Moaning

Moaning is a Los Angeles based trio that started out as an interesting combination of a variety of sub-genres, taking post-punk as their base and including in the mix a distorted wall-of-noise guitars and mumbly singing that suggested shoegaze influences and an attacking style that was more in the garage/grunge territory. It was loud and bold. The band changed directions for their second album, and adopted an approach that is more aligned with the synth-friendly bands of the era, such as New Order and Echo and the Bunnymen. The driving nature of the drums came forward, distortion on the guitars was replaced mostly by reverb, new wave synths were brought in, and even some offbeat handclaps made their appearance. The change was jarring enough that it was noticed by their fan base.