To celebrate the release of their debut album, Heaven is Humming, LA-based indie rock group Goon brought their gritty, neo-90s grunge to the Echoplex in central Los Angeles on the 18th of July, one night before the scheduled release, playing a bill with similarly-90s-inspired bands Kevin and Draag as well as “special guest” improvisor extraordinaire Reggie Watts, leader of the house band for The Late Late Show with James Corden. Regrettably, I arrived late, missing opening act Kevin. Draag’s shoegaze-esque set made for a fitting introduction to the evening nonetheless, smooth tones merging to create the foundations of an anachronistic soundscape that would continue to build over the course of the show, pausing only momentarily to make way for the surprising and soulful intonations of Reggie Watts during his semi-comedic, one-man looping set.
Goon began with the third track off of Heaven is Humming, “Northern Saturn,” a hypnotic, nodd-worthy tune. Not long after came “F Jam,” the opening track of the album and a fixture in my recollection of the show, simply titled for its key of F and never relabeled, as frontman Kenny Becker would later laughingly explain. With full control of the energy in the room, the group navigated an assortment of relaxed and more heavily charged numbers, receiving accompaniment on the violin and electric cello by Jen Simone and Emily Elkin (Becker’s fiancée) respectively during a block of softer strains.
Reggie Watts
Draag
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