Altered Zones

For those of you who aren't already en route to Chicago's second annual Neon Marshmallow Fest this weekend, here's a mix from Tortoise drummer John McEntire, who will be throwing down Saturday night as the Empty Bottle's house DJ. Repurposed from a May 2008 DJ set at defunct Chicago venue Sonotheque during a showcase by Brad Loving's Bird & Whale music blog, this one's got a whole lot of Krautrock & Kosmische-related goodies, from Neu! mastermind Michael Rother to Cluster, Jean Michel Jarre, and a passage from Manuel Gottsching's seminal proto-house music composition, E2-E4. Now I don't know too many DJs who would jump from Kraftwerk to the The Coup, from 23 Skidoo to This Heat via Miles Davis, but somehow the whole hangs together quite swimmingly. Obscurer highlights include a cut from YMO member Horoumi Hosono's Bollywood-inspired, 1978 solo album, Cochin Moon, and a track from '80s Spanish Industrial weirdos Esplendor Geometrico, who named themselves after the futurist poet F.T. Marinetti's "Geometric and Mechanical Splendor of the Numerical Sensibility." -- Emilie Friedlander, Altered Zones

John McEntire Mix

3-day tickets and single night tickets are still available, along with copies of the massive, 80-minute Neon Marshmallow cassette comp. Tracklisting below

01 Cornelius: "Wataridori"
02 Michael Rother: "Karussell"
03 Kraftwerk: "Tanzmusik"
04 The Coup: "Five Million Ways To Kill A CEO"
05 Metro Area: "Miura"
06 Boz Scaggs: "Low Down"
07 The Millenium: "Prelude"
08 Olodum: "Cara Preta"
09 Horoumi Hosono: "Hum Ghar Sajan"
10 Budos Band: "Chicago Falcon"
11 The Five Stairsteps: "Don't Change Your Love"
12 A Certain Ratio: "Do The Du"
13 23 Skidoo: "Vegas el Bandito"
14 Miles Davis: "Mayisha"
15 This Heat: "Rimp Romp Ramp"
16 Esplendor Geometrico: "Trans Umma"
17 Jean Michel Jarre: "Equinoxe Part 5"
18 Cluster: "Caramel"
19 Pink Floyd: "Astronomy Domine"
20 Manuel Gottsching: E2-E4 (Excerpt)