LUNA SPARK
Everyone has to start somewhere. And Luna Spark is where I first had a go at writing and recording everything myself.
Based in Hamilton, New Zealand, and later Auckland, Luna Spark existed from 2000-2008, before a change of direction turned the project into Radio Over Moscow (and later also Anecdata and Dharma Police).
These recordings were done mostly on four-track tape machines and a (Boss? I think?) digital mixer purchased in the mid-2000s. It’s primitive, mostly terrible stuff. Released on dodgy mp3 sites and handed out on CDs.
Many of the songs would receive second lives in later recordings.
Check out Luna Spark’s output below – none of it is on streaming or Bandcamp, only available here (right-click, save as).
2008
Best of 2001-2008
ALBUM – Released 2008
Not sure material of this dubious quality can be labelled a ‘best of’, but that’s what I called it. A couple of the recordings were new, while most were taken from releases over the years.
Includes a truly wretched cover of Pink Floyd’s Run Like Hell recorded using FruityLoops, I believe… you have been warned.
2002’s Over the Rainbow is much better, saved by a friend’s magical lead vocal.
Many of these songs reemerged in later years in different forms or names.
Steady State
EP – Released 2008
The final Luna Spark new material before the transition to Radio Over Moscow was a mostly acoustic bunch of songs, with some primitive drum machines and as always, out of tune vocals over the top.
2007
The Siren
ALBUM – Released 2007
The first version of what would later become Deus Ex Robotica by Radio Over Moscow. A less refined, more primitive recording.
The story of the world’s first cyborg politician.
Scud of Freedom
ALBUM – Released 2007
A lo-fi attempt at a big rock album. Great title, and some decent ideas, but a pretty terrible recording. Broken in particular really needs a proper recording. One day.
2006
Trigger Happy Little Finger
ALBUM – Released 2006
Continues the synth/acoustic sound first established on Simcerity, with Roz again returning for a few vocals.
Countdown to Meltdown
ALBUM – Released 2006
Countdown to Meltdown was an experiment – could I write and record a whole album’s worth of stuff in a few weeks? Sure I can these days in the 2020s, but I could not in the old days. This is proof.
Yellow Kevin ended up on Radio Over Moscow‘s Hide the Decline, and a heavily reworked Until the End of Time and Space on Anecdata’s Battle Thru Time.
2004
Simcerity
ALBUM – Released 2004
The second full-length Luna Spark release featured vocals supplied by Hamilton legend Roz, and featured a softer, lighter sound than previous releases, including the Beatles-esque Sleepless and Floydian Repair.
2003
Panic
ALBUM – Released 2003
The first full-length Luna Spark release was Panic, recorded on a budget Pentium computer with not much more than a gigabyte or two of hard drive space.
Some of the tunes, as with other Luna Spark songs, would get a second life later in the century, notably 129 Die which became Chronofiction on Anecdata‘s Vita Brevis, Part 1, released 2025.
2002
Media
EP – Released 2002
The second Luna Spark EP to be released, Media featured a much heavier and more live sound than Sarah.
The guitars were all recorded one afternoon using a friend’s Marshall amp, almost the vocals all done in one night in a rented practice room in the Hamilton CBD. The drums were all programmed on a PlayStation.
Some of the tunes, as with other Luna Spark songs, would get a second life later in the century.
2001
Sarah
EP – Released 2001
Sarah was the first EP by Luna Spark.
Recorded on a four-track tape using a PlayStation for the beats and synths and I believe a tiny 10W Samick practice amp for the guitars.
The image is a bit fuzzy because it’s literally an old digital camera photo of a physical cardboard sleeve I made for the release. Old times, eh?
As with other Luna Spark songs, some of the tunes were resurrected for later musical projects in improved form – eg. Ideal Standard became 198X by Anecdata on the album Undelete.
2000
Runstop / Restore
DEMO – Recorded 2000, unreleased
Runstop / Restore was a demo CD recorded to get my two-piece band into a local Battle of the Bands. We went under the name ‘Planet Claire’ (which many years later I reused for my little electronic instrumental experiments).
Several of the songs resurfaced in different, much improved forms on other Luna Spark records, as well as Anecdata and Radio Over Moscow.