Altered Zones

Run DMT's Culture Dealer imprint is accepting lyrics submissions to make your very own song poems. For those unfamiliar with song poems, you should really watch PBS' documentary, Off the Charts: The Song-Poem Story, but the basic concept is as such: you send your poetry to a company who, for a nominal fee, will make and record a song based on writing and send it back to you. As one might expect, the kind of people who would actually do this tend to be a tad wacky, a trend that has blessed us with the batshit insanity of gems like Caglar Juan Singletary's "Non-Violent Taekwondo Troopers" or, my personal favorite, Ramsey Kearney's acid-fueled proverb, "Blind Man's Penis." If you want to make it to the big time and keep this tradition alive, send your lyrics, band name, and whatever else to Culture Dealer Studios where The Doobie Sisters Family Band will record your song to cassette as a split with another aspiring song poet. If you're up for it, you may even be featured as part of their One Hitter Wonders Compilation series. --Matt Sullivan, Altered Zones

Update your RSS feeds folks, No Pain in Pop have revived their blog! After being hacked about a year ago and losing hundreds of posts (dating back to 2008), the UK-based collective spent nearly four seasons focusing on their label, boasting releases from Forest Swords, Grimes, Doldrums, and Patten this year. The blog welcomed itself back to the game with an autumnal mix featuring John Cale, the KLF, Grouper, and the Caretaker, as well as a couple posts on Finnish producer Ukkonen and London up-and-comer Hypermagic. Check out both juicy finds on the new No Pain in Pop Tumblr blog-- not to be confused with their label Tumblr. --Ric Leichtung, Altered Zones

No Pain in Pop's "Nov 1st & the Clocks Rewound" Mix

In a recent interview with WNYU's DJ Dona, Ben Greenberg revealed that a track from his recent debut full-length as Hubble, Hubble Drums, was created for a video made by NASA. Spurred on by music critic Michael Azzerad, Greenberg met with folks at the NASA-affiliated Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore and offered to soundtrack imagery from the Hubble Space Telescope. The result was the appropriately titled, "Hubble's Hubble," of which Greenberg had some interesting things to say: "The video is a story… a trope on the death of climates and stars. Hubble as a musical project is a meditation on my place in the world as a musician, my place in the universe and [...] it really makes you think about how much there is out there, and how little of it we really get to see." --Matt Sullivan, Altered Zones

Hubble: "Nude Ghost"

The "Hubble's Hubble" music video will drop November 18th, and you can scoop Hubble Drums now from Northern Spy

Mark Gengis has been collecting records from around the world for the past 20 years, and has worked with world music beacon Sublime Frequencies on some of their most memorable releases, like the Iraqi pop comp Choubi Choubi!, the Cambodian Cassette Archives, and the recent Erkin Koray singles and rarities collection. Now he's starting his own label, Sham Palace, and is gearing up for a double LP from Omar Souleyman called Le Jani, due November 22nd. On the horizon is also some "later-period music, long-form pieces harvested from international cassettes, electronic folk pop and even some contemporary artists." --Ric Leichtung, Altered Zones via The Wire

Ash Ra Tempel's stellar run of 1970s albums, as well as Manuel Göttsching's Inventions for Electric Guitar, have been remastered and reissued on CD by Göttsching himself (aka Mr. Ash Ra). The albums-- Ash Ra Tempel's self-titled, Schwingungen, Join Inn, Seven Up, and Starring Rosi-- are all through Manuel's MG.ART label, available for purchase on the official Ash Ra Tempel website. If you choose to grab all of them, you're sent a freebie DVD of Manuel Göttsching: Postcards From Japan 2008, Manuel Göttsching & Kinga: Wroclaw Live 2007, or Ashra: Live at the Open Air Festival Herzberg 1997. These reissues were quietly released a few months back, but are essential listenings as valuable today as they were in the golden age of krautrock. --Matt Sullivan, Altered Zones via The Wire

All the albums are out on MG.ART and still available in Ash Ra Tempel's little shop

Nicholas Williams has been managing the Massachusetts label and record store Feeding Tube Records for two years now while maintaining a complex and comprehensive inventory that had a knack for uncovering lost classics. Now, Nick is breaking out on his own to start One Kind Favor, a record label that will specialize in re-issuing rarities from all locales and styles. He recently started a Kickstarter page that offers copies of his first two planned re-releases: Kenneth Higney's 1976 LP, Attic Demonstration, and Sound Ceremony's 1979 self-titled LP. Higney's effort ended up as his only full-length; a record of warped folk and rock deconstructions originally intended to shop his songwriting in what was an unsuccessful quest for a career in the music industry. Sound Ceremony's was the second full-length for the UK group who chose to reinvent and hyperbolize pre-hippy rock 'n roll, rather than take a razor to it like many punk groups of the time opted to do.

The Kickstarter page has samples of several tracks from each record, showcasing a strange camaraderie between these seemingly unrelated LPs. Attic's weird world is shrouded in a subtle rhythmic and tonal dissonance that eschews its Americana influences, exhibiting an intimate songcraft that's in stark contrast to Ron Warren Ganderton's-- the guitarist/songwriter behind Sound Ceremony-- humorous and maniacal rock n' roll caricature. But, both records rely on a potent emotional honesty that provokes gasps of shock and laughter in equal measure, and it's that sort of quality that will cause collectors to chase these down. --Matt Sullivan, Altered Zones

As Oval, glitch progenitor Markus Popp has always merged process with product, urging listeners to consider course as consequence. This is realized more than ever on Oval's upcoming release for Shitkatapult, OvalDNA. Described by Popp as an "open source manifesto," the two-disc affair will offer 25 rare and 12 unreleased tracks on part one. True-to-name, DNA gives listeners a look at the foundations of Oval: the second disc will include employable software, written by Popp and used in his music making. Disc two also includes about 2000 unrestricted AIFF sound files created by Popp, urging the open deconstruction and reconstruction of sound Oval has always hinted at. Further, it will contain 10 WAV files, a video regarding "Glass UFO", and an essay written by Wire contributer David Topp. OvalDNA was intended for a release prior to last year's sprawling Thrill Jockey LP O; it will be out January 6. -- Dale W. Eisinger, Altered Zones.

Oval: OvalDNA Preview

When Portland noise duo Yellow Swans called it quits in 2008, a certain sect of improvisational-noise devotees was left wanting. But as 2011 rolled on, we've seen a couple recent releases from Pete Swanson, one half of the erstwhile Swans. This includes a full length, I Don't Rock At All, for Three Lobed Recordings and a 7" for Emerald Cocoon. November will see yet another full-length release from Swanson, called Man With Potential, this time on recently profiled Type Records.

Swanson describes its sounds to us: "The album is mainly comprised of fairly fractured electronic sounds, tape loops of voices, and field recordings, with occasional melodic themes and kick drums emerging to ground the pieces in some more accessible sonic territory. At the time of this recording, I was fixated on out-of-sync looping patterns and creating very dense work by layering very brief sounds." Man With Potential was recorded in Decemeber 2010 in Oregon-- the above video is our first look. --Dale W. Eisinger, Altered Zones

Stream four recent Pete Swanson songs, one of which is from the upcoming Man With Potential, at The Wire

In the late '70s, when everyone else was spreading studio Rumours, Gary Wilson was at home, quietly recording his opus of electronic-weirdo-lounge called You Think You Really Know Me-- a record that found common ground between Ziggy Stardust and Just Being Myself. It's a home-recorded release some of our favorite contemporary self-sculpted expressionists, like Ariel Pink and R. Stevie Moore, are indebted to.

On October 25, Wilson and Feeding Tube Records will release a limited edition of 1000 vinyl LPs of material from that era, called Forgotten Lovers. It will include an album made prior to the '77 release of You Think You Really Know Me, the resultant singles from that record, and some other studio recordings from the period. The sounds on the upcoming release are said to be more "porn-soundtrack-jazz-funk," which doesn't sound too far off the mark from Wilson's previous best. --Dale W. Eisinger, Altered Zones

Pre-order Forgotten Lovers from Feeding Tube Records

Last year, after returning from travel in Mali and Mauritania, Sahel Sounds released Music From Saharan Cellphones, a cassette compilation of found tracks copied from memory cards via Bluetooth wireless transfer. The tape was then ripped, uploaded, and shared through the internet (as music often is), where it quickly grew in reputation as a source for new world sounds. Now, Sahel Sounds has teamed-up Boomarm Nation to release a remix compilation, featuring a slew talented oddball producers, such as Matthewdavid and Ensemble Economique, to be distributed and uploaded back into the cellphones from which they came. --Ian Pearson, Altered Zones

MP3: Matthewdavid: "Stealing Sahara"

Music For Saharan Cellphones is available for download from Bandcamp, as a cassette from Mississippi Records, and on 30 microSD cards to be shipped back to Kidal, Mali

--Previously from Saharan Cellphones

MP3: Niger: "Autotune"

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

Last year, the woozy melodies of Rangers totally blew us away; Suburban Tours was one of our favorite records of last year. Now, we're psyched that the Joe Knight-fronted project will be releasing a new double LP called Pan Am Stories on the always awesome Not Not Fun. Sink your teeth into the first shoegaze-glazed exercise in hypnagogic pop to drop, "Conversations On The Jet Stream." --Ric Leichtung, Altered Zones via The Fader

MP3: Rangers: "Conversations On The Jet Stream"

Keep an eye on Not Not Fun for more info on Pan Am Stories

--Previously

MP3: Rangers: "Deerfield Village"

Death Grips have shared Black Google, a deconstruction of their abrasive, neck-breaking Exmilitary album. The free download is a collection of more than forty vocal and instrumental stems, which means you can finally karaoke over "Guillotine" with your best MC Ride impression, or do that chillwave remix with Zach Hill's insane drumming slowed down 800%. --Ric Leichtung, Altered Zones

MP3: Death Grips: "Guillotine"

Download Black Google at Death Grips' Third Worlds website

Zs have decided to move on from their New Slaves sound, ushering in the next period of their sound with the Holy Trinity trilogy. Composed of a double 7", a gold-plated cassette, and even a playbutton-- the recent medium of choice for Mount Eerie and Javelin-- the trilogy is the first step towards becoming what founder Sam Hillmer describes as "a sound system band... ditching the amps, bringing our own PA, and doing live mixing on stage, in addition to all the electronics." New Yorkers can witness the new set at AZ superfan Topher Weingarten's Hipster Puppies release party tonight. --Ric Leichtung, Altered Zones

If you dig heavily on Garys of both the Wilson and Numan variety, you may find British outsider electro-psych artisan nick nicely to your liking, as he fits somewhere between the two extremes. Born Nickolas Laurien, the enigmatic and always lowercased nick nicely doesn't transmit the volatility of the former, nor the new wave dance floor standards of the latter. Instead, he marries minimal disco and post-punk analog washes with the type of quirky melodic structures reminiscent of Skip Spence. Surely Sir Ariel Pink has borrowed some of his vocal inflections from this deep space banger. Captured Tracks has chronicled some of nicely's most important work with Elegant Daze: Songs from 1979-1986, a 13-song compilation that captures nick nicely's knack for cold futurism and hummable hooks. Killer stocking stuffer. -- Kenny Bloggins, The Decibel Tolls

MP3: nick nicely: "Treeline"

Grab it November 29th Captured Tracks