3 out of 5

Label: Balkan Vinyl

Produced by: Johnny Hawk

What an interesting – though maybe not entirely successful – album. Global Goon – aka Johnny Hawk – has been kicking around the IDM scene for multiple decades at this point, perhaps dormant on the physical release front, slowing down post early 2010s, and definitely no full albums for a bit, but he pops up here and there with digital releases or EPs. Still: its been a while.

Somewhat of an unsung hero of the early Rephlex stable, Goon has leveraged a playful, slick style into something that swerves through various acidic territories over the years, landing in a groove that feels identifiable to the artist. As things go on, he gets more and more clubby, and Euro Jack feels like a purposefully named stab at going more full-on down that road. But it’s Goon, so he still mixes it up, to, as mentioned, varying results.

“Euro Jack” in the sense that this feels like Hawk “jacking” some Euro techno and cutting-and-pasting with it as he pleases. What emerges are (in my poor analysis) four approximate sections on this album, leaning into different influences before going all-in on house and drill towards album’s end.

We start in a more chill territory – the kind of laid back, nuanced acid that sounds more like “traditional” GG. Sections hereafter are split up by some shorter tracks, and if ‘Elephant Beat’ maybe makes you think of Analogue Bubblebath III, well… yes. For a few tracks, that’s the direction we go: early AFX acid house, with some further direct (loving!) tributes / swipes popping up. Sticking in this territory, Hawk merges this with mid-era Aphex Twin pop electro, and his own playful take on house, for the album’s strong midsection; finally going toward that Mike Dredd hefty-BPM, make-’em-sweat approach on some concluding songs.

I’m not going to claim this all breaks down as cleanly as I’m proposing, but I do feel a general tonal shift as the album goes along. And while none of this feels phoned in, the “Global Goon plays X” approach isn’t necessarily immersive – it comes across as more of an experiment most of the time, and when you’re teased with some of the more layered tracks, the clubby ones that just hit and beat and loop for a few minutes tend to tire.

A few further spins lessened expectations, and I found my footing with Euro Jack, but I’d still say it doesn’t have the strongest voice of Goon’s catalogue, and maybe plays around stylistically too much to create a seamless listen. However, my hope is that this kickstarts Hawk back into more frequent releases… but if not, I’m happy to see him for this outing, even if I’m knocking it for perceived imperfections.