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Album of the Day: Domestic: I Went to Heaven - Used Condo

Domestic: I Went to Heaven (2011) - Used Condo

It's been raining for a week straight, so I've adjusted my listening accordingly. Hence the past couple album choices. At this point, though, the dour skies are getting to everyone. Talking about the weather is a cliche, but people I've never known to talk about the weather are now talking about how the sun came out for 30 seconds yesterday and it was blissful. Now a hurricane is making its way up the coast, and it is still raining.

So it's time for some breakdown. It's time to get fucking weird.

This reissue came out today on Bumpy. Used Condo is a Larry Wish project, and if you don't know who that is, you're not one of the 32 (at the time of writing this) people who watched this live performance of "Astral Projection" off his April 2024 release, The Mind is the Builder.

But you should be. Watch that video, then listen to this album. I dare you. Or better yet, toss Wish some change and buy the Domestic: I Went to Heaven tape. It probably should only be listened to on tape.

From the Bandcamp page:

In the Autumn of 2011, I started a side project under the name Used Condo. I had been working in a thrift store for a little over a year, and occasionally some interesting musical gear would come in. One day, I was stocking things out on the floor and came across a bulky, yellow cassette player. It had features that allowed the manipulation of tape speed, tonal quality, and instant side-flipping. This was the notorious Library of Congress C1, used by DIY recordists, tape music obsessives, experimental musicians, and DJs all over. I absolutely had to have it.

Before obtaining the C1, Wish had been opening cassettes, cutting out random pieces of tape William Burroughs-style, and scotch taping them back together. These loops provide the basis of these tracks, which at their best contain distorted background music: piano on "The Alignment of the Nine Planet" and "Un Orb", the electric guitar serving as the climax of "Pluth", the drums on "Creme."

"Creme" is probably my favorite, if a favorite is possible here. A few of the song titles represent a repeated word or phrase for the song, giving the listener something to cling to amongst the chaos. (It's probably not fair to call it chaos, though. There does seem to be a method here--various patterns, rises, and falls.) The word Creme is repeated until it breaks down, then unidentifiable (to my untrained ears) instruments or distortions that sound like creme take over until it all ends with abrupt distortion, followed by the track "Why Says the Junk?" which seems to consist of Paul McCartney posing that inexplicable question repeatedly.

Didn't think I'd think too much about this one. I just wanted enough weird for my mind to glob onto for 30 minutes. For that reason alone, Domestic: I Went to Heaven didn't disappoint.

Label: Soothing Almonds Collective (Reissued 2024 via Bumpy)

Track for monthly playlist: "Creme"

Listen/Purchase: https://larrywish.bandcamp.com/album/domestic-i-went-to-heaven-2
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