of the album with a moment of surprisingly unironic self-reflection. Opener 'Some People’s Music' starts with a little spoken-word piece voiced by none other but Ewen Bremner, of 'Trainspotting' fame.
It feels almost like a little miracle of subversive music, to see such talent come together to bring to life a record that, in the current landscape of commercial music, should have no reason to exist – and by existing offers a real breath of fresh air.
If something is frustrating in the existence of this record, it is the fact that it shows what alternative paths could be possible for music if more artists chose to fully embrace their drive for creativity, with less concern for what will or will not sell, what will or will not chart.
For all its love of sarcasm and at times openly confrontational attitude, 'No Rocket Required' leaves its most lasting impression as a true testament to the joy of making music, with no need for further superstructure. It is a feeling that should be more often rediscovered – but perhaps a band that isn’t really a band is exactly what was needed to do it.
