#altered zones

[newearthprogram]

we hope you are enjoying the 2020 altered zones project. stay tuned for exciting events and a way out. 

[dolphinshark]

SIDETRACKED

(Side Projects, Solo Albums, and Other Detours)

Jürgen Müller - Science Of The Sea

In 2011, Digitalis Recordings presented a newly unearthed gem: a reissue of a ambient electronic album from the late ‘70s recorded by Jürgen Müller. After an undersea research excursion, Müller (then a oceanic sciences student at the University of Kiel) purchased some early synthesizers and set up a studio on his houseboat. Inspired by pioneering electronic composers and the then nascent new age scene, he set about recording an album inspired by his underwater travels. Though he hoped to license the music for appropriately aquatic-themed documentaries, the recordings never received much interest apart from family and friends. Müller wound up focusing on his career in the sciences and Science Of The Sea wound up forgotten until it was rediscovered and reissued.

All of that, if you haven’t already guessed, was a lie.

Instead, Jürgen Müller and his misbegotten gem of album was the invention of electronic musician Norm Chambers, a bit of musical dress up that transcends a simple pseudonym. For a while there, though, there was genuine uncertainty about whether or not the story was legit. Even The Evil Empire tagged the record as a Best New Reissue. 

As far as hoaxes go, I’d call it an unusually successful one, both in terms of how many people fell for it, and in the sense that it’s actually kind of a fun / funny idea. The tradition of artists presenting their own work as a piece of detritus they happened upon is a long one. The Scarlet Letter, Candide, Either/Or, The Name of the Rose, and The Blair Witch Project all played with similar conceits. The use of a fictional name and history allows Chambers to play with the way that listeners approach and consider his work.

It helps, of course, that Science Of The Sea is a nice little record, regardless of the story that surrounds it. If you’re a fan of what I (lovingly) call “new age bullshit” you’ll find a lot to love here. The record is full of twinkling arpeggios and washes of burbling synthesizers. There are moments that sound like tiny bubbles floating up from a seabed, and others that sound like flecks of light glinting off the ripples of surface at sunset. Listening to it, you can definitely understand how many people were persuaded by it’s fictional backstory. It’s gentle, soothing, and inviting. 

And what’s a little fiction between friends.

- TWG

PS: I’m glad that this record isn’t on Spotify or Soundcloud, forcing me to link to a YouTube recording of it from Altered Zones (!) the Pitchfork-spinoff blog collective that was equal parts laughable, unnecessary, and kind of great.

PPS: Oh man they let the domain name lapse and now it’s some sort of business website??

[internationaltapes]

Hi, Luke here. I’m the Editor of International Tapes. Welcome to our new digital home.

If you are thinking something like, “Yes, I’m glad you’re back!” then thanks, it’s good to be here. If you’re wondering, “Wait, who the hell are you?” or “Where the hell have you been?” then I have answers for you below.

What to expect now

After 4 years of writing about found tapes, albums, videos, and tracks, we’re going to focus on continuing our mixtape series and our weekly show on Newtown Radio, featuring co-host Tim Hodgin and very special guests. As always, we’re going to keep our ears and energies focused on bringing you the out of the way, unexpected and the pop/not so pop sounds we think are important.

What you can do

Want to make us a mix? Want us to play your music on the show? Want to stop by Newtown Radio if you’re in Brooklyn? Email us at internationaltapescontact [at] gmail.com, please. Talk soon! Onwards!

Looking back

It wouldn’t be appropriate to open a new chapter without examining the old one. International Tapes has had the privilege of supporting a huge, diverse array of artists and bands from around the world. That gets mentioned first, because that’s what we’ve always tried to put first. 

In the course of that, we’ve evolved what we do, over and over. When I joined International Tapes as a contributor, founder Ric Leichtung was starting to look beyond the found bodega cassettes, obscure YouTube finds, and artist mixtapes that cast Intl as a “blog for lost music,” along the lines of Awesome Tapes from Africa, Arawa.fm (RIP) or the early days of the still amazing WFMU blog. Pretty soon after, we started doing full length cassette reviews and found ourselves part of the loose community of artists and labels that would eventually spark the current cassette revival. From there, we incorporated track reviews a la the classic "mp3 blog" format, and then things got crazy. More on that later.

In the course of editing and writing for the blog, I’ve also had the chance to involve a lot of really talented people as contributors. Editing their work was a huge privilege, and they made it easier and more fun than it had any right to be. If International Tapes has been successful as a platform for discovery, sharing, and learning, then the credit for that, goes largely to them. Sharing music and ideas with these smart people has been, and is, one of my favorite things.

You can’t talk about Intl Tapes, without mentioning the blogging collectives we’ve been a part of. When we joined Altered Zones (RIP) we were definitely one of the smallest players involved. It seemed like we finally had a stage to match our ambition, and it was a lot of fun. Perhaps most importantly, that planted the seeds for what would become AdHoc, which is still going strong online and IRL. Enjoy AdHoc regularly, please.

In closing: a little advice for your digital life

If you care about something, the best thing you can do is to invest time in it.

Listen to what you want. Trends are fabrications and scenes die quicker than you can name them.

Stay in touch with people. At a minimum, email makes it really easy.

Pick a good hosting service and stick with it.

[ilkrecordings-blog]

A funny review from Pitchfork Media's Altered Zones about Friendly Knowledge's old song "Delight Moment":

Friendly Knowledge, a New Jersey bedroom producer with one of the most poorly designed and spam-ridden MySpace pages I have ever seen, chops up jazz of the big band and bebop variety and rearranges these shards of collective consciousness over radio-friendly hip hop beats. “Delight Moment” is a giant, teetering tower of shattered urban reference points, footprints of a glittering, sepia-colored New York where Sinatra might have plotted his rise as sailors kissed their sweethearts in front of Broadway box offices. Somehow, as if by a lucky toss of the dice in a game of craps, the illusion hangs together quite nicely.

[youthfulwastenola]

The ninth installment in Altered Zones' Monthly Mix series features a half-hour of music from Berlin ambient-goth outfit, Holy Other. In addition to a remix of their own track "Touch" (from the With U EP), the mix also includes cuts from Matthewdavid and Inga Copeland.

01. Leyland Kirby: "Ruined Visions" 02. Samaritan: "Do To You" 03. Inga Copeland: "Trample" 04. Jesse Ruins: "Sofija" 05. Matthewdavid: "Cucumber Lime" 06. Beaumont: "Midnight" 07. Deeep: "Dream (DJMGG Sunrise Cassette Mix)" 08. Deadboy: "Wish U Were Here" 09. D/R/U/G/S: "Love/Lust (Keep Shelly In Athens Remix)" 10. Holy Other: "Touch (Supreme Cuts Mix)" 11. Jason Burns: "Back 2 You" 12. John Talabot: "Lamento"

[lukehenebry]

PURE X - DREAM OVER

[pacezine-blog]

So, first it began as an idea, I guess. And then they put that idea up at Kickstarter. And then, with hell of a promotion, they gained 'bout 38 000 dollars. (With 38 000 dollars I'd probably buy an elephant, cover it with green spotted bananas and send it to Kap Verde, but I'm not gonna be that guy.) And now, it's finally here, amongst us ordinary mortals! The one and only blog that will bring music back to the community. Ad Hoc, with the words "Pitchfork's niece" and "we have already done some great stuff. Reckon our names?" scrabbled all over its very independent face.

Ok, I admit, it does look interesting. And they have actually promised not to make any numbered listes! Oh, I have fallen already, no meaning to struggle... Bye, very meaningful rest of the afternoon.

[showmedeals-blog-blog]

Visit Original Link

Interview|||Mikey Collins of Culture Dealer and Run DMT

Selection: "Eternal Dosez"

Kirby Michael Adams Collins, Dm.T, strikes again with a democratic compilation that will have your creative juices starving to be sampled.  For the people, of the people, and by the people is his game on One Hit Wonders; a compilation of submitted song poems parleyed into glistening gems by studio misfits The Doobie Sisters Family Band.  

In addition to a promo featuring samples of Culture Dealer's take on the desultory poetry of people like you and, literally, me, scope an interview with Dm. T about the project prior to its release, below.  

Check the Altered Zones submission by yours truly, above.  

What interested you in creating a song-poem series?  How long has this concept been on your mind?

Specifically, the song poem idea has been in my head since I watched the film Off the Charts: The Song Poem Story.  I guess that's been a year or two.  The greater concept of using a musical stage to offer some sort of interactive service where you can collaborate has been in the forefront of my plans for many years.  I hate the idea of how many writers, musicians, artists, poets, filmmakers, etc. remain inactive because of self-consciousness, personal strife or lack of inspiration. 

That's just the whole idea for me.  Before I really found my voice creatively, I was lucky to have a number of truly supportive close friends and collaborators, and my path now is to simply express myself and fuel the fire of others who might need an invitation to do so.

Why cassettes as opposed to vinyl, or just a simple digital format?

Well, I'm just starting out obviously with having a label, so as I plan on doing vinyl in the future, I'm not rushing that now.  I just love cassettes; they are physical, you have to sit with them, and the fidelity is incredible. 

Also, though, for the song poems, I love the idea of a split cassingle for the copy you receive.  It's so cool that each song submitted is getting a copy back with another strangers song.  There will be a chance for those people to correspond because each of those parties will be the only one's with each other's song.

How long do you plan on accepting submissions?  When do you plan on releasing the One Hitter Wonders comp(s)? 

I'm gonna turn it off soon, until all of them are sent, then probably do a second round.  One Hitter Wonders will probably come out before this summer. 

How did you get up with The Doobie Sisters Family Band? 

The Doobie Sisters [Family Band] is myself, Sasha Winn, and a range of session musicians that change day-to-day.  Frequent members include Alex Deranian, Edwin White, Sam Shea, Renee clark, and others.  Essentially, it's a brain trust, but The Doobie Sisters also have original songs that we're all really exicted about.  Those songs will appear on a Doobie Sisters full album called The Wizards of Ahhh's.

How are you and The Doob Sis's interpreting the poetry?  Are there strategies in interpreting these, or is it spontaneous?

We have a slightly different crew every song usually, so it's all reading the lyrics, jamming for a bit, then someone will step up and shine some idea, and we'll just all support it.  I like that energy.  The level of collaboration here is a dream for me, from the person who wrote the poem, to the muse they write about, to the newest member of The Doobie Sisters, to the music were pulling from.

Buy One Hitter Wonders here.  Get busy, the world is awaiting your slime.