Moon Hooch

Moon Hooch make a genre-mashing blend of saxophone- and percussion-based music they dubbed "cave music." Based around saxophonists Wenzl McGowen and Mike Wilbur, Moon Hooch initially honed their sound in public as Brooklyn street buskers. However, with the release of studio albums like 2014's This Is Cave Music and 2016's Red Sky, they evolved even further, incorporating vocals and synths, and transforming into a lauded, arty rock outfit.

Moon Hooch came together in 2010 while saxophonist McGowen, saxophonist Wilbur, and drummer James Muschler were all students at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. Originally, they started out by busking in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and in the New York City subway system. It was while busking that they caught the ear of Soul Coughing's Mike Doughty, who took them on tour. The band subsequently garnered even wider acclaim touring with They Might Be Giants and opening for groups such as Galactic. In 2013, they released their debut album, Moon Hooch, on Hornblow/Megaforce. It reached number nine on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart.

A year later, they returned with their sophomore album, This Is Cave Music, featuring the single "EWI." It found them moving in an even more adventurous direction, incorporating '80s-style synth pop, dubstep, and vocals into their sound. The album garnered significantly more attention than its predecessor and hit number five on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart.

In 2016, Moon Hooch delivered their third full-length album, Red Sky. Produced by the band in Brooklyn, the album included the single "Psychotubes." The EP Joshua Tree followed a year later, as did the concert album Live at the Cathedral. In 2018, they issued the Light It Up EP. Produced by Tonio Sagan (grandson of famed astronomer and author Carl Sagan), it featured the single "Acid Mountain." The full-length Life on Other Planets arrived in January 2020 and featured songs the band recorded in a series of single-take performances.

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