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 Upset The Rhythm presents…
THE HOMESICK FINDOM HOME SECRETARY
Thursday 22 February The Lexington, 96-98 Pentonville Rd, Angel, London, N1 9JB 7.30pm | £10.00 | Tickets: https://link.dice.fm/bf946caa252b THE HOMESICK are Elias Elgersma (Vocals, Effects), Jaap van der Velde (Vocals, Effects) and Erik Woudwijk (Drums). The Homesick fuse post-punk rhythms with melodic whimsical pop into an experimental blend of great songs. The Dutch group have been around since their first EP Television from 2013 and released their debut album Youth Hunt (Subroutine) in 2017. Hailing from the backwater Frisian municipality of Dokkum, the band enjoy exploring the extremes of their music. Their albums play with this ambiguity as they incorporate dark post-punk alongside sure-fire pop earworms. Their second album The Big Exercise (SubPop) from 2020 inverted this sound, second-guessing their core chemistry as a live unit. Where the debut album incorporates vocals drenched in reverb, warped synths and distorted guitars, the Big Excercise leaves a hint of romanticism through the baroque elements such as piano, acoustic guitar, percussion and clarinet. Shortly after the release of The Big Exercise they individually started to explore new musical directions. Guitar and bass were dropped as Elias and Jaap searched for other sounds playing keys, sample boxes and more new rhythmic instruments. “We wanted to come up with something that we can dance to”, Jaap says. “After these last two years we very much felt like this is what we need now.” The new songs are unmistakably The Homesick and at the same time like you've never heard them before. The third and self-titled album by The Homesick is out now. https://thehomesick.bandcamp.com FINDOM know a thing about Britain’s death drive. They know that morbid fascinations of bad faith, morose binds and slow crawls have led us here. Their debut tape (on Gob Nation) confronts the conceit of class deterioration, clashing together energies of No Wave, Jazz, Dub and Goth into a work that, through part satire and part protest, has the hooks to fight back. We are left with five tracks self-described as anti-jazz with an overarching structure that feels like a Killing Joke inspired noir thriller, where moments of dark aggression are sonically punctuated by open stretches of rhythmic disorientation. https://gobnation.bandcamp.com/album/pay-pig HOME SECRETARY are a duo from
South London, creating rickety and occasionally rhythmic non-songs that
combine spoken word with improvised instrumentation. Expect to hear
crude sound collage, fumbled instruments, and vocals whispered and
proclaimed. https://homesec.bandcamp.com |
 Upset The Rhythm presents…
THE PHEROMOANS - Wyrd Psearch album launch APOSTILLE DEAN RODNEY JR. & THE COWBOYS FLEX DJs (HP Sorcery & The Plague) Tuesday 5 March Cafe OTO, 18-22 Ashwin St, London, E8 3DL 7.30pm | £10 | Tickets: https://link.dice.fm/ed1d116c8c37 THE PHEROMOANS are tenants of an unruly domain. Over the last 18 years the group have evolved from garage rock primitivists to auteurs of their own curious sound; a frothy brew of loose electronics, refractory rock and humdrum musing. Their songs are mutable, capricious, unreliable narrations, often withholding as much as they reveal. Russell Walker’s understated vocal has always been the band’s unifying focus, it is wry, unsparing and wilfully honest. Walker’s lyrics are an observational tour de force, sometimes droll, yet often tipping over into unlikely pathos. With previous releases on Upset The Rhythm, Convulsive and Alter, 2024 will witness The Pheromoans return with lucky album number 13, entitled ‘Wyrd Psearch’ (out March 1st on Upset The Rhythm). ‘Wyrd Psearch’ was recorded in Lewes throughout 2023. This was undertaken by founding member James Tranmer, his keen instinct for how the band should sound shaping many of the creative decisions. Joined by new guitarist Henry Holmes, the five piece doubled down on a decidedly breezy, melodic approach. Scott Reeve’s drumming is ever brisk, whilst Daniel Bolger explores AOR peripheries on keyboard and bass. “Wyrd Psearch finds us on relatively zestful form” affirms Walker “whether it be merrily recalling the Jason Williamson / Tim Lovejoy Covid summit, or mentally bathing in the pleasures of lunch hours spent strapped to a listening post in Borders.” With The Pheromoans there is always a familiarity at play, only broken and reassembled, like a bygone sitcom gone rogue in your memory. This contributes to the group’s peculiarly British outsider perspective, one that shouts from the sidelines, but never goes unnoticed. https://upsettherhythm.bandcamp.com/album/wyrd-psearch APOSTILLE is a man who's torn through enough soundsystems to know the difference between gesture and meaning. Alongside running his own DIY record label Night School Records, Glasgow native Michael Kasparis has previously made forays into the realm of hardcore punk with his groups Anxiety and The Lowest Form. Throughout all this, his solo electronic venture Apostille has continued to evolve with each twist and turn of the world. What started off as a quest to whip up a mood and force that into a song has steadily become more of a mission in communication. The third Apostille album, ‘Prisoners Of Love And Hate’, was released on Night School on September 22nd. https://apostille.bandcamp.com/album/prisoners-of-love-and-hate DEAN RODNEY JR. is an artist and the lead singer of Dean Rodney Jr. & The Cowboys. In this latest project he puts on the golden suit and riffs about food, jiggling body parts and more over tight disco pop. Backed by Rosie Ridgeway, Jack Barraclough, Tom Hirst and Robyn Steward, you better watch out as there’s a new sheriff in town! Their debut album ‘The Yeehaw Moment’ is out now. Dean was also the frontman of The Fish Police, has collaborated with Ravioli Me Away and during lockdown, Dean wrote and recorded 54 albums, describing a fictional alternative version of the present day, Dean TV World. https://deanrodneyjrandthecowboys.bandcamp.com |
 Upset The Rhythm presents…
THE UMBRELLAS Wednesday 13 March OSLO, 1a Amhurst Road, Hackney Central, London, E8 1LL 7.30pm | £13 | Tickets: https://link.dice.fm/ee39bba86945 THE UMBRELLAS are four renegade romantics crafting irresistible indie pop hymns. The band’s self-titled 2021 debut album became a breakout moment, winning critical praise and sparking an international tour. Follow-up LP ‘Fairweather Friend’ goes a step further – absorbing the sonic attack of their live shows, it balances this with studio finesse, allowing the San Francisco four-piece to become the band they’ve always aspired to be. It’s a record overflowing with highlights. The candyfloss melodies of introductory track ‘Three Cheers!’ are matched to an impactful percussive punch; ‘Say What You Mean’ finds The Umbrellas working with total confidence, letting the song ride out to its chiming conclusion, four voices working in precision. ‘When You Find Out’ offers rotating notes of guitar punctuated by a vocal that pushes past angst to accept a world full of hope. A lean 10 track affair, it grasps towards beatific pop while fuelled by a sense of risk, and the precision that comes from long months on the road. Taken as a whole ‘Fairweather Friend’ is a bold indie pop triumph, crafted with purpose and attention. Taking their time over each note, the four-piece have strengthened their songwriting, adding depth and assurance while unlocking their potential. Some bonds last a lifetime – The Umbrellas are ready to capture your heart. https://theumbrellasca.bandcamp.com/album/the-umbrellas |
 Upset The Rhythm presents… MARY LATTIMORE Tuesday 26 March Scala, 275 Pentonville Rd, London, N1 9NL 7.30pm | £15 | Tickets: https://link.dice.fm/E8624bc1f2eb MARY LATTIMORE is a harpist and composer living in Los Angeles. She experiments with her Lyon and Healy Concert Grand harp and effects. Her solo debut, The Withdrawing Room, was released in 2013 on Desire Path Recordings. Lattimore also writes harp parts for songs and recordings, performing and recording with such great artists as Meg Baird, Thurston Moore, Sharon Van Etten, Jarvis Cocker, Kurt Vile, Steve Gunn, Ed Askew and Fursaxa. Her debut solo record for Ghostly International, 'At The Dam', was recorded during stops along a road trip across America and released in March 2016. The next year, she compiled sounds from her past life in Philadelphia for a cassette tape titled 'Collected Pieces'. Released in May 2018 to acclaim from the likes of NPR, Pitchfork, and The New Yorker Lattimore's next album 'Hundreds of Days' presented an expression of mystified gratitude for the natural world. ‘Goodbye, Hotel Arkada’ (Ghostly International), Lattimore’s new LP, speaks not just for its beloved namesake - a hotel in Croatia facing renovation - but for a universal loss that is shared. Six sprawling pieces shaped by change; nothing will ever be the same, and here, the artist, evolving in synthesis, celebrates and mourns the tragedy and beauty of the ephemeral, all that is lived and lost to time. Documented and edited in uncharacteristically measured sessions over the course of two years, the material remains rooted in improvisation while glistening as the most refined and robust in Lattimore’s decade-long catalog. It finds her communing with friends, contemporaries, and longtime influences, in full stride yet slowing down to nurture songs in new ways. The cast includes Lol Tolhurst (The Cure), Meg Baird, Rachel Goswell (Slowdive), Roy Montgomery, Samara Lubelski, and Walt McClements. https://marylattimoreharpist.bandcamp.com/ |