- Gobby started the Monkeybone project as an outlet for "noisy techno." Wait, you're thinking, isn't that what he's always done? That's sort of true, but the low-key New Yorker's recent output has been so mind-melting that it's easy to forget he ever made anything close to dance music. Monkeybone, then, is a re-centering of sorts, taking us back to the days of 2012's New Hat. A concept record based on a hellish flatmate situation ("His Party Mess," "GF: Extra Keys"), The Roommate sounds like Gobby channeling his frustrations into techno.
"He Moves In" is almost disarmingly straightforward. It's wonky techno with the usual Gobby weirdness (stretchy sound effects, dissonance and an absurd build and breakdown that'll make you look up for low-flying jets) all held in place by a steady throb. "His Party Mess" is the most abrasive The Roommate gets, full of ugly chords that hit with unnerving regularity. It sounds like a parody of rigid techno, and like "He Moves In," the template keeps his more outré tendencies in check. "GF: Extra Keys" is an interlude where a writhing lead spits and froths all over a rhythm that can barely hold itself up.
Those three tracks would have made a killer 12-inch, but Gobby will be Gobby, so there's also a 25-minute track called "The Lost Charger Fight." Ambling along with a shaky rhythm, the track moves through a series of strange vocal samples, some of which loom in the background (Rick Ross grunting, for example) and others that spread across the soundscape until they threaten to eclipse it. Though it distracts from the focus of the other three tracks, "The Lost Charger Fight" stays captivating almost all the way through.
Tracklist01. He Moves In
02. GF: Extra Keys
03. His Party Mess
04. The Lost Charger Fight