Altered Zones

Ford & Lopatin were kind enough to send us their jazz-prog "Roughly Fusion Mix II," and it seems they've raised the bar even higher since their last one, "Metal Fatigue." This mix starts off with Alain Renaud jammer "Opening Opus 19" --a song appearing on Ursa Records, a label run by Richard Pinhas of Heldon, who appears twice more here-- and then transitions into Claude Larson, an alter-ego of Klaus Netzle, who was most famously known for Bach for Computer, under pseudonym, Carlos Futura. There's a great Frank Zappa pick, "Night School", taken from the 1986 instrumental album Jazz From Hell, which was performed sans Mothers of Invention on the super-baller, mouth-watering Synclavier synth. Zappa collaborator and Synclavier user Jean-Luc Ponty also makes an appearance, on the heels of fellow countryman Patrick Gauthier, whose "Mixtur-Trautonium" appears on the deliciously titled Bébé Godzilla-- re-released on Magma's Seventh Records in 1994. Prog on. --Ric Leichtung, Altered Zones

Ford & Lopatin: "Roughly Fusion Mix II"

Now that you've heard the sounds that inspired F&L's Channel Pressure, get your own copy from the duo's own Mexican Summer imprint, Software

Games: "Metal Fatigue" Favorite Discoveries of 2010