Tristwch y Fenywod - return to London this November!

 

 

 

Upset The Rhythm presents…

TRISTWCH Y FENYWOD
ANNA PEAKER
Friday 14 November
St Matthias Church, Wordsworth Rd, London, N16 8DD, UK
7.30pm | £15 | Tickets: https://link.dice.fm/C2c8f1fbb937

TRISTWCH Y FENYWOD is a band of three queer women who play avant garde gothic music using dual-zither, bass and electronic drums. Their lyrics are sung entirely in the Welsh language (Cymraeg), and flicker in the moon-glow. Tristwch y Fenywod (translated as… The Sadness of Women) are Gwretsien Ferch Lisbeth (Guttersnipe, Petronn Sphene), Leila Lygad (Hawthonn) and Sidni Sarffwraig (Slaylor Moon, The Courtneys). Formed in 2022 in Leeds, where the band are primarily based, Tristwch y Fenywod sounds like an early 4AD group dredged from the waters of an Anglesey swamp. Sapphic love and desire, existential darkness, political and environmental anguish/celebration, psychogeographic romance, pagan mysticism, imaginal explorations of Celtic history and myth, psychedelia, and myriad other variations of reverie are fantasised through their songs.

In August 2024 they released their self-titled debut album through Night School Records to critical acclaim, and have since performed at various UK festivals such as Supernormal and Supersonic, including two memorable nights with Upset The Rhythm at St Pancras Old Church back in January this year.

https://night-school.bandcamp.com/album/tristwch-y-fenywod


ANNA PEAKER is an artist based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, who began experimenting with sound in 2016. Her work centers around quiet electronics, amplified objects, and processed autoharp. She has released music with Longform Editions, Alter, Infant Tree, Chocolate Monk, and Regional Bears.

https://annapeaker.bandcamp.com/

Deerhoof and Michael Beach next week in London!

 

Hey there!   Massive thanks to all of you for coming out to see Daily Toll  this week, what a highly enjoyable triple bill, really felt special.   Upset The Rhythm are impressively busy next week, so we wanted to send the flag up the pole. On Monday and Tuesday, we're brimming to be back at Bush Hall with ultimate live band Deerhoof!   Both of these shows are close to selling out, so well worth buying a ticket in advance if you wish to attend. Monday sees Me Lost Me performing her evocative concoctions in solo mode, whilst on Tuesday we're pleased to announce that Gimic are down to shake things up. Deerhoof will be performing different sets each night too, what's not to love?   Then on Thursday night we have a Chris Cohen concert booked at the Ivy House which is already sold out.

We're then rounding off the week with an amazing event at The Lexington on Friday evening with Michael Beach.   Equally informed by the songwriting of Bill Fay and Peter Laughner, the minimalism of Conrad and Riley, and the rock and roll heart of the Goner Records roster, Beach is a revelation! This will be Michael's only show in the UK, wow. We're very lucky to have Expiry and Caroline No both performing at this one too, cannot wait!   Read on for more detail on each of these events and for news of our upcoming album launch for Me Lost Me (with full band) on August 6th at St Pancras Old Church.   We also have a newly added performance from Lande Hekt on Oct 15th listed in our programme now too. Enjoy!

Upset The Rhythm presents… DEERHOOF ME LOST ME - Monday 28 July GIMIC - Tuesday 29 July Bush Hall, 310 Uxbridge Rd, Shepherds Bush, London W12 7LJ 7.30pm | £18 | Tickets: https://link.dice.fm/u14f27627efa / https://link.dice.fm/I74bac87ba3a DEERHOOF long ago established themselves as one of the greatest rock groups ever to stride the earth, the furiously inventive quartet releases new albums on the schedule of a young band still hungry for its first break. Their latest album ‘Noble and Godlike in Ruin’ (their 19th studio album) is either a portrait of a world descending into monstrous hate, dehumanization, and dollar signs, or a haunting self-portrait of band-as-monster, singing tirelessly of love, increasingly alienated from that world. Songs crash and break apart, then reassemble in surprising and delightful new fashion. The music is joyful and foreboding, cybernetic and deeply human, all at once. Strings that evoke avant-garde chamber music and classic horror-film soundtracks bounce off guitar and bass lines that chug on impervious to the creeping dread. The drums are sometimes filtered to sound almost electronic, but no computer could come up with rhythms so funky and dynamic, with each minute variation from one snare hit to the next conveying worlds of possibility. The world may be going down, but Deerhoof is going down swinging. For this pair of shows in London, Deerhoof will be performing different sets each night, featuring material from ‘Noble and Godlike in Ruin’ alongside epic tracks from their extensive back catalogue! https://deerhoof.bandcamp.com/ ME LOST ME delights in experimenting with songwriting and storytelling, creating a beguiling mix of soaring vocals and atmospheric electronics that playfully weave together disparate genres, drawing influence from folk, art pop, noise, ambient and improvised music. On Me Lost Me's fourth full-length, This Material Moment - out now on Upset The Rhythm - she has created an "emotionally raw" album, her most honest and vulnerable yet. Me Lost Me presents sound reaching in opposite directions, straddling time towards the archaic and timeless traditions of folktales, and towards the possible and potential futures of pastoral Britain and the world at large. This will be a solo show from Jayne, whilst her album launch on August 6th will feature her full group. https://www.melostme.com/   GIMIC are a punk band from Bristol. Their recent 7” ‘We Are Making a New World’ (Crew Cuts Records) cement them firmly into place as one of the most exciting and innovative bands rising up in the UK right now. There’s a danceable groove that echoes Fugazi, mathy time signatures, all fired-up with an energy and attitude that could almost tip things into screamo territory. Very natural, classic and essential! https://gimic.bandcamp.com/album/we-are-making-a-new-world

Upset The Rhythm presents… MICHAEL BEACH EXPIRY CAROLINE NO Friday 1 August The Lexington, 96-98 Pentonville Rd, Angel, London, N1 9JB 7pm - 10.30pm | £9 | Tickets: https://link.dice.fm/uc37b4f150b4 MICHAEL BEACH is a Melbourne-based and Californian-born musician. On his fifth LP, Big Black Plume, Beach reveals the vitalizing power of connection in an often hostile world. Equally informed by the songwriting of Bill Fay and Peter Laughner, the minimalism of Tony Conrad and Terry Riley, and the rock and roll heart of the Goner Records roster, Big Black Plume provides deliberate compositions adorned with genuine madness. The songs on this album range from spare, textural ballads, to spiraling psychedelic overtures connected to a propulsive cosmic pulse. The songs here aren't stick-and-poke songs that will dry and fade on the skin, aimless prayers for jams; Beach has been making deliberate things for decades. Big Black Plume is a record about connections, mercurially curated, transforming individual contributions into something strikingly communal. For years, Beach has been carefully fostering musical connections - for Big Black Plume is out July 25th, 2025, on vital independent labels Poison City (Australia) and Goner Records (US / Rest of World). Beach will support Big Black Plume with headlining tour dates and festival appearances in Australia, the United States, and Europe, including Gonerfest in Memphis, TN, Rising in Melbourne, Dark Mofo in Tasmania, and Binic Folks Blues Fest in France. https://michaelbeach.org/ EXPIRY are a 5 piece band based in London. Centred around the songwriting of Australian expat Louis Forster (formerly of The Goon Sax) the band began as a two piece with Sonny Barrett (Adulkt Life) in 2022. From early shows that featured primitive drum beats played off phones the band has evolved slowly into a roaring five piece complete with duelling guitars, piano and brothers. https://www.instagram.com/expiry__/ CAROLINE NO is a psychedelic-folk project based in London and built around the songwriting of Caroline Kennedy. Recordings of the group have been described as commanding in their nonchalance, allowing the listener to feel like they are living within the open boundaries of the song. A “unique, beguiling sound sits somewhere between archetypal Dunedin pop and languorous, textural improvisation” (Students of Decay) and “no-fi, anti-folk ditties that channel an anarchic spirit” (Chris Cobcroft 4ZZZ). Caroline No have released three albums No Language (World News / Students of Decay), Swimmers (King Crab) and Caroline No (Grapefruit Record Club). https://carolinenohello.bandcamp.com/album/no-language

Upset The Rhythm presents… ME LOST ME - ‘This Material Moment’ album launch! THE SILVER FIELD Wednesday 6 August St Pancras Old Church, Pancras Road, King's Cross, London, NW1 1UL 7.30pm | £10 | Tickets: https://link.dice.fm/i7853be3d99b ME LOST ME delights in experimenting with songwriting and storytelling, creating a beguiling mix of soaring vocals and atmospheric electronics that playfully weave together disparate genres, drawing influence from folk, art pop, noise, ambient and improvised music. In 2023 Me Lost Me released the critically regarded album 'RPG' and toured extensively in support of the release. On Me Lost Me's fourth full-length, This Material Moment - arriving on Upset the Rhythm on 27th June - she has created an "emotionally raw" album, her most honest and vulnerable yet. Me Lost Me presents sound reaching in opposite directions, straddling time towards the archaic and timeless traditions of folktales, and towards the possible and potential futures of pastoral Britain and the world at large. Concerned with physicality, interpretations, and, yes, materiality, ‘This Material Moment’ is an album akin to rummaging through a box of long-forgotten trinkets. With each song, Me Lost Me extracts something from the box and asks us to consider it from every angle. "This is an album which uses words as a material, a playful tool for experimentation, full of metaphor, abstraction and analogies." Jayne says, "it has softness and anger, humour, hope and despair, intensity of feeling in all directions expressed as textures, objects, places." ‘This Material Moment’ was written and arranged solo, but played with a core band of John Pope on electric/double bass, Faye MacCalman on clarinet, and now with the addition of Ewan Mackenzie (Dextro/Pigs x7) on drums - bringing in live drums and electric bass for the first time. The album was recorded by Sam Grant at Blank Studios in Newcastle, who also worked on RPG. https://www.melostme.com/   THE SILVER FIELD is an Oram award-winning project built from the sound world of Coral Rose Kindred-Boothby. Voice, tapes, bass, samples, synthesis, strings, reeds, drums, small sounds, big sounds, sunlight, moonlight, a lot of water. Using her modular synthesiser and other self-built electronic instruments, Coral weaves together song-soundscapes, creating a rich and dream-like tapestry of sound that draws from folk music tradition, experimental electronics and psychedelia. https://thesilverfield.co.uk/

Thank you so much for your time, see you soon! Upset The Rhythm

UPSET THE RHYTHM UPCOMING SHOWS

DEERHOOF

ME LOST ME - Monday 28 July

GIMIC - Tuesday 29 July

Bush Hall, 310 Uxbridge Rd, Shepherds Bush, London W12 7LJ

7.30pm | £18 | Tickets: https://link.dice.fm/u14f27627efa / https://link.dice.fm/I74bac87ba3a

 

CHRIS COHEN

THE CINDYS
Thursday 31 July
The Ivy House, 40 Stuart Rd, Nunhead, London SE15 3BE
7.30pm | SOLD OUT

 

MICHAEL BEACH

EXPIRY

CAROLINE NO

Friday 1 August
The Lexington, 96-98 Pentonville Rd, Angel, London, N1 9JB
7pm - 10.30pm | £9 | Tickets: https://link.dice.fm/uc37b4f150b4

 

ME LOST ME - ‘This Material Moment’ album launch!
THE SILVER FIELD
Wednesday 6 August
St Pancras Old Church, Pancras Road, King's Cross, London, NW1 1UL

7.30pm | £10 | Tickets: https://link.dice.fm/i7853be3d99b

 

WALT McCLEMENTS
JACKEN ELSWYTH
Wednesday 27 August
Cafe OTO, 18-22 Ashwin St, London, E8 3DL

7.30pm | £12 | Tickets: https://link.dice.fm/Q090a15c33bd

 

SIR RICHARD BISHOP
Saturday 11 October
Chats Palace, 42-44 Brooksby's Walk, London, E9 6DF
7.30pm | £14 | Tickets: https://link.dice.fm/V7e42376f168

 

LANDE HEKT
Wednesday 15 October
The Lexington, 96-98 Pentonville Rd, Angel, London, N1 9JB
7.30pm | £12.50 | Tickets: https://link.dice.fm/fbcab145bcce

 

STEVE GUNN
Thursday 23 October
St Matthias Church, Wordsworth Rd, Dalston, London, N16 8DD
7.30pm | £14 | Tickets: https://link.dice.fm/Kbeb8bca6565

 

LUNG LEG

UNMARRY ME!

THE PLAN

Saturday 25 October

MOTH Club, Old Trades Hall, Valette St, London, E9 6NU

7pm-10pm | £10 | Tickets: https://link.dice.fm/Uf5bde2d3be1

 

PROLAPSE

MODERATE REBELS

Sunday 26 October
The Lexington, 96-98 Pentonville Rd, Angel, London, N1 9JB
7pm | £15 | Tickets: https://link.dice.fm/of4172f9538d

 

JOHN MAUS

Monday 3 November

O2 Forum Kentish Town, 9-17 Highgate Rd, London NW5 1JY

In collaboration with Parallel Lines

7pm | £25 | Tickets: https://tinyurl.com/2uctuz6b

 

PHEW
FREDDIE MURPHY
Tuesday 4 November
ICA, The Mall, London, SW1Y 5AH
7.30pm | £16 | Tickets: https://link.dice.fm/j37d81ca0772

 

PROTOMARTYR
Wednesday 12 November - on sale!
Thursday 13 November - sold out!
ICA, The Mall, London, SW1Y 5AH
7.30pm | £21 | Tickets: https://link.dice.fm/ha26f4ea47ea  

 

 

Lande Hekt - new show for Oct 15th!

 

THRILLED to invite Lande Hekt back to London this October!


Upset The Rhythm presents…

LANDE HEKT
Wednesday 15 October
The Lexington, 96-98 Pentonville Rd, Angel, London, N1 9JB
7.30pm | £12.50 | Tickets: https://link.dice.fm/fbcab145bcce

LANDE HEKT’s music is born out of self-reflection, social and political awareness, and her capacity for evocative storytelling. Having explored this personal song-writing approach with her former band, Muncie Girls, with their punchy yet tender punk-flecked songs, Lande released her debut solo record Going To Hell in 2021 via queer and trans run independent label Get Better Records. Going To Hell presents its raw honesty amongst understatedly luminous melodies and candid, unpretentious lyrics which contemplate, among other things, her experience coming out as gay. Lande’s music sits beautifully alongside such essential artists as The Wedding Present, The Sundays, The Replacements, Sleeper and Sharon Van Etten.

With her debut album barely a year old, 2022 saw Lande armed with a whole new collection of song-form vignettes and musings on her life and experiences with second album House Without a View (partnering again with Get Better Records and Prize Sunflower Records in the UK). Kicking off where the last record left off, House Without a View continues to explore ideas of queer identity, as well as her changing relationship with gender, dealing with childhood trauma, and confronting the isolation and period of adjustment brought by the pandemic. Lead single ‘Gay Space Cadets’ daydreams about a life of excitement and adventure instead of being “forced to buy into capitalism and become a pathetic, losing player in a game that you hate.” Although there’s darkness and sadness within the record, there’s also some shining beacons of positivity and a lighthearted side, albeit with a side of frustration.

Lande has toured in the UK, Europe, Canada and Australia supporting the likes of Alvvays, Laura Jane Grace, The Beths, Throwing Muses and the legend that is Tricky. She has also played at Glastonbury festival, as well as events for The Big Issue and Corbyn’s Labour Party.

https://landehekt.bandcamp.com/

Steve Gunn - Oct 23rd in London

Counting the days to this new show... it's 98 by the way!

Upset The Rhythm presents…

STEVE GUNN
Thursday 23 October
St Matthias Church, Wordsworth Rd, Dalston, London, N16 8DD
7.30pm | £14 | Tickets: https://link.dice.fm/Kbeb8bca6565

STEVE GUNN is a New York-based guitarist and songwriter. With a career spanning nearly fifteen years, Steve has produced volumes of critically acclaimed solo, duo, and ensemble recordings on labels such as Matador Records, Three Lobed Recordings, Paradise of Bachelors, and RVNG. His albums represent milestones of contemporary guitar-driven material, and forward thinking songwriting. Steve has steadily processed his inspirations into a singular, virtuosic stream. Close listening reveals the influence of blues, folk, ecstatic free jazz, and psych in his continually unfolding output.

'Music for Writers', the first Gunn album under only his name since 2021, takes those influences to a new level. It is an instrumental album (released this August by Three Lobed Recordings), based around guitar, synths and more, it leads the listener to tightly and deeply focus on minute changes and variations in style. It is a masterpiece in fragile, small-scale world-building that occupies a unique space within Gunn's wider discography.

https://stevegunn.bandcamp.com/music

 

 

Linda Smith / The Smashing Times - 7" split EP announced!

Cor Blimey! On August 15th Upset The Rhythm will release a split 7” EP by Linda Smith and The Smashing Times. Both based in Baltimore and both best buds, this record celebrates that friendship sharing two new tracks by each act; united by DIY spirit, a bedroom-pop sensibility and now a puddle of black vinyl. Today you can witness their tea-based, umbrella-powered advertisement, listen to Linda’s track ‘So Long Ago’ (streaming through the digital ether) and even choose to pre-order the coveted disc yourself from our Bandcamp or UTR webshop.
 
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Songwriter Linda Smith has a gentle but unconventional experimental style that continues to evolve as she adds new entries to her storied catalogue. Smith’s pioneering work with four-track production in the '80s found her at the beginning of a home-recording movement that would set the pace for the decades of indie rock that followed. During this most active period, Smith's music was limited mostly to obscure cassette and 7" releases. This trailblazing time was recently revisited on Captured Tracks’ compilation ‘Till Another Time: 1988-1996’. Shortly after Smith’s retrospective, she teamed up with like-mind and collaborator Nancy Andrews to release an album of beguiling pop entitled ‘A Passing Cloud’ (2023). The duo performed songs from that record at Upset The Rhythm’s 20th anniversary party at Café OTO that same year. 2024 saw further reissues of Smith’s music including Nothing Else Matters (1995) and I So Liked Spring (1996).
 
The Smashing Times are a premier East Coast Pop Experimental Group. They have also gleefully performed in London for Upset The Rhythm twice in quick succession. Known for their dogtooth style, waggish mod attitude and tumbledown sound, The Smashing Times have holes in their socks and sit idly between The Kinks and Tori Kudo. Their previous albums on K Records, Perennial and Meritorio are a cherished commodity steeped in Paisley psych and slapdash panache.
 
This split 7” EP comprises 4 new tracks. Two from Linda Smith in keyboard-warble anthem mode and two low-fidelity daytrips by The Smashing Times. It will be released on 500 black vinyl 7”s by Upset The Rhythm on August 15th 2025.

 

 

Lung Leg in London this October!

Well here’s a dream come true!

Upset The Rhythm presents…

LUNG LEG
UNMARRY ME
THE PLAN
Saturday 25 October
MOTH Club, Old Trades Hall, Valette St, London, E9 6NU
7pm-10pm | £10 | Tickets: https://link.dice.fm/Uf5bde2d3be1

LUNG LEG formed in Glasgow in 1994 and were part of the city’s vibrant DIY underground scene. They blended elements of post-punk, C86, and riot grrrl, creating a sound described as indie rock, pop-punk, and garage rock.  The original lineup included Jane McKeown ("Jane Egypt"), Annie Spandex, Amanda "Jade Green" Doorbar, and Maureen "MoMo" Quinn. They released two EPs in the mid-1990s: ‘The Negative Delinquent Autopsy’ and ‘Shagg the Tiger’. The band's debut album, "Maid to Minx," was released in 1997. Lung Leg’s songs are soaked in hedonistic tales of Glasgow nights out, living life on the central Scottish edge between the dole and the pub, the music pumped full of adrenalin. Seriously, if you tune your mind into just the guitars you’ll be doing mental somersaults. But you’d also be missing the vocal interplay, call-and-response work, lyrics that read like surrealist, grimy narratives. At the turn of the century Lung Leg imploded, scattering their component members to different parts of the country or to other groups. After a reissue of the singular ‘Maid To Minx’ album in 2022, the band reformed with new members Paul Thompson, Simone Antigone and Hando Morice, playing a reunion gig in Glasgow that December. They have since featured in the documentary ‘Since Yesterday: The Untold Story’. Lung Leg will be releasing their first new record in October. A limited edition split 7" with Unmarry Me! is also coming out soon on Second City Static. 
https://lungleg.bandcamp.com

UNMARRY ME! is a triangular shaped group, comprising of Lise Frances, Jon Slade and Chris Rowley. London to Brighton and back again. Unmarry Me! are a group that have been together for about 6 months in a world at war and in trouble. Unmarry me! are therefore a group trying to carve out some joy and light as form of resistance, no small feat, and maybe grandiose but worth the stating. Unmarry me! Is comprised of personnel who have all had time or continue to have time in other groups who did not take easy routes or money and didn't make many friends, so it goes. These groups respectively or chronologically were and are Huggy Bear, Comet Gain, I’m Being Good, Help She Can’t Swim, Snoozers and Adulkt Life. Bands that time will record as being on the right sides of history and her story. Unmarry Me! are of a completely different stripe or ilk but comprise the antagonist and peculiar DNA that honour this. Unmarry Me! play and record and create and make do in a DIY syncretism that's useful to themselves, distinct and not worth talking about. Unmarry Me! are about bending, queering, breaking and resetting rules, smudging boundaries and in the main having a lot of excellent fun!!

THE PLAN is a continually evolving outfit which includes members who have previously appeared in bands like Wetdog, Vic Godard and The Subway Sect, Hot Silk Pockets, Mathew Sawyer and The Ghosts, Reverend Pike, and Private Trousers. Sometimes described as post-punk, they also pull from more diverse influences such as no wave, garage, psych, as well as hints of prog. Their songs often move in unexpected directions and are always pinned together by Rebecca Gillieron's sometimes defiant/sometimes soft vocal melodies.
https://theplan1.bandcamp.com/

Daily Toll, Guy Blackman and The Spatulas - London show!

Our next show is looking like a DIY cracker! Here's the full menu: hazy offbeat rock from Sydney's Daily Toll, lo-fi pop reveries from Chapter Music's Guy Blackman (Melbourne), and  introspective, woozy enchantment from Miranda from The Spatulas (MA, USA). All taking place at Avalon Cafe on Monday 21st July, see you there!

Upset The Rhythm presents…

DAILY TOLL
GUY BLACKMAN
THE SPATULAS
Monday 21 July
Avalon Cafe, Juno Way, London, SE14 5RZ
7.15pm | £10 | Tickets: https://link.dice.fm/h3d18b073edc 

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