The experimental beat making of Gulls, aka Jesse Munro Johnson, is a force to be reckoned with. Based out of Portland, Oregon, his electronic adventures are patiently psychedelic, masterfully composed, and brimming with the earnestness of an artist whose music is designed to yell "this is NOW!" After 7 years of bold experimental evolution, Gulls has truly found his stride in a new self-titled EP, co-released by BOOMARM NATION in a limited pressing of 300 records and digitally by COMMUNITY LIBRARY in September 2010.
Gulls is a solo mission. Every track is built entirely from the ground up. Johnson samples only himself, cutting up and rearranging myriad textures - horns, synthesizers, etc. - into dazzling kaleidoscopic formations. A densely woven tapestry of sound, the listening experience is not the simplest to articulate. Yet we can begin to pull at the strands, to see what exuberant stars and hungry black holes make up this immense electronic cosmos. Gulls' compositional discipline reveals an interest in classical minimalists like Philip Glass as well as the polyrhythmic intensity reminiscent of traditional West African and Brazilian music. While informed by a scholarly interest in music across genre and location, the project is rooted firmly within club culture.
As a dance floor maestro, Gulls takes cues from early dub, dancehall, and sound system culture, blowing basic pieces of music into astronomical proportions, into mammoth versions with their own savage lives. As even the forefront of today's electronic music scene finds itself compartmentalized by genre and sub-genre, the boundary-less compositional voice and healthy swagger of Gulls is thrilling. The EP also features KRANKY recording artist and sonic voyageur Strategy, whose remix of "Mean Sound" blasts things into another galaxy entirely. While his artistic work thrives on individuality and a strong sense of self-reliance, Johnson is a fervent nurturer of Portland's sonic community. By curating live events and maintaining the music blog BOOMARM NATION, he seeks to expose and promote forward thinking music.
