GAD WHIP FATHERFIGURES SEAN SMITH (DJ) Friday 15 October PinUps, 1 Tolpuddle Street, Angel, London, N1 0XT 7.30pm | £7.00 | https://link.dice.fm/zoP2qXE2Agb
GAD WHIP formed in 2014 and blend avant-garde sensibilities with a contemporary take on the place where DIY culture meets post-punk. Hints of deconstructed garage rock and interstellar voyaging through sweat drenched waking dreams. Immediate, powerful, confounding and kept in place by wry, sometimes observational, semi-spoken vocals. This is music primed perfect for any 21st century meltdown in a suburban sprawl. Their music has been released by a range of labels, from NYC’s Ever/Never Records, Germany’s X-Mist Records, Canada’s Arachnidiscs Recordings and UK/Poland based Fourth Dimension Records. https://gadwhip.bandcamp.com
FATHERFIGURES released their debut album “Any Time Now…And High Time Too” in spring 2021. What do they sound like? Post-punk; exhaust fumes seeping from a neighbour's garage after nightfall; the gnawing of unresolved disputes with real and imagined foes; the inner voices arguing amongst themselves until one walks off in disgust. That sort of thing. https://fatherfiguresuk.bandcamp.com/
Nothing quite like announcing your first new show in a very long time and it being at Ally Pally on a Friday night! Woah x 100! So happy to be working with our friends at Parallel Lines on this HUGE concert for UTR kin & faves Future Islands. Cannot wait to hear that cracking new record on 4AD played live & loud... in an actual London venue... in front of an actual audience (mind blown)!
Upset The Rhythm & Parallel Lines present… FUTURE ISLANDS SPECIAL GUESTS Friday 25 March 2022 Alexandra Palace, Alexandra Palace Way, London, N22 7AY, UK 6.30pm | £30 | https://link.dice.fm/0lRU8shAkgb
[Spotify & band pre-sale tickets live from 5pm today, general on-sale tickets live from 10am Wednesday 26 May] FUTURE ISLANDS are a band whose brilliance was always hiding in plain sight. One viral moment might have catapulted them to worldwide recognition, but they were just doing what they always did – pouring their heart and soul into every moment, and channelling art’s great power to spread love and hope. It was, quite simply, who they are. Long, hard years on the road, and the sense of constantly traveling away from something, have shaped the band many ways, both spiritually and physically. Always leaving, never arriving, the horizon an impossible destination to be chased but never caught. Future Islands' new album As Long As You Are is out now on 4AD. This show is the long-awaited return of the band back to London since their run of sold out shows at Brixton Academy back in 2017. This is a 14+ show, under 16’s to be accompanied by an adult over the age of 21. https://future-islands.com/
Today we jubilantly release Kaputt’s
‘Movement Now’ / ‘Another War Talk’ EP. The Scottish six-piece have always dazzled
us, zipping up their songs with a dizzy vim, lyrical punch and their own
particular fidgety finesse but on this record they sound nigh thunderous.
Framed by demands for much-needed change both tracks on this new record topple
you headfirst into their serpentine tumult of sound.
Ever racing away from the playful torn edge of
no-wave song, Kaputt blurt out tracks with twitchy charisma. Their catchy riffs
circle with relish, allowing timely sax stonks and stop-start rhythms to drive
things on. Vocals unfurl, guitars bluster and always the saxophone snakes,
hypnotically drawn through the erratic beat. There's a riot of fun at play in
their febrile racket, but there's also some deeply cerebral grooves and choice
lyrical concerns evident too.
‘Movement
Now’ / ‘Another War Talk’ takes up its rightful place, front and centre of all
the best record shops, as of today. It is available to stream through all usual
channels, whilst the brightly spinning blue 7” can also be sourced from own
webshop here: https://upsettherhythm.bigcartel.com/
Continue
reading for lots more context on this earth shake of a new 7”, enjoy!
Kaputt are a twitchy post-punk act from Glasgow.
Numbering six, Kaputt feature Cal Donnelly on guitar and vocals, Curtis Halling
on guitar, whilst Chrissy Barnacle also sings and plays saxophone. Tobias
Carmichael is responsible for bass, whilst Rikki Will and Emma Smith cover
drums and percussion respectively.
Kaputt aren’t strangers to directing their explosive energy and
maximalist vibrancy in name of allegory and critique. Their 2019 debut album on
Upset The Rhythm, ‘Carnage Hall’, confidently deconstructed themes of
surveillance, paranoia, and cultural identity through a sonic lens of
high-tempo, bright, danceable pop hooks and technical, polyphonic rhythms which
border on the bombast of Zeuhl.
New EP ‘Movement Now’ / ‘Another War Talk’ continues the synthesis of
animation and discontent with an ethos that exemplifies post-punk’s most
original and guiding purpose: casting aside the rigid, signifying fashions of modern performative genre tropes and instead combining a vast
fluidity of influence, tone and style to create something as unique and
personal as it is counter-cultural. The result is a release that responds to
the apathy of our current situation with a positive thesis, breathing life into
the lived-in, bursting through every vessel, leaving nothing unturned.
‘Movement Now’ enters with the distinct high-low drive of guitar whines
and racing low toms, emblematic of the presence one feels when pushing past
bodies in a heaving DIY venue, but it is not afraid to play with expectations.
When the song thematically opens out, disrupts convention and progressively
rebuilds upon itself, the track, a comment on the ever-lagging pace that jaded,
old values take to transform, transitions from a goth aesthetic to the optimism
characteristic of any indie heavyweight.
‘Another War Talk’ shines in production and composition as arguable one
of the best examples of distilling the band’s manic live energy into a studio
recording. The divergent vocal duality of Cal D. and Chrissy B. accompanied by
competing percussionists and dynamic saxophone lines encapsulates the
performative strengths that has allowed the band to become a constant highlight
in Glasgow’s ever exciting DIY scene. It is, in essence, the naturalness by
which six passionate voices can combine into one vision so seamlessly, which
one who has not experienced the band live should take away from the track for
now in anticipation of the future.
‘Movement Now/Another War Talk’ is out
now, as a limited edition transparent blue vinyl 7” and also digitally through
Upset The Rhythm.
Thanks for spending
this time with us and as ever for your ongoing support, it really means
everything!
Did you know there are eleven differently flavoured songs to choose from the Buffet Lunch?
Blow the dust off that large plate and form an orderly queue because
the Scots magpie-minded post-punks release their debut album on Upset
The Rhythm today! Buffet Lunch line their nests with only the finest
skittish riffage, poignant tangents and leaping absurdity. The Power of Rocks is the glorious upshot, a goliath of wonky pop, frolicking in the melodic landslide of our dormant cerebella.
Available now on orange vinyl and digitally, The Power of Rocks
brims with nervy energy throughout its peculiar patchwork. These songs
are gleefully led by a giddy compass but they also own their fair share
of emotional heft at times too. The Power of Rocks can be found looming in all the best record shops now and also in our very own webshop here.
Read on for lots more info on Buffet Lunch and excited rhetoric concerning the advent of their terrific debut album.
Buffet Lunch are a Scottish
group who make it their mission to craft satisfyingly imperfect pop
songs filled with imagery and humour. The group’s elementary parts are
Perry O’Bray (Vocals/Keys/Guitar), Neil Robinson (Bass), John Muir (Lead
Guitar) & Luke Moran (Drums), united by a shared love of music on
the ABBA-to-Beefheart axis. These four ricochet between Glasgow and
Edinburgh, creating music that bristles with DIY spirit and upbeat
slantedness. Their tracks are vigorous excursions, meandering into
clattersome terrain as often as hiking up into the breezy, melodious
foothills. The desire to lead the listener along a curious tale helps
tie things together, showcasing a lyrical playfulness that pins down
their puzzle of sound.
Having been an active band for a few
years, playing regularly north of the border with like-minds such as
Irma Vep, Robert Sotelo and Kaputt, Buffet Lunch spent early 2020
working on the follow-up to their two EPs on Permanent Slump. The fruits
from such labour bore out as the band’s debut album The Power of Rocks, out May 7th on Upset The Rhythm. The Power of Rocks
was recorded in a Crofters cottage/studio on the banks of Upper Loch
Fyne in Argyll, over four nights and five days at the beginning of March
2020, before Covid-19 made itself such an ongoing concern. Back then
four people could occupy the same space and make music, lunch and dinner
together. Days fell into a pattern of long sessions and long meals. The
album came together as a luminous mix of Buffet Lunch’s live chestnuts,
some sparky recent songs and some new material entirely written and
recorded in situ. All tracks were recorded by Neil Robinson acting as
the in-house engineer.
As the seriousness of the virus and
talk of national lockdowns developed - there was a feeling of
anticipation more than fear in the air, but being holed up in cottage in
a wild corner of Scotland surrounded by snowy mountains still took on
an apocalyptic feel, albeit an apocalypse where the band were safe and
overdubbing vocals. After leaving the cottage, reality (as it must) set
in and finishing the album became a more remote task. Over the following
months, an extended period of listening awarded the recordings a deeper
realisation, as they bounced between band members computers.
Perry also started writing on his
Casio keyboard and collaborated on a couple of songs (‘Ten Times’ &
‘Ashley’s New Haircut’) with Jayne Dent (of electronic music project Me
Lost Me), drawing on her ethereal singing voice as a counterpoint to his
own more ‘spoken’ vocals on the album. These gauzy, dreamlike tracks
were then sent to other members of Buffet Lunch to add their respective
parts, creating evocative new dimensions to close each half of the album
with.
The Power of Rocks’ rattles
along like a short-story collection, exploring a variety of narratives.
When it comes to the music itself, Perry describes their approach as
“see what happens” but admits to a preference for simple synth melodies,
plenty of percussion, and prickly guitar-parts. ‘Red Apple Happiness’
opens the album with a dizzy swagger, guitars and keyboard notes
swirling in forays whilst its lyric tackles notions of social bravado.
‘Orange Peel’ follows equally serpentine with its blattering tune and
jagged, yet jolly melodic twists.
The themes across the album are
wide-ranging and personal, from irritation with out of touch politicians
(‘Pebbledash’), to love letters to seaside living (‘Bladderwrack’), to
even the frailty and confusion of old age (‘Said Bernie’, ‘It Helps to
Know’). Title track ‘The Power of Rocks’ is an ode to the power of
nature sunk within a rolling wave of cheery jangle. “Do you believe in
the power of rocks when the sun is too hot on your face?” sings Perry as
the song zigzags with consequence. ‘He Wore Two Hats’ sports similarly
bop-worthy riffs and addictive nods as it deals with its story of savvy
man who’d bitten off more than he could chew.
Buffet Lunch’s debut album
accomplishes a lot in its brief 38 minutes. It stuns and startles,
intrigues and entwines, drawing the listener further into its
characterful world. When asked about any intent posed with this debut
record Perry confides that “we hope people can hear the joy the band had
making the album and the curiosity and frustration that went into the
writing. There was no process or design, but there is detail, and
deliberateness in our wish to explore and create.” It’s this attentive
focus alongside a keen sense of humour that really sets Buffet Lunch
apart, with ideas darting wilfully to and from the poignant truths at
hand.
The Power Of Rocks is out now through Upset The Rhythm digitally and as a limited edition 180g orange vinyl LP.
Thanks so much for reading and for all your mailorders too, you’re certainly keeping us busy!
Very pleased to announce that Jake Xerxes Fussell’s concert on May 7th at The Lexington has now been rescheduled. The new concert will take place on September 1st at Oslo Hackney.
Upset The Rhythm presents…
JAKE XERXES FUSSELL Wednesday 1st September
OSLO Hackney 1A Amhurst Rd, Hackney Central, London E8 1LL
NB. This show is rescheduled from May 12th & Sep 8th 2020 & May 7th
2021 at The Lexington, original tickets valid, refunds available too.
JAKE XERXES FUSSELL is a singer and guitarist from Durham, North Carolina. Jake's 2015 self-titled debut record, produced by and featuring William Tyler, transmutes ten arcane folk and blues tunes into vibey cosmic laments and crooked riverine rambles. Collaborating with Tyler and engineer Mark Nevers in Nashville was a conscious decision to depart cloistered trad scenes and sonics for broader, more oblique horizons. In 2017 Fussell followed his debut with a moving new album of Natural Questions in the form of transmogrified folk/blues koans. This time these radiant ancient tunes tone several shades darker while amplifying their absurdist humour, illuminating our national, and psychic, predicaments. What in the Natural World features art by iconic painter Roger Brown and contributions from three notable Nathans: Nathan Bowles (Steve Gunn), Nathan Salsburg (Alan Lomax Archive), and Nathan Golub (Mountain Goats). On his most recent album for Paradise Of Bachelors 'Out of Sight', his most finely wrought album yet, Fussell ushers up an utterly transporting selection of traditional narrative folksongs addressing the troubles and delights of love, work, and wine (i.e., the things that matter), collected from a myriad of obscure sources and deftly metamorphosed, Out of Sight contains, among other moving curiosities, a fishmonger’s cry that sounds like an astral lament; a cotton mill tune that humorously explores the unknown terrain of death and memory; and a shanty/gospel song equally concerned with terrestrial boozing and heavenly transcendence. Always compelling and deftly impressive, Jake’s live shows have become must attend events, so its with great honour that we welcome him back this May to London.
