doofgoblin – album-rl (unschooled)

john guilino is an artist from the usa who develops his sound through his continuous moving homes, influenced by flesh, the residents, matmos, electric birds... after adopting the moniker doofgoblin he constantly develops his experimental electronic frequencies, regularly updating his equipment. after 3 cd-r releases of his album marble barrel he made his debut appearance at unschooled 2003, while album-rl ep material was waiting for the release dates. this release, which is actually an ep, although with six tracks, in its 17 minutes it abruptly tends to slide through styles, between the experiment and the concrete, between the ambiental and the rhythmical. the first track ‘lovar’ is a repetitive glitchy noise in constant reverb. already in the second ‘round peg’ you can notice the crystallizing of the sound. the track gains a slightly more solid structure and shows signs of rhythm. the noise bits are still present; however the delay bits that enter in the middle of the track capture a serious dub impression. undefined short shouts appear in several returns. at the very end the rhythm specifies to be lost in the noise and the dub delay. then starts ‘standards last raze’. although it begins as abstract for a very short time in its two minutes and five seconds it completely turns into a rhythmical piece with a noisy melody. the atmosphere of the next track (‘bells and allusions’) calms down. ambiental subtle brassy and vibrating melodies. bells and allusions. everything is perfectly clear. in the longest track the rhythm is abstract. this ambiental predecessor mixes into ‘woodroof solution’ which from quiet ringing is transformed into a rhythmical noisy dimension, as it suddenly gains a dark ambiental mood. and then again rhythm and distortion... short ambiental comedown and a noise ending. everything in three minutes. short and fast. the next and last track ‘saturdam’ is a reminiscence of all the previous tracks and everything which was already used. at the same time, raised at a higher plateau. strong melody, rhythm and noise. with a quite decent production, this album concerning its style, floats somewhere between rhythm and experimentation. tending to grab every aspect of sound, yet it remains unclear where in all those styles he really wanted to be, and where he actually is.