Back in 2017, Fat White Family spin-off The Moonlandingz released their debut long player. It was a glorious hark back to the halcyon days of both goth and glam, at the same time brushing shoulders with several other genres too. It was an unmitigated triumph. So clearly, the obvious approach is to make another album along the same lines, right? That’s the sensible thing to do, isn’t it?
Nope. No Rocket Required sounds absolutely fuck all like its predecessor. This complete disregard for fans of their inaugural record could have been a disaster. But it isn’t. Against all odds, The Moonlandingz have crafted another great album. Take a look at me now. I’m grinning from ear to ear.
The pulsating opening track, ‘Some People’s Music‘, features a spoken word rant from Trainspotting star Ewen Bremner, and it is, as a result, impossible not to make a connection between this and the ‘Choose Life‘ introduction from that seminal film. It’s a hypnotic number and ends up with a foul-mouthed tirade – “I’d rather go blind and deaf than have to listen to this shit or have to look at the record cover” – that is both amusing and intense, which is quite wonderful actually.
Recent single ‘Sign Of A Man‘, on the other hand, sounds like a High-NRG gay club classic, recalling the 1970s disco chops of Giorgio Moroder and the 80s synthpop of Pet Shop Boys. It’s a strong start indeed, before we come to the album’s only other single to date, the dreamier ‘Roustabout‘, with Nadine Shah‘s not inconsiderable vocal prowess being put to great use, halfway between Massive Attack and something from the Far East.
‘The Insects Have Been Shat On‘ the sound of fucked up paranoia over bleeps and loops that evoke memories of 1980s arcade games, and then ‘It’s Where I’m From‘ is a totally unexpected treat, featuring Iggy Pop, that sounds more Willie Nelson than The Stooges. Who knew that The Moonlandingz were capable of making music this affecting? It’s really great.
‘All Out Of Pop‘ has a kind of sexy swagger about it, which is somewhat contradicted by the lyrics “Daddy’s all out of pop / You’d better get down the shop“. It’s slightly disturbing and a little out of place, maybe, but then again, is anything ever out of place on a Moonlandingz album? These buggers are all over the place.
‘Yama Yama‘ feels like you’ve walked into one of those hidden away alcoves at a music festival and been inducted into some kind of dancing cult, its self-proclaimed leader vocalising repetitive chants over a 1990s underground dance rhythm, ‘Give Me More‘ continuing that vibe. And then, bizarrely, ‘Stink Foot‘ emerges with Jessica Winter taking the mic, in a song that would probably have had Stock, Aitken and Waterman needing a new pair of trousers each, such would be their excitement.
The nine-minute closer, ‘The Krack Drought Suite (Pts 1 – 3)‘, is exactly the kind of thing that befits a record like this, constantly challenging you and making you think “What the fuck?” every couple of minutes, at times Prodigy like, perhaps even Pantera, before breaking down to sound more like Chicane or Wiley…you see how confusing this is? I mean, you know how these days, often the generation gap between what parents and their offspring would like musically is somewhat blurred? This is a major exception. Your parents would fucking hate this. And that is not a bad thing at all.
So all in all, it’s another extremely ‘fun’ album from The Moonlandingz, even if I am somewhat baffled by some of it and am left feeling a tad scared of them as a result. Bravo!
No Rocket Required is out now on Transgressive.
