2019 has not been a great album release year but there are a diverse collection of new recordings that deserve your attention including these:

Goon HEAVEN IS HUMMING. Partisan Records

Singer/guitarist/songwriter Kenny Becker, singer/guitarist Drew Eccleston, bassist Caleb Wicker, and drummer Christian Koons started work on the album in the summer of 2016, right around the time Goon’s debut EP Dusk of Punk came in from the Los Angeles sky, spilling from the brim with big riffs and deep hooks.

If you like Radiohead - turbocharged and as raw as suchi - you’ll love this gut-wrenching rocker… It opens in explosive style (take care with your volume control, this could break your player!). It’s called ‘F Jam’ and for good reason. Things soften somewhat with the next track ‘Black Finch’ with its deathly, jagged pace and bass dominated vibe, with the occasional more subtle guitar riffs. ‘Northern Saturn’ is a complex one with varied pace wandering around an overall galactic vibe. ‘Deny’ turns up the revs to a more than rapid pace with drums leading the instrumental charge and the vocal almost a distant add-on. ‘Snoqualmie’ shows that this new band can write and perform the most emotional and beautiful ballads. It’s something out of the Simon & Garfunkle songbook no less. There’s much to like with this album and although not a work of genius there’s enough distinction, diversity, adventure and accessibility here to thrill rock and more adventurous pop fans.

4/5

Rob Melancon PINKVILLE. Blue Elan Records

Louisiana native Rod Melancon is a southern songwriter and storyteller rooted in the oral tradition of Cormac McCarthy and Larry Brown. Like the soundtrack to a movie that doesn’t yet exist, Rod Melancon’s Pinkville whips up a world filled with shell-shocked war veterans, gun-wielding rock & rollers, and other down-on-their-luck characters, mixing cinematic details and electric guitars into its own version of greasy, gothic Americana.

Wandering guitar notes open the album with one of my favourite tracks on the album, ‘Pinkville’. Melancon talks his way through the track with memories of the past. ‘Goin’ Out West’ ups the anti to a blues-rocky status with echoes of a more raw Seassick Steve. Drums and guitar dominate the backdrop while the singers gruff voice adds passionate drama. Brilliant! ‘Westgate’ is next and while still rocky tones things down a tad. Again Melancon talks part of his way through this bittersweet song. Lyrically, it tells a story: ” Tucked away in the bottom drawer of the town I grew up in was the low income housing called Westgate/It’s where my football buddies and me would go to buy weed and whatever else we couldn’t find in my parents’ medecine drawer. That was the first time I saw Lisa.”

Malancon uses every blues rock device to tell and sing his life story and experiences. It makes compelling listening both vocally and instrumentally with some of the best guitar riffs I’ve heard this year. The pace is varied and there’s even snatched of gentle country with songs like the delightful ‘Corpus Christi Carwash’. Highly recommended.

4/5