UPSET THE RHYTHM - Forced Exposure

$39.50 IN STOCK

Finally back on vinyl, this time a limited pressing on 180 gram white vinyl. More Wealth Than Money by Normil Hawaiians quickly sold out upon Upset The Rhythm's release in 2017. More Wealth Than Money proved a vastly ambitious debut album, sprawling across four sides of vinyl in a way that still feels truly expansive, brave, cinematic even. From the plaintive pastoralism of "British Warm" to the transcendental vistas of "Other Ways Of Knowing", the album constantly surprises with its ringing trails of guitar, motorik pulse, and synth rambles. From the striving incursion of "Sally IV" to the softly spoken disbelief of "Yellow Rain" the album is nothing short of a waking dream. Guy Smith's vocal floats through the album in a haunting manner, at times heartfelt at others overcome. He's on a quest to his own celestial city and you can stay for the whole journey if you only listen. Described by the press upon its release in 1982 as an "absolutely mesmerizing double album travelling through progressive rock, via industrial folk to freaky art-punk whilst sounding delightfully coherent" and "a huge slab of mind-blowing dark psychedelia" the album was critically acknowledged for its peculiarly British kosmische. However, for an album so indebted to the fertile soil from which it sprang, it's curious that More Wealth Than Money never came out officially in the UK. The band's label Illuminated were temporarily blacklisted by their distributor because of unpaid debts and so the album was only available from the band at concerts within the UK. The bulk of the record's sales went to mainland Europe on export. Includes booklet full of anecdotes and photos from all band members. Includes download card with bonus material not included on double-LP vinyl; edition of 500. "A killer slice of freeform raging post-punk" --The Quietus.

$11.00 IN STOCK

What's Terry been up to? Five years on from their last album, I'm Terry (UTR 111CD/LP/Y-LP, 2018), the Australian post-punk quartet proudly present their new record, Call Me Terry. Terry is made up of pairs Amy Hill and Al Montfort, and Xanthe Waite and Zephyr Pavey who started playing together for the fun of it in 2016. Seven years, four albums and three EPs later, Terry is ready to pick up the phone again. Over the past few years Terry have kept themselves busy -- but not only with Terry things. On top of numerous releases with alternating side projects (Constant Mongrel, The UV Race, Primo!, Sleeper & Snake, Chateau, Rocky, etc.) members of Terry have moved interstate, undertaken studies, had children and started new fields of work. Terry began sharing the demos for Call Me Terry online with each other in 2020 before getting together in 2021 at their trusty rehearsal space to record the beds. Overdubs were completed at Terry's homes over the following year. Lyrically, in true Terry fashion, the record wastes no time in scrutinizing Australia's corrupt, colonial history. Musically, Call Me Terry still has the classic Terry sound; the four vocals singing as one gang, sharp guitars and quirky, burbling synths, the rolling bass and drums, all amidst their clever, dancey pop songs. Since day dot it's been hard to reference a band that really sounds like Terry, which is always amazing.

$22.50 IN STOCK

Less of Everything was released in 2020 on Upset The Rhythm and sold out quickly. Limited repress on sun yellow vinyl sees the album finally available on vinyl again. 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" (Jes 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.

$9.50 IN STOCK

If Es's debut album for Upset the Rhythm explored the "tension between intent and interpretation", the London group's 2023 EP, Fantasy, constructs a coda for resistance against the distorted gaze. A four-track contact-high anxiety amid fact and facsimile, the new release attempts to define a sound that still resonates in an increasingly confused public theatre, where cerebral dreams manifest in corrupt fascination. Echoing the legendary Pylon or the later, disco-inspired releases from PIL, tracks like "Emergency" and "Unreal" blend the band's established disjunctive style of gothic restlessness with brighter, poppy, and danceable tones. These stylistically unwind in transition with the increasingly claustrophobic pieces like "Too Late" and "Swallowed Whole", syncopating a parallel design of the frantic and the fashionable. Paired with a lyrical intricacy which emits a desire to break the fetish of false representation, "Fantasy" is a reminder that worthy punk records, like any manifesto of neurotic suspicion, balance testimonial, speculative-fiction, and social critique. Indebted to the past but pointed sharply to the future, Es deconstruct our modern wreckage of personhood and self-deceit, granting a sense of solidarity inside alienation. Inside Fantasy you can visualize your own estrangement, and it is only when this mirror fades that we find the tools to fight back. 180 gram, curacao color vinyl.

$22.50 LOW STOCK LEVEL

LP version. 180 gram vinyl; edition of 500. What's Terry been up to? Five years on from their last album, I'm Terry (UTR 111CD/LP/Y-LP, 2018), the Australian post-punk quartet proudly present their new record, Call Me Terry. Terry is made up of pairs Amy Hill and Al Montfort, and Xanthe Waite and Zephyr Pavey who started playing together for the fun of it in 2016. Seven years, four albums and three EPs later, Terry is ready to pick up the phone again. Over the past few years Terry have kept themselves busy -- but not only with Terry things. On top of numerous releases with alternating side projects (Constant Mongrel, The UV Race, Primo!, Sleeper & Snake, Chateau, Rocky, etc.) members of Terry have moved interstate, undertaken studies, had children and started new fields of work. Terry began sharing the demos for Call Me Terry online with each other in 2020 before getting together in 2021 at their trusty rehearsal space to record the beds. Overdubs were completed at Terry's homes over the following year. Lyrically, in true Terry fashion, the record wastes no time in scrutinizing Australia's corrupt, colonial history. Musically, Call Me Terry still has the classic Terry sound; the four vocals singing as one gang, sharp guitars and quirky, burbling synths, the rolling bass and drums, all amidst their clever, dancey pop songs. Since day dot it's been hard to reference a band that really sounds like Terry, which is always amazing.

$24.00 IN STOCK

LP version. Red. 180 gram vinyl; edition of 500. What's Terry been up to? Five years on from their last album, I'm Terry (UTR 111CD/LP/Y-LP, 2018), the Australian post-punk quartet proudly present their new record, Call Me Terry. Terry is made up of pairs Amy Hill and Al Montfort, and Xanthe Waite and Zephyr Pavey who started playing together for the fun of it in 2016. Seven years, four albums and three EPs later, Terry is ready to pick up the phone again. Over the past few years Terry have kept themselves busy -- but not only with Terry things. On top of numerous releases with alternating side projects (Constant Mongrel, The UV Race, Primo!, Sleeper & Snake, Chateau, Rocky, etc.) members of Terry have moved interstate, undertaken studies, had children and started new fields of work. Terry began sharing the demos for Call Me Terry online with each other in 2020 before getting together in 2021 at their trusty rehearsal space to record the beds. Overdubs were completed at Terry's homes over the following year. Lyrically, in true Terry fashion, the record wastes no time in scrutinizing Australia's corrupt, colonial history. Musically, Call Me Terry still has the classic Terry sound; the four vocals singing as one gang, sharp guitars and quirky, burbling synths, the rolling bass and drums, all amidst their clever, dancey pop songs. Since day dot it's been hard to reference a band that really sounds like Terry, which is always amazing.

$21.50 IN STOCK

Historically Fucked is a four-way entanglement made to create short, eruptive songs and then set about obliterating them from the inside, like improvising a barrel to encase themselves in and then proceeding to lick their way out of it. It is about playing and laughing at playing, and it is about not doing either of those things sometimes. Sometimes it is to do with talking, howling or grunting, and sometimes it is to do with hitting and rubbing. Historically Fucked contains four people, who each share the same duties, and whose names in sequence are Otto Willberg, David Birchall, Greta Buitkuté, and Alecs Pierce. They are from Manchester and often other places. Guitar, bass, drums, and voices keenly jostle amid the group's frenzy of spontaneous rock throttles. Some of these rampant exercises in avant are collected on The Mule Peasants' Revolt of 12,067, the band's new album, released by Upset The Rhythm. This is the group's first release since 2018's mantlepiece staple Aliven Wool (Heavy Petting). This is Rock and/or Roll as fertilizer, uncivilized and free, as if one were to imagine what the Plastic Ono Band would've hit upon if they had read Riddley Walker (1980), the sound of an entire timeline of expression put back together back-to-front, misshapen and irradiated. The Mule Peasants' Revolt of 12,067 is not mere sedentary rock but blasted basalt, frog worshipping cave-funk, harmolodic hullabaloo-wop, a musical game of "badger in the bag". It is the sound of sacks crammed full of aggregate, a chimerical mind-meld, a seductive din that is to a hound dog in blue suede shoes what a raking of the dorsal fin with a fat marrow pinecone is to a pelican in the midst of being fired from the academy. The Mule Peasants' Revolt of 12,067 by Historically Fucked was recorded by Rory Salter, mixed by Otto Willberg, and mastered by Mikey Young. Artwork painted by John Cobweaver. "They say these days that History is Fucked. Nothing ever dies but continues to rule the earth as an undead tyrant that cannot accept its own decomposition, look earwardly upon the dance of the proudly dead and decrepit!" --Vymethoxy Redspiders, Leeds 2022

$20.50 IN STOCK

Shake Chain have been busy demolishing audiences and expectations for the best part of three years. Vocalist Kate Mahony sets that standard by starting each live performance by crawling from the back of the room through a disbelieving crowd's legs in a shiny yellow raincoat. The resulting questions that frantically arise of "what's going on?", "am I hallucinating?", and "is this part of the show?" are hallmarks of how Shake Chain approach making their unruly, lyric-bespattered rock music. The four-piece from London are completed by Robert Syres (guitar, synth), Chris Hopkins (bass, synth), and Joe Fergey (drums), all artists hailing from Goldsmiths College, Nottingham Trent and Wimbledon, University of the Arts. A mutual love of thought-provoking performance art and a yearning for disruption have helped Shake Chain lock into their wayward sound. Twitchy guitar lines jolt and jerk, synths burble noisily and tack-sharp drums pin things down for Kate's reeling vocal to vault and slur. Kate's singing has drawn comparisons with Yoko Ono, Su Tissue, and even a seance with its unique embrace of flights of atonal fancy, head-first repetition and ecstatic frenzy. Opinion-dividing arguably, but singular in making Shake Chain dauntingly brilliant. Shake Chain's self-titled debut album was recorded in the New Forest's Chuckalumba Studios early in 2022. The tranquil setting only slightly skewed by the intense extratropical cyclone occurring outside. When asked to sum up the album the group collectively settled on it sounding like "crying in a Catholic sex dungeon with Eastenders on", perhaps only half tongue in cheek given the soapy dramatics of opening track "Stace". "RU" is a stompy triumph of ad lib monotony, heavy and wonky, its vocal slowly unwinding into residual sense. Shake Chain's songs are populated with cowboys, cherry-pickers, content-addicts, private investments, a careless driver called Mike, architects and by much lamentation at the state of our confusing existences. This last point underlined in luminous marker pen with slow-building vortex "Highly Conceptual" and whispered closer "Duck". "Copy Me" races along with radiant headbangs of dynamic abandon, one part tumble, two parts pummel, "hold your breath til something changes" commands Kate whilst everything of course is in hammering flux. "Second Home" is similarly coruscating yet buoyant, whilst "Arthur" feels like it could tear inside in two amid sobbing wails and the twining of its disparate parts. Throughout all the unhinged freakouts, found sounds and blasting rhythms though is Kate's questioning, resilient presence, anchoring everything. Shake Chain are cathartic and absurd, humorous and deadly serious yet always inspired.

$13.50 IN STOCK

Geelong, Melbourne's favorite sons Vintage Crop return with their much-anticipated fourth album, Kibitzer. Running with the ball that 2020's Serve To Serve Again (UTR 131B-LP/LP) punted forward, this album marks another energetic break towards the goal for Vintage Crop. Kibitzer sees the band define their field of play, more melodic at times, still bruising, forever droll. These ten tracks of "snappy as elastic" Australian punk are packed with tensile riffage, hefty beats and witty refrains of everyman curiosity. Kibitzer was written in quick response to their critically lauded Serve To Serve Again album. Harsh guitars, a brutish rhythm section and a knack for always having the right words at hand are still abundant, but this time Vintage Crop's songs expand upon their forceful nature with greater harmonic arrangement. Kibitzer delves into themes of identity, resilience and acceptance; some of the more upbeat notions that the band have dealt with to date. "Casting Calls" opens the record, slamming through the speakers with gusto and setting the tone for the following 30 minutes. Accepting your limitations and taking pride in your work are key themes on Kibitzer. In fact ideas around learning, growing and being able to take things in your stride are strongly felt through their entire body of work. These themes hit home with the album's title too, with Cherry feeling that 'Kibitzer' is an apt way to describe a lot of the band's focus. Musically the band have expanded their palette on this album; exploring a world of rhythmic harmony and a newfound vocal melodicism. There's also greater lyrical elaboration and considered song structures at play. "The Duke" is a mob of rollicking chants and heavy hitting, catchy to the core. "The Bloody War" is a more sanguine reflection of tumbling drums, struck chords and shrill keyboard warble. "Hold The Line" turns the wry amusement of dealing with cold callers into a fidgety anthem of knowing frustration. Whilst "Switched Of" even welcomes the introduction of horns (courtesy of Heidi Peel) to the group's repertoire, ushering in an unexpected serenity into their tough sound. Mixed and mastered by Mikey Young.

$23.50 IN STOCK

LP version. Geelong, Melbourne's favorite sons Vintage Crop return with their much-anticipated fourth album, Kibitzer. Running with the ball that 2020's Serve To Serve Again (UTR 131B-LP/LP) punted forward, this album marks another energetic break towards the goal for Vintage Crop. Kibitzer sees the band define their field of play, more melodic at times, still bruising, forever droll. These ten tracks of "snappy as elastic" Australian punk are packed with tensile riffage, hefty beats and witty refrains of everyman curiosity. Kibitzer was written in quick response to their critically lauded Serve To Serve Again album. Harsh guitars, a brutish rhythm section and a knack for always having the right words at hand are still abundant, but this time Vintage Crop's songs expand upon their forceful nature with greater harmonic arrangement. Kibitzer delves into themes of identity, resilience and acceptance; some of the more upbeat notions that the band have dealt with to date. "Casting Calls" opens the record, slamming through the speakers with gusto and setting the tone for the following 30 minutes. Accepting your limitations and taking pride in your work are key themes on Kibitzer. In fact ideas around learning, growing and being able to take things in your stride are strongly felt through their entire body of work. These themes hit home with the album's title too, with Cherry feeling that 'Kibitzer' is an apt way to describe a lot of the band's focus. Musically the band have expanded their palette on this album; exploring a world of rhythmic harmony and a newfound vocal melodicism. There's also greater lyrical elaboration and considered song structures at play. "The Duke" is a mob of rollicking chants and heavy hitting, catchy to the core. "The Bloody War" is a more sanguine reflection of tumbling drums, struck chords and shrill keyboard warble. "Hold The Line" turns the wry amusement of dealing with cold callers into a fidgety anthem of knowing frustration. Whilst "Switched Of" even welcomes the introduction of horns (courtesy of Heidi Peel) to the group's repertoire, ushering in an unexpected serenity into their tough sound. Mixed and mastered by Mikey Young.

$25.00 IN STOCK

LP version. Sky blue vinyl. Geelong, Melbourne's favorite sons Vintage Crop return with their much-anticipated fourth album, Kibitzer. Running with the ball that 2020's Serve To Serve Again (UTR 131B-LP/LP) punted forward, this album marks another energetic break towards the goal for Vintage Crop. Kibitzer sees the band define their field of play, more melodic at times, still bruising, forever droll. These ten tracks of "snappy as elastic" Australian punk are packed with tensile riffage, hefty beats and witty refrains of everyman curiosity. Kibitzer was written in quick response to their critically lauded Serve To Serve Again album. Harsh guitars, a brutish rhythm section and a knack for always having the right words at hand are still abundant, but this time Vintage Crop's songs expand upon their forceful nature with greater harmonic arrangement. Kibitzer delves into themes of identity, resilience and acceptance; some of the more upbeat notions that the band have dealt with to date. "Casting Calls" opens the record, slamming through the speakers with gusto and setting the tone for the following 30 minutes. Accepting your limitations and taking pride in your work are key themes on Kibitzer. In fact ideas around learning, growing and being able to take things in your stride are strongly felt through their entire body of work. These themes hit home with the album's title too, with Cherry feeling that 'Kibitzer' is an apt way to describe a lot of the band's focus. Musically the band have expanded their palette on this album; exploring a world of rhythmic harmony and a newfound vocal melodicism. There's also greater lyrical elaboration and considered song structures at play. "The Duke" is a mob of rollicking chants and heavy hitting, catchy to the core. "The Bloody War" is a more sanguine reflection of tumbling drums, struck chords and shrill keyboard warble. "Hold The Line" turns the wry amusement of dealing with cold callers into a fidgety anthem of knowing frustration. Whilst "Switched Of" even welcomes the introduction of horns (courtesy of Heidi Peel) to the group's repertoire, ushering in an unexpected serenity into their tough sound. Mixed and mastered by Mikey Young.

$25.00 IN STOCK

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.

$18.00 LOW STOCK LEVEL

"Clean Current" nods its head to likes of Snapper and '80s Flying Nun bands whilst "Repeats" owes its origins more to the progenitors of goth-rock. Naarm/Melbourne four-piece Screensaver is back with a double A-side 7" single just six-months after delivering their ten-track debut album Expressions Of Interest (UTR 141LP, 2021) on Upset the Rhythm (UK) and Heavy Machinery (AU) to positive international response. The album has also been a regular feature on Henry Rollin's KCRW Santa Monica radio show. The band return with two distinctly different tracks that extend upon the blend of post-punk, new wave, and synth-punk on their debut. Side A, "Clean Current" is a burst of high-energy: nervy guitars and groovy bass underpinned with krautrock drums and cosmic synth noise, overlayed with delay heavy vocals. "Repeats" is the flipside of the coin, a moody post-punk stomper, led by gritty sawtooth synth, chorus-soaked guitar, textural percussion, and soaring vocals. Lyrically, "Clean Current" spits out retorts aimed at the engulfing nature of anxiety whilst "Repeats" critiques the repetition of modern life, languishing human existence. Limited edition fluoro yellow vinyl.

$25.50 IN STOCK

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.

$25.00 LOW STOCK LEVEL

Nicfit are a four-piece punk band from Nagoya, Japan. Comprising Hiromi on vocals, Charley on guitar, KenKen on bass, and Kuwayama on drums the group are by turns melodic and menacing. Nicfit are a nervous itch, incessant and impossible to predict. They flip between head-down tumbles of hardcore bounce and freaked feedback clamber with glee, sounding as casual as a slap in the face. Formed in 2009 after Charley relocated from San Diego to explore the Japanese punk underbelly, Nicfit bonded through a mutual appreciation of Essential Logic, Magazine, Black Flag, and Wire. They quickly recorded a demo and started opening for groups like DMBQ, Thee Oh Sees, Total Control, and Wimps. To date the band have released a debut 7" EP, a split cassette with Pinprick Punishment and most recently shared a 7" with their comrades M.A.Z.E. too. Now they've gathered a spiky new batch of hyperactive songs together into their enthralling debut LP entitled Fuse, which is released by Upset The Rhythm. Fuse is a flexing treat of a debut album, packed with browbeaten stomp, taut breakouts, guitars that sound more akin to warning sirens and an astute railing vocal delivery. Fuse was recorded, mixed and mastered at the Geru Studio in Toyota City with the help of Shigeru Matsui at the board. These ten original blasts of song, and one cover of the Urinals ("Ack, Ack, Ack") are as pummel-some as they are keen to race against the clock. Total life-affirming trample, with pointed metallic moments and glammy undercurrents that forever soar out of the sprawl.

$11.00 IN STOCK

New 7" from Scotland's avant-pop post-punks Buffet Lunch, following on from their well-received debut LP The Power of Rocks earlier in 2021 (UTR 133LP). Jayne Dent of Me Lost Me features on vocals too. A-side inside and B-side outside: this single is very loosely influenced by the collective experience of the long wait to be released; adding to the already exhausted canon of cultural covid artefacts. "Cheeks" is centered around the sub-bass of an old Italian organ and the honking sax of Iain McCall, telling the tale of a squashed individual. The over-zealous approach to layers hopefully adds to the feeling of claustrophobia and mundane delirium. If "Cheeks" is the wind up, "Mild Weather" is the release. An ode to the modern desire of one week in the sun, accepting that prize and returning back to the slog. Jayne's beautiful vocal provides the center-point to a Casio led symphony, with acoustic and electronic drums fighting for attention throughout. As is the current norm, these tracks were written and recorded remotely and in a couple of sessions in Edinburgh at the beginning of 2021. 180 gram vinyl; edition of 400.

$25.50 IN STOCK

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.

$14.00 IN STOCK

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 IN STOCK

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.

$14.00 IN STOCK

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.

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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.

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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.

$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.

$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.

$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.