Friday, 7 April 2017

Happy days! Feature & Rat Columns albums both released today!


Hello again!

It was brilliant to see so many of you at our Mary Ocher show this week! Thanks so much for coming down. Today, we have our record label hat firmly on as we’re very happy to usher two excellent, new releases into the wild! Feature’s jaw-dropping debut album Banishing Ritual is released digitally today, with the LPs hitting shops next Friday, whilst Candle Power by Rat Columns, a masterwork of melancholic jangle, in available now on LP/CD and digitally as of now! Here’s some more info on both of those albums, plus details of our next concert, also for Rat Columns. I sense a theme developing.

Feature were (alas they are no more!) adept at drone-dipped melody chasing. Liv Willars, Heather Perkins and Jen Calleja shook up the power trio formula, tearing through songs with abandon and a nod to the motorik bop.

With their debut album Banishing Ritual they strike from bare, menacing punk to harmonious post-punk to blisteringly fast garage-pop to ponderous instrumental, showing not only their overlapping music tastes, but also how the band had gained broad influences over the years representative of the diversity of the UK DIY scene from Joey Fourr to Good Throb. Jen Calleja’s lyrics are sparse narratives: a love song for a twin consumed in the womb, the stalking of a doppelganger, a rallying cry against the lack of belief in women’s ability to be artists, a tongue-in-cheek look at jealousy and bitter competitiveness. Though Calleja provides a leading vocal throughout, all three members sing on most songs to create unmatchable and unexpected vocal harmonies, plus friend and fellow London DIY musician Joey Fourr provides his immense vocal range on two tracks.



Feature gigged all over the UK and played their final shows at Tramlines/Alternative Tramlines and Indietracks Festival in and around Sheffield and Nottingham at the end of last year. They supported bands including The Julie Ruin, Chain and the Gang, Verity Susman and Protomartyr, played Supernormal Festival, were in session with Marc Riley on BBC 6 Music and their only non-UK show was also one of their final, a joint headline show with Diät in Berlin. Liv has now relocated to Sheffield and has started a new band, Jen plays in Sauna Youth and their alter-ego Monotony along with new band Gold Foil, whilst Heather is currently on tour with Slowcoaches, with the band having just released their debut album also.



Rat Columns is the mutable musical project of David West, an artist as prolific as he is diverse in his output. West is the driving force behind the groups Rank/Xerox, Liberation and Lace Curtain, he was also a member of Total Control, and most recently debuted a solo album proper. Whether its forward-facing punk or turning his hand to crafting sleek prisms of pop, West’s credentials check out. Rat Columns is no exception, always central to his vision and returned to many times since its inception in Perth almost a decade ago. Over the years the band has morphed and continued with an array of different friends from the USA and Australia, always finding David West dancing through the long shadows at its core. Working with many distinguished underground imprints including Blackest Ever Black, Adagio 830, Smart Guy Records and RIP Society, Rat Columns have left in their wake a trail of 7”s, EPs and two full length albums. Now a third album, entitled Candle Power is released today through Upset The Rhythm.



Recorded in Guildford, Western Australia, with the Perth crew of West, Amber Gempton, Louis Hooper and Chris Cobilis, Candle Power sees the band's universe of chiming guitar pop explode into new worlds of colour and shade. It’s an album as happy to walk home in the rain as it is to reel dizzily through daylight. It’s melancholic lilt tempered by a quietly-sung optimism. Candle Power tunnels further than ever before down the pop mainline, cutting in with moments of soul, disco and experimental plots. West is a magpie-like musician, unafraid to assemble songs from a motley collection of influences and ideas. He weaves songs together with a deft hand and an acute grasp for the memorable yet momentary.



Since we last talked, we also announced a very exciting full live band show for Richard Dawson. Taking place at St John on Bethnal Green on June 22nd, Richard will be joined by a motley crew of performers, colouring large the mural of his forthcoming new album ‘Ogre’ (Weird World / Domino). Tickets on sale now, check out our listings section for details.



\ \ \ \ \     WEDNESDAY 19 APRIL     / / / / /



RAT COLUMNS
HONEY JOY
SLUSHY GUTS
Wednesday 19 April
The Lexington, 96-98 Pentonville Road, Islington, N1 9JB

RAT COLUMNS is the mutable musical project of David West, an artist as prolific as he is diverse in his output. West is the driving force behind the groups Rank/Xerox, Liberation and Lace Curtain, he was also a member of Total Control, and most recently debuted a solo album proper. Whether its forward-facing punk or turning his hand to crafting sleek prisms of pop, West's credentials check out. Rat Columns is no exception, always central to his vision and returned to many times since its inception in Perth almost a decade ago. Over the years the band has morphed and continued with an array of different friends from the USA and Australia, always finding David West dancing through the long shadows at its core. Working with many distinguished underground imprints including Blackest Ever Black, Adagio 830, Smart Guy Records and RIP Society, Rat Columns have left in their wake a trail of 7"s, EPs and two full length albums. Now a third album, entitled 'Candle Power' is cued for release through Upset The Rhythm this April. 'Candle Power' is packed full of chiming guitar pop, cutting in with moments of soul, disco and experimental plots.
http://ratcolumns.tumblr.com/

HONEY JOY are five mates who came together through a mutual love of curry, Mean Girls and Paul McCartney’s hand gestures. They play indie punk music and have been compared to The Thermals and Xray Spex. They released two brilliant EPs last year and have just finished recording their first full length with MJ from Hookworms, which is soon to be released in the US through Infinity Cat records. 
https://honeyjoy.bandcamp.com/

SLUSHY GUTS is more of a group then a band (M.E.S distinction), having revolved around founding member Steve Keane since it's inception in 2009. Originally a solo bedroom project (B. White definition) Slushy Guts has mutated (H.P Lovecraft style) over the course of 4 albums and a "shit-load" (Slim Pickens) of tape and cdr releases. Evolving organically (according to Jean-Baptiste  Lamarck), it's presentation facilitated by whoever's around, Steve's songs exist in the spaces between genres, at once melodic and discordant (Engelbert Humperdinck definition), concerned with deconstructing 'it all' (definition unknown) and gluing it back together again. With current members Sam and Luke Walsh on bass and drums and James Rowland on guitar, Slushy Guts is currently something closely resembling a rock 'n' roll quartet (Rev. David A. Noebel definition.) Bobby Davro, 2017.
https://slushyguts.bandcamp.com/


Have a brilliant weekend!
UPSET THE RHYTHM
x




\\\\\  UPSET THE RHYTHM   /////
/////  UPCOMING    SHOWS   \\\\\

MARY OCHER
BAMBOO
MOONBOW
Wednesday 5 April
The Islington, 1 Tolpuddle Street, Angel, London, N1 0XT

RAT COLUMNS
HONEY JOY
SLUSHY GUTS
Wednesday 19 April
The Lexington, 96-98 Pentonville Road, Islington, N1 9JB

GROUPER
Sunday 23 April
Tin Tabernacle, 12-16 Cambridge Avenue, Kilburn, London, NW6 5BA, UK

LATE SHOW: 8.30pm | £15 | SOLD OUT
EARLY SHOW: 6pm | £15 | SOLD OUT

DANIEL BACHMAN
JAKE XERXES FUSSELL
Monday 1 May
Cafe OTO, 22 Ashwin Street, Dalston, E8 3DL

EX-CULT
Wednesday 3 May
The Lexington, 96-98 Pentonville Road, Islington, N1 9JB

IAN WILLIAM CRAIG
RESINA
Monday 8 May
OSLO, 1a Amhurst Road, Hackney, E8 1LL

DUCKTAILS
JAMES FERRARO
SPENCER CLARK
Friday 12 May
The Lexington, 96-98 Pentonville Road, Islington, N1 9JB

XIU XIU
Monday 22 May
Kamio, 3 Rivington Street, London, EC2A 3JL

PRIESTS
THE SNIVELLERS
Thursday 25 May
OSLO, 1a Amhurst Road, Hackney, E8 1LL

OOIOO
Tuesday 30 May
Kamio, 3 Rivington Street, London, EC2A 3JL
NB. This is the new date for April’s postponed event, original tickets remain valid.

NOTS
Wednesday 7 June
Cafe OTO, 22 Ashwin Street, Dalston, E8 3DL

THE SPACE LADY
Tuesday 20 June
Cafe OTO, 22 Ashwin Street, Dalston, London, E8 3DL
8pm | £10 |
http://www.wegottickets.com/event/396842

RICHARD DAWSON
(Full band show)
Thursday 22 June
St John on Bethnal Green
200 Cambridge Heath Rd, Bethnal Green, London, E2 9PA
7pm | £15 | http://www.wegottickets.com/event/396949

TERRY
Friday 30 June
The Lexington, 96-98 Pentonville Road, Islington, N1 9JB
7.30pm | £8.00 | http://www.wegottickets.com/event/393203

SPRAY PAINT
THE REBEL
Tuesday 15 August
The Lexington, 96-98 Pentonville Road, Islington, N1 9JB

NAP EYES
Thursday 31 August
Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club, 44 Pollard Row, Bethnal Green, E2 6NB

DEERHOOF
LE TON MITÉ
Monday 4 September
Village Underground, 54 Holywell Lane, Shoreditch, London, EC2A 3PQ
NB. This is the new date for February’s postponed event, original tickets remain valid.

Thursday, 6 April 2017

RICHARD DAWSON WILL BE BRINGING HIS FULL LIVE BAND SHOW TO LONDON IN SUPPORT OF NEW ALBUM PEASANT THIS JUNE!



Upset The Rhythm presents…

RICHARD DAWSON
(Full band show)
Thursday 22 June
St John on Bethnal Green
200 Cambridge Heath Rd, Bethnal Green, London, E2 9PA
7pm | £15 | http://www.wegottickets.com/event/396949

RICHARD DAWSON can never been accused by listeners of a lack of artistic ambition. Whether they got on at the last stop - the 4 track Tyneside-Trout-Mask-through a-Vic and Bob-filter of ‘Nothing Important’ - or earlier in the journey, with ‘The Glass Trunk’s visceral song cycle or ‘The Magic Bridge’s sombre revels. Devotees of his earlier recordings will be at once intrigued by and slightly fearful of the prospect of a record that could make those three landmark releases look like formative work. ‘Peasant’ is that album, released on June 2nd through Weird World / Domino. From its first beguilingly muted fanfare to its spectacular climax exploring a Dark Ages masseuse’s dangerous fascination with a mysterious artefact called the Pin of Quib, it will grab newcomers to Dawson’s work by the scruff of the neck and refuse to let them go until they have signed a pledge of life-long allegiance.

Driven forward by exhilarating guitar flurries, Qawwali handclaps and bursts of choral ferocity, ‘Peasant’s eleven tracks sustain a momentum worthy of the lyrics’ urgent subject matter. Dawson describes the themes of these songs as “Families struggling, families being broken up by circumstance, and - how do you keep it together?  In the face of all of these horrors that life, or some system of life, is throwing at you?”  The fact that these meticulously wrought narratives all unfold in the pre-mediaeval North Eastern kingdom of Bryneich - “any time from about 450AD to 780AD, after the withdrawal of the Roman Empire”- only makes their contemporary relevance more enduring.

Dawson’s objective was to create “A panorama of a society which is at odds with itself and has great sickness in it, and perhaps doesn’t take responsibility – blame going in all the wrong directions”. But encountering ‘Peasant’s captivating sequence of occupational archetypes (‘Herald’, ‘Ogre’, ‘Weaver’, Scientist’), listeners might find themselves wondering if these multitudes could somehow be contained with one person. Dawson will support the release of ‘Peasant’ with a full UK tour – his first featuring a full live band. Joining Dawson will be long-time collaborator violinist Angharad Davies plus Johnny Hedley and Matt Baty of Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs.
http://richarddawson.net/



Wednesday, 5 April 2017

Mary Ocher tonight in London, plus Rat Columns soon!

Good morning!
 
Firstly, thank you so much for coming to see us at the Independent Label Market over the weekend, it was great to meet so many of you and I hope you enjoyed your records too. I bet that made for a loud Sunday!
 
Just a quick reminder that tonight we have the uniquely talented Mary Ocher performing for us at The Islington. Mary’s music is underpinned by her impressive vocal and ability to jump between genres with skill, she’s a capricious force of sonic nature. In support we’re very lucky to have Bamboo, debuting their bigger, brighter, better formation and Moonbow opening the evening too.
 
Read on for all particulars regarding tonight’s show, plus we’ve also included below our upcoming listing for Rat Columns’ Lexington appearance on April 19th. Rat Columns make exploratory pop music much like a love letter to Sarah Records from New Order. We’ll be releasing their brilliant new album Candle Power this Friday, plus for this show Honey Joy and Slushy Guts will also be joining them on stage.
 
 
 
 
 
Since we last talked, Upset The Rhythm have also confirmed new upcoming concerts for Grouper and The Space Lady, later this month and in June respectively. Tickets are available now for both of those events and can be found linked in our concluding programme. If hot cakes were concerts, these would be glowing with a molten core.
 
Also we have news of a date change for our OOIOO London show. Now that Safe As Milk festival is sadly no longer going ahead, OOIOO have had to rebook their tour dates later for May. Our original show on April 20th will now take place on May 30th at the same venue, Kamio. All existing tickets remain valid, plus refunds are available for those no longer able to attend. Whilst this is an oblique spanner in the works, nothing can take the edge off having OOIOO still make it over to London! I hope you agree!
 

 
 
 
Upset The Rhythm presents…
 
MARY OCHER
BAMBOO
MOONBOW
Wednesday 5 April
The Islington, 1 Tolpuddle Street, Angel, London, N1 0XT
7.30pm | £6 | TICKETS
 
MARY OCHER was born Mariya Ocheretianskaya in Moscow in 1986, she moved to Israel with her family at age four, then to Berlin at 20. In 2011 she caught the attention of the inimitable King Khan at a karaoke bar (he also lives in Berlin), and she recorded what's still her most recent full-length of new material, 2013's Eden, at his Moon Studios. He's not her only famous fan either: Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs contributed a quote to Ocher's press kit. "Mary Ocher gives me the chills," she says. "She frightens me with her feral soul. Her sound is of a true outsider artist, immaculately self-possessed". Her DIY roots and anything-goes aesthetic notwithstanding, Ocher is obviously too well-connected to qualify as an outsider. Ocher's songs are a diverse bunch ranging from ghostly noise, sad but jaunty piano ballads, frisky strumming, echoing ersatz funk to chintzy drum machine workouts with vacuum-cleaner synth. Ocher herself seems to have as many faces as a vaudeville performer: her multifarious singing leaps without warning from unhinged keening to warped drawling or from wobbly muttering to blustery declaiming. Forthcoming album, 'The West Against The People' has been produced with Faust's Hans Joachim Irmler and also features tracks with Ocher's drummers (duo Your Government) as well as collaborations with avant-garde legends Die Todliche Doris, Felix Kubin and Julia Kent of Rasputina/Antony and The Johnsons. It's out March 10 on krautrock label Klangbad.
 
BAMBOO is the sublime project from Nick Carlisle (of Peepholes, Don't Argue) and Rachel Horwood (of Trash Kit, Halo Halo). Their music is vivid and deeply poignant, locking into a magnetic attraction between Rachel's flawlessly resonant folk cadence and Nick's pristine synth pop production. Bamboo’s second studio album, The Dragon Flies Away, is due 26th May on Upset The Rhythm on LP, CD and digitally. Initially released last winter on a limited run of 50 cassettes with an accompanying zine designed by Horwood, The Dragon Flies Away tells a story loosely associated with the Hannya demon mask of Noh theatre plays such as Dojoji, and reflects the range of emotion the Hannya mask is capable of displaying: obsession, jealousy, sorrow and rage. ‘The Dragon Flies Away’ presents its story in two acts and is now presented newly re-mastered with a gatefold sleeve and lyric / artwork sheet. Horwood’s evocative paintings are given centre stage with the packaging, allowing the album's story to grow beyond sound, making the journey all the more immersive.
 
MOONBOW is the sonic brainchild of London multimedia artist Eleanor Hardwick. Growing up in the countryside on the peripheries of one of the UK’s many forgotten commuter towns, she channels themes of manmade dystopias’ invasion on natural spheres into her audio and visual artistic output. Such outputs served as a refuge from growing up in a place where not much happened and not many people connected with her - whilst cyberspace became both a platform for connecting with other lost souls, and a window into a world that she witnessed elsewhere was slowly politically and environmentally decaying. i-D described her songs as “taking influence from William Orbit-era Madonna guitar and Kate Bush vocals, brought right up to date with layers upon layers of synths and glitchy samples”.
 
 
 
 
Upset The Rhythm presents…
 
RAT COLUMNS
HONEY JOY
SLUSHY GUTS
Wednesday 19 April
The Lexington, 96-98 Pentonville Road, Islington, N1 9JB
7.30pm | £6 | TICKETS
 
RAT COLUMNS is the mutable musical project of David West, an artist as prolific as he is diverse in his output. West is the driving force behind the groups Rank/Xerox, Liberation and Lace Curtain, he was also a member of Total Control, and most recently debuted a solo album proper. Whether its forward-facing punk or turning his hand to crafting sleek prisms of pop, West's credentials check out. Rat Columns is no exception, always central to his vision and returned to many times since its inception in Perth almost a decade ago. Over the years the band has morphed and continued with an array of different friends from the USA and Australia, always finding David West dancing through the long shadows at its core. Working with many distinguished underground imprints including Blackest Ever Black, Adagio 830, Smart Guy Records and RIP Society, Rat Columns have left in their wake a trail of 7"s, EPs and two full length albums. Now a third album, entitled 'Candle Power' is cued for release through Upset The Rhythm this April. 'Candle Power' is packed full of chiming guitar pop, cutting in with moments of soul, disco and experimental plots.
 
HONEY JOY are five mates who came together through a mutual love of curry, Mean Girls and Paul McCartney’s hand gestures. They play indie punk music and have been compared to The Thermals and Xray Spex. They released two brilliant EPs last year and have just finished recording their first full length with MJ from Hookworms, which is soon to be released in the US through Infinity Cat records. 
 
SLUSHY GUTS is more of a group then a band (M.E.S distinction), having revolved around founding member Steve Keane since it's inception in 2009. Originally a solo bedroom project (B. White definition) Slushy Guts has mutated (H.P Lovecraft style) over the course of 4 albums and a "shit-load" (Slim Pickens) of tape and cdr releases. Evolving organically (according to Jean-Baptiste  Lamarck), it's presentation facilitated by whoever's around, Steve's songs exist in the spaces between genres, at once melodic and discordant (Engelbert Humperdinck definition), concerned with deconstructing 'it all' (definition unknown) and gluing it back together again. With current members Sam and Luke Walsh on bass and drums and James Rowland on guitar, Slushy Guts is currently something closely resembling a rock 'n' roll quartet (Rev. David A. Noebel definition.) Bobby Davro, 2017.
 
 
 
 
 
See you later on tonight! Thanks for reading!
Upset The Rhythm
x
 
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UPSET THE RHYTHM
UPCOMING SHOWS 
MARY OCHER
BAMBOO
MOONBOW
Wednesday 5 April
The Islington, 1 Tolpuddle Street, Angel, London, N1 0XT
7.30pm | £6 | TICKETS 
 
RAT COLUMNS
HONEY JOY
SLUSHY GUTS
Wednesday 19 April
The Lexington, 96-98 Pentonville Road, Islington, London, N1 9JB
7.30pm | £6 | TICKETS
 
GROUPER
Sunday 23 April
Tin Tabernacle, 12-16 Cambridge Avenue, Kilburn, London, NW6 5BA, UK
LATE SHOW: 8.30pm | £15 | SOLD OUT
EARLY SHOW: 6pm | £15 | TICKETS & TICKETS
 
DANIEL BACHMAN
JAKE XERXES FUSSELL
Monday 1 May
Cafe OTO, 22 Ashwin Street, Dalston, London, E8 3DL
8pm | £7 | TICKETS
 
EX-CULT
Wednesday 3 May
The Lexington, 96-98 Pentonville Road, Islington, London, N1 9JB
7.30pm | £7 | TICKETS
 
IAN WILLIAM CRAIG
RESINA
Monday 8 May
OSLO, 1a Amhurst Road, Hackney, London, E8 1LL
7.30pm | £10 | TICKETS
 
DUCKTAILS
JAMES FERRARO
SPENCER CLARK
Friday 12 May
The Lexington, 96-98 Pentonville Road, Islington, London, N1 9JB
7.30pm | £10 | TICKETS
 
XIU XIU
Monday 22 May
Kamio, 3 Rivington Street, London, EC2A 3JL
8pm | £12 |  TICKETS
 
PRIESTS
THE SNIVELLERS
Thursday 25 May
OSLO, 1a Amhurst Road, Hackney, London, E8 1LL
7.30pm | £8 | TICKETS
 
OOIOO
Tuesday 30 May
Kamio, 3 Rivington Street, London, EC2A 3JL
8pm | £12 | TICKETS
NB. This is the new date for April’s postponed event, original tickets remain valid.
 
NOTS
Wednesday 7 June
Cafe OTO, 22 Ashwin Street, Dalston, London, E8 3DL
8pm | £8 | TICKETS
 
THE SPACE LADY
Tuesday 20 June
Cafe OTO, 22 Ashwin Street, Dalston, London, E8 3DL
8pm | £10 | TICKETS
 
TERRY
Friday 30 June
The Lexington, 96-98 Pentonville Road, Islington, London, N1 9JB
7.30pm | £8.00 | TICKETS
 
SPRAY PAINT
THE REBEL
Tuesday 15 August
The Lexington, 96-98 Pentonville Road, Islington, London, N1 9JB
7.30pm | £7 | TICKETS
 
NAP EYES
Thursday 31 August
Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club, 44 Pollard Row, Bethnal Green, London, E2 6NB
7:30pm | £8.00 | TICKETS
 
DEERHOOF
LE TON MITÉ
Monday 4 September
Village Underground, 54 Holywell Lane, Shoreditch, London, EC2A 3PQ
7.30pm |  £14 | TICKETS
NB. This is the new date for February’s postponed event, original tickets remain valid.

Tuesday, 4 April 2017

OOIOO London show rescheduled to May 30th!

Because of Safe As Milk festival being cancelled OOIOO have had to rebook their tour dates later for May. Our show on April 20th will now take place on May 30th at the same venue, Kamio.

Upset The Rhythm presents...

OOIOO
Tuesday 30 May
Kamio, 3 Rivington Street, London, EC2A 3JL
8pm | £12 | http://www.wegottickets.com/event/390524

* All original tickets are still valid, plus refunds are available for those no longer able to attend.



THE SPACE LADY will land in London this June!

So pleased to have The Space Lady return to our London orbit this Summer!
























Upset The Rhythm presents...

THE SPACE LADY
Tuesday 20 June
Cafe OTO, 22 Ashwin Street, Dalston, London, E8 3DL
8pm | £10 | http://www.wegottickets.com/event/396842

THE SPACE LADY began her odyssey on the streets of San Francisco in the late 70s, playing versions of contemporary pop music an accordion and dressed flamboyantly, transmitting messages of peace and harmony. Following the theft of her accordion, The Space Lady invested in a then-new Casio keyboard, birthing an otherworldly new dimension to popular song that has captured the imaginations of the underground and its lead exponents ever since, with the likes of John Maus, Erol Alkan and Kutmah being devotees. Of her early street sets, only one recording was made, self-released originally on cassette and then transferred to a homemade CD. "The Space Lady’s Greatest Hits" released in 2014 through Night School features the best of these recordings - mostly covers but with some originals - pressed on vinyl for the first time and features archival photographs and liner notes from The Space Lady herself. “Greatest Hits” contains The Space Lady’s personal favourites; her haunting take on The Electric Prunes’ “I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night),” a frantic “Ballroom Blitz” amidst other reconstructed pop music. Following on from this wonderful record, The Space Lady released last year a split LP with the Burnt Ones on Castle Face records which included her spectral take on ‘Across The Universe’.


Monday, 3 April 2017

Grouper - Live at London's Tin Tabernacle this month!


Very excited to announce this offbeat-n-intimate concert for Grouper in London later this month.


-->
Upset The Rhythm presents…

GROUPER 
(early show!)
Sunday 23 April
Tin Tabernacle, 12-16 Cambridge Avenue, Kilburn, London, NW6 5BA, UK

6pm – 8pm | £15 | http://www.wegottickets.com/event/396869


 
+


GROUPER
Sunday 23 April
Tin Tabernacle, 12-16 Cambridge Avenue, Kilburn, London, NW6 5BA, UK

8.30pm | £15 | SOLD OUT

Grouper is a recording and performing project by Liz Harris. She lives and works in Astoria, OR.