GOON MOON

Goon Moon

“Licker’s Last Leg” (Ipecac)

Goon Moon is the Hard Rock, Goth Pop Freaknik brainchild of Masters Of Reality main man Chris Goss and Jeordie White (a/k/a Twiggy Ramirez) from Marilyn Manson. Their 2007 debut album Licker’s Last Leg sets sail with a listing ship, bad trip nursery rhyme (“Apple Pie”) then immediately plunges whole-hog haphazard headstrong into the blazing “My Machine”, a speedy rocker that leaps and spins and splatters like a glowing slab of kryptonite skipping across a lake of fire. And that’s just Exhibit A of Goon Moon’s brilliant grasp yet simultaneous dismissal of What’s Expected. Anything goes throughout this hallucinogenic joyride, as the listener is continually faced with devious sonic challenges. Tempos, melodies, and entire song fragments unexpectedly break loose and fall away under your feet like a funhouse floor. These unorthodox song structures are sinfully catchy, thanks to a combination of surprisingly sweet vocal harmonies, nasty guitar tones both heavy and tweaky, and a truly twisted sense of humor. Goss’s trademark rapid-fire riffage pushes and pulls against the beat, creating dizzying, dazzling cross-rhythms with the livewire drumming of the amazing Josh Freese (an unsung, underground legend who has played with everyone from The Vandals, Dweezil Zappa, Paul Westerberg and others too numerous to mention). Though fabulously fluid and fickle, Licker’s Last Leg tentatively moves towards the inevitable, irresistible embrace of Pop hooks, culminating with the arcane anthem “Pin Eyed Boy” and a trippy re-working of The Bee Gees’ “Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You”. Casting aside all precedent for a nightmarish 10-minute epic called “The Golden Ball”, Goon Moon drags you like a helpless rag doll through a black forest full of dangerous cliffs, slippery sinkholes, toxic moonbeams and creepy voices, only to sign off with the reverb-drenched piano dirge “Built In A Bottle”. Freaky fun, this whole thing.