UPSET THE RHYTHM - Forced Exposure

$25.50 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 12/3/2021

Robert Sotelo is a mercurial melodist building a resplendent world of pristine DIY pop from the ground up. The Glasgow-based artist's songs are meticulously crafted, patchworked together with eclectic arrangements and ardent vocal performances. Each of his albums to date has been accompanied by a growth-spurt, 2017's debut Cusp (UTR 098LP) was packed with miniature psych overtures, whilst 2018's Botanical was more keyboard-minded and playful with a near-absurdist palette of sound. Infinite Sprawling (UTR 122LP) came out towards the end of 2019 and surprised with songs pulled together like a wakeful stretch, brisk with a lightness of touch. This was neatly followed by Leap & Bounce melding a sparse synth-pop minimalism to an emotional undertow. Robert Sotelo's vivid new album Celebrant was intended to be and still is to some extent a joyous wedding album (Sotelo is recently married), but in his own words "the pandemic and the death of my aunt Carmen intersected with the original concept so the album is darker than intended in places." More cinematic and measured than prior albums, Sotelo expounds that "it is purposefully a bigger sounding attempt at my keyboard songs and I felt more ambitious about it in general." That's certainly reflected in these twelve sophisticated loops of song, all curiously affecting and catchy, sprinkled with Sotelo's offbeat musings and keenly accurate observations. Guitars are rarely employed on this record with Sotelo recruiting Iain Mccall, Ross Blake, Celia Morgan and David Maxwell to contribute brass, woodwind, spoken word and acoustic drums respectively. All of these additions blend well with the album's synthetic core, softening and subtly shaping its pop-first nature into something more nuanced, vulnerable and human. Celebrant is a plucky synth-centric collection of unbridled songs at times surefooted at others threatened by disconnect, skillfully steered by Sotelo with typical classy touch. 180 gram vinyl.

$14.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 11/26/2021

Bertie Marshall is a writer/performer. He is also an acclaimed memoirist, most well-known for his book Berlin Bromley (2006) about his transformation from Bertie, an anxious, androgynous, depressed teenager, into Berlin, a teenager who would reject suburban values and become a founding member of punk's "Bromley Contingent", alongside Siouxsie Sioux, Steven Severin, and Billy Idol. Upset The Rhythm releases Exhibit by Bertie Marshall, collecting for the first time his songs and spoken word tracks from this fertile period of the '80s-90s. He's currently working on Looking: Backwards To Go Forwards, picking up from where Berlin Bromley left off. His other books include the debut novel Psychoboys (1997), Nowhere Slow (2014), From Sleepwalking to Sleepwalking (2016), Wild - re write (2017), The Peeler (2018) and Pete's Underpants (2019). In 2015 the British Library purchased his writing archive. From 1980-83, Bertie was the frontman for post-punk boundary-pushers Behaviour Red -- they released one single (favorably played by John Peel), did a mini-tour and broke up. At various times Behaviour Red featured Noel Blanden of Normil Hawaiians and fine artist Nicola Tyson. Their sound was characterized by looseness and freedom, boasting at times tribal drumming, streams of vocals, dazed guitars and feedback. Bertie continued sketching out atmospheric compositions afterwards too, walking a tightrope between bewildered pop and gothic folk. Central to everything is Bertie's commanding voice; heartfelt, impassioned and masterfully leading you through the story. Bertie became interested in spoken word and performance poetry in the '90s, which then led him into writing and performing in his own plays and devised theater pieces. He did regular readings and performances in NYC and began writing books inspired by the visceral talents of Acker and Burroughs. Having lived in Berlin, San Francisco, and Brittany, Bertie now lives in London.

$25.50 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 11/26/2021

LP version. 180 gram vinyl. Bertie Marshall is a writer/performer. He is also an acclaimed memoirist, most well-known for his book Berlin Bromley (2006) about his transformation from Bertie, an anxious, androgynous, depressed teenager, into Berlin, a teenager who would reject suburban values and become a founding member of punk's "Bromley Contingent", alongside Siouxsie Sioux, Steven Severin, and Billy Idol. Upset The Rhythm releases Exhibit by Bertie Marshall, collecting for the first time his songs and spoken word tracks from this fertile period of the '80s-90s. He's currently working on Looking: Backwards To Go Forwards, picking up from where Berlin Bromley left off. His other books include the debut novel Psychoboys (1997), Nowhere Slow (2014), From Sleepwalking to Sleepwalking (2016), Wild - re write (2017), The Peeler (2018) and Pete's Underpants (2019). In 2015 the British Library purchased his writing archive. From 1980-83, Bertie was the frontman for post-punk boundary-pushers Behaviour Red -- they released one single (favorably played by John Peel), did a mini-tour and broke up. At various times Behaviour Red featured Noel Blanden of Normil Hawaiians and fine artist Nicola Tyson. Their sound was characterized by looseness and freedom, boasting at times tribal drumming, streams of vocals, dazed guitars and feedback. Bertie continued sketching out atmospheric compositions afterwards too, walking a tightrope between bewildered pop and gothic folk. Central to everything is Bertie's commanding voice; heartfelt, impassioned and masterfully leading you through the story. Bertie became interested in spoken word and performance poetry in the '90s, which then led him into writing and performing in his own plays and devised theater pieces. He did regular readings and performances in NYC and began writing books inspired by the visceral talents of Acker and Burroughs. Having lived in Berlin, San Francisco, and Brittany, Bertie now lives in London.

$25.50 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 11/12/2021

Expressions Of Interest is the debut album from Melbourne/Naarm post-punk group Screensaver. Sonically, the ten-track album is rich and detailed, and pays homage to its era of inspiration (late '70s-mid '80s post-punk and new wave) with gripping vocals, dissonant guitar, melodic basslines, washes of synths, and motorik drumming. Engineered by Julian Cue alongside band member Chris Stephenson and recorded over multiple studio sessions between 2020-2021. The album opens with the ominously titled "Body Parts", an immediately arresting song that showcases the bands penchant for blending classic post-punk elements, leaning into a sound somewhere between the Banshees and Protomartyr. Krystal Maynard doubles down on these themes in the frenetic second track, "No Movement". Guttural organ tones swim under overdriven guitar, jagged and intense. The album takes a surprising turn into electronic driven krautrock on track three with "Buy, Sell, Trade" -- a rollicking piece of danceable ephemera, dominated by swirling synth sounds and punctuated with electronics reminiscent of Sparks/Moroder collaborations. "MEDS" transports you back to the foundation established on "Body Parts", a goth-y piece, full of tribal toms and dirge-y synths. They explore touches of EDM on "Static State" -- a brutal, death-disco style track, Maynard's lead synth and gloomy vocal complimenting the pounding drums and dub-esque bass line. "Skin" begins with a solid and simple backbeat, James Beck's post-punk percussion provides a steady and minimal framework for the rest of the band to color with great depth and detail. Giles Fielke's bass guitar wobbles brilliantly leading the verse melody, whilst Stephenson's guitar drives the chorus that folds neatly in on itself. In "Attention Economy", Maynard is flexible with her lyrical style, and knows how and when to lend her voice to the greater backdrop of the composition. "Attention Economy" has an almost Kraftwerkian structure -- repetitious, but engaging with its constant tom driven beat, lush synth lines and minimal bass tones. Just when you thought things had slowed down, Screensaver ramp things right back up again with "Overnight Low" -- a no holds barred thumper. Fielke underpins the hard-edged sound with his bassline, keeping things smooth and tight. It brings to mind a hybrid of PiL's "Annalisa" and Wire's "Two People In a Room". Before you can catch your breath, there's "Regular Hours" -- another industrial track, and perhaps the sister song to "Static State" heard earlier on side one. The album closes with the fittingly titled "Soft Landing", literally bringing the listener back down softly. 180 gram black vinyl; edition of 300.

$25.50 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 11/5/2021

New solo record from Philip Frobos of Omni (Sub Pop, Trouble in Mind), this record is released in conjunction with a novel by Philip of the same name, Vague Enough To Satisfy. Vague Enough To Satisfy is Philip Frobos' debut solo album, it is also the original soundtrack to his debut novel of the same title. This lounge-inspired punk album acts as the musical bedrock for the story of a young man who revels in the day-to-day details (both romantic and mundane) of his experiences in Leipzig and Atlanta. The tone of the record reflects the tides of the protagonist's confidence and self-doubt throughout the novel. Vague Enough To Satisfy rushes straight to the point with its bossa nova beat and seductive lo-fi musings. "Vague Theme" opens the album with a groove reminiscent of Whammy! era B-52s while the vocals tell the story of a young romantic confused of his place within a relationship and the city around him. "Vacant Street" proceeds with a hooky bassline, the revolving, cryptic sort that Frobos is known for as a member of Atlanta post-punks Omni. "No Packages Today" is similarly sprightly and circuitous, sounding like the Au Pairs refining an obsession with Bowie's Lodger. "I'm afraid that you need more than I can offer," opines Frobos bedecked by shuffling beats and burgeoning waves of saxophone. "Never Noticed" and "Through with Buzz" introduce notes of tension and intrigue to the frisson of the story, "you're stuck in the same day" confesses Frobos in the former. Instrumental tracks help to prolong an uneasy feeling of ambiguity too, with compositions like "Pool Disturbance" and "Inflatable Flamingo" taking their musical cue from Henry Mancini. Curious flourishes, a metronomic headiness and shuddering xylophones bring to life the intensely vivid imagery and cynical humor that suffuse the novel. "Pathetic" collides the casual, magnetism of Serge Gainsbourg with tight Cars-style vocals and choruses. Meanwhile, "Singer Not The Song" and "Saturn Return" showcase a more sedate approach, languid and arch. Vague Enough To Satisfy is a trip, plunging you into a curious world populated by the unexpected. 180 gram vinyl.

$14.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 10/29/2021

Dark World collects together choice material from Normil Hawaiians' formative early years of 1979-1981. Tagging along with the band from their peppy post-punk origins (so brilliantly debuted on "The Beat Goes On") into the looser, dubbier territories that laid the foundations for the group's landmark album More Wealth Than Money. Dark World gathers the group's energetic 7" singles on Dining Out and Illuminated Records, their metamorphic Gala Failed EP (Red Rhino) and a lively last-minute Peel session from 1980, alongside outtakes, rarities, and demos. During this feverish time, founding member Guy Smith was motivated to make music that reveled in always trying out different things. Normil Hawaiians was a very fluid ensemble at this point, Guy often accompanied by Kev Armstrong and Jim Lusted encouraged saxophones, violins, synths, pianos and a select pack of female backing singers to take their post-punk sound into wilder directions. One of the earliest line-ups of Normil Hawaiians featured a 15-year-old Janet Armstrong on vocals alongside Guy, "Ventilation" best showcases her deadpan digressions. Janet went on to sing alongside David Bowie a few years later on his breathtaking mid-80s gem "Absolute Beginners". By this point Kev Armstrong was also guesting for Bowie on guitar duties too. Another guest to join the ranks of Normil Hawaiians during this fertile time of cross-pollination was Bertie Marshall (aka Berlin of the proto-punk Bromley Contingent). "Sang Sang" is a good example of how he was inspired to deliver his poetic treatises over the band's atmospheric, floating improvisations. Bertie's impressionistic influence helped the group uncouple further from rock tropes, as they became restless and more rhythmically-focused. "Still Obedient" fidgets, soars and careens across the dancefloor. By the end of this transformative two years Normil Hawaiians had spun an exceptional chrysalis around themselves. The dark world surrounding wouldn't win out, they'd eaten-up the music and grown continuously, wrote and recorded rapidly, covered Zappa and even David Lynch and could feel the light beginning to shine through. Dark World is a snapshot of a band in flux, finding their feet, stretching their limbs. Normil Hawaiians cover an awful amount of ground in such a short time-frame on this record and these tracks document all the glittering debris from their magpie's nest. Emergent, hopeful and resistant in sound and ethic.

$25.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 10/29/2021

LP version. 180 gram vinyl; gatefold sleeve with booklet; includes download card with eight bonus tracks included on CD version. Dark World collects together choice material from Normil Hawaiians' formative early years of 1979-1981. Tagging along with the band from their peppy post-punk origins (so brilliantly debuted on "The Beat Goes On") into the looser, dubbier territories that laid the foundations for the group's landmark album More Wealth Than Money. Dark World gathers the group's energetic 7" singles on Dining Out and Illuminated Records, their metamorphic Gala Failed EP (Red Rhino) and a lively last-minute Peel session from 1980, alongside outtakes, rarities, and demos. During this feverish time, founding member Guy Smith was motivated to make music that reveled in always trying out different things. Normil Hawaiians was a very fluid ensemble at this point, Guy often accompanied by Kev Armstrong and Jim Lusted encouraged saxophones, violins, synths, pianos and a select pack of female backing singers to take their post-punk sound into wilder directions. One of the earliest line-ups of Normil Hawaiians featured a 15-year-old Janet Armstrong on vocals alongside Guy, "Ventilation" best showcases her deadpan digressions. Janet went on to sing alongside David Bowie a few years later on his breathtaking mid-80s gem "Absolute Beginners". By this point Kev Armstrong was also guesting for Bowie on guitar duties too. Another guest to join the ranks of Normil Hawaiians during this fertile time of cross-pollination was Bertie Marshall (aka Berlin of the proto-punk Bromley Contingent). "Sang Sang" is a good example of how he was inspired to deliver his poetic treatises over the band's atmospheric, floating improvisations. Bertie's impressionistic influence helped the group uncouple further from rock tropes, as they became restless and more rhythmically-focused. "Still Obedient" fidgets, soars and careens across the dancefloor. By the end of this transformative two years Normil Hawaiians had spun an exceptional chrysalis around themselves. The dark world surrounding wouldn't win out, they'd eaten-up the music and grown continuously, wrote and recorded rapidly, covered Zappa and even David Lynch and could feel the light beginning to shine through. Dark World is a snapshot of a band in flux, finding their feet, stretching their limbs. Normil Hawaiians cover an awful amount of ground in such a short time-frame on this record and these tracks document all the glittering debris from their magpie's nest. Emergent, hopeful and resistant in sound and ethic.

$25.00 IN STOCK

Buffet Lunch are a Scottish group who make it their mission to craft satisfyingly imperfect pop songs filled with imagery and humor. The group's elementary parts are Perry O'Bray (vocals/keys/guitar), Neil Robinson (bass), John Muir (lead guitar), and Luke Moran (drums), united by a shared love of music on the ABBA-to-Beefheart axis. These four ricochet between Glasgow and Edinburgh, creating music that bristles with DIY spirit and upbeat wonkiness. Their tracks are vigorous excursions, meandering into clattersome terrain as often as hiking up into the breezy, melodious foothills. Buffet Lunch spent early 2020 working on the follow-up to their two EPs on Permanent Slump. The fruits from such labor bore out as the band's debut album The Power of Rocks. The Power of Rocks was recorded in a Crofters cottage/studio on the banks of Upper Loch Fyne in Argyll, over four nights and five days at the beginning of March 2020. The album came together as a luminous mix of Buffet Lunch's live chestnuts, some sparky recent songs and some new material entirely written and recorded in situ. All tracks were recorded by Neil Robinson acting as the in-house engineer. After leaving the cottage, the reality of Covid-19 set in and finishing the album became a more remote task. Over the following months, an extended period of listening awarded the recordings a deeper realization, as they bounced between band members computers. Perry also started writing on his Casio keyboard and collaborated on a couple of songs with Jayne Dent (Me Lost Me), drawing on her ethereal singing voice. These gauzy, dreamlike tracks were then sent to other members of Buffet Lunch to add their respective parts, creating evocative new dimensions. The Power of Rocks rattles along like a short-story collection, exploring a variety of narratives. "Red Apple" opens the album with a dizzy swagger, guitars, and keyboard notes swirling in forays whilst its lyric tackles notions of social bravado. "Orange Peel" follows equally serpentine with its blattering tune and jagged, yet jolly melodic twists. The themes across the album are wide-ranging and personal, from irritation with out of touch politicians ("Pebbledash"), to love letters to seaside living ("Bladderwrack"), to even the frailty and confusion of old age ("Said Bernie", "It Helps to Know"). Title track "The Power of Rocks" is an ode to the power of nature sunk within a rolling wave of cheery jangle. "He Wore Two Hats" sports similarly bop-worthy riffs and addictive nods as it deals with its story of savvy man who'd bitten off more than he could chew. 180 gram opaque orange vinyl.

$10.00 LOW STOCK LEVEL

Glasgow post-punk six-piece Kaputt aren't strangers to directing their explosive energy and maximalist vibrancy in the name of allegory and critique. Their 2019 debut album on Upset the Rhythm Carnage Hall confidently deconstructed themes of surveillance, paranoia, and cultural identity through a sonic lens of high-tempo, bright, danceable pop hooks and technical, polyphonic rhythms which border on the bombast of Zeuhl. New EP Movement Now/Another War Talk continues the synthesis of animation and discontent with an ethos that exemplifies post-punk's most original and guiding purpose: casting aside the rigid, signifying fashions of modern performative genre tropes and instead combining a vast fluidity of influence, tone and style to create something as unique and personal as it is counter-cultural. The result is a release that responds to the apathy of our current situation with a positive thesis, breathing life into the lived-in, bursting through every vessel, leaving nothing unturned. "Movement Now" enters with the distinct high-low drive of guitar whines and racing low toms, emblematic of the presence one feels when pushing past bodies in a heaving DIY venue, but it is not afraid to play with expectations. When the song thematically opens out, disrupts convention and progressively rebuilds upon itself, the track, a comment on the ever-lagging pace that jaded, old values take to transform, transitions from a goth aesthetic to the optimism characteristic of any indie heavyweight. "Another War Talk" shines in production and composition as arguably one of the best examples of distilling the band's manic live energy into a studio recording. The divergent vocal duality of Cal D. and Chrissy B. accompanied by competing percussionists and dynamic saxophone lines encapsulates the performative strengths that has allowed the band to become a constant highlight in Glasgow's ever exciting DIY scene. It is, in essence, the naturalness by which six passionate voices can combine into one vision so seamlessly, which one who has not experienced the band live should take away from the track for now in anticipation of the future. Curacao blue vinyl.

$23.00 NOT IN STOCK

Light blue vinyl version. Over the last four years the Geelong group Vintage Crop have become a burgeoning force in the Australian punk scene. Their burly, brusque yet supple songs have evolved from the garage rock of 2017's TV Organs album into the post-punk panic attack of 2020's Company Man EP. Now they've sculpted their sound further, the barrage now offset with robust songwriting, their full-pelt bounce tempered with flailing guitar lines and sardonic commentary. Bringing to mind Wire tackling tracks from early 7"s by The Yummy Fur, it's an inspired approach, both striking and effortlessly mirthful. Vintage Crop still dish-up plenty of commanding stomp, their lyrics remain as keen-eyed as ever, but now they're unafraid to mess with the tempo and drive their point home. Serve To Serve Again is Vintage Crop's third full-length album. It was recorded by Mikey Young after a year of playing solid shows, including tours in Europe and the UK alongside Louder Than Death and URSA. Vintage Crop nailed the songs live before committing them to tape, pulling and pushing ideas, stretching them into new-found territories. "First In Line" races off the blocks with its sawtooth riff and splintered beat, all jagged edges and ragged vocals. Quickly follow a pair of totemic bruisers in the guise of "The Ladder" and "The North", both brimming with a nigh anthemic quality, confident in their faculty to rouse the rabble. "Jack's Casino" is a lurching romp about gambling, "Streetview" is similarly propellent, only choosing to meander and divert itself with cryptic trips around the neighborhood: "He only moved to that side of town because the postcode is worth it's weight in gold." There's no better poised nod to frustration than "Gridlock" -- "the hustle and bustle of inner-city traffic is driving me nuts because the radios on static." Guitar lines entwine and wriggle wildly free from the song's pouncing rhythm and potent vocal, making for the most vigorous of rackets. "Just My Luck" prowls with a shared thrumming verve, whilst "Everyday Heroes" closes out the album with measured flair. Skewed and fervent, rangy at times yet always assured in its intent Serve To Serve Again is long-legged leap for Vintage Crop into the delirious now. These songs strive to make sense of futility, they criticize the chain of command, question privilege and most importantly make us want more from life.

$12.00 IN STOCK

Available on CD for the first time. The Green Child is the once long-distance, now based in the same house recording project of Raven Mahon (furniture maker and former member of Grass Widow) and Mikey Young (recording engineer and band member of Total Control, Eddy Current Suppression Ring). The duo draws its spectral pop sound from an illusory past as much as they stalk into pastures new. Broadly retro-futuristic in scope, verdant acres of lushly evocative synthesizers and vintage drum machines underpin most of The Green Child's upbeat yet decidedly uncanny songs. More assured and auspicious, the songs collected on Shimmering Basset are concerned with life after relocation and deal with distance and staying connected. Shimmering Basset also concerns itself with the subjects of transport, escape, the centering of home, humanity in the performative news arena and the idea of time being a beast, animate and hungry. "Fashion Light" conjures up a brilliance from the first few sparks of the album, spinning dizzy dots of synth melody into a classy slice of avant-pop, with live drums courtesy of Shaun Gionis. "Low Desk: High Shelf" follows in likewise sprightly mode. Glancing synths criss-cross, worthy of Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, echoing off the straight-up beat, allowing Raven's collected vocal to stitch its haunted path. A floating kick drum sets off the shivery flurries of sound on "Witness", featuring bristling electronic percussion from James Vinciguerra. Blossoming basslines and saxophone blushes sweep through the relaxed atmosphere of "The Installation". "Tony Bandana" makes a break for it as a rock song with Arron Mawson lending his bass skills to the foray. The Green Child acknowledge an interesting array of musical cues from New Musik via Sade to Hot Chocolate, the latter most keenly felt on the slinky groove behind "Dreamcom". Clockwork sequencing, drawbar organ amid bouncing guitar spirals and a lightness of vocal touch make for a potent potion. The duo covers "Resurrection" by Canadian '60s popsmith Andy Kim later on the record, turning his orchestral "hymn of searching" into a grandiose tower of overlapping drones, languid vocal reverb, and strummed chords. Meanwhile, "Health Farm" is awash with questing keyboard melodies, its notes speeding into each other like Boards Of Canada with the legato ramped up. "Double Lines" draws this fascinating album to an end, seeping into the room like an apparition. Shimmering Basset is a robust album of compelling melody, expanded vision, and melancholic grandeur.

$23.00 IN STOCK

Clear vinyl version; edition of 300. Incorporating a diverse range of influences, from samba to no wave, Handle, a three-piece from Manchester (now based between Manchester/London/Brussels) made up of Giulio Erasmus and Nirvana Heire, former members of D.U.D.S (the first British band to sign to Castle Face) and Leo Hermitt, a genderqueer multidisciplinary artist renowned for their challenging, thought-provoking work in the city's arts and literary scenes. The group mesh politics with a trans experience of time and a vibrant, avant-garde freedom of approach. Handle make a uniquely minimal sound, buoyed by poetic, urgent vocals. Each instrument (bass, drums, keyboard and voice) is permitted its own space, yet somehow the result is a brilliantly unified yet understated sonic experience that demands then commands your attention. Powered by looping, hypnotic synth lines, quaking flexes of bass, clattering tribal percussion and expeditious, often agitated vocals that cordially sprint, Handle's songs -- all of which clock in around the two-minute mark -- owe as much to performance poetry as they do to the vibrancy of post-punk and new wave. In these times of anxiety and confusion, Handle provide a much-needed dose of musical catharsis, albeit disorientating at times, pre-empting sense from the shards of sound they gather about themselves. "Life's Work" begins with isolated swells of pitch before driving full throttle into an exuberant rhythmic workout. "Sunday Morning" shares this elasticated feel for melody and communication, twisting about itself in rubbery fashion. "Coagulate" is more disembodied from the pulse, but similarly retains a boldness of vision. "Step By Step" showcases what Handle excel at, it's a clangorous leviathan of beat-forward dance punk, peppered with Leo's fluid vocal inertia. It's dizzying yet divinely exuberant. "Punctured Time" evokes the same cascading flow "Punctured time, bicycle wheel, what if I told you that your lips were like venus, lips were like what? Lips were like venus and that my tongue was a trampoline?" sings Leo amid undulating bass, toppling drums and jabs of keyboard ambience. Handle make music occupied by dark shapes that move beneath a roiling surface: jolting, shattering, cracking, smoothed, bounded, punctuated. Handle's debut album In Threes is a collection of frenetic sounds for frenzied forms. In Threes was recorded and mixed by Robin Williams and follows on from the band's previous EP Demonstrations (2018), released through their own imprint Absolute Fiction.

$21.00 IN STOCK

While Sleeper & Snake pairs up the great Al Montfort (Total Control, The UV Race, Dick Diver) and Amy Hill (Primo!, Constant Mongrel), who've both found themselves in league as band mates in Terry, this album isn't quite the pop pairing that it seems on the surface. Accompanying the strums, jangles, and geniality there's also present offbeat electronics and free jazz fizz. Homespun vignettes of warbled keyboards, fizzed improv interludes, shifting layers of skewed harmony and wistful yet pointed lyrical pep is their measure. The duo still locks into a mordant lo-fi mode but there's a delicacy at play here too with cello, harmonica, and even sarangi being employed in the foundation of these frothy concoctions of outsider folk and post punk hodgepodge. Following on from 2019's Junction And High debut, new album Fresco Shed unfurls with the same floating free atmosphere. The record launches with an uncanny field recording before being drawn onward by the coalescing alto and tenor saxophones of "Miracles". "Flats Falling" is a crystalline assembly of cello, drum machine and plucky bass which freewheels around, curlicues of sax sparking off amid the duo's matter-of fact vocal parade. Comparably buoyant, "Shoot Through" also conceals inner depths in wraiths of wild melody and memory. "Rokeby" is more of a serenade into the wind, showcasing the duo's love of alliterative wordplay. "Reach Out" strolls down a similar path, only pursued by bursts of Wurlitzer. Hill and Montfort's vocals are mirrored in unity but still retain their ability to wrong-foot expectation. For instance, "Lock Up The Loose" is reminiscent of a cosmic, country ballad, only written for a children's party. The song's jejune delivery belying lyrical concerns around the notion of incarceration. "Fresco Shed" takes its title from a line in tremulous, keyboard ponderance "Lady Painter". An acoustic guitar and cello mark the decentred rhythm here, in contrast to the clustering synth-lines and sax breezes that tangle throughout "Piles". An interplay of saxophones alone builds "New Togs" heady ambience, with multiple horns weaving through each other's reverb trail, this is dauntless, spry music, no resting on laurels allowed. "Declare" closes the album with a whirl of melodies that stretch to their limits before vanishing into thin air. Fresco Shed is transportive, ludic, humane and homemade, ruminative and resourceful. A total triumph of substance over style from an endlessly creative duo.

$23.00 IN STOCK

LP version. Blue vinyl; edition of 150. While Sleeper & Snake pairs up the great Al Montfort (Total Control, The UV Race, Dick Diver) and Amy Hill (Primo!, Constant Mongrel), who've both found themselves in league as band mates in Terry, this album isn't quite the pop pairing that it seems on the surface. Accompanying the strums, jangles, and geniality there's also present offbeat electronics and free jazz fizz. Homespun vignettes of warbled keyboards, fizzed improv interludes, shifting layers of skewed harmony and wistful yet pointed lyrical pep is their measure. The duo still locks into a mordant lo-fi mode but there's a delicacy at play here too with cello, harmonica, and even sarangi being employed in the foundation of these frothy concoctions of outsider folk and post punk hodgepodge. Following on from 2019's Junction And High debut, new album Fresco Shed unfurls with the same floating free atmosphere. The record launches with an uncanny field recording before being drawn onward by the coalescing alto and tenor saxophones of "Miracles". "Flats Falling" is a crystalline assembly of cello, drum machine and plucky bass which freewheels around, curlicues of sax sparking off amid the duo's matter-of fact vocal parade. Comparably buoyant, "Shoot Through" also conceals inner depths in wraiths of wild melody and memory. "Rokeby" is more of a serenade into the wind, showcasing the duo's love of alliterative wordplay. "Reach Out" strolls down a similar path, only pursued by bursts of Wurlitzer. Hill and Montfort's vocals are mirrored in unity but still retain their ability to wrong-foot expectation. For instance, "Lock Up The Loose" is reminiscent of a cosmic, country ballad, only written for a children's party. The song's jejune delivery belying lyrical concerns around the notion of incarceration. "Fresco Shed" takes its title from a line in tremulous, keyboard ponderance "Lady Painter". An acoustic guitar and cello mark the decentred rhythm here, in contrast to the clustering synth-lines and sax breezes that tangle throughout "Piles". An interplay of saxophones alone builds "New Togs" heady ambience, with multiple horns weaving through each other's reverb trail, this is dauntless, spry music, no resting on laurels allowed. "Declare" closes the album with a whirl of melodies that stretch to their limits before vanishing into thin air. Fresco Shed is transportive, ludic, humane and homemade, ruminative and resourceful. A total triumph of substance over style from an endlessly creative duo.

$23.00 LOW STOCK LEVEL

The Green Child is the once long-distance, now based in the same house recording project of Raven Mahon (furniture maker and former member of Grass Widow) and Mikey Young (recording engineer and band member of Total Control, Eddy Current Suppression Ring). The duo draws its spectral pop sound from an illusory past as much as they stalk into pastures new. Broadly retro-futuristic in scope, verdant acres of lushly evocative synthesizers and vintage drum machines underpin most of The Green Child's upbeat yet decidedly uncanny songs. More assured and auspicious, the songs collected on Shimmering Basset are concerned with life after relocation and deal with distance and staying connected. Shimmering Basset also concerns itself with the subjects of transport, escape, the centering of home, humanity in the performative news arena and the idea of time being a beast, animate and hungry. "Fashion Light" conjures up a brilliance from the first few sparks of the album, spinning dizzy dots of synth melody into a classy slice of avant-pop, with live drums courtesy of Shaun Gionis. "Low Desk: High Shelf" follows in likewise sprightly mode. Glancing synths criss-cross, worthy of Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, echoing off the straight-up beat, allowing Raven's collected vocal to stitch its haunted path. A floating kick drum sets off the shivery flurries of sound on "Witness", featuring bristling electronic percussion from James Vinciguerra. Blossoming basslines and saxophone blushes sweep through the relaxed atmosphere of "The Installation". "Tony Bandana" makes a break for it as a rock song with Arron Mawson lending his bass skills to the foray. The Green Child acknowledge an interesting array of musical cues from New Musik via Sade to Hot Chocolate, the latter most keenly felt on the slinky groove behind "Dreamcom". Clockwork sequencing, drawbar organ amid bouncing guitar spirals and a lightness of vocal touch make for a potent potion. The duo covers "Resurrection" by Canadian '60s popsmith Andy Kim later on the record, turning his orchestral "hymn of searching" into a grandiose tower of overlapping drones, languid vocal reverb, and strummed chords. Meanwhile, "Health Farm" is awash with questing keyboard melodies, its notes speeding into each other like Boards Of Canada with the legato ramped up. "Double Lines" draws this fascinating album to an end, seeping into the room like an apparition. Shimmering Basset is a robust album of compelling melody, expanded vision, and melancholic grandeur. 180 gram vinyl.

$11.00 IN STOCK

When Upset The Rhythm released Normil Hawaiians' lost album Return of the Ranters back in 2015 (UTR 076CD/LP), the band members got back in touch with each other after a 30-year break and starting playing music together again. Out of this the group played a launch show for the album and followed that up with more concerts, including an appearance at Supernormal, a residency at the Edinburgh Festival, gigs at Cafe OTO, and supporting Richard Dawson in London too. Throughout this time, Normil Hawaiians revisited their original songs for these live performances. However, for a group always so interested in evolving their sound and seeking nuance, it comes as no surprise that they shirked the idea of a faithful retread of old material in favor of reimagining their songs. The group experimented by pushing their songs into new inventive dimensions, still progressive at heart, but now imbued with a cosmic uncanny. A cinematic, even pastoral approach that was always quietly present has come to the fore. The quaint weirdness of folk song, the humanity of communal practice and the group's ecological mindedness have all found a place in Normil Hawaiians' current sound world. With this conducive atmosphere brewing, the band's first new songs in decades started to emerge. Being far-flung across the UK, the Family Hawaii encamped to Tayinloan, a small village on the west coast of the Kintyre peninsula in Scotland with the intention of recording new music. They set up their own studio in an isolated, windswept house overlooking the sea and started the tape rolling. From loose, improvised sessions and reflective periods of listening in Tayinloan, Normil Hawaiians captured the moment. "In The Stone" is a motorik thrill of distorted guitars, locked rhythms, and morphic resonance. Guy Smith is joined by Zinta Egle on vocals, skillfully sharing lyrics informed by Alan Garner and Nigel Kneale's ideas around recurring events being linked to place and historical artifact; a kind of residual haunting known as "Stone Tape" theory. In keeping with the context of the song, sounds from several previous live recordings of the track were woven into its present being. Flipside "Where Is Living?" is a decidedly more delicate affair of questioning lyrics and eerie traces, droning strings, and impressions smudged. This resultant 7" is a tantalizing glimpse of Normil Hawaiians now, an echo from the past, an echo from the future.

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Vintage Crop serve to serve again. Over the last four years the Geelong group have become a burgeoning force in the Australian punk scene. Their burly, brusque yet supple songs have evolved from the garage rock of 2017's TV Organs album into the post-punk panic attack of 2019's Company Man EP. Now they've sculpted their sound further, the barrage now offset with robust songwriting, their full-pelt bounce tempered with flailing guitar lines and sardonic commentary. Bringing to mind Wire tackling tracks from early 7"s by The Yummy Fur, it's an inspired approach, both striking and effortlessly mirthful. Vintage Crop still dish-up plenty of commanding stomp, their lyrics remain as keen-eyed as ever, but now they're unafraid to mess with the tempo and drive their point home. Serve To Serve Again is Vintage Crop's third full-length album. It was recorded by Mikey Young after a year of playing solid shows, including tours in Europe and the UK alongside Louder Than Death and URSA and some of the band's biggest shows to date in Australia with Amyl & The Sniffers, R.M.F.C., and The Stroppies. "First In Line" races off the blocks with its sawtooth riff and splintered beat, all jagged edges and ragged vocals. Quickly follow a pair of totemic bruisers in the guise of "The Ladder" and "The North", both brimming with a nigh anthemic quality, confident in their faculty to rouse the rabble. "Jack's Casino" is a lurching romp about gambling, "Streetview" is similarly propellent, only choosing to meander and divert itself with cryptic trips around the neighborhood: "He only moved to that side of town because the postcode is worth it's weight in gold." There's no better poised nod to frustration than "Gridlock" -- "the hustle and bustle of inner-city traffic is driving me nuts because the radios on static." Guitar lines entwine and wriggle wildly free from the song's pouncing rhythm and potent vocal, making for the most vigorous of rackets. "Just My Luck" prowls with a shared thrumming verve, whilst "Everyday Heroes" closes out the album with measured flair. Skewed and fervent, rangy at times yet always assured in its intent Serve To Serve Again is long-legged leap for Vintage Crop into the delirious now. These songs strive to make sense of futility, they criticize the chain of command, question privilege and most importantly make you want more from life. Now all you have to do is turn up the volume! 180 gram, opaque white vinyl; edition of 500.

$23.00 IN STOCK

Less of Everything. The title of Es's first full-length LP could be interpreted as a manifesto pledge, an outright demand or a purely literal sonic descriptor of the London quartet's glacial form of punk rock music. This tension between intent and interpretation has been a fundamental element of the group's output from their formation. Es is Maria Cecilia Tedemalm (vocals), Katy Cotterell (bass), Tamsin M. Leach (drums), and Flora Watters (keyboards). Their 2016 debut EP, Object Relations, released on influential London punk label La Vida Es Un Mus, was described as 'mutant synth-punk for our dystopian present' (Jess Skolnik, Bandcamp, Pitchfork). The band has since become a vital presence in London's underground DIY music scene, as well as having toured the UK with the Thurston Moore Group in 2017. After a period with members split between Glasgow and London, Es recorded Less of Everything with Lindsay Corstorphine (Sauna Youth, Primitive Parts) in Tottenham in 2019. As in Object Relations, the dynamic between Cotterell's bass and Watters's keyboard is at the heart of Less of Everything's sound: intertwining sub-zero melodies, gothic anarcho-punk influences (think Kukl, Malaria, X-Mal Deutschland) and some kind of entirely unlocatable aquatic component. When combined with Murray Leach's precise drumming, the outcome is original and immediately recognizable. Es are a group who know how to leave space, how to strive for minimalism without sacrificing aggression or dynamism. This dynamic provides the perfect backdrop for Tedemalm's relentless, pointed vocal style. While comparable 'cold' sounding groups might affect an impersonal, safer mode of lyrical or vocal detachment, Tedemalm's strategy is to 'push the lyrics as far as I can thematically until they become absurd -- overly dramatic ... while still being sincere in the feeling they're trying to invoke. I try to apply as much emotion as I can.' The result is something intense but nuanced, confrontational but complex." --Owen Williams, 2020 180 gram, transparent vinyl; edition of 500.

$21.00 LOW STOCK LEVEL

Primo are a quartet from Melbourne writing up-tempo, terse, chorus-and-verse with two guitars, bass, drums, and a shared group vocal sensibility to adorn their enquiries into deconstructed punk. Their songs chime and charm, sounding at times bountiful, at others brittle, always buoyant with attention to detail. Primo songs are inquisitive, chasing down questions for answers hurrying away, amidst minimalist shuffle beats and ringing-out chords. The group's debut album Amici (2018) was a triumph of the underplayed, its small details pulling focus, allowing the album to treat you to unexpected truths in plain sight. Primo's newest member since Amici was recorded is Amy Hill, who also plays in Terry and Constant Mongrel, on bass. Outside of Primo, Xanthe and Violetta both have lent their guitar skills to Terry and The Shifters respectively, whilst Suzanne works in film. 2020 sees Primo return with their second album of prudent delights entitled Sogni, from the Italian for "dreams". Using the same musical lexicon and internal logic developed through their debut, Sogni reflects on themes of decision-making, change, time, heartbreak, the practicalities of work and daily life. The songs came together as a way of making sense of the times -- offering a way through. Tracks were demo-ed quickly by early 2019, then developed collectively through the year in the rehearsal room, played live and finally recorded onto eight-track in late 2019 by Al Montfort in a number of home studios across Melbourne. Vocal duties were largely shared throughout the record, which has the same post punk sensibility and minimal approach as in previous recordings, but here imbued now with electronic flourishes and expanded instrumentation that sees Primo's sound growing bolder. Sogni will be released through Upset the Rhythm. Primo's sound has been likened to Young Marble Giants and Flying Nun bands.

$23.00 NOT IN STOCK

LP version. Orange vinyl. Primo are a quartet from Melbourne writing up-tempo, terse, chorus-and-verse with two guitars, bass, drums, and a shared group vocal sensibility to adorn their enquiries into deconstructed punk. Their songs chime and charm, sounding at times bountiful, at others brittle, always buoyant with attention to detail. Primo songs are inquisitive, chasing down questions for answers hurrying away, amidst minimalist shuffle beats and ringing-out chords. The group's debut album Amici (2018) was a triumph of the underplayed, its small details pulling focus, allowing the album to treat you to unexpected truths in plain sight. Primo's newest member since Amici was recorded is Amy Hill, who also plays in Terry and Constant Mongrel, on bass. Outside of Primo, Xanthe and Violetta both have lent their guitar skills to Terry and The Shifters respectively, whilst Suzanne works in film. 2020 sees Primo return with their second album of prudent delights entitled Sogni, from the Italian for "dreams". Using the same musical lexicon and internal logic developed through their debut, Sogni reflects on themes of decision-making, change, time, heartbreak, the practicalities of work and daily life. The songs came together as a way of making sense of the times -- offering a way through. Tracks were demo-ed quickly by early 2019, then developed collectively through the year in the rehearsal room, played live and finally recorded onto eight-track in late 2019 by Al Montfort in a number of home studios across Melbourne. Vocal duties were largely shared throughout the record, which has the same post punk sensibility and minimal approach as in previous recordings, but here imbued now with electronic flourishes and expanded instrumentation that sees Primo's sound growing bolder. Sogni will be released through Upset the Rhythm. Primo's sound has been likened to Young Marble Giants and Flying Nun bands.

$14.00 IN STOCK

Incorporating a diverse range of influences, from samba to no wave, Handle, a three-piece from Manchester (now based between Manchester/London/Brussels) made up of Giulio Erasmus and Nirvana Heire, former members of D.U.D.S (the first British band to sign to Castle Face) and Leo Hermitt, a genderqueer multidisciplinary artist renowned for their challenging, thought-provoking work in the city's arts and literary scenes. The group mesh politics with a trans experience of time and a vibrant, avant-garde freedom of approach. Handle make a uniquely minimal sound, buoyed by poetic, urgent vocals. Each instrument (bass, drums, keyboard and voice) is permitted its own space, yet somehow the result is a brilliantly unified yet understated sonic experience that demands then commands your attention. Powered by looping, hypnotic synth lines, quaking flexes of bass, clattering tribal percussion and expeditious, often agitated vocals that cordially sprint, Handle's songs -- all of which clock in around the two-minute mark -- owe as much to performance poetry as they do to the vibrancy of post-punk and new wave. In these times of anxiety and confusion, Handle provide a much-needed dose of musical catharsis, albeit disorientating at times, pre-empting sense from the shards of sound they gather about themselves. "Life's Work" begins with isolated swells of pitch before driving full throttle into an exuberant rhythmic workout. "Sunday Morning" shares this elasticated feel for melody and communication, twisting about itself in rubbery fashion. "Coagulate" is more disembodied from the pulse, but similarly retains a boldness of vision. "Step By Step" showcases what Handle excel at, it's a clangorous leviathan of beat-forward dance punk, peppered with Leo's fluid vocal inertia. It's dizzying yet divinely exuberant. "Punctured Time" evokes the same cascading flow "Punctured time, bicycle wheel, what if I told you that your lips were like venus, lips were like what? Lips were like venus and that my tongue was a trampoline?" sings Leo amid undulating bass, toppling drums and jabs of keyboard ambience. Handle make music occupied by dark shapes that move beneath a roiling surface: jolting, shattering, cracking, smoothed, bounded, punctuated. Handle's debut album In Threes is a collection of frenetic sounds for frenzied forms. In Threes was recorded and mixed by Robin Williams and follows on from the band's previous EP Demonstrations (2018), released through their own imprint Absolute Fiction.

$21.00 IN STOCK

LP version, edition of 500 on 180g vinyl. Incorporating a diverse range of influences, from samba to no wave, Handle, a three-piece from Manchester (now based between Manchester/London/Brussels) made up of Giulio Erasmus and Nirvana Heire, former members of D.U.D.S (the first British band to sign to Castle Face) and Leo Hermitt, a genderqueer multidisciplinary artist renowned for their challenging, thought-provoking work in the city's arts and literary scenes. The group mesh politics with a trans experience of time and a vibrant, avant-garde freedom of approach. Handle make a uniquely minimal sound, buoyed by poetic, urgent vocals. Each instrument (bass, drums, keyboard and voice) is permitted its own space, yet somehow the result is a brilliantly unified yet understated sonic experience that demands then commands your attention. Powered by looping, hypnotic synth lines, quaking flexes of bass, clattering tribal percussion and expeditious, often agitated vocals that cordially sprint, Handle's songs -- all of which clock in around the two-minute mark -- owe as much to performance poetry as they do to the vibrancy of post-punk and new wave. In these times of anxiety and confusion, Handle provide a much-needed dose of musical catharsis, albeit disorientating at times, pre-empting sense from the shards of sound they gather about themselves. "Life's Work" begins with isolated swells of pitch before driving full throttle into an exuberant rhythmic workout. "Sunday Morning" shares this elasticated feel for melody and communication, twisting about itself in rubbery fashion. "Coagulate" is more disembodied from the pulse, but similarly retains a boldness of vision. "Step By Step" showcases what Handle excel at, it's a clangorous leviathan of beat-forward dance punk, peppered with Leo's fluid vocal inertia. It's dizzying yet divinely exuberant. "Punctured Time" evokes the same cascading flow "Punctured time, bicycle wheel, what if I told you that your lips were like venus, lips were like what? Lips were like venus and that my tongue was a trampoline?" sings Leo amid undulating bass, toppling drums and jabs of keyboard ambience. Handle make music occupied by dark shapes that move beneath a roiling surface: jolting, shattering, cracking, smoothed, bounded, punctuated. Handle's debut album In Threes is a collection of frenetic sounds for frenzied forms. In Threes was recorded and mixed by Robin Williams and follows on from the band's previous EP Demonstrations (2018), released through their own imprint Absolute Fiction.

$23.00 NOT IN STOCK

180 gram, clear vinyl; edition of 300. Trash Kit are Rachel Aggs (guitar, vocals), Rachel Horwood (drums, vocals), and Gill Partington (bass). Three deeply creative individuals who play in a multitude of other groups including Bas Jan, Sacred Paws, Shopping, and Bamboo. Although Trash Kit have their forebears in bands like Sleater-Kinney, The Ex, and The Raincoats, their sound is still very much their own take on facing forwards and relies as much on the naturalism of an internalized folk music as on their sincerity of vision. For Horizon, carefully crafted through years of playing out live, the band have chased down the distance between what they wanted the record to sound like and its realization. They've augmented these songs with choral arrangements, piano, saxophone, harp, viola, and cello. Horizon finds itself full of themes, especially the notion of looking to the future. "Coasting", which opens the album, is concerned with "the end of the world and also the afterlife" and was written after Aggs read The Parable of the Sower (1993) by the Afro futurist sci-fi writer Octavia Butler, a novel set in an apocalyptic California and featuring a protagonist in search of change and renewal. "Sunset" draws on similar themes of ending and salvation, and proves equally ruminative. "Dislocate" on the other hand is an upbeat sprint of spinning guitar and piano riffs showcasing both Rachels's overlapping vocal magnetism. "Horizon" is a sleeping giant of a title track, forever reaching out and intensifying throughout its lively five-minute lesson in reinforcement. "Every Second" was written in the aftershock of Trash Kit's tour with The Ex on their big convoy anniversary tour. "See Through" sounds pointed and surly, urging you to "transcend, break down" outdated categories and patterns of thought that only restrict. Partington's bassline plummets heavily to hammer this home, making it one of the most affecting songs from the album. Meanwhile "Get Out of Bed" deals with "being an overachiever and the struggle to overcome self-doubt, get motivated, never feeling like you've done enough" Aggs admits. A strong undercurrent throughout Horizon concerns itself with the freeing up of power to make your own definitions, in this case how you can decide what truly makes you feel like you've achieved something.

$22.00 NOT IN STOCK

Kaputt are a recently hatched post punk act from Glasgow, Scotland. Numbering six, Kaputt feature Simone Wilson and Cal Donnelly on guitars and vocals, Chrissy Barnacle also sings and plays saxophone. Tobias Carmichael is responsible for bass, whilst Rikki Will and Emma Smith cover drums and percussion respectively. Racing away from the playful torn edge of no-wave song, Kaputt blurt out tracks with twitchy charisma, their catchy riffs circle with relish, allowing timely sax stonks and stop-start rhythms to drive things on. Vocals leap, guitars bluster and always the saxophone snakes, hypnotically drawn through the erratic beat. The songs on Carnage Hall, Kaputt's debut album released by Upset The Rhythm, were all written in Glasgow between 2016-2018. Following on from the independence referendum and the subsequent Brexit vote these songs couldn't help but be influenced by the maelstrom of political hypocrisy and confusion in the air. Other themes prevalent on this energetic corkscrew of an album include the offbeat happenchance of life in 2019, notions of surveillance, identity (personal as well as the biscuit-tin styled persona of the Scottish Highlands), industrialization, and family. Title track "Carnage Hall" is about an alternative dimension in which Judy Garland's famous Carnegie Hall show, (one of the group's favorite albums), was a total bust rather than the roaring success it proved to be. "Rats" is a crumpled twist of song -- explosive, ruminative, and content to bemuse with a loose political allegory drawn out from a dank pet shop. "Accordion" lilts with more breezy tendency. Kaputt excel at fidgety, speedy outpourings of ideas, their songs zap by, multifaceted and bejeweled with detail and color. "Parsonage Square" is a great example of this, it's a song about public access, panopticons, and paranoia hurtled into a motley rip of melody. Meanwhile, "Suspectette" concerns itself with Mary Weiss of The Shangri-Las' FBI file. "Think About Your Face" investigates those certain grimaces made in passionate embrace. "Highlight" is an grade-A anthem doubling up as an eulogy for shipbuilding, "Drinking Problems Continue" parts 1 and 2 are about Ullapool and generational holidays spent watching "sun set on the ferry". Carnage Hall is an empathic album dealing with memory and place, but most importantly with people. Recorded and mixed by Luigi Pasquini in Anchor Lane Studios in Glasgow in spring 2019, before being mastered this summer by John Hannon at No Studios. 180 gram vinyl; edition of 400.

$23.00 IN STOCK

Robert Sotelo is a cosmic pop melodist; a heartfelt multi-instrumentalist whose direct songs are curiously affecting. His debut album Cusp from 2017 (UTR 098LP) was packed with miniature psych overtures and earnest musings, he then followed this up in 2018 with an album called Botanical, more keyboard-minded and playful with its near-absurdist palette of sound and reflective mood. Upset The Rhythm release Sotelo's third album Infinite Sprawling, his first record since relocating from London to Glasgow and partly inspired by his new city's inclusive and collaborative musical world. Sotelo has always excelled at matching up the prosaic with the profound and on Infinite Sprawling he does this with aplomb. A collection of casual revelations, lifted out of the mundane, are explored throughout the album's ten sprightly tracks. "Something Besides" opens the record in blithe reverie, nodding over a country-twang guitar. "Mister" follows in lively attitude, splintering with spidery bursts of fuzz. Through a lyrical list of items in the breezy tumble of a song called "Battery" where Sotelo muses on the anxieties inherent in forging a new social life when you move city. A similar theme carried by "The Set Up" which deals with discovering his new neighbors' tropes, the track strolls into the sun with an echoed refrain. "Roof" and "In The Style Of" also boast this analytic quality, making sense of the world through its small things first, both unabashedly melodic with blushes of tremolo blushes and inventive arrangements. The title track refers to Sotelo's final trip to Buenos Aires as a regular excursion to visit his mother, it's a farewell to the city and makes for an interesting counterpoint to the other songs' new starts. "Piece Of Cake" meanwhile is a more brooding effort, essentially a contemplation on lacking culinary skill. Twisty wah guitar lines tag along with Sotelo's vocal, each tugging at the sleeve of the other, while tambourines and keyboard pulses resound over the clicky drum accents. This keenly robust album of new beginnings and strategies for living is quietly drawn to a close with "Message Of Beauty", a relaxed ballad of drowsy farewells, swoons of violin and swirled clouds of organ drone. Infinite Sprawling is an album born out of new friendships, in a new country and for all its feet-finding sounds confident and emphatically considered. Recorded with Ruari MacLean (of Vital Idles, Golden Grrrls) and Edwin Stevens (Irma Vep, Yerba Mansa) at their home studio Namaste Sound. 180 gram dark-green vinyl; reverse-board sleeve with lyric insert; edition of 300.