Altered Zones

November 29th, Brooklyn indie label role models Captured Tracks will launch The Shoegaze Archives, a series dedicated to re-issuing the more obscure side of the genre. It's said that label founder and Blank Dog Mike Sniper got the idea for the series during his extensive search through the web "to find great shoegaze that had slipped through the cracks." This isn't an entirely new venture for Sniper, however, as Captured Tracks has successfully re-released selections from established indies such as The Servants, The Wake, and soon, nick nicely. It's an impressive curatorial resume even without mentioning Sniper's power-pop re-issue label Radio Heartbeat.

The first album to kick off the Archive is an expanded version of Should's beautiful A Folding Sieve, originally released in 1995 under the moniker "shiFt" on Austin, TX's N D label, and an American 'gazer classic. The second is a compilation for New Jersey's deardarkhead, entitled Oceanside: 1991-1993, which spans the heavy atmospheric pop outfit's early career. Both releases are essential for avid fans of stare-at-your-feet music, as the whole series is bound to be. --Ian Pearson, Altered Zones

MP3: Should: "Faded"

MP3: deardarkhead: "Just For You"

Both A Folding Sieve and Oceanside are set to be released November 29th on LP and expanded CD by Captured Tracks