Cassette Review: Gutter Sound "TAPE" (CAUTIOUS HORSES)

[£4 // Edition of 50 // https://cautioushorses.bandcamp.com/album/tape]

I've always said that I need to go back and listen to a lot of older and more popular electronic music so I can have better points of comparison but since I don't really have time for that I'm going to just develop my own little modern sort of database to pull references from as I listen to electronic cassettes.

Gutter Sound begins "TAPE" with beat tone rhythms which bring forth a rattlesnake shake.   This goes into full on electronic which is somewhere between The Prodigy and "Run Lola Run".   It does take a shift towards the 1980's loops though, which is perfect for a cassette obviously, and then there are audio clips which sound sort of like vocals.    Somewhat 8bit tones come through with a drum machine before the pace quickens and I am reminded of the television series "Alias".    This is big electronic.

Side B has a bit more of that 1980's sound and there are audio samples of single word loops.    It goes from distorted sounding 8bit into electro-funk and then it becomes quieter, peaceful with xylophone taps and knocking drums.    It ends perhaps the only way that it can and that is with the sound of a robot woman, who reminds me of the female voice you hear when you check your voice mail ("Message deleted / No new messages / Main menu" comes to mind, though it may not actually be said)

I could easily listen to this with only the movie soundtrack portions I mentioned.   I'd put it in my Walkman and bike through the fast paced downtown scene, weaving in and out between cars, perhaps as a bike messanger or someone just as careless.    "TAPE" does have moments of other sounds though and that adds to the obvious talent that can be found in Gutter Sound.

It's not that I need to tell you- because you can listen to it for yourself- but it's one thing to make a cassette that has a fragment of this on a loop and while that could still be quite good, this just has so much more to offer.    From taking the idea of being one dimensional to a whole new level as this has more dimensions than I care to count, Gutter Sound is a great example of electronic sounds for everyone and will very easily become a point of comparison for me in the future.