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Thank you all massively for coming out
to see Lande Hekt and Sir Richard Bishop recently. Both set the bar
high, but this week we have three more events, oh yes, count them.
This coming Thursday sees Upset The Rhythm pitch up at St Matthias in Dalston for an extraordinary evening of quicksilver guitar droving and hazy songcraft from Steve Gunn and James Elkington.
Two sets, both top drawer, will be sublime. Steve and James have both
released incredible albums this year, so we're in for a real treat.
Expect live music to start from 8.10pm, limited tickets... so well worth buying in advance.
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Then on Saturday night we're popping up with an early show (7pm-10pm) at MOTH Club for Glaswegian DIY legends Lung Leg. We'll be celebrating the launch of their new single: a split 7" with Unmarry Me! (featuring members of Huggy Bear and Comet Gain). Unmarry Me! will also perform, alongside provincial-pop subverts The Plan.
What's not to love? It's going to be hugely entertaining. 7.30pm is the
live music kick-off, plus we'll have some tickets on the door too.
Sunday evening sees UTR revisit The Lexington with a sold out show for Prolapse and Moderate Rebels, so we'll be cresting the wave by then.
Read on for full write-ups of these shows, plus our forthcoming London events for 100 Flowers, The Yummy Fur, John Maus, Phew, Isaiah Hull and Freddie Murphy. Busy times indeed.
The observant of you will notice two newly announced concerts for Eraserhead Xiu Xiu next February at the ICA too - these promise to be spectacular!
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Upset The Rhythm presents…
STEVE GUNN
JAMES ELKINGTON
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/musicJAMES ELKINGTON
moved to the United States in the late ’90s from his native England
with the intention of making himself absolutely essential to the Chicago
music scene. Twenty years later he’s contributed to a staggering volume
of records and shows and projects both in Chicagoland (see Jeff Tweedy;
Tortoise; Eleventh Dream Day; Brokeback) and far from it (see Richard
Thompson; Laetitia Sadier; Michael Chapman, Steve Gunn, Nap Eyes). The
2017 release of the wonderful ‘Wintres Woma’, his first so-called solo
album, seemed to be a logical, healthy respite from assisting with the
creative needs of others that would allow him to serve his own. The
record certainly sounded as though James found in it every reason to be
satisfied - among much else, it effectively reconciled his personal and
musical mongreltude as a child of Britain and a man of America, and thus
could return his focus to bettering other folks’ records. James has
since released several albums on Paradise of Bachelors and No Quarter,
including last year’s triumphant collab with Nathan Salsburg entitled
‘All Gist’.
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Upset The Rhythm presents… LUNG LEG
UNMARRY ME!
THE PLANSaturday 25 October MOTH Club, Old Trades Hall, Valette St, London, E9 6NU 7pm-10pm | £10 | Tickets: https://link.dice.fm/Uf5bde2d3be1LUNG 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 coming out imminently 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
breeze in from Southend, keeping the flame burning for the kind of
askew provincial pop captured on all those Messthetics compilations.
Featuring folks formerly of Wetdog, The Ghosts and Vic Godard & The
Subway Sect, the group ply a combination clattering beats, clanging
guitars and conversational tunes. Their songs often move in unexpected
directions and are pinned together by Rebecca Gillieron's sometimes
defiant/sometimes soft vocal melodies. New album, ‘Mountain View’, was
released on Divine Schism last month. https://theplan1.bandcamp.com/ |
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Upset The Rhythm presents… 100 FLOWERS
THE YUMMY FURFriday 31 October New River Studios, 199 Eade Rd, Harringay, London, N4 1DN 7.30pm | £10 | Tickets: https://link.dice.fm/teff2cfdc2f2 100 FLOWERS
are a post-punk band from Los Angeles, California, active primarily in
the early 1980s. The group evolved from the politically charged punk
outfit The Urinals, who were known for their raw, minimalist sound and
radical brevity, many of their songs clocked in under a minute. As their
musical interests expanded and matured, the trio mutated into 100
Flowers in 1981, taking their name from Mao Zedong’s “Hundred Flowers
Campaign,” a brief period in Chinese history encouraging open
expression. The new moniker reflected their increasingly sophisticated
and experimental approach to music, while maintaining a subversive,
critical edge. The band consisted of the same core lineup from
the Urinals: John Talley-Jones (vocals, bass), Kjehl Johansen (guitar,
vocals), and Kevin Barrett (drums). Under the 100 Flowers name, they
moved beyond the stark minimalism of their previous incarnation,
embracing more complex song structures, abstract lyrics, and an eclectic
mix of influences ranging from Wire and Gang of Four to Captain
Beefheart and Pere Ubu. Their sound retained punk’s urgency and DIY
ethos but integrated funk, avant-garde noise, and jarring time
signatures, all hallmarks of the emerging post-punk genre. In 1983, 100
Flowers released their self-titled LP on the independent label Happy
Squid Records, which they co-founded. The album was critically
well-regarded within underground circles, praised for its angular guitar
work, sharp lyrical content, and inventive rhythms. Songs like
“Sensible Virgins” and “Motorboat to Hell” showcased their unique fusion
of intelligence, irony, and punk rebellion. The group disbanded in
1983, but their influence endured. Both 100 Flowers and the Urinals
became cult favorites, especially among later generations of punk, indie
rock, and lo-fi musicians. Their music was rediscovered and reissued
over the years, including a retrospective compilation, 100 Years of
Pulchritude, which brought renewed attention to their groundbreaking
work. https://100flowers.bandcamp.com/album/100-flowersTHE YUMMY FUR
are Glaswegian DIY pop legends with their energetic mix of angular
riffs, super-short songs and biting social commentary. Consisting of
lead singer and guitarist John McKeown and an interesting line-up of
other musicians, the band were favourites of John Peel and recorded two
Peel Sessions, as well three totemic albums: ‘Night Club’ (Slampt /
Guided Missile, 1996), ‘Male Shadow at Three O’Clock’ (Vesuvius, 1998)
and ‘Sexy World’ (Guided Missile, 1998). All three are essential. The
group disbanded in 1999, and ten years later ‘Rock Action’ released
‘Piggy Wings’, a compilation of their best 7” and album tracks. The band
have since reformed to play with a line up featuring original members
John McKeown, Paul Thomson and Brian McDougall. |
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Upset The Rhythm & Parallel Lines presents… JOHN MAUSMonday 3 November O2 Forum Kentish Town, 9-17 Highgate Rd, London NW5 1JY 7pm | £25 | Tickets: https://www.parallellinespromotions.com JOHN MAUS
is a truly enigmatic musician. Broadly cut from the synth pop cloth,
he’s fashioned the frosty minimalism of its fabric into a cloak of
infinite meaning, genuine grace and absurdist humor over the course of
four defining albums since 2006. His music is a highly mutable affair,
whilst often described as retro-futurist on behalf of the 80’s drum
machines and synth sounds employed, John’s music is more personal than
the nostalgic re-tread implied. There’s a cinematic quality to his
songs, with pathos conjured through propelling bass-lines, trailing
arpeggios and of course his deeply resonant vocal. Moroder helped map
out the territory but Maus is more interested in seeking cadence through
his love of Renaissance polyphony and the experimentation behind post
punk. It’s an amalgamation of musical ideas as radical as its intent. Maus
is a ‘man out of time’ trying to make sense of the inhumanity of our
world through his mobilisation of the language of punk rock. His aim is
true as he reaches for the seemingly impossible. It’s a want to emerge
as part of greater multiplicity, to appear, to become, to connect that
powers his songs and the man himself. It’s now been 14 years since the
widely lauded album We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves
(2011) appeared like a thunderbolt of maniacal energy and turned
everyone’s heads. Now regarded as an experimental pop classic, Pitiless
Censors was a huge breakthrough for Maus as a recognised artist and led
to a vast reappraisal of his past work. Two decades and seven
albums into his career, Sept 26th sees John Maus release his most
transcendent album yet: Later Than You Think. Arriving via his new label
YOUNG, the album explores themes of grief, justice, rebirth,
transformation, and spiritual warfare - coalescing into a work of
confession and confrontation: an aural metaphysics where affect,
intellect, and spirit converge in search of the beautiful, the truth and
the real. https://johnma.us/ |
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Upset The Rhythm presents… PHEW
ISAIAH HULL
FREDDIE MURPHYTuesday 4 November ICA, The Mall, London, SW1Y 5AH 7.30pm | £16 | Tickets: https://link.dice.fm/j37d81ca0772 PHEW
is a legendary figure in Japanese underground music. Phew was a
founding member of the legendary Japanese punk band Aunt Sally. After
the band’s breakup in 1979, she continued her career as a solo artist,
releasing a collaborative single with Ryuichi Sakamoto in 1980, and her
first solo album, ‘Phew’, with Conny Plank, Holger Czukay of CAN, and
Jaki Liebezeit in 1981. In 1992, her third album, ‘Our Likeness’, was
released on MUTE (recently reissued), again at Conny’s studio, with Jaki
Liebezeit of CAN, Alexander Hacke of Einstürzende Neubauten, and
Chrislo Haas of DAF. Since the beginning of the 2010s, she has released a
series of works that combine voice and electronic music, and has gained
international recognition as a forward facing electronic artist. She
has also released collaborative works with Ana da Silva (Raincoats),
Yoshimi (Boredoms, OOIOO) and others. Phew's expansive ‘Vertical
Jamming’ was released on vinyl for the first time via Disciples last
year, whilst Mute recently released her stunning record ‘New Decade’; a
stark, haunted album, populated by voices that intone empty pleasantries
in English and Japanese, against a backdrop of fractured, dubbed-out
electronics. https://phewjapan.bandcamp.com/music ISAIAH HULL
is a poet and rapper from London, appearing often alongside frequent
collaborator / producer aloisius. Hull’s music glistens in a ghostly
way. Heart-wrenching and laugh-inducing in equal measure, Hull deems
himself a “stand-up tragedian.” Above minimal, glittering production,
reminiscent of Triad God or Dean Blunt, and dark glitch-imbued beats
that sound like they’re emitting from turntable on its last legs, Hull
shares his heartfelt and diaristic poems-as-tracks – witty and harrowed
and never shying from the grim political realities of life in the UK.
Combining impeccable flow with singular production, Hull is an
unstoppable force to be reckoned with. Hull’s debut album ‘Pocomania’
was released through Young earlier this year. https://young.bandcamp.com/album/pocomaniaFREDDIE MURPHY
is a sound artist and curator based in Torino, Italy. His sonic
research has shifted from cathartic performances to express the Catholic
sense of guilt to an intimate investigation on feelings of loss and
acceptance connected with grief, using an approach to composition that
is bound to visual imagery and concepts linked to rituality. His musical
practice involves experimenting on the duality of natural/synthetic,
using acoustic recordings processed into synthetic sounds, as well as
mimicking natural sounds using analogue tools. As a founding member of
the seminal experimental outfit Father Murphy he released a series of
concept albums on labels such as Joyful Noise, The Flenser, Avant! and
performed extensively across the world. Appearances include Venice
Biennale and Santarcangelo Festival (IT), Dark Mofo Festival
(Australia), Le Guess Who!? Festival (NL). https://linktr.ee/freddiemurphy |
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