Moon Gangs at the Shackwell Arms

Moon Gangs is a young Londoner who plays analogue space electronic music. Following the path of artists like Tangerine Dream, Carpenter and Neu among others, and like a soundtrack of a movie about the Cold War, or a mock-umentary about the “fake” moon landing, Moon Gangs played out his analogical visions in Dalston.

Opening with Einstein’s paper about relativity and continuing with the race to space, the 20^th century has been the century of space. Thank God, or Jupiter, this curiosity about space has had a proper, out-of-this-world soundtrack created during the last century. Starting with the pioneering works of Václav Nelhýbel and following up with Vangelis (Blade Runner), Jean-Michel Jarre (Oxygène; Equinoxe), Brian Eno (Apollo; Music for Airports), Tangerine Dream (Alpha Century; Zeit; Phaedra), of course Klaus Schulze (Cyborg; Mirage) and Wendy Carlos (Switched-On Bach). The features of this kind of music are a spatial landscaping sound made with synths, sequencers and drum machines, plus an aesthetic that refers to space voyages, other planets and futuristic moods (English sci-fi literature from the 60s was often an inspiration to define this style). During the 80s this space analogue electronic music moved slowly into something else, becoming more related to horror movie soundtracks. John Carpenter was probably the most famous director and musician in terms of space music and his soundtracks of They Live, Halloween I and II, Dark Star and Christine.

This cultural background helps us to understand the music made by Moon Gangs at the Shackwell Arms. With his machines, wires and synth, this young guy played one long track for 40 minutes in front of an educated and interested audience. It has to be said that Moon Gangs is very respectful of the traditions and doesn’t really introduce new elements to this music, but its nature is rigid and standard. Thus, bravo!

Lorenzo Cibrario
Photos: Lorenzo Cibrario

For further information and future events visit Moon Gang’s website here.

 Watch the video for Sky here: