Altered Zones

Denver's very own gothstar, Pictureplane, made this video for "Black Nails," taken from his sophomore LP for Lovepump United that was released earlier this year. Pictureplane gathered some film footage while hanging out in the Russia Federation's heavy industrial landscape-- which "smelled of poison" and felt "apocalyptic" to him-- and spliced it with animation by Rhinoceropolis founding member, Milton Melvin Croissant. The shots that appear in the little box throughout were actually taken by Egedy using his pocket dgital camera, showcasing cathedrals, da Vinci paintings, and crowd footage of a show with '90s thrash metal gods Master. Egedy says the footage aimed to "capture the amazing spirit of Russian culture and to portray the classic 'Russian soul' that my Russian friends say is becoming lost." --Ric Leichtung, Altered Zones

Pictureplane: "Black Nails"

Pictureplane is hosting a stream of his latest for Lovepump United, Thee Physical. With songs like "Touching Transform," "Trancegender," and its title track, "Thee Physical"-- the album tackles some heady concepts about the nature of human interaction and physical identity in the digital age. It's also fun to dance to. --Ric Leichtung, Altered Zones

Pictureplane: Thee Physical

Preorder Thee Physical from Lovepump United; definitely don't miss out on Pictureplane's free Thee Negative Slave mixtape from Dis Magazine

[Image by Max Capacity]

After a stellar submission from Holy Other, the tenth installment of our Monthly Mix series is here, and who better to inaugurate that second digit than Pictureplane? Though he calls Rhinoceropolis--Denver's leading DIY venue-- his home, this coiner of witch house went on a tour binge over the past 365 days, making freaks and geeks shake it 'till daybreak. I'm not even sure where he found the time to record his latest for Lovepump United, Thee Physical, which is his first since 2009's Dark Rift. Here in his "Deep Wound" mix, Egedy hits us with a few early '90s darkwave industrialists--X Marks the Pedwalk, Panic on the Titanic, and No Minds-- right off the bat, segueing into some hot jams from club contemporaries Darq E Freaker, Nguzunguzu, and Brenmar (formerly of These Are Powers). --Ric Leichtung, Altered Zones

Altered Zones | June 2011 | Mix Series V.10 | Pictureplane

01 X Marks the Pedwalk: "Paranoid Delusions"
02 Panic on the Titanic: "Major Tom"
03 No Minds "Twice Inside"
04 Unknown to the Unknown: "Assassin"
05 Darq E Freaker: "Rhythm and Slags"
06 Lil Internet: "Britney Spears Illuminati Glitch" 
07 Tim Dolla: "Switch (Samo Sound Boy Remix)"
08 Kontigo: "Here I Come"
09 Nyx: "Letting Go"
10 Jhene Aiko "Club Stranger (Nguzunguzu Remix)"
11 Jamie Foxx: "Can I Take You Home (Lucid Bootleg)"
12 Rogerseventytwo: "You Take Me Higher (Brenmar Re-vision f. China)"
13 Ryan Trecartin: "Katy" (Pictureplane's Push the Button Remix)

Lovepump United drops Thee Physical on July 19th; Egedy's Thee Negative Slave mixtape is free at DIS Magazine

--Previously

MP3: Becoming Real: "Closer (Pictureplane's No Body Remix)"

Last month, Pictureplane (Travis Egedy) dropped his Thee Negative Slave mixtape, which had some pretty sick remixes of Becoming Real and Lil B on it, plus some originals with samples couldn't get cleared for the proper album release. Negative Slave definitely excelled in the remixes category, so we're hoping that upcoming album Thee Physical, which is composed of all originals, picks up the slack. Produced by HEALTH's Jupiter Keyes and Egedy, the first single to roll out is "Real is a Feeling," which is named after his progressive dance night in Denver. --Ric Leichtung, Altered Zones

MP3: Pictureplane: "Real is a Feeling"

Lovepump United drops Thee Physical July 19th, download Egedy's Thee Negative Slave mixtape at DIS Magazine

--Previously

MP3: Becoming Real: "Closer (Pictureplane's No Body Remix)"

A few weeks back, Transparent treated us to Stalker's remix of Becoming Real's "Closer." Today, Pictureplane dropped his own edit of the UK producer's hit as a part of a 12 track Thee Negative Slave mixtape, featuring an equal mix of originals and remixes, ranging from the likes of Creep, Kingdom, and Lil B. Whatever you do, don't miss out on these dirty dance gems. --Ric Leichtung, Altered Zones

MP3: Becoming Real: "Closer (Pictureplane's No Body Remix)"

MP3: Pictureplane: "Beyond Fantasy"

Overdose on free Pictureplane goodies like Thee Negative Slave mixtape, plus a live set from one of New York's local GHE20 G0THIK DJ parties at Dis Magazine. His next full length, Thee Physical, is coming out this summer on Lovepump United

[click here for full-size poster]

Update: Girl Unit has unfortunately had to drop out of SXSW due to visa issues. However, we're thrilled to announce that Montreal dream-pop artist Grimes was kind enough to fill in on short notice and will now be opening the showcase on Wednesday at noon. Her debut full-length, Halfaxa, dropped last fall on Arbutus, and if you haven't checked it out yet, you should really do that. You can download the whole thing here for free, and donate if you like what you hear.

Altered Zones is coming to SXSW, and we are basically throwing the party of our dreams. Now it might be our first year repping in Texas, but we're no strangers to the flood of options spread over those four days in March, where another crowded, ass-reeking backroom beckons you at every turn. We wanted to do more than just put some bands we like up on a stage. We wanted to do something that not only supports the artists we love, but also brings the visual aesthetic of our site into the real world. Ideally, something that lives up to our name.

So we thought about our favorite kinds of parties-- the ones you find yourself in at 3 a.m. on your last night in Texas. These are the parties this pilgrimage is supposed to be about, but which we're often too exhausted to embrace by the time they roll around. So instead, we're throwing that party on Wednesday afternoon, deep inside the dark, windowless, neon-blazing wolf den known only as 'ND,' a black box we'll have bursting with massive visuals, flashing lights, and fucking amazing music.

Taking full advantage of ND's potential for sensory overload, we've hooked up with Austin-based multimedia artists Tommyboy and VidKidz, who'll be casting mind-shredding live video genius onto the venue's eye-popping 30x20-foot, floor-to-ceiling HD projection wall. We can barely count the hours we've spent transfixed by these dudes' insane online video mixes, but we always come out the other side feeling like we just time traveled through an internet k-hole. It's something we're pretty sure everyone should experience at least once.

Like AZ itself, the transportive environment is just a visual extension of the music, and we could not be more excited that this party is being graced by performances from these artists who, to us, are among the most creative in the DIY underworld. Their music isn't just 'new' in the temporal sense, but truly new in the progressive sense-- artists we admire for their rulebook-burning approach and dedication to the advancement of the form.

Btw, we don't really believe in too much mystical shit, but we just realized this is our 1,000th post, and somehow that seems like a good sign. Just keepin' it weird, bros.

Wednesday, March 16th
ND @ 501 Studios
E. 5th + Brushy St. (map it)

-- Schedule
05:00 John Maus
04:00 Puro Instinct
03:00 Pictureplane
02:15 Sleep ∞ Over
01:30 Laurel Halo
12:45 Matthewdavid
12:00 Grimes
+ Weird Magic DJs
+ Visuals by Tommyboy + Vid Kidz

MP3: John Maus: "Do Your Best"

MP3: Puro Instinct: "Stilyagi (feat. Ariel Pink)"

MP3: Pictureplane: "Beyond Fantasy"

MP3: Sleep ∞ Over: "Casual Diamond"

MP3: Sebastien Tellier: "Look (Laurel Halo Remix)"

MP3: matthewdavid: "International (Feat. Dogbite)"

MP3: Grimes: "Weregild"

MP3: Pictureplane: "Beyond Fantasy"

Tickets available here

Travis Egedy of Pictureplane says:
Recently I was hanging out with Nick Weiss from Teengirl Fantasy in Chicago, and we were sharing music we liked before we performed at a gay club called Berlin. We were discussing our shared interest in digital cumbia, so he hipped me to a new sound from Monterrey, Mexico called "Tribal" (pronounced "tree-ball") that DJs like Nguzunguzu and Total Freedom are really getting into heavy right now. The tribal style is based in traditional cumbia riddims and time signatures, but what's different is the use of very ravey synths, cut-up samples, and emphasis on the loop. It's like techno cumbia and its fucking MASSIVE. What's awesome is that it's the sound of the youth; Erick Rincon is kinda the top dog for tribal at the moment, and he's only 17, so it's all very fresh and contemporary. Toy Selectah is like all about this shit right now and is doing a proper release by him and some of the scene's top producers, like Sheeqo Beat and DJ Otto, who are both 18. I bet that we'll be hearing a lot more of this sound in the next year.

MP3: Erick Rincon: "Amantes Guaracheros"

3BallMTY! EP is available for free download via Mad Decent