Prolapse to play London this September!

Upset The Rhythm presents…

PROLAPSE
Thursday 6 September
Moth Club, Old Trades Hall, Valette St, Hackney Central, E9 6NU
7.30pm | £11 | http://www.wegottickets.com/event/441354

Prolapse originally formed in Leicester in the early 1990s and earned a cult following for their chaotic live sets, and tense and repetitious songs like ‘Flex’ and ‘Tina This Is Matthew Stone’. They feature duelling vocalists Mick Derrick and Linda Steelyard, who play out an intense soap opera over a ferocious triple guitar assault and pummelling rhythm section. Their music is a heady brew of hacking guitars, Krautrock references, non sequitur lyrics and caustic narrative; messy and shambolic for sure, but a self-professed mess! The band released four albums between ’94 and ’99 (Pointless Walks To Dismal Places; backsaturday; The Italian Flag; The Ghost of Dead Aeroplanes), and each still manages to sound not only fresh and relevant, but also urgent, and very, very necessary. The band has received much critical acclaim, recorded four Peel sessions and toured with the likes of Stereolab and Sebadoh. 

It has been said that no Prolapse experience can be deemed complete without having seen them live, when every gig felt as if it had been scripted by a quorum involving Samuel Beckett, Hunter S Thompson, Marjorie Proops and Mark E Smith. After a long hiatus, following a request from Mogwai, they reformed in 2015 to play live UK dates and have since begun work on new material. This rare outing will be Prolapse’s first live performance in over three years.
https://www.facebook.com/prolapseband1/

School Damage 7" out today!

The time is meow!

Today we’re releasing School Damage’s new EP ‘Four Songs About One Cat’! Hailing from Geelong & Melbourne and featuring members of Ausmuteants, Parsnip, Chook Race etc, School Damage have written a fantastic four track 7” of woozy head bop, jangle-pop all about their pet cat. This new song, ‘Secret Beauty’, captures Lumpy at her most serene, have a listen:

 

 

More on School Damage here!

GDPR + Dog Chocolate album launch tomorrow + Sauna Youth & Apostille this Saturday night! yeh!

Hey there!   First things first, here’s our quite out the blue update on our Privacy Policy. Bet you didn’t see this coming? As you almost certainly know from today’s inbox crush, tomorrow (May 25th) sees the new GDPR data protection law come into effect. Everyone on our mailing list opted-in to receive our regular Upset The Rhythm newsletter about upcoming records and live shows so you there’s no need to re-subscribe. However, we would like you to consult our new privacy policy so you can be assured that your data will not be traded with third parties and is entirely secure as ever.

Now the formalities are dealt with, since we last talked, Upset The Rhythm have confirmed a new October event for Manchester’s psych pop duo Virginia Wing. You can find full details of that below in our upcoming live programme, most exciting! That’s not us done for this week though, we’ve got two more GREAT concerts looming into view for tomorrow and Saturday.

Tomorrow night sees us launch Dog Chocolate’s new album ‘Moody Balloon Baby’ in style at The Macbeth in Hoxton. Joining Dog Chocolate in the arena of live spectacle will be the wonderfully-named Molejoy and Witching Waves, fresh from their storming performance with Screaming Females last night! Not only will Dog Chocolate’s new album be available to purchase in the physical LP format, but we’ve heard rumours of a balloon modeller being booked by the band too. Let’s get moody, tickets on the door from 7pm (think early show) for just £3 entry! Bargain wows!

Then this Saturday night we’ll give Whigfield the slip and head up to the Dalston Victoria for a right ole party with Apostille, Sauna Youth and Static Palm. Now… That’s What I Call Music 2018! Apostille (now a devastating live duo prospect) will be celebrating their upcoming new album ‘Choose Life’ on Upset The Rhythm (out June 8th) by showcasing many of it’s phantasmagorical power anthems, we are truly blessed! Tickets are £7 and will be available on the door from 7.30pm. Can’t come soon enough! Lots more detail on both of these totemic gigs can be discerned below.   Plus, if you’d like to see Apostille on their present UK tour here are all their upcoming live concerns:   APOSTILLE TOUR 24/05 - Nottingham, UK @ The Chameleon 25/05 - Bristol, UK @ Stag And Hounds 26/05 - London, UK @ The Victoria 27/05 - Brighton, UK @ The Pipeline 28/05 - Cardiff, UK @ The Undertone 31/05 - Leeds, UK @ The Fenton 01/06 - Newcastle, UK @ Star & Shadow 02/06 - Glasgow, UK @ The Art School

If you’d like to hear a bunch of our new UTR releases including Apostille, Vital Idles and School Damage then you’d be hard pressed to find a more suitable setting then our brand new mixtape for CAMP Radio. Check out episode 8 here, listen up, listen loud, listen now!   Really helps you get through our updated Privacy Policy too!

DOG CHOCOLATE WITCHING WAVES MOLEJOY Friday 25 May The Macbeth, 70 Hoxton St, Hoxton, London, N1 6LP 7pm-10.30pm | £3 | Tickets on the door!   DOG CHOCOLATE sound like a crowded room but are actually four individuals from London. Abandoning notions of elegance, cred and professionalism they embrace the ramshackle, instant and fun, capturing a vivid spontaneity with their music. Their sound is a shabby, fast, over-excited ball of wet fur falling down the stairs, knocking over plant pots along the way and staining the carpet. With an average song time of 2 minutes, Dog Chocolate are on to the next treat before fully digesting the last. Chewing up bits of punk, post-punk, noise and pop, Matthew and Robert's guitars race around each other like wasps, pitch-shifting and phasing all over the place while Jono's rolled-up-newspaper drums chase them round the room. This party is a celebration in honour of the band's new album ‘Moody Balloon Baby’ (out May 15th) through Upset The Rhythm, who also released their debut 'Snack Fans' in 2016. http://dogchocolate.tumblr.com/   WITCHING WAVES are a post-punk trio from London, writing songs that are a satisfying mix of pop sensibility and tumult. Emma and Mark’s dual vocals juxtapose brilliantly – from calm composure to world-weary petulance; their aptitude for combining melody with belligerence being the most triumphant facet. Check out both their brilliant albums to date on Soft Power. https://witchingwaves.bandcamp.com/   MOLEJOY is a band, undermining with joyous anger pangs. On their own terms. non-heroic beats for anyone who wants them. Songs/sounds about microwaves, banging yourself and radicalising your children. Kind of like .... we don't really know. Sometimes there's a flute. Molejoy is Gyles Brunch, Sophie Chapman and Kerri Jefferis. molejoy.bandcamp.com/releases

Upset The Rhythm presents…   APOSTILLE SAUNA YOUTH STATIC PALM Saturday 26 May The Victoria, 451 Queensbridge Rd, Dalston, London, E8 3AS 7.30pm | £7 |TICKETS   APOSTILLE is a man who's torn through enough sound-systems to know the difference between gesture and meaning. Alongside running his own DIY record label, Glasgow native, Michael Kasparis has spent the last few years making 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. His audacious 2015 debut album 'Powerless' self-released through Night School set the template by hooking up his honest delivery to some manic expositions in electronic pop. At once minimal and courageous with intent to connect, Apostille songs race off with unchecked abandon, skittering drum machines, thick walls of sequenced synth and decidedly elastic basslines. 'Choose Life' (out June 8th on Upset The Rhythm) is both the album Apostille chose to make and had to make. He dialled down the clown, built up a new-found confidence in his voice and melody in general and began to feel more at home in the refuge of pop music (with a capital P). All the truest pop music speaks to us of escape and through this new album Apostille allows its transformative power to fully manifest. It's an album full of life and energy, and like his live show as disobedient as it is heroic in its pursuit of liberation. https://apostille.bandcamp.com/  SAUNA YOUTH are an evolving band of future humans making truly irregular punk, not quite comparable to anything else. "Weird" is a meaningless platitude and "art punk" is a classifier that shouldn't be required. Consisting of Boon (drums, vocals), Pines (guitar), Ecke (vocals, sampler) and Mince (bass), Sauna Youth are a punk band that's happy to embrace all of the contradictions that go along with that notion. On paper, Sauna Youth sound considered - live, they can barely be contained. They are at times furious, unstoppable and severe, with the sampler wailing like an alarm coming from a parallel universe - then chugging, poppy, harmonious and fun. Forever loud. 2015's totemic 'Distractions' album (Upset The Rhythm) is a record that feels instinctive and natural, flowing freely from a band that have come to terms with the sum of its parts. http://lostinidea.blogspot.co.uk/ STATIC PALM is the solo project of James Burgess, featuring his synth & drum-machine led brooding post-punk. Fans of John Maus, Total Control, Tuxedomoon and other practitioners of ice-cold music will enjoy. https://staticpalm.bandcamp.com/

Thanks for your time, catch you tomorrow! Upset The Rhythm

UPSET THE RHYTHM UPCOMING SHOWS

DOG CHOCOLATE WITCHING WAVES MOLEJOY Friday 25 May The Macbeth, 70 Hoxton St, Hoxton, London, N1 6LP 7pm-10.30pm | £3 | Tickets on the door!   APOSTILLE SAUNA YOUTH STATIC PALM Saturday 26 May The Victoria, 451 Queensbridge Rd, Dalston, London, E8 3AS 7.30pm | £7 | TICKETS   JOHN MAUS NICK NICELY COLIN POTTER Thursday 14 June Electric Ballroom, 184 Camden High St, London, NW1 8QP 7.30pm | £15.00 | TICKETS   KRISTIN HERSH FRED ABONG Monday 18 June Cecil Sharp House, 2 Regent’s Park Road, Camden, London, NW1 7AY 7.30pm | £24 | TICKETS   YUNOHANA VARIATIONS: YOSHIMIO & ROBERT AIKI AUBREY LOWE & SUSIE IBARRA SAM WEAVER Tuesday 26 June OSLO, 1a Amhurst Road, Hackney, London, E8 1LL 7.30pm | £12 | TICKETS   SHOPPING ES KATY & NICK Saturday 11th August OSLO, 1a Amhurst Road, Hackney, London, E8 1LL 6.30pm - 10pm | £10 | TICKETS   SHANNON AND THE CLAMS Tuesday 4 September The Garage, 20-22 Highbury Corner, London, N5 1RD 7.30pm | £12.50 | TICKETS   SCREAMING FEMALES Tuesday 11 September 100 Club, 100 Oxford St, Oxford Street, London, W1D 1LL 7.30pm | £12 | TICKETS   VIRGINIA WING Thursday 11 October OSLO, 1a Amhurst Road, Hackney, London, E8 1LL 7.30pm | £8 | TICKETS

 

Apostille - UK tour starts this Wednesday!

This Wednesday, Apostille will begin to tear around the UK in support of their forthcoming album, 'Choose Life', out June 8th. Check them out at the following dates:

May

23/05 - Manchester, UK @ Soup Kitchen with Virginia Wing
24/05 - Nottingham, UK @ The Chameleon with Father Murphy
25/05 - Bristol, UK @ Stag And Hounds with Hounds Schwet x Dance Party
26/05 - London, UK @ The Victoria with Sauna Youth + Static Palm
27/05 - Brighton, UK @ The Pipeline
28/05 - Cardiff, UK @ The Undertone
31/05 - Leeds, UK @ The Fenton

June

01/06 - Newcastle, UK @ Star & Shadow
02/06 - Glasgow, UK @ The Art School with Happy Meals + Sacred Paws


'Choose Life' is available to pre-order now on LP and CD here.

Radio show - episode 8!

Hey there!

We’ve got some staggering tracks from Apostille, Vital Idles and School Damage all featured in our new two hour mix for CAMP radio. Listen up, listen loud, listen now!

LISTEN: https://www.mixcloud.com/camp_fr/upset-the-rhythm-16th-may-2018/

Upset The Rhythm - Episode 8

+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

01. Vital Idles - Blue, Black & White

02. School Damage - Secret Beauty

03. Emmanuelle Parrenin - Les Douze Mois De L’Année

04. Wubeshet Fisseha - Abesha Nat

05. Hardware - Rainy Taxi

06. Art Lande; David Samuels; Paul McCandless - Duck In A Colourful Blanket (For Here)

07. Brigid Mae Power - Live at Upset The Rhythm

08. Daevid Allen & Euterpe - Wise Man In Your Heart

09. Leon Lowman - Eclipse

10. Blaue Reiter - Where He Stands

11. Anna Thorvaldsdottir - Ró

12. Jamie Stewart - Live at Upset The Rhythm

13. Crass - Berkertex Bribe

14. No Age - Live at Upset The Rhythm

15. Apostille - Without Me

16. Glass - Sweet Entropy

17. Art Yard - The Law

18. Leah Owen - Leah

19. The Open Mind - Try Another Day

20. Jordan De La Sierra - Temple of Aesthetic Action

21. Sun Ra - Love In Outer Space

www.upsettherhythm.co.uk

Mary Ocher show tomorrow in London, Apostille, Sauna Youth & Dog Chocolate next week!

Hey there!

It was great to see so many of you at the label market last Saturday, thanks for keeping us entertained throughout the day with your top chat! Upset The Rhythm have got three shows coming up over the next week or so, here’s our resulting heads up!

Tomorrow, we’re heading to Café OTO for a night of fantastical pop and melody warping galore from the incomparable Mary Ocher. Mary is a multi-media artist whose songs jump around from synth pop to folk to ambient soundscapes. Uniting this eccentric approach to song is her incredible vocal and attention to detail that wins over all when fervidly performed live with a quickened pulse. We have Coldnose providing some improv electronics and Stal Kingsley upping the outsider songwriter stakes too, so there’s no better place to be! Tickets are £8 on the door from 7.30pm, with live music kicking off from 8.15pm.

You can read all about tomorrow’s show plus next week’s two concerts for Apostille, Sauna Youth, Static Palm, Dog Chocolate, Witching Waves and Molejoy all below in expansive detail. Our upcoming programme boasts a newly announced event for Shopping in August at OSLO too. We’ve just announced supports for John Maus and Kristin Hersh today too. Check that all out at the very end of this humble missive, enjoy!

Upset The Rhythm presents... MARY OCHER COLDNOSE STAL KINGSLEY Friday 18 May Cafe OTO, 22 Ashwin Street, Dalston, London, E8 3DL 7.30pm | £8 | TICKETS MARY OCHER is back, following last year's UK dates with 'The West Against The People', Ocher returns with a new 10"/tape of 'Faust Studio Sessions'. Mary has been persistently creating passionate, uncompromising work, raw, thought provoking, socially and creatively pushing against the current, dealing with subjects of authority, identity and conflict. Her work is as enchanting as it is polarizing, ranging from traditional folk to raw 60s garage, ambient with ethereal vocals and abstract synths, to experimental pop with African and South American rhythms, when accompanied by her drummers. 'The West Against The People' was released on the German label Klangbad in spring 2017 and recorded with Hans Joachim Irmler of Krautrock pioneers Faust. It features solo tracks, as well as tracks with her two drummers Your Government, and elusive cult legends Die Todliche Doris and Felix Kubin. 'Faust Studio Sessions' showcases additional collaborations with cello player Julia Kent and German experimental artist Hans Unstern. Her previous solo release was produced by Canadian Psych Rock&Roll guru King Khan. https://maryocher.bandcamp.com/ COLDNOSE is Jin Botani’s project that blends her Kurdish heritage with partly improvised dance music. Incorporating elements of acid, electro and industrial alongside her vocal. Check out her two tape releases on the Swedish labels Zeon Light and Funeral Fog and a track on the French label Hylé for her only released material so far. Four new tracks were recorded at Goldsmiths Studio with Francine Perry (La Leif/Orka) last year and will be out later this year on vinyl. https://coldnose.bandcamp.com/ STAL KINGSLEY is a London-based artist who released 2 EPs last year entitled ‘Useless Boy’ and ‘Odaxelagnia’. His songs are inventive and catchy yet melodically experimental, something akin to Ariel Pink and Cleaners From Venus in his love of the lo-fi pop swirl and head spin. https://soundcloud.com/stal-kingsley

DOG CHOCOLATE WITCHING WAVES MOLEJOY Friday 25 May The Macbeth, 70 Hoxton St, Hoxton, London, N1 6LP 7pm-10.30pm | £3 | Tickets on the door! DOG CHOCOLATE sound like a crowded room but are actually four individuals from London. Abandoning notions of elegance, cred and professionalism they embrace the ramshackle, instant and fun, capturing a vivid spontaneity with their music. Their sound is a shabby, fast, over-excited ball of wet fur falling down the stairs, knocking over plant pots along the way and staining the carpet. With an average song time of 2 minutes, Dog Chocolate are on to the next treat before fully digesting the last. Chewing up bits of punk, post-punk, noise and pop, Matthew and Robert's guitars race around each other like wasps, pitch-shifting and phasing all over the place while Jono's rolled-up-newspaper drums chase them round the room. This party is a celebration in honour of the band's new album ‘Moody Balloon Baby’ (out May 15th) through Upset The Rhythm, who also released their debut 'Snack Fans' in 2016. http://dogchocolate.tumblr.com/ WITCHING WAVES are a post-punk trio from London, writing songs that are a satisfying mix of pop sensibility and tumult. Emma and Mark’s dual vocals juxtapose brilliantly – from calm composure to world-weary petulance; their aptitude for combining melody with belligerence being the most triumphant facet. Check out both their brilliant albums to date on Soft Power. https://witchingwaves.bandcamp.com/ MOLEJOY is a band, undermining with joyous anger pangs. On their own terms. non-heroic beats for anyone who wants them. Songs/sounds about microwaves, banging yourself and radicalising your children. Kind of like .... we don't really know. Sometimes there's a flute. Molejoy is Gyles Brunch, Sophie Chapman and Kerri Jefferis. molejoy.bandcamp.com/releases

Upset The Rhythm presents… APOSTILLE SAUNA YOUTH STATIC PALM Saturday 26 May The Victoria, 451 Queensbridge Rd, Dalston, London, E8 3AS 7.30pm | £7 |TICKETS APOSTILLE is a man who's torn through enough sound-systems to know the difference between gesture and meaning. Alongside running his own DIY record label, Glasgow native, Michael Kasparis has spent the last few years making 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. His audacious 2015 debut album 'Powerless' self-released through Night School set the template by hooking up his honest delivery to some manic expositions in electronic pop. At once minimal and courageous with intent to connect, Apostille songs race off with unchecked abandon, skittering drum machines, thick walls of sequenced synth and decidedly elastic basslines. 'Choose Life' (out June 8th on Upset The Rhythm) is both the album Apostille chose to make and had to make. He dialled down the clown, built up a new-found confidence in his voice and melody in general and began to feel more at home in the refuge of pop music (with a capital P). All the truest pop music speaks to us of escape and through this new album Apostille allows its transformative power to fully manifest. It's an album full of life and energy, and like his live show as disobedient as it is heroic in its pursuit of liberation. https://apostille.bandcamp.com/  SAUNA YOUTH are an evolving band of future humans making truly irregular punk, not quite comparable to anything else. "Weird" is a meaningless platitude and "art punk" is a classifier that shouldn't be required. Consisting of Boon (drums, vocals), Pines (guitar), Ecke (vocals, sampler) and Mince (bass), Sauna Youth are a punk band that's happy to embrace all of the contradictions that go along with that notion. On paper, Sauna Youth sound considered - live, they can barely be contained. They are at times furious, unstoppable and severe, with the sampler wailing like an alarm coming from a parallel universe - then chugging, poppy, harmonious and fun. Forever loud. 2015's totemic 'Distractions' album (Upset The Rhythm) is a record that feels instinctive and natural, flowing freely from a band that have come to terms with the sum of its parts. http://lostinidea.blogspot.co.uk/ STATIC PALM is the solo project of James Burgess, featuring his synth & drum-machine led brooding post-punk. Fans of John Maus, Total Control, Tuxedomoon and other practitioners of ice-cold music will enjoy. https://staticpalm.bandcamp.com/

Thanks as always for reading, see you tomorrow! Upset The Rhythm

UPSET THE RHYTHM UPCOMING SHOWS

MARY OCHER COLDNOSE STAL KINGSLEY Friday 18 May Cafe OTO, 22 Ashwin Street, Dalston, London, E8 3DL 7.30pm | £8 | TICKETS SCREAMING FEMALES WITCHING WAVES PORRIDGE RADIO Wednesday 23 May OSLO, 1a Amhurst Road, Hackney, London, E8 1LL 7.30pm | SOLD OUT DOG CHOCOLATE WITCHING WAVES MOLEJOY Friday 25 May The Macbeth, 70 Hoxton St, Hoxton, London, N1 6LP 7pm-10.30pm | £3 | Tickets on the door! APOSTILLE SAUNA YOUTH STATIC PALM Saturday 26 May The Victoria, 451 Queensbridge Rd, Dalston, London, E8 3AS 7.30pm | £7 | TICKETS JOHN MAUS NICK NICELY COLIN POTTER Thursday 14 June Electric Ballroom, 184 Camden High St, London, NW1 8QP 7.30pm | £15.00 | TICKETS KRISTIN HERSH FRED ABONG Monday 18 June Cecil Sharp House, 2 Regent’s Park Road, Camden, London, NW1 7AY 7.30pm | £24 | TICKETS YUNOHANA VARIATIONS: YOSHIMIO & ROBERT AIKI AUBREY LOWE & SUSIE IBARRA Tuesday 26 June OSLO, 1a Amhurst Road, Hackney, London, E8 1LL 7.30pm | £12 | TICKETS SHOPPING ES KATY & NICK Saturday 11th August OSLO, 1a Amhurst Road, Hackney, London, E8 1LL 6.30pm - 10pm | £10 | TICKETS SHANNON AND THE CLAMS Tuesday 4 September The Garage, 20-22 Highbury Corner, London, N5 1RD 7.30pm | £12.50 | TICKETS SCREAMING FEMALES Tuesday 11 September 100 Club, 100 Oxford St, Oxford Street, London, W1D 1LL 7.30pm | £12 | TICKETS

John Maus in London next month!

Very pleased to announce that Nick Nicely and Colin Potter will be performing at our John Maus show next month at the Electric Ballroom, here's the poster!

Tickets on sale here: www.upsettherhythm.co.uk

Shopping to play London this August 11th!

Shopping + Es + Katy & Nick all playing in London at Oslo (Hackney) this August 11th! Turning up the heat on August!! Tickets now onsale!


Upset The Rhythm presents…

SHOPPING
ES
KATY & NICK
Saturday 11th August
OSLO, 1a Amhurst Road, Hackney, London, E8 1LL
6.30pm - 10pm | £10 | http://www.wegottickets.com/event/440432

SHOPPING are propulsive bass lines, primitive disco-not-disco drums and guitar lines sharp as broken glass. The band was formed in 2012 by members Rachel Aggs (guitar), Billy Easter (bass) and Andrew Milk (drums), who've all done time in a plethora of notable UK DIY bands including Trash Kit and Wet Dog. They pull from a well of 70's post-punk with a voraciousness seldom seen these days, bringing to mind the jagged aggression of Gang of Four, the voracious yelp of The Slits and the dance inducing thrust of Delta 5 . Their debut LP 'Consumer Complaints' was released November 2013 in the UK via MILK records and quickly sold out its first pressing. A US re-issue of 'Consumer Complaints' came out in 2015 via Fat Cat records, followed up by their excellent second album 'Why Choose?' The band are tirelessly committed to taking their sound to new audiences and spreading the Shopping gospel, securing impressive gigs along the way including main support for ESG and Gang Of Four as well as a BBC 6 Music session for Marc Riley. They have toured in the UK and throughout Europe numerous times over the last few years and last year toured the USA with also awesome Gauche. Shopping’s brand new album ‘The Official Body’ (FatCat) has met with glowing reviews proclaiming it as exhilarating as it is mesmerising, we can’t agree enough!
https://soundcloud.com/shoppingband 

ES are four women based between London and Glasgow making 'mutant synth-punk for our dystopian present’ (Jes Skolnik). Tense, bass driven and synth heavy with frantic drumming and cold, direct vocals, their debut 12”, ’Object Relations’, delivers 4 tracks of gelid guitar-less post punk that is equal parts sparse and cosmic. Think of a mix of KUKL with No Defences jamming with Xmal Deutschland and you may be getting there.
https://esband.bandcamp.com/releases

KATY & NICK is Katy Cotterell of Gloss Rejection & ES and Nick Carlisle of Bamboo. This is their very British haunted take on synth wave. An abrasive synth punk, not the icy distance of some of the finest continental practitioners. This is the ennui of a damp bedsit in a bad Victorian conversion, not the existentialism of a brutalist estate. There’s a little bit of YMO to the hyper-simple melodies that loop throughout their songs too. An appropriate counterpoint are the arpeggiated synth bursts that thread their way through too.
https://katyandnick.bandcamp.com/releases

'Moody Balloon Baby' out today, plus upcoming London shows for Mary Ocher and Apostille!

Hello again! What a wild week it’s been with our four shows in a row, thanks to all of you for making it out. Today we’re overjoyed to share Dog Chocolate's stunning new album, ‘Moody Balloon Baby’, with you in all its fervour! Released today through Upset The Rhythm it is 180 grams of black plastic serving up all the rabble-rousing energy & eye-watering absurdity of the human condition in 2018, plus its got a big, green, scowling balloon baby on the cover, bonus!   ‘Moody Balloon Baby’ is available in all the best shops worldwide & directly from our webshop here.   Why not celebrate all things non-professional and listen to the very first song that kicks off this cavalcade of thought & song? Here’s ‘Amateurs Forever’:

Textures that come to mind when listening to 'Moody Balloon Baby': * A plastic broom that has been used to sweep up glowing embers and the bristles have melted.   * A pink chalk that got stepped on.   * A green beam from a laser-pen scuttling around on a pebbledash façade.   * A biro shoved through a custard doughnut.

Dog Chocolate are four people: * Jonathan hits 2 drums and a cymbal with force and conviction. Matthew plays his guitar through an array of confounding soundhouses. Robert has no soundhouses but his guitar fingers are deft. Andrew tends to a pocket menagerie of homemade percussion, keyboard and harmonica.   * Andrew could be said to be singer number 1, with Robert and Matthew singers 2 and 3 respectively. On this album Andrew and Robert often trade verses, like the Beastie Boys.   * The band members love each other very much.   Emotionally the lyrics veer from whimsical, to angry, to silly, to sad, often in the same song.

Some of the subjects addressed include:   * Subconscious inspiration.   * English nationalism.   * The post-colonial discomfort surrounding museum displays.   * The enigma of rocks.   * Wanting to be tiny and free of responsibilities in the face of the massive world.   * Environmental concern/internet guilt.   * Cosmic aligned co-incidences and why to trust them.

A recurring theme on the album is an investigation of the creative act itself. What does it mean to make things? Does it matter if those things are ignored or forgotten? Why be in a band at all? What are the problems with the Genius narrative? Is it ever ok to use animals in your art? In the face of a weird world getting ever weirder what role does art play, if any at all?   The Jury is out on whether Dog Chocolate is a self-help band or an ideologically foggy protest band, but in just under 25 minutes the band manage to cram in bucket-loads of ideas, mess, confusion and fun.

We’re throwing a ‘Moody Balloon Baby’ album launch party on Friday 25th May at The Macbeth, read on for more details on that, along with the full write-up for next week’s concert by the always fantastical Mary Ocher at Café OTO. Coldnose and Stal Kingsley are set to support Mary at this event too. We also detail below our Apostille, Sauna Youth and Static Palm event coming up fast at the end of this month (May 26th)!   In our concluding list of upcoming engagements you’ll also find a brand new live show for Shannon And The Clams on September 4th at The Garage too, that’ll be a grand occasion, tickets are on sale now.

Tomorrow, we’re rounding off our busy week by taking part in the Independent Label Market at Spitalfields Market. We’ll be selling lots of new Upset The Rhythm wares (including this new Dog Chocolate LP) and most of our back catalogue at some great prices too, so please pop down (from 11am til 6.30pm) and call out in our general direction if you find yourselves in the neighbourhood. There are so many other great labels involved with this event (including Bella Union, Erased Tapes, Fire, 4AD, Gringo, Mexican Summer), plus you’ll find our stall next to Matador in the northern quarter, have a gander at the plan to orientate yourselves and we’ll see you tomorrow.

Upset The Rhythm presents...   MARY OCHER COLDNOSE STAL KINGSLEY Friday 18 May Cafe OTO, 22 Ashwin Street, Dalston, London, E8 3DL 7.30pm | £8 | TICKETS   MARY OCHER is back, following last year's UK dates with 'The West Against The People', Ocher returns with a new 10"/tape of 'Faust Studio Sessions'. Mary has been persistently creating passionate, uncompromising work, raw, thought provoking, socially and creatively pushing against the current, dealing with subjects of authority, identity and conflict. Her work is as enchanting as it is polarizing, ranging from traditional folk to raw 60s garage, ambient with ethereal vocals and abstract synths, to experimental pop with African and South American rhythms, when accompanied by her drummers. 'The West Against The People' was released on the German label Klangbad in spring 2017 and recorded with Hans Joachim Irmler of Krautrock pioneers Faust. It features solo tracks, as well as tracks with her two drummers Your Government, and elusive cult legends Die Todliche Doris and Felix Kubin. 'Faust Studio Sessions' showcases additional collaborations with cello player Julia Kent and German experimental artist Hans Unstern. Her previous solo release was produced by Canadian Psych Rock&Roll guru King Khan. https://maryocher.bandcamp.com/ COLDNOSE is Jin Botani’s project that blends her Kurdish heritage with partly improvised dance music. Incorporating elements of acid, electro and industrial alongside her vocal. Check out her two tape releases on the Swedish labels Zeon Light and Funeral Fog and a track on the French label Hylé for her only released material so far. Four new tracks were recorded at Goldsmiths Studio with Francine Perry (La Leif/Orka) last year and will be out later this year on vinyl. https://coldnose.bandcamp.com/ STAL KINGSLEY is a London-based artist who released 2 EPs last year entitled ‘Useless Boy’ and ‘Odaxelagnia’. His songs are inventive and catchy yet melodically experimental, something akin to Ariel Pink and Cleaners From Venus in his love of the lo-fi pop swirl and head spin. https://soundcloud.com/stal-kingsley

DOG CHOCOLATE WITCHING WAVES MOLEJOY Friday 25 May The Macbeth, 70 Hoxton St, Hoxton, London, N1 6LP 7pm-10.30pm | £3 | Tickets on the door!   DOG CHOCOLATE sound like a crowded room but are actually four individuals from London. Abandoning notions of elegance, cred and professionalism they embrace the ramshackle, instant and fun, capturing a vivid spontaneity with their music. Their sound is a shabby, fast, over-excited ball of wet fur falling down the stairs, knocking over plant pots along the way and staining the carpet. With an average song time of 2 minutes, Dog Chocolate are on to the next treat before fully digesting the last. Chewing up bits of punk, post-punk, noise and pop, Matthew and Robert's guitars race around each other like wasps, pitch-shifting and phasing all over the place while Jono's rolled-up-newspaper drums chase them round the room. This party is a celebration in honour of the band's new album ‘Moody Balloon Baby’ (out May 15th) through Upset The Rhythm, who also released their debut 'Snack Fans' in 2016. http://dogchocolate.tumblr.com/   WITCHING WAVES are a post-punk trio from London, writing songs that are a satisfying mix of pop sensibility and tumult. Emma and Mark’s dual vocals juxtapose brilliantly – from calm composure to world-weary petulance; their aptitude for combining melody with belligerence being the most triumphant facet. Check out both their brilliant albums to date on Soft Power. https://witchingwaves.bandcamp.com/   MOLEJOY is a band, undermining with joyous anger pangs. On their own terms. non-heroic beats for anyone who wants them. Songs/sounds about microwaves, banging yourself and radicalising your children. Kind of like .... we don't really know. Sometimes there's a flute. Molejoy is Gyles Brunch, Sophie Chapman and Kerri Jefferis. molejoy.bandcamp.com/releases

Upset The Rhythm presents…   APOSTILLE SAUNA YOUTH STATIC PALM Saturday 26 May The Victoria, 451 Queensbridge Rd, Dalston, London, E8 3AS 7.30pm | £7 |TICKETS   APOSTILLE is a man who's torn through enough sound-systems to know the difference between gesture and meaning. Alongside running his own DIY record label, Glasgow native, Michael Kasparis has spent the last few years making 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. His audacious 2015 debut album 'Powerless' self-released through Night School set the template by hooking up his honest delivery to some manic expositions in electronic pop. At once minimal and courageous with intent to connect, Apostille songs race off with unchecked abandon, skittering drum machines, thick walls of sequenced synth and decidedly elastic basslines. 'Choose Life' (out June 8th on Upset The Rhythm) is both the album Apostille chose to make and had to make. He dialled down the clown, built up a new-found confidence in his voice and melody in general and began to feel more at home in the refuge of pop music (with a capital P). All the truest pop music speaks to us of escape and through this new album Apostille allows its transformative power to fully manifest. It's an album full of life and energy, and like his live show as disobedient as it is heroic in its pursuit of liberation. https://apostille.bandcamp.com/  SAUNA YOUTH are an evolving band of future humans making truly irregular punk, not quite comparable to anything else. "Weird" is a meaningless platitude and "art punk" is a classifier that shouldn't be required. Consisting of Boon (drums, vocals), Pines (guitar), Ecke (vocals, sampler) and Mince (bass), Sauna Youth are a punk band that's happy to embrace all of the contradictions that go along with that notion. On paper, Sauna Youth sound considered - live, they can barely be contained. They are at times furious, unstoppable and severe, with the sampler wailing like an alarm coming from a parallel universe - then chugging, poppy, harmonious and fun. Forever loud. 2015's totemic 'Distractions' album (Upset The Rhythm) is a record that feels instinctive and natural, flowing freely from a band that have come to terms with the sum of its parts. http://lostinidea.blogspot.co.uk/ STATIC PALM is the solo project of James Burgess, featuring his synth & drum-machine led brooding post-punk. Fans of John Maus, Total Control, Tuxedomoon and other practitioners of ice-cold music will enjoy. https://staticpalm.bandcamp.com/

Thanks for spending your time with us! Catch you tomorrow down the market! Upset The Rhythm

UPSET THE RHYTHM UPCOMING SHOWS

MARY OCHER COLDNOSE STAL KINGSLEY Friday 18 May Cafe OTO, 22 Ashwin Street, Dalston, London, E8 3DL 7.30pm | £8 | TICKETS   SCREAMING FEMALES WITCHING WAVES PORRIDGE RADIO Wednesday 23 May OSLO, 1a Amhurst Road, Hackney, London, E8 1LL 7.30pm | £10 | TICKETS   DOG CHOCOLATE WITCHING WAVES MOLEJOY Friday 25 May The Macbeth, 70 Hoxton St, Hoxton, London, N1 6LP 7pm-10.30pm | £3 | Tickets on the door!   APOSTILLE SAUNA YOUTH STATIC PALM Saturday 26 May The Victoria, 451 Queensbridge Rd, Dalston, London, E8 3AS 7.30pm | £7 | TICKETS   JOHN MAUS Thursday 14 June Electric Ballroom, 184 Camden High St, London, NW1 8QP 7.30pm | £15.00 | TICKETS   An evening with… KRISTIN HERSH Monday 18 June Cecil Sharp House, 2 Regent’s Park Road, Camden, London, NW1 7AY 7.30pm | £24 | TICKETS   YUNOHANA VARIATIONS: YOSHIMIO & ROBERT AIKI AUBREY LOWE & SUSIE IBARRA Tuesday 26 June OSLO, 1a Amhurst Road, Hackney, London, E8 1LL 7.30pm | £12 | TICKETS   SHANNON AND THE CLAMS Tuesday 4 September The Garage, 20-22 Highbury Corner, London, N5 1RD 7.30pm | £12.50 | TICKETS   SCREAMING FEMALES Tuesday 11 September 100 Club, 100 Oxford St, Oxford Street, London, W1D 1LL 7.30pm | £12 | TICKETS