JEORDIE WHITE | BASE TENDENCIES
PRESS
The side project of Zach Hill from Hella and Twiggy Ramirez from Marilyn Manson! And some other guy from Masters of Reality that no one cares about! And some other guest musicians! This mostly instrumental album plays on prog-rock, Sabbath riffs, bitch-ass drumming, noises, chants, and other stuff. While "Mud Puppies" is the best damn Sabbath I've heard in a while, "Inner Child Abuse" sounds like Alice Coltrane being raped by space aliens. In a good way. "The Smoking Man Returns" continues on in the aforementioned inappropriate reference to Alice Coltrane style. "Weird Rock" stands out as if Afrika Bambataa was influenced by metal instead of Kraftwerk. "Mashed" could very well be Neil Young on speed, but the title track, "I Got A Brand New Egg Layin' Machine," makes poor Alice bend over one more time. After a long intro, "No Umbrellas" turns into a straight ahead rocker. The album is rounded out with "Apartment 31," a ballad-esque slow jam like the Black Crows on drugs, er, wait. Like the Black Crows playing straight ahead and digging on space rock. That's better.
Though playing the comparison game was fun, I Got A Brand New Egg Layin' Machine is actually very unique when heard. The eclectic combination of song types expands the band's potential to work with whatever they want instead of being pigeonholed into any one type of genre. Though, as a side project by three people who come from very different musical backgrounds, the album seems a little bi-polar at times. Songs here are mostly rejected ideas from their full-time projects. It seems the thing that makes Goon Moon unique also can be seen as a drawback.
Regardless, Goon Moon's I Got A Brand New Egg Layin' Machine is referred to as a mini-album, and seems to be merely an introduction to the talent and possibilities that lie deeply hidden in these three musicians.
(Rating: 4 Stars)