Altered Zones

Dylan Ettinger's New Age Outlaws was one of my favorite records of last year and this Winter, Not Not Fun will be releasing his follow-up, Lifetime of Romance. "Wintermute," the opening track, is a synth-built space-scape characteristic of his previous work, albeit with the addition of some very brief vocals. Ettinger describes the record as an "album about failure and self-doubt. It's about realizing that maybe you aren't cut out for romance after all." With that in mind, this song and its pained vocal performance create quite a haunting feeling. --Jheri Evans, Get Off The Coast

MP3: Dylan Ettinger: "Wintermute"

Lifetime of Romance is out soon on the inimitable Not Not Fun

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"Lion of Judah," the A-side of Dyan Ettinger's new 7", sees the Bloomington, IN artist going in for some deep, terrestrial blues after the arpeggiated beam-scapes of his New Age Outlaws LP. Never thought I'd enjoy watching "action shots" of a dude playing a synthesizer, but this video by Nathan Vollmar and William Winchester Claytor makes every moment count, from the turn of a head to the opening of an eye and the choreography of a body lunging forward for a kiss. If the slant of the light and the group compositions remind you of clicking through slides in Art History 101, it's because the artists were taking some pretty serious cues from Caravaggio. --Emilie Friedlander, Visitation Rites

"Lion of Judah" 7" is available from Not Not Fun, along with Dylan's New Age Outlaws LP

--Previously:

MP3: Dylan Ettinger: "Shandor's Dream"

MP3: Dylan Ettinger: "Endeavor"

Dylan Ettinger says:
Don't let the French band name and Spanish lyrics confuse you; this band is German to the core. Founded by Beate Bartel (Einstürzende Neubauten, Mania D) and Chrislo Haas (D.A.F., Crime and the City Solution) in 1981, Liaisons Dangereuses were part of the Neue Deutsche Welle scene. The song "Los Niños del Parque" was the closest they ever got to a hit single. They combined the percussive, sequenced synthesizers and harsh, dry drum machines to create a potent form of industrial-minded dance music. There are equal traces of Giorgio Moroder and Throbbing Gristle to be heard in this track.

I can't remember the first time I heard this track, but its driving beat and great sequencer programming quickly bored into my subconscious.   I've always been drawn to dance music on the darker end of the spectrum, and this song is without question one of my favorites. The affected shrieks from Bartel pop in and out of the track in a ghostly, startling manner, while the disturbed disco-beat pulses on without pause. Krishna Goineau's bizarre ramblings in Spanish about kids hanging out in parks and smoking cigarettes top things off to make this a cold wave classic.

MP3: Liasons Dangereuses: "Los Ninos Del Parque (1981)"

Our pals over at NNA Tapes recently sent over this new jam from space wizard Dylan Ettinger. If I were around to create Star Wars in the late '70s I would only pray that Dylan Ettinger were around to soundtrack it. We would have made those movies cool. This charged anthem's rolling beat sounds almost too perfect for the slightly grimy, everyone's-welcome-if-their-skin's-tough-enough vibe of Chalmun's Cantina. With Ettinger leading the Modal Nodes, things would have been a lot more groovy in a galaxy far, far away. (via Get Off The Coast)

MP3: Dylan Ettinger: "Endeavor"

Botany Bay is available now via the rad folks at NNA Tapes

Though Ettinger's Digitalis album-- Cutters-- was excellent, it was the quasi-futuristic float of his New Age Outlaws tape that really caught my attention. It seemed practically begging to be pressed on vinyl, and now Dylan has made the move, with a re-release on Not Not Fun. The new edition not only recaptures the ethereal brilliance of the album on wax; it adds a new track, reshuffles the track order, and includes transitions to help the whole thing flow together in a seamless sweat. Check out "Shandor's Dream" below, which is a re-recorded and extended cut of "Long Day" from the original. (via Raven Sings the Blues)

MP3: Dylan Ettinger: "Shandor's Dream"

New Age Outlaws is available from Not Not Fun

In the last several years, there's been an explosion of small-scale DIY music. Altered Zones is a team of 14 music blogs dedicated to exploring these emerging musical worlds, traversing genres from psych and drone to electronic and underground pop. Our mission is to highlight the most notable and adventurous new artists, and to serve as a focal point for the flood of creativity coming from deep within the music underground.

To launch the site, we've each chosen one favorite track, cassette, and album from the first half of this year. Yesterday, we opened with tracks. Today, we cover cassettes, and albums will run on Friday. Our regular posting schedule begins Monday. We hope you enjoy reading and listening.

Welcome to Altered Zones.

No UFO's: Soft Coast

20 Jazz Funk Greats says:
No UFO's Soft Coast first found its way to us back in April, cut up and edited together as snippets. Assembled into an album by May, it became a longer-form but equally channel-hopping glide through Chris and Cosey’s early-electronic loops, cosmic Legeti drifts, and Jamie Principal arpeggios-- and that’s in the space of about five minutes. The influences here are sewn together in the best possible tradition of mix tapes; you appreciate the connections as they’re replayed in a joyous, nebulous drift. This is music by one person trying to come to terms with his influences by making something frankly beautiful.

We also dig the Juan Atkins reference.

MP3: No UFOs: 00/00/2010

Soft Coast is out now on Nice Up Int'l and available at Mimaroglu

Grimes: Geidi Primes

Gorilla vs. Bear says:
With her debut cassette release, Montreal's Grimes has created a beautifully hypnotic and eerily inviting soundscape by drawing from such disparate genres as dubstep, wobbly lo-fi bedroom disco, and more straightforward '80s pop (see "Rosa"), all filtered through a strange, vaseline-smeared kaleidoscopic lens. Spooky coos and strangely familiar, half-realized melodies drift in and out from a distantly twinkling ether, as the tape plays out like a bent, no-budget dream collaboration between Kate Bush, Nite Jewel, and Paavoharju, as produced by the low-end theorists at Hyperdub.

MP3: Grimes: Rosa

Geidi Primes is sold out on Arbutus

Various Artists: Dark as Night

Weekly Tape Deck says:
Dark as Night is a mind-bending four-way split that Bathetic Records has now twice released upon the world. Each side of the cassette takes you on an ephemeral vision quest of magical proportions. Though the two tracks submitted by each band (oOoOO, SLEEP ∞ OVER, Terminal Twilight, S U R V I V E) run the gamut of soundscapes from haunted to angelic, they all blend into one ethereal sound. Reactions may range from nodding your head in enjoyment to a meeting with your spirit animal.

MP3: Terminal Twilight: The Fire of Love (Fire Mix)

MP3: oOoOO: NoShore

Dark as Night is sold out on Bathetic Records

Wild Safari / Cough Cool

Yours Truly says:
Although song titles like "History of Savannah" and "Flower Reading" exude a sense of late spring warmth, you can almost see your breath around this split cassette from Wild Safari and Cough Cool. There's lava burning at its core, though, like blood pumping faster in an attempt to fend off the bitter cold.  These tracks simmer beneath their surfaces, slowly building but never boiling over. Despite the cold it brings, this split cassette still keeps you warm enough to make it through any winter.

MP3: Wild Safari: History of Savannah

Wild Safari / Cough Cool split is out now on Leftist Nautical Antiques

Campfires: Burning Rivers, TV Flickers, Drifting Off to Bed

Visitation Rites says:
Stamped out before the three-minute mark, the songs on Campfires' debut cassette seem tailor-made to our impatient ears, so accustomed to clicking from one mp3 or YouTube video to the next.  As we chase fleeting moments of musical gratification, we Y-Generation listeners may actually be using the web to actively construct our own musical narratives. Campfires' Jeff Walls seems to anticipate this, minting eight fuzzed-out musical moments that pack a strong melodic punch and then stringing them together into a yarn of his own: "The songs all occur in one evening in a place that is [...] a lot like my hometown in southwestern Michigan." Walls' concept is foolproof: rather than click on to the next artist, we await the next plot twist.

MP3: Campfires: Tired Old Sun

Burning Rivers, TV Flickers, Drifting Off to Bed is nearly sold out on Leftist Nautical Antiques

Active Child: Sun Rooms

The Road Goes Ever On says:
Between the sparkling beauty of “Wilderness” and the pounding drums and resounding vocals of “When Your Love is Safe,” Active Child has a knack for dreamy hooks. The six tracks on his Sun Rooms cassette may at first seem slightly stiff, but they always reach out a soft, warm hand in the end, lifting you up and taking you home. Something about Pat Grossi’s ethereal voice atop all those mysteriously airy synths makes this a great tape to pop in when you’re driving into a brilliant sunset on a quiet, Sunday evening.

MP3: Active Child: When Your Love Is Safe

Sun Rooms is sold out on Mirror Universe

His Clancyness: Always Mist

Transparent says:
His Clancyness is Jonathan Clancy of Bologna, Italy via Ottawa, Canada. Always Mist, his first full-length release, is a tender, clean, and consoling collection of snug little dream-pop blankets to ball up in, marked by gliding harmonies into which Clancy injects his rich, wistful sigh. These are not songs that demand a great deal of insight. In fact, there's no need for understanding at all; the simple arrangements and heartbreak hooks bypass the nerd-centres, burrowing straight through the chest only to manifest themselves two minutes or so later as lumps in the throat and knots in the stomach.

MP3: His Clancyness: Ottawa Backfired Soon

Always Mist is out now on Mirror Universe (limited to 100)

Coma Cinema: Stoned Alone

Delicious Scopitone says:
Coma Cinema is the solo project of Mat Cothran of Columbia, South Carolina. Without a doubt, one of the most engaging personalities we've had the pleasure of coming across this year, Cothran's singular enthusiasm and sincerity radiates through every last note of Stoned Alone, his debut release. Falling somewhere between the writhing axe-work psychosis of Lou Barlow and the disarmingly delicate intensity of James Mercer of the Shins, songs like "Sucker Punch" or "Come On Apathy" are magnetic and moving to the point of being cleansing.

MP3: Coma Cinema: Come On Apathy

Stoned Alone is out now on Arcade Sounds Ltd and available for free download at comacinema.org

Dylan Ettinger: New Age Outlaws

Raven Sings the Blues says:
Syrupy synth projects seem to be falling down two avenues of late: either they douse themselves in the frosted pink nostalgia of 80s ski weekends and infomercial bed music, or take the scholarly high road to analog experimentation. But Dylan Ettinger is an outlier. He’s certainly not running down the Day-Glo path of banana-clipped past-gazing, but he might not possess the pedigree to hang with Analog Masters just yet. Instead, he’s captured the latter’s sense of wonder and applied it to a loose concept album of gritty crime drama and darkened noir corners. Definitely my favorite on the small spools this year.

MP3: Dylan Ettinger: Rico's Pawn Shop

New Age Outlaws is out now at Not Not Fun (limited to 500)

Tracey Trance: The Fountain

Chocolate Bobka says:
Slugs, beetles and worms mill about the surface of the Earth. Often the beetles will roam in a circular pattern, occasionally bumping into a termite or a fire ant as if bug life were a game of miniature bumper cars. The music of Tracey Trance-- and especially The Fountain-- combs the uneventful ether for these types of collisions. Cascading like a waterfall over endless cliffs, Tracey hits buttons and melodies that a trained musician could never replicate. Instead, his outer-worldly melodies seem more natural, as if sparked by collaboration between a plastic woodwind acolyte and a manic Geppetto with a knack for the squeeze box.

MP3: Tracey Trance: Fountain 1

The Fountain is out now on Night People

Twins / Luke Perry: Guts

Rose Quartz says:
For all the Peace Agers mining 90210 nostalgia, these two East Coasters add the most electro zest to that hyperreal televised romanticism. Twins and Luke Perry's brand of day-glo is about as close to a VHS Supersoaker commercial as it gets; "bodacious" is about right for this ultra "Californian"-sounding sample-heavy pop, highlighted by trebly guitar wailage that sounds perfect on tape via your worst boombox. These bouncy hits may be scratchy and lo-fi, but they still fit great alongside hazy electro acts like Blondes and schizoids like The Samps.

MP3: Twins / Luke Perry: Malibu Body Crew

Guts split is out now on Peace Age

Dem Hunger: Caveman Smack

Friendship Bracelet says:
I've been nothing short of addicted to the work of Dem Hunger since first coming across his free download Heavy Spinach in the first half of last year. His first physical release, Caveman Smack, has only further intensified my obsession-- a sonic patchwork of spaced-out dub, beats that snap as heavy as any other on the planet, and eerie, mind-frying vinyl samples. Scenes skip as you try to keep up, but keeping up simply isn't an option. Time flies and you're left stunned.

MP3: Dem Hunger: DEM5master

Caveman Smack is out now on Leaving Records

Clive Tanaka y su orquesta: Jet Set Siempre No. 1

Get Off the Coast says:
Jet Set Siempre No. 1 has two personalities: Side A is labeled "For Dance" and Side B as "For Romance." From the opening notes of the A-side, you're immediately caught in a groove that entraps you until the tape is tightly wound around its second spool. While the B-side retains the rhythm, its added sense of enchantment ensures your moves connect with the eyes you're trying to attract. With Jet Set Siempre No. 1, Clive Tanaka y su orquesta have created one of the best electronic jammers I've heard in a long time. The only downside is that I'll probably wear out the cassette before summer ends.

MP3: Clive Tanaka y su orquesta: I Want You (So Bad)

Jet Set Siempre No. 1 is available now at clivetanaka.jp

Cruisin': What Is Quality?/Cruising in the Year F-Zero

Don't Die Wondering says:
Cruisin' is the latest analogue adventure from the ever-quirky Peace Age conglomerate, designated to be meekly laid down as a sacrifice before the volatile drug gods. What Is Quality? brings together the collective talents of Twins (Matt Weiner), Luke Perry (Ryan Howe), CH-ROM (Charlie Lanning), E-Tip (Elise Tippins) and Alex500 (Alex Morrison), which I imagine translates into a sweaty room centered around a heap of dusty electronics which are then subjected to forms of torture the manufacturer would not approve of. The resulting 20 minutes feel like a car ride through the changing scenery of one’s psyche, peering passively out the backseat window to find sights alternately pastoral, menacing, strange, and lovely, and sometimes just focusing on your own reflection peering passively back.

MP3: Cruisin': Default Magic

What Is Quality? is out now on Peace Age