| ALBUM REVIEWS |
I Got A Brand New Egg Layin' Machine | Licker's Last Leg
I Got A Brand New Egg Layin' Machine
CMJ:
Goon Moon - I Got A Brand New Egg Layin' Machine
File Under: Hella bad
Recommended if you like: Desert Sessions, Sunburned Hand Of The Man, HellaMuch like Twiggy Ramirez's previous band, his new skronk-rock troupe, Goon Moon, is weird for weird's sake. Ramirez teams with Masters of Reality's Chris Goss and Hella drummer Zach Hill for 10 brief bursts of cacophonous static and punkjazz jamming. For the first half, Hill plays his trademark array of confused drum bursts, which often break for moments of noise and lo-fi pitter-patter. There’s even a song that makes no bones about hammering the band's mission into heads: 'Rock Weird (Weird Rock)'. Next comes the mashed potatoes song. No, seriously… 'Mashed' is a two-minute-plus ode to turkey's best friend. Had Goon Moon sat down and discussed what they were supposed to be (other than "weird rock", of course), this album might have amounted to more than the baffling hodgepodge of improvisation that it most certainly is. After all, improvisation is supposed to amount to something; just ask any of the skilled jazz drummers Hill tries to emulate. The only songs worth a damn sound like the Desert Session throwaways: 'No Umbrellas' reeks of Josh Homme's cutesy melodies and handclaps, and 'Apartment 31' is a tongue-in-cheek nod to Beach Boys harmonies. [Kory Grow]
Goon Moon - I Got A Brand New Egg Layin' Machine
4/5 Members of Masters of Reality, NIN and Hella, just for the hell of itA unit comprising Masters of Reality founder Chris Goss, Zach Hill (Hella, Team Sleep) and Jeordie White (former Marilyn Manson/current Nine Inch Nails bassist) seems as weird as the thought of Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley actually consumating their brief marriage. The 10 tracks on the 25 minute I Got A Brand New Egg Layin' Machine range from psychedelic/stoner rock to freakout jams peppered with electronics and feedback, all recorded with a shifting regard toward fidelity. If your iPod is crammed with tracks by Ruins, Soft Machine, High Rise and Daft Punk, well, your new favorite supergroup have arrived. Check your preconceived notions at the door and pass the Jesus juice. [Jason Pettigrew]
AMG:
Goon Moon - I Got A Brand New Egg Layin' Machine
3.5/5A side band including a former member of Marilyn Manson's group and the leader of Masters of Reality is not a very likely combination, but that's just what Twiggy Ramirez and Chris Goss have done on I Got a Brand New Egg Layin' Machine. The quirky ten-track EP recalls at times the days of Frank Zappa and David Bowie, when artists weren't confined to a single style, and were free to experiment and create new sounds. As a result, Egg Layin' Machine is a completely unpredictable affair, as it features everything from Mike Patton/Fantômas-like noise ('The Smoking Man Returns') to free-form experiments (the title track), the sonic equivalent of an acid trip ('Rock Weird'), and at least one or two tight rock arrangements ('Mud Puppies' and 'Mashed'). With rock music becoming more and more predictable as strict radio/MTV play lists attempt to strangle the life out of rock music, it's always refreshing to come across a recording that defies categorization, such as I Got a Brand New Egg Layin' Machine. [Greg Prato]
Goon Moon - I Got A Brand New Egg Layin' Machine
Goon Moon are a quasi-supergroup, so it's no surprise that they sound a little like the other bands their members have called home. Then again, considering the staggering number of bands with which Twiggy Ramirez, Chris Goss and Zach Hill have worked (the list includes Hella, Nervous Cop, Masters of Reality, Screaming Trees, London Elektricity, Marilyn Manson, A Perfect Circle, Kyuss, Queens Of The Stone Age, and Nine Inch Nails), almost anything they play is likely to sound familiar.
However, I Got A Brand New Egg Layin' Machine doesn't just sound familiar -- it sounds like all of the members' former bands. Over the course of ten songs, the band dabbles in a broad assortment of genres: electronic flourishes sit alongside Zeppelinesque heavy rock, stoner rock leads into jazzy, jam band freakouts, and, in 'Rock Weird (Weird Rock)', 2001: A Space Odyssey's HAL sings lead vocals over '70s metal. It's a mess, obviously, but a glorious one, and the fun that Ramirez, Goss and Hill had making it comes through loud and clear. I Got A Brand New Egg Layin' Machine probably won't reach the audience that any of Goon Moon's members are accustomed to (unless you're into Ween or Wes Borland's ill-conceived BigdumbFace project, this probably isn't for you), but if you like your rock stupidly weird, you'll love it. [Matthew Pollesel]
Goon Moon - I Got A Brand New Egg Layin' Machine
In preparation for this record: Inhale, hold, release, expand horizons. Super-stoner space-out time.
Goon Moon is the creation of ex Marilyn Manson member Twiggy Ramirez, Hella's Zach Hill, and Chris Goss of Masters of Reality. As if these guys' day jobs weren't far enough out in left field, someone gave them studio time and a license to spaz.
The first eight minutes of I Got A Brand New Egg Layin' Machine is freeform jam-noise interspersed with a few bad boy rock riffs. Great to listen to on opium; when they emerge from the gibberish cloud into the funky sing-song 'Rock Weird (Weird Rock)' the mental gear-shift might have you weightless. It's meaningless, but good fun. Another cerebral double-clutch leads into 'Mashed'; if this was a song about space travel or pirates or the life cycle of the duck-billed platypus - rather than about mashed potatoes and cream - it would be ultimately rad, a frenzied-Bowiesque-viking-expedition song. So close. Return to jam-time for two tracks of up-tempo beach-party-freak-out, each song growing like a cumulonimbus cloud, then breaking into rain madness. The album closes out with the drowsy 'Apartment 31', which might be a love song - a kind of Goon Moon does the Eagles.
This is truly one of those records which defies characterization, which is always admirable in theory, but sometimes questionable in execution. Overall, Goon Moon's sounds are great, if a little self-indulgent. Noise aside, when the band comes together on an idea, the results are stellar. Listening to Machine is like paleontology, find yourself digging through the choss for the incidental groovy artifact. [Chris Logan]
Goon Moon - Licker's Last Leg
3/5 All-star avant-garde titting about.
As with Josh Homme's 'Desert Sessions' series, former Marilyn Manson bassist Jeordie White and producer Chris Goss' Goon Moon project (featuring among others Homme and NIN drummer Josh Freese) is a bizarre, occasionally inspired collection of experimental noodling that will push even the most blinkered fanboy/girl to the limits of their patience.For every rocker like 'My Machine' or soulful, eerie strum 'An Autumn That Came Too Soon', there's a load of annoying stabs at weirdness. But then, a record that opens with the sound of goosebump-inducing violin strings squeaking horribly is only going to be for those who really love this sort of thing. [Nick Ruskell]Goon Moon - Licker's Last Leg
8/10
As curveballs go, Jeordie 'Twiggy Ramirez' White and Chris Goss' Goon Moon ranks pretty high in the 'What-the-buggery?' stakes. Preceding EP I Got A Brand New Egg Layin' Machine gave a taster, but it's nothing on Licker's Last Leg. Quirky, occasionally barnstorming pop-rock emerges with body parts grave-robbed from ELO, Scott Weiland's lucid moments, weird folk and playfully preposterous Desert Sessions dick-abouts. Lyrically, there's a shameless Eagles Of Death Metal vibe in sweetly naïve, jauntily-dispensed lines like "Be yourself / Be nice", the mantra closing 'Apple Pie', and the "I appreciate the reach-around" spine of 'My Machine'. Aided by the superhuman drumming abilities of Hella's Zach Hill and guest appearances from Joshes Homme and Freese, there's even a Bee Gees cover; all rendered insignificant by the overbearing, glorious oddness. [Adam F Kennedy]Goon Moon - Licker's Last Leg
8.6/10Let's not beat around the bush. Licker's Last Leg is the album Queens of the Stone Age should have put out instead of the bands recent Era Vulgaris. Why the comparison? Well, there's the obvious one – founder/vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Chris Goss has long been the unofficial fifth Queens of the Stone Age-er for quite some time, appearing on or producing every album Josh Homme has ever released. But the what should also be obvious one is Goss has the same undeniable talent as Homme to create a catchy, polished, accessible-yet-wholly-different rock album with still enough of an underground sensibility that doesn't make the listener feel like they're losing their street cred by enjoying it.
"Now wait just a gosh darn minute", I hear you cry. "Didn't you give Era Vulgaris like, a 7.9 rating? Why the negativity now, you fat bastard?"
Okay, first of all, you're out of line with the "fat" comment. Second of all, Era Vulgaris is just one of those albums that comes on strong at first but unfortunately tends to wane with each subsequent listen. Goon Moon has the opposite effect. With every listen you can find something new to like whether it's the numerous guest musicians, like Josh Freese and the aforementioned Homme or the diversity of tone stretching from song to song.
This highlights another similarity with his desert brethrens. While Queens of the Stone Age display the same variation on their albums, the result has become somewhat inconsistent and polarizing – particularly on their latest release. Goon Moon is able to achieve these incongruities without sacrificing the flow of the album as a whole.
Goss' partner in crime, as with the band's previous release is Jeordie White, the artist formerly known as Twiggy Ramirez who once again shows he's no one-trick-pony when it comes to both writing and performing. With Licker's Last Leg, Goss helps to shed the stigma of "stoner" or "desert" rock that has plagued him his entire career from Kyuss to Masters of Reality and everything in between. Ironic, as the majority of songs have the same paradoxical nature usually reserved for a Ween album.
This is without a doubt one of the most accessible albums in the Ipecac discography. A stand out amongst the extreme electronic releases the label's been releasing in the past two years. This is an album that should be promoted relentlessly, one that can and should appear on radio stations other than those found on a campus with a 10-mile range. It's still unclear as to whether Goon Moon will remain a side-project or a full-time endeavor. Hopefully it will become the latter - a band with a refreshing lack of cliché and a lack of self-indulgence unheard of in a mere side-project. Goon Moon is Goss's ticket out of the desert pigeonhole and our oasis in the desert of modern music banality. [Kevin]livedaily.com:Goon Moon - Licker's Last Leg
8.3/10Kyuss. Masters of Reality. Marilyn Manson. The Bee Gees.
Another way to express that above grouping is: Step. Step. Step. SMACK!
How does one go about connecting the bands listed above? It is as simple as picking up the latest release from Goon Moon. The band features former Manson guitarist Jeordie White (you probably remember him as Twiggy Ramirez) and longtime Kyuss producer/collaborator and Masters of Reality singer, guitarist Chris Goss.
The duo released their latest venture that includes a very heavy version of the Bee Gees classic 'Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You'. The track will do two things: it will expose a lot of metal heads to some of the incredible work from the early Bee Gees and it will also show those people that a healthy enjoyment of good Britpop is not necessarily a bad thing.
Overall, the band features a heavy dose of desert rock that so influenced Goss over the past decade. But it adds in the same style and substance that made Marilyn Manson so incredibly popular back in the 1990s. Sometimes, like on the the opening track called 'Apple Pie' and on 'Feel Like This' it does both, and does them very well.
On 'Feel Like This' the song starts off with the quick, choppy, riff-ladened vibe that is signature Manson. But ass soon as that vibe is established, the extended desert rock guitar sound takes over and the vocal harmonies take center stage. The transition between the two is seamless.
The album is a complete sonic trip that is rife with sludge guitar sound, psychedelic overtones, vocal oddities and deep groves. The most interesting track on the album is the nearly 10-minute track called 'The Golden Ball'. It is equal parts Frank Zappa, Les Claypool and LSD-era Beatles that even pays its respects to Ipecac founder and musical genius/oddity Mike Patton.
Goon Moon may well be a side project for Goss and part of a musical journey for White. As such, it will not exactly fit into any one category of musical genre and might have a hard time finding a niche in the musical realm. But fans of music in general should pick up this record. It is good enough that it should be heard by even those who do not qualify themselves as fans of desert rock or shock rock. It will be worth the listen. [Ed Thompson]Goon Moon - Licker's Last Leg
Goon Moon may fall under the marketing tag of "stoner rock", but there's no special blend or herbal accompaniment needed to truly appreciate this rag-tag collection dubbed Licker's Last Leg.
In fact, file it somewhere in the neighborhood of "social experiment", "sonic joyride" and "serendipity" (and if that happens to be in the vicinity of "smoke" and "spliff", so be it). Within the 12 tracks, singer/bassist Jeordie White (presently of Nine Inch Nails and the on-hiatus A Perfect Circle, and formerly the dress-wearing, horn-throwing, riff-writing, right-hand man to Marilyn Manson), Masters of Reality singer/guitarist Chris Goss (the production wizard behind Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age, to name just the obvious two) and a bevy of guests including drumming Joshes Homme (QOTSA, Eagles of Death Metal) and Freese (Nine Inch Nails, Vandals) have created a manic melange of delectable ditties, rich grooves and densely-textured tones.
Supple vocal chants bask atop the ambient and minimalist opening slice of 'Apple Pie', 'My Machine' offers a freaked-out musical reach around, and a peach-fuzz guitar buzz permeates the album, a loosely wound tribute to a cluttered attic of artistic influences. Closer 'The Golden Ball' is evidence of just how multi-dimensional things can get, the eight-part, 10-minute trek melding the influence of Frank Zappa and Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show, and taking detours through bubble-gum fancies, funked-up rhythms and full-on muscle-car bravado throughout. The sludgy guitars and lush, melodic vocals of 'Pin Eyed Boy' beat the Jesus and Mary Chain at their own game, while an ambient and droning cover of 'Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You' offers one of the most unlikely nods to the Bee Gees ever recorded.
While fans of the infamous Desert Sessions are sure to appreciate the vast, spacey sonics of Licker's Last Leg, there's enough here to tickle the fancies of even the least curious accidental listener. And with a name like Goon Moon, who wouldn't be at least a little curious? [Paul Gargano]
Goon Moon - Licker's Last Leg
Chris Goss (Masters of Reality) and Jeordie White (Nine Inch Nails, ex–Marilyn Manson) are both underappreciated talents. They’re both also very odd birds, and neither of them are quick to conform to any predetermined sonic expectations. Thus, Licker's Last Leg continues with the quirky stoner-swagger/space-pop of their debut EP, expanding the dark shadows, finessing the occasional groove and generally providing a fantastic exposition of accessible rock experimentation. Accordions, drum machines and distortion boxes may be what drives one song, another is all psychedelic effects and lysergic lyrics; while one cut rumbles along on a borrowed Guns N’ Roses riff, the Bee Gees' 'Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You' gets treated like the epic pop gem it is. Licker's bears the hallmarks typical to many side-project endeavors – lots of “why not?” arrangements and half-baked compositions – but in this case, such willful sloppiness actually enhances the overall effect, as it serves to emphasize the intuitive creativity of these two madmen. [Jason Ferguson]