Drug Money

Brent Gutzeit issued an album with James Plotkin on the Kranky label back in 1997 called Mosquito Dream, a strange, jarring excursion into the netherworld of electronics, six-string textures and dynamics. This outing is actually a reissue of a CD-Rom Gutzeit made in 2002 which was sold in a Chicago record store whenever he needed recreational funds — hence the title. There are three tracks here, all of them extended, meandering journeys based on drones. This is simply dark ambient music, where instruments become unidentifiable, textural layers abound and meander along with one another, sometimes intersecting, sometimes separating and becoming static. If anything, the tracks here are most reminiscent of the Lustmørd/Robert Rich project Stalker. It's beautiful but not pleasant, captivating but not attention diverting, and it breaks no new ground, but is nonetheless a solid entry into the field.