(04.08.05) John Gulino (a.k.a. Doofgoblin) has been quite busy over the past year or so, releasing leftfield electronic music that defies categorization. Marblebarrel (Unschooled, 2003) delivered subdued digital fluctuations while Album RL (Unschooled, 2004) manifested his knack for obtuse, mechanical compositions. Next to Songs From The Blue Ridge 7″ EP and the now out-of-stock Live@Nature release, both on Unschooled, it’s quite clear that Doofgoblin is out to make a drastic statement in his musical career.
Not only does he reveal the gravitational pull of digital experimentation, Doofgoblin also applies accentuated field-recordings buried within sampled electrical tones throughout his body of work. You can find evidence of this unique application on “I Miss You Allreadeigh,” a 5-minute, syncopated kaleidoscope of slithering percussion that slowly decomposes –the hidden track tucked at the end drastically unleashes the digital fury of Doofgoblin’s oeuvre. Watch out for that. Elsewhere you’ll find particle fragments spread above clipped rhythms as featured on “Alldeigh” and the rather short-lived “Gardensend.” But it’s when Doofgoblin blurs the edges of his sound factory that you begin to realize why almost each track on Know The Situation is no more than 3-minutes in length. Rather than displaying elongated melodic constructions, the ideas nurtured within this album tend to unleash organic components that eventually form the entire product. In effect, knowing the situation, and accepting the strange electronic manipulations is only one piece of the fabric that is microscopic in nature but macroscopic in depth. Consider it an exercise in listening, and so, by digesting tracks like “Saxident Jazz Diaper” and “Stove Hot,” you can easily appreciate the significance of such an album in this century.
By defocusing the ear, Doofgoblin has seamlessly created a world full of experimentation and odd permutations in sound engineering. It’s the combination of extracted effects, chaotic minimalism and passionate reconfiguring that allows Know The Situation to unfold a myriad of unusually organic presentations. Mind-boggling.
Know The Situation is out now on Unschooled.
