Goon // Fibber // Edward Almost
Mon. 11/25 --- Rufina Taproom
8pm // All Ages // FREE


\\\ Goon ///
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DpPPDCAfw0

The walls of Kenny Becker’s apartment are vivid landscapes of color. The frontman ofthe LA-based indie rock quartet Goon is also an accomplished painter, and hesurrounds himself with the fruits of his labor—a series of landscapes, portraits, andabstract pieces united by the vibrancy of their shared primary color palette.Many of these lively pieces, however, were made at a time when the artist feltanything but. Becker suffers from a rare medical condition that periodically deadenshis sense of smell and hearing, which for years shaded his day-to-day life with a dullpallor. “I basically just felt sick all the time,” says Becker. “When it gets really bad, Ican’t even taste.” The paintings, therefore, are, like his music, aspirational—embedded with a sense of longing for something known but not always felt.In the middle of the room—the centerpiece of an otherwise spartan setup—isBecker’s home studio. A small arsenal of guitars, synthesizers, tape machines andrecording equipment surround the deskwhere he wrote and recorded Goon’s latestEP,Happy Omen, a collection of emotive, cautiously optimistic songs about longing,loneliness, and self-doubt. A standout track, the gorgeous, soaring “She,” was chosenby Grizzly Bear frontman Ed Droste as the first track on his “Favorite Songs of 2017”Spotify playlist.The slow-burning Omen is a sonic counterpoint to Goon’s first release: 2016's Duskof Punk, a grittier, sludgier outing that paired Becker’s distinct DIY aesthetic with hisformidable songwritingchops and affinity for earworm melodies. This winningcombination earned high marks from Rolling Stone, Spin, Fader, and BBC Radio Six.The two self-released EPs will be reissued together as a package this year byPartisan, who will also release the bands’ debut full length, due in early 2019. The LPsees Becker stepping out of the bedroom and into the studio with bandmates DrewEccleston, Caleb Wicker, and Christian Koons, who, together, continue to build onGoon’s reputation as one of LA’s must-see liveacts.In the meantime, Becker is newly optimistic. A recent successful surgery drasticallyimproved his symptoms, and the effects were felt almost instantly. “I knew it workedas soon as I woke up,” says Becker. “I feel like I’ve entered a new chapter of health.”