Moonshake

Experimental pop group Moonshake formed under the leadership of Dave Callahan, previously the frontman for C-86 act the Wolfhounds. Following an extended absence from music, he reemerged in early 1991 by running an advertisement in Melody Maker to recruit collaborators. Vocalist Margaret Fiedler, bassist John Frenett, and drummer Michael Rother answered the call. Four days after assembling, the quartet—taking its name from a cut on Can’s Future Days—entered the studio to cut its debut EP, First, for Creation Records.

Switching to Too Pure, the band issued the Secondhand Clothes EP in late 1992 and followed it soon after with Beautiful Pigeon. Eva Luna closed the year, a dense fusion of breakbeats and guitar noise that drew on dub, Krautrock, and hip-hop. After the 1993 release Big Good Angel, Fiedler—who divided vocal and songwriting responsibilities with Callahan—and Frenett departed to launch Laika. New bassist Matt Brewer and saxophonist Raymond M. Dickaty joined, and Moonshake recorded 1995’s The Sound Your Eyes Can Follow, which largely abandoned guitars for an expansive range of samples. Following 1996’s Dirty & Divine, Callahan’s relocation from London to New York precipitated the group’s breakup in mid-1997.