I recently ordered some Kevin Drumm-related materials from JMY Music on Bandcamp and, along with the package of Drumm, I received a few unexpected and unrelated extras, including two recordings involving Brent Gutzeit. The JMY label is apparently not releasing any new music, but still has materials (physical and digital) available and Brent (I assume) is filing the orders. (I’ll just add here that my recent order experience with them was excellent.) In any case, the two Gutzeit recordings involved some interesting ideas and execution.
The older release, “Ham Radio” (by Brent Gutzeit and Aaron Zarzutzki) is made up of 15 tracks, but plays like one long piece. Think of it as domestic field recordings. A lot of it seems like the sounds of normal, everyday living in someone’s home – a drawer opened here, a glass moved there, banging outside (what are you kids doing out there?) – things you probably encounter every day in your own place; the incidental noises of living. Combined with this, there are also materials that seem like they are being tested to see what noise they make; more purposeful explorations of items at hand. Give the entire album a patient listen and you may never look at (or hear) your abode the same way again.
As for “Sprung (2025),” Brent released this on his own Bandcamp page. There are two tracks: one labeled “Long Version” and, inevitably, one called “Short Version.” The Long Version is 44 minutes of occasionally strummed or plucked electric guitar, with each note played allowed to linger and then fade out into a silence that lasts until the next sound. This long-form, minimalist composition can play with your head and leads to more intense listening as you anticipate the next sounds, which come at unpredictable intervals.
I was hoping the “Short Version” (which is half the length of the “Long Version”) would be similar to the B-side of the famous “Neu! 2” album. If you’re not familiar, Neu! was running out of money so they simply created tracks with the same song at different speeds. Alas, I don’t believe that’s quite what happened here. Disclaimer: I could be wrong about that, as I’ve gone back-and-forth on this point in my own mind. Regardless, the differences are subtle if is indeed sped up. There are definitely shorter spaces between the sounds, and they sometimes overlap a bit. Somewhat surprisingly, this track has a very different feel to me considering there is only a minimal modification to the music. It has a brighter but slightly ominous tone vs. the relaxed intensity of the first track.
Using non-traditional composition styles, Brent Gutzeit (and Gutzeit/Zarzutzki) has created some intriguing listening experiences. Even though JMY is RIP, I’m glad Brent perseveres.