Altered Zones

Baltimore is a city with many rich traditions: snow cones, John Waters films, and texturally vivid, totally alternative ambient and beat music. Many of B-more's finest sound collagists and abstract beatmakers are graduates of the city's own Wigflip Records, a psychedelia label run by Will Pesta (aka Happy Family/Inflatable Mattress). Amongst the talented roster were Mike Collins of Run DMT, Cache, and Do While, who each put out free, digital, and dope records on Wigflip's past catalogue. Here, for Collins' killer new Culture Dealer imprint, Cache and Do While have reunited on this split cassette Hidden Houses/Spring Into.

Do While's "In Circles," leaves one overwhelmed with peace, overcome by the vivacious harp loops as they dance around a choral harmony that slowly, sweetly wades through molasses. There's a centripetal energy that carries each passing phase back home, that draws paths symbolic of the piece's title. In Cache's "Glowing Moon," a re-issued cut from the Wigflip End of Summer 2010 compilation, delicate vocals are subtly transformed from their human origins over a ceremonial, droning bass tone; they're drenched in gradually swelling washes of reversed guitar and synthesized chatter that shine like diamonds. The legacy lives on in this split meditation by keeping things local in the best possible way. --Matt Sullivan, Altered Zones

Do While: "In Circles"

MP3: Cache: "Glowing Moon"

The Hidden Houses/Spring Into CS is available on Culture Dealer