We've got just two shows left for you this year, our 9th anniversary party on Dec 14th with CHRIS COHEN, THE PHEROMOANS and UMEZ and tonight's Lexington shindig with U.S. GIRLS. Backed up for the first time with her own band, Meghan's ethereal feel for pop music now brims with added glam propulsion and swooning ambience par excellence. In support we have the irrepressible SLIM TWIG, who released two of our favourite albums this year, and ZACHT AUTOMAAT making a rare appearance outside of their native Canada. It's going to be brilliant, read on for all the particulars…
\\\\\\ TONIGHT /////
U.S. GIRLS (with LIVE BAND)
SLIM TWIG
ZACHT AUTOMAAT
Wednesday 5 December
The Lexington, 96-98 Pentonville Road, Angel, N1 9JB
8pm | £7.00 | http://www.wegottickets.com/event/186971
U.S. GIRLS is the creative force of a lone American woman, Meghan Remy. Since 2007 she has pursued her minimalist aesthetic with a militant, by-any-means-necessary attitude, collapsing experimental four-track compositions and torch songs alike on starkly defined, statement LP’s like ‘Introducing...’ and ‘Go Grey’ (on Siltbreeze Records) and in 2011, 'U.S. Girls on Kraak' (on Belgian label Kraak). Remy has unwaveringly declared her influences lie with oldies radio and the distinctly American songcraft of writers like Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen. Perhaps even more accurately she can be described as a modern pop revisionist who merges the audible artistic honesty of her beloved soul music with lyrical strains of static and tape hiss. Songs like ‘Red Ford Radio’ and ‘Untie Me’ reimagine Billboard hit singles of the golden era as bleakly rendered expressions of a primal American femininity. While gradually upping the pop ante, these recent releases have sought to maintain Remy's directly emotional appeal and lead to the release of her fourth album, the appropriately titled 'Gem', on FatCat records. Where before she appeared shrouded and even mysterious, Remy now directly addresses her take on childhood, gender inequality, sex work, and love with a distinctive blend of elegance and frankness uncommon to many contemporary songwriters. Merging a fascination with glam rock as interpreted by the anti-excess of Patti Smith, these new songs sparkle between the poles of an inverted take on Bolan's Pop testosterone and the alienating abstraction of Throbbing Gristle. This show will see Meghan perform with a live band for the first time in London, composed of members of Slim Twig and Zacht Automaat's lineups.
http://usgirls.bandcamp.com/
SLIM TWIG is not the name of a band, but of a man. In the last 2 years (spent mostly reclusively recording), this is something that has had to be distinguished as the once solo performer has come to incorporate collaboration more readily, most obviously in his employment of an accompanying band. Out of the disturbed murkiness and demented maundering of his initial releases you can now hear the sound of a promising, young song writer on his recent album 'Sof' Sike' (Paper Bag Records). Though as idiosyncratic as ever, these new songs showcase an interest in classicist songwriting, a fondness for psych-era Rolling Stones, an affinity with the queer power pop of R. Stevie Moore, an odd friendliness of sorts. Not one to be pigeon-holed, last month also saw the release of 'A Hound At The Hem' - a narrative album collaboration, again with his band (consisting of Toronto session heavy weights Carl Didur, Louis Percival & Tim Westberg) and Owen Pallett. Taking it's cue from Gainsbourg's 'Histoire De Melody Nelson' not only in it's daring fusion of orchestral tones with rockist textures, but also in it's derivation and manipulation of Nabokov's Lolita chronicle. 'A Hound At The Hem' represents the 'hard psych' flipside to Sof' Sike, both albums are available now.
http://slimtwig.bandcamp.com/
ZACHT AUTOMAAT are a duo from Canada making the music of their minds. Dense, hallucinogenic migrations emanate from the spinning magnetic strips tucked inside Zacht Automaat’s phased journey through pressure-wave manipulation. Zacht Automaat are a colossal trip through transcended flares, beat cut-ups, major-key Kraut drones, Canterbury-ish odd meter prog and swathes of library dramatics. Their tapes defy all classification and straddle a wicked line between beats/samples and live shredding. Completely unassuming, understated, and unforgettable. Zacht Automaat have recorded ten albums since forming, and plan on recording even more.
http://soundcloud.com/zacht-automaat
\\\\\\ DECEMBER 14th /////
UPSET THE RHYTHM'S 9TH BIRTHDAY featuring…
CHRIS COHEN (Deerhoof / Cryptacize / The Curtains / Captured Tracks)
THE PHEROMOANS
UMEZ
Friday 14 December
The Lexington, 96-98 Pentonville Road, Angel, N1 9JB
8pm | £7.00 | http://www.wegottickets.com/event/188842
CHRIS COHEN is a 37-year-old native of Los Angeles currently residing in the farmlands of Vermont. He is the child of a former music business executive and a former Broadway actress. His resumé of prior musical projects is a long one: as a contributing member of The Curtains, Cryptacize, Deerhoof, and Natural Dreamers, he released 10 full-length albums between 2002 and 2008. Along the way, Cohen was also a touring player with White Magic, Cass McCombs, Haunted Graffiti and Danielson, among others, for stints both short and long. All of this has culminated in his first release under his own name, and his first for Captured Tracks, Overgrown Path. A singing drummer who writes psychedelic pop music, Cohen also records his own bass, Casio MT65, piano, and guitar. Tracks like “Caller No. 99″ and “Monad” follow idiosyncratic forms, but are still melodic in an unconventional and homegrown way – like the best of Robert Wyatt, Mayo Thompson, Syd Barrett, and Jerry Garcia. Overgrown Path unfolds its delicate and unexpected arrangements around Cohen’s relaxed baritone, unhurriedly revealing the detailed world wrapped up in each song. Chris played our very first UTR show as a member of Deerhoof, tonight's show celebrates to the same day our ninth year of doing Upset The Rhythm.
http://capturedtracks.com/artists/chris-cohen/
THE PHEROMOANS are a six piece experimental rock band from the South East of England who deal in a deadpan DIY music. Wedded to the mundane, surreal reportage of our lives as reflected in the media, their music manages to address the truly restless boredom of everyday life. These are songs for the back of the queue, songs from underneath the ergonomic desk, a glimpse through the commuter window, blasted through with brilliant suburban sunshine. Over the last three years the band have released a slew of releases, including numerous EPs, 7”s and three albums through labels as diverse as Night People, Convulsive, Sweet Rot, Monofonus Press and their own imprint Savoury Days. The band's recent album, ‘Does This Guy Stack Up?’ (Upset The Rhythm) witnesses a slight departure from their sound of old, their songs leaning into a more pop-balanced realm, with the band’s experimental tape collage approach sounding more natural than ever.
http://thepheromoans.blogspot.co.uk/
UMEZ are a newly formed Japanese band based in London making crazed j-pop with washes of noise, eccentricity and aplomb, coming to a point which has no real comparisons with anything else. Although they mix two negating music genres, their noise sound is pure heavy white noise matching perfectly with their pop sound echoing with sentiment.
http://umez-uk.tumblr.com/
Have a wonderful Wednesday, see you later!
UPSET THE RHYTHM
x
http://www.upsettherhythm.co.uk
http://www.upsettherhythm.blogspot.com
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PETER SWANSON
(Yellow Swans)
Monday 14 January
Birthdays, 33-35 Stoke Newington Road, Dalston, N16 8BJ
8pm | £8.00 | http://www.wegottickets.com/event/197656
TROPA MACACA (Siltbreeze / Software)
HELM (Pan Records)
Wednesday 23 January
The Sebright Arms, 31-35 Coate Street, Bethnal Green, E2 9AG
8pm | £6.00 | http://www.wegottickets.com/event/193798
XIU XIU & EUGENE S. ROBINSON (Oxbow) : SAL MINEO
Wednesday 6 February
Cafe Oto, 18-22 Ashwin Street, Dalston, E8 3DL
7.30pm | £9.00 | http://www.wegottickets.com/event/197816
DAN DEACON
Wednesday 13 February
Village Underground, 54 Holywell Lane, Shoreditch, EC2A 3PQ
8pm | £11.00 | http://www.wegottickets.com/event/196042
RAYMOND PETTIBON "FILM NIGHT" 1
Featuring…
WOOLF
PRIMITIVE PARTS
FEATURE
Thursday 14 February
SPACE, 129-131 Mare Street, Hackney, E8 3RH
7.30pm | FREE SHOW!!!
RAYMOND PETTIBON "FILM NIGHT" 2
Featuring…
WAY THROUGH
APOSTILLE
SHOPPING
Thursday 7 March
SPACE, 129-131 Mare Street, Hackney, E8 3RH
7.30pm | FREE SHOW!!!
MATMOS
PEOPLE LIKE US
Tuesday 19 March
XOYO, 32-37 Cowper Street, Old Street, EC2A 4AW
8pm | £10.00 | http://www.wegottickets.com/event/194892
WILD NOTHING
Thursday 21 March
The Scala, 275 Pentonville Road, King's Cross, N1 9NL
7.30pm | £11.00 | http://www.wegottickets.com/event/192626
JESSICA BAILIFF
BODUF SONGS
Wednesday 17 April
Cafe Oto, 18-22 Ashwin Street, Dalston, E8 3DL
8pm | £8.00 | http://www.wegottickets.com/event/197657
