Moonraker

From the late 1990s onward, after forming, Moonraker resisted easy stylistic labels. The East Coast group merges alternative pop/rock with dreamy, hypnotic, jazzy textures that also align closely with urban contemporary, funk, disco, and club/dance. Influences cited by the band include Portishead, Radiohead, Björk, U2, David Bowie, and Steely Dan, while their grooves recall the soulful approach of Erykah Badu, India.Arie, N'Dea Davenport, and the Brand New Heavies. Lead vocalist Kelli Scarr brings such a strong R&B sensibility that her voice would integrate naturally with the Heavies or alongside Badu, Davenport, or India.Arie in a duet. The members often characterize their sound as "livetronica," underscoring their debt to certain strains of electronica while remaining grounded in live performance. Their work draws principally from the smoother, atmospheric wing of electronica rather than techno or harsher rave variants, incorporating elements of trip-hop, chill-out, acid jazz, and downtempo. Yet Moonraker operates as an actual band, relying on guitar, bass, and drums executed live instead of depending chiefly on programmed production.

Around 1998 the project began when Boston University students David Moltz on guitar, bassist Khodayar Akhavi, and drummer Daniel Mintzer started playing together. After placing ads seeking a singer, they connected with Kelli Scarr, then a Berklee College of Music graduate directing a jazz quartet. Scarr, who had moved from California to Boston for her studies at Berklee, shared enthusiasm for the same reference points listed in the ads—Portishead, Björk, Squarepusher, and Aphex Twin among them—and soon joined, recruiting keyboardist Dan "Shaolun" Chen. With this lineup the band gigged throughout Boston in the late 1990s and early 2000s, developing enough local attention to open for Joan Osborne and Ice-T. In 2002 the musicians left Boston for New York City and established themselves in Brooklyn.

After issuing independent recordings that included the debut album Nada Brahma, which moved roughly 3,000 copies, and the concert document Breathe...Live 2002, Moonraker signed with Immergent Records in 2003. The label released the self-titled album in September of that year, drawing some tracks from Nada Brahma, and scheduled another project for 2004.