Local electronica/DJ

Lunar Plexus

Sex beat

The first time I saw Lunar Plexus was at a rave in South Boston. Bored with the lackadaisical house music in the main area, I moved into what was supposed to be the chill-out room, where Lunar Plexus had just started playing. Within minutes the band's "tripno pop" music woke up a roomful of dazed and jaded club kids and ravers, and got them on their feet and dancing.

Lunar Plexus achieve their trippy, sensual aural effect by borrowing liberally from a variety of genres -- Brit-pop, trip-hop, funk, and electronica. The band's four members, who met at Berklee College of Music, each bring a distinctive personality to the mix: Karen Ellis is a charismatic frontwoman whose voice can shift from a come-hither bedtime murmur to a scorned howl; Dante Ferrarini provides hard-edged guitars and lounge-core keyboards; Sascha Kilias delivers Teutonic/funk bass lines; and Gregg Irick's heavy metal-influenced drums drive the band's sound.

The bandmates' disparate styles come together to create a smoldering, sexy ambiance, both live and on their first CD, Sweeter (Rabid Iguana). "We're all really comfortable with our sexuality, and it comes across in our music," explains Ellis. "We'd love to do a soundtrack for a porn film some day." The band has accomplished the next best thing by having a song featured on the soap opera Sunset Beach. The group's sophomore release, Uchu Rokku Bando, is due out this summer.

-- Nick Patterson

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Official Lunar Plexus Web home
Unsigned Radio's Lunar Plexus page

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