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Upset The Rhythm presents…
DAN DEACON Thursday 6 February Scala, 275 Pentonville Road, London, N1 9NL 7.30pm | £15 | TICKETS DAN DEACON returns in February 2020 with ‘Mystic Familiar’, his first album in five years and the stunning result of years of obsessive work, play, and self-discovery. It’s not only his most emotionally open record but also his most transcendent! Eleven kaleidoscopic tracks of majestic synth-pop that exponentially expand Deacon’s sound with unfettered imagination and newfound vulnerability. Since 2015’s ‘Gliss Riffer’, Deacon has branched out from his core body of work into a dizzying array of collaborative projects: scoring eight films, collaborating with the New York City Ballet’s resident choreographer Justin Peck on the dance piece The Times Are Racing; performing expanded arrangements of his music with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; and for the first time producing and co-writing an album with friends Ed Schrader’s Music Beat. Throughout all this Deacon was also working on a new suite of songs that wield the profundity of a philosopher and the absurdity of a jester. These songs make up his forthcoming ‘Mystic Familiar’ album, painting life as a psychedelic journey brimming with bliss and disruption, darkness and light. Opening track “Become a Mountain” immediately announces itself as something new, for the first time ever on record presenting Dan’s natural singing voice, unprocessed and with only minimal accompaniment. When Deacon proclaims “I rose up” here, it is Dan Deacon singing in the first person as Dan Deacon—a startlingly vulnerable shift in a songbook abundant with characters, metaphors, and distorted vocals. “Hypnagogic” takes us deeper into Deacon’s mind, a synth swirl similar to those which have begun his recent performances, absorbing the pulse of the room and extending that abstract moment in which a journey begins. From there, ‘Mystic Familiar’ then takes a propulsive leap with the robotic drums and soaring melodies of “Sat By a Tree” and the four-part “Arp” suite offering up a dialectic view of life. It’s an album that captures an artist mindfully evolving his music from playful beginnings to encompass a prismatic cosmos of addictive ideas, melody and purpose! This special Scala show celebrates the release of ‘Mystic Familiar’ and Dan’s long-awaited return to his spiritual kingdom of London! https://dandeacon.com/ |
Upset The Rhythm presents…
TRASH KIT HANDLE Friday 14 February The Lexington, 96-98 Pentonville Rd, Angel, London, N1 9JB 7.30pm | £9 | TICKETS TRASH KIT are Rachel Aggs (guitar, vocals), Rachel Horwood (drums, vocals) and Gill Partington (bass). Three deeply creative individuals who play in a multitude of other groups including Bas Jan, Sacred Paws, Shopping and Bamboo, united by a shared decade of spry musicality that surges through their bodies, hearts and heads with Trash Kit. Their songs once succinct, patchwork post-punk numbers of an honest diary-like nature now tussle more with long-form songwriting, expeditious polyphony and cascades of sung-spoke vocals. This new focus began with their second album ‘Confidence’ (2014) and has now grown into something exhilarating and rapturous. New songs like ‘Disco’ have had their very fabric stretched into smart new shapes, allowing the band to run away with refrains and unlock the dancefloor. Although Trash Kit have their forebears in bands like Sleater Kinney, The Ex and The Raincoats, their sound is still very much their own take on facing forwards and relies as much on the naturalism of an internalised folk music as on their sincerity of vision. Since forming in 2009, Trash Kit have released three albums for Upset The Rhythm and a selection of singles, last July however they made their most majestic move yet with their resoundingly huge ‘Horizon’ album. Garnering countless glowing reviews and featuring in many end of year lists for 2019 ‘Horizon’ is an album that forever listens for the next moment and will meet you once more at the vanishing point. https://www.facebook.com/TRASH-KIT-329766302806/ HANDLE incorporate a diverse range of influences from samba to no wave. The three-piece from Manchester (now based between Manchester/London/Brussels) make a uniquely minimal sound, buoyed by poetic, urgent vocals. Each instrument (bass, drums, keyboard and voice) is permitted its own space, yet somehow the result is a brilliantly unified yet understated sonic experience that demands then commands your attention. Handle is made up of Giulio Erasmus and Nirvana Heire (former members of D.U.D.S) and Leo Hermitt, a genderqueer multidisciplinary artist, renowned for their challenging, thought-provoking work on the city’s arts and literary scenes. The group mesh politics with a trans experience of time and a vibrant, avant-garde freedom of approach. Powered by looping, hypnotic synth lines, quaking flexes of bass, clattering tribal percussion and expeditious, often agitated vocals that cordially sprint, Handle's songs - all of which clock in around the two minute mark - owe as much to performance poetry as they do to the vibrancy of post-punk. Handle's debut album ‘In Threes’ will be released March 6th by Upset The Rhythm and Maternal Voice and is a collection of frenetic sounds for frenzied forms. https://soundcloud.com/upset-the-rhythm/handle-punctured-time |
Upset The Rhythm presents…
EN ATTENDANT ANA Saturday 15 February PinUps (formerly The Islington), 1 Tolpuddle Street, Angel, London, N1 0XT 7.30pm | £6 | TICKETS EN ATTENDANT ANA are a Parisian quintet who diligently craft songs that shimmer, glide and sway with sophistication. Trouble In Mind recently released the group’s second album ‘Juillet’. Many of the songs on ‘Juillet’ feel hopeful, despite their melancholic tone, lacing a lilting melody or triumphant trumpet swell (courtesy of multi-instrumentalist Camille Fréchou) or charging guitar riffs from Tomasso or Bouchaudon. Whereas the tunes on their debut ‘Lost and Found’ felt wild & reckless, the songs on ‘Juillet’ feel focused, a set of songs that feel bonded together by the magnetic pull of each other; viewed as a whole, they dazzle. Songs like "Do You Understand?" and the first single "Words" point toward a new frontier for the group, effortlessly sharpening their razor-sharp hooks to such a fine point, you almost don't realise their complexity. Elsewhere, songs like "Flesh or Blood" and opener "Down The Hill" revel in a push/pull dynamic. Finally, songs like "From My Bruise To An Island" and the sparse "When It Burns" bridge a confessional narrative atop an amorphous ambient float. They feel important, and hint at an exciting future for a band letting go of its past and entrusting fate with its future. https://enattendantana.bandcamp.com/ |
Thanks for all your support this year as always! Onwards into the ‘20s!
Have a wonderful Xmas and we’ll see you next year.
Upset The Rhythm
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UPSET THE RHYTHM
UPCOMING SHOWS
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