Top Bar
Musique Machine Logo Home ButtonReviews ButtonArticles ButtonBand Specials ButtonAbout Us Button
SearchGo Down
Search for  
With search mode in section(s)
And sort the results by
show articles written by  
 Review archive:  # a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Condo Horro - Gutted [ - 2018]

Gutted is another highly worthy trip into progressive- yet-intense walled noise from this Seattle Washington project, who theme all their releases around gentrification & soulless building developments. This release appeared in May of this year- as both a physical C64 release with rather neat junk packaging and a digital download.

Behind Condo Horro is long-term experimental/ noise artists Peter Keller- who is also behind the excellent Spectral Wall/ ANW project Geisst, as well as Bacillus, Dirac Sea, PTRKLLR, & Unser Verhängnis.  Condo Horro has been active since 2015, and thus far has released coming on for twenty releases. Just like his work with Geisst, Keller takes HNW as a starting point for Condo Horro- but sculpts it’s sound into something wholly individual  & distinctive with-in the genre-blending in elements of seared harmonic drone, junk metal, & moody experimentation to the HNW template.

Before we get into the ‘walls’ themselves we must mention the C64 release- as it’s quite distinctive in its own right. The tape comes in a polycase tape case- this features monochrome artwork, then the whole thing is presented in a piece of bent steel- it's covered with uniformed holes, surface scratches, and a sticker with the release artwork on- this is all tied together by weaving in & out tread of steel . All in all a fairly unique, balky yet fitting bit of packaging. Sadly the physical version of the release is now all sold out- so the digital download is your only option now.

The release takes in three tracks- two on side A, and one on side B. And opening the album is the just over eighteen minutes of “Rip out the Insides Until Nothing Is Left”. This sees the merging of a murky & distant liquid like rumble, a constantly cluttering mesh of chopping static swim, and this very buried ringing like harmonic drone. The whole thing feels both wonderful overloaded, yet moodily searing- create a most effective feeling akin to been trapped in a sea of collapsing buildings.

Next we have the just over fifteen & a half  minutes of "History Demolished"- here we get a layered blend of hovering almost spaceship  simmer,  banks of small feasting static grain & scape, and a mesh of subtle grind mid-to-higher pitched noise droning. As the track progresses a more bleakly harmonic drift can be made more & more clearly within the mass, and this all makes for a wonderful moody & highly captivating second track.

And taking up the remain lion share/ second side of the release we have "Crushed To Dust In The Empty Void". This thirty-four-minute track really deepens the wall craft even further- to begin with we get a blend of rapidly poking metal texturing, juddering & snapping spray can textures, and blunt drone sweeps. As we get  deeper into the track we firstly get the slurred sways of semi harmonic roast, and this is fairly soon gets joined by wavering & whistling higher pitch points, and deeper harmonic plates of droning mood-making. It’s a real monster of a track with so much going on within the thickness, but through-out Keller keeps the whole thing balanced, highly compelling, and damn hauntingly moody.

Keller really is one of the most interesting & talented artists working with the HNW in 2018, and unlike some artists each of his projects have their own distinctive qualities & sound. It’s a real pity that the physical version of Gutted is all sold-out, because the excellent packaging really does add another dimension to this great release. In conclusion Gutted is pretty damn floorless, and yet another high point in his output.

Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5

Roger Batty
Latest Reviews

Condo Horro - Gutted
Gutted is another highly worthy trip into progressive- yet-intense walled noise from this Seattle Washington project, who theme all their releases around gen...
240424   Soma - Me Dais Mucho Asco
240424   Koobaatoo Asparagus - Onna-musha
240424   Magda - And Suddenly, Just L...
230424   Andrea Taeggi - Nattdett
230424   Seedpeople - SeedPeople(Blu Ray)
220424   Shiver - Shiver Meets Matthew...
220424   Elegant Beast - Elegant Beast...
190424   Zachary James Watkins - Affir...
180424   Ulvtharm - 7 Uthras
180424   The Bad Shepherd - The Bad Sh...
Latest Articles

The Music of Clay Ruby & Burial H...
Over the last couple of decades Wisconsin native, Clay Ruby has been creating some of the world’s finest dark electronic music under the Burial Hex mon...
280324   The Music of Clay Ruby & Buri...
290224   Sutcliffe No More - Normal Ev...
100124   Occlusion - The Operation Is...
181223   Best Of 2023 - Music, Sound &...
051223   Powerhouse Films - Of Magic, ...
181023   IO - Of Sound, Of Art, Of Exp...
210923   Lucky Cerruti - Of Not so Fri...
290823   The Residents - The Trouble W...
110723   Yotzeret Sheydim Interview - ...
250523   TenHornedBeast - Into The Dee...
Go Up
(c) Musique Machine 2001 -2023. Twenty two years of true independence!! Mail Us at questions=at=musiquemachine=dot=comBottom