Gorilla Vs. Bear and Weekly Tape Deck have long been two of our favorite locally based (if not exactly locally focused) music blogs. So we are excited to see we will be getting a bit more from both now that they’ve joined forces with a handful of other national and international blogs (including the fantastic 20 Jazz Funk Greats and Yours Truly) to form Altered Zones, a sister site to Pitchfork “that will focus on leftfield pop, experimental, and home-recorded sounds.” (Given that, they maybe should have tapped We Shot JR as well.) The new site launches July 7, and here’s what else you can look forward to:

Under the direction of co-editors Emilie Friedlander (Visitation Rites) and Sahil Varma and Jack Shankly (Transparent), Altered Zones contributors will share their favorite tracks each week in a rotating schedule with daily posts, as well as highlighting the most compelling new albums. Altered Zones will also regularly post overlooked or undiscovered tracks chosen by its favorite artists.

Features will include topical artist interviews, artist-curated mixes, and profiles on up-and-coming labels, with additional content and images sourced from art Tumblrs and artist blogs. It will also feature a running RSS feed of all current posts from its contributors’ core sites. Tying it all together, Altered Zones‘ visual design is anchored by a rotating series of surreal retrofuturistic backdrops inspired by the site’s name.