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LP
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UTR 173LP
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$26.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 7/25/2025
LP version. Follow up to the critically acclaimed 2023 album RPG. Me Lost Me -- the project of Newcastle-based artist Jayne Dent -- delights in experimenting with songwriting, creating a beguiling mix of soaring vocals and atmospheric electronics that playfully push the boundaries of genre. On Me Lost Me's fourth full-length, This Material Moment, she has created an "emotionally raw" album, her most honest and vulnerable yet. Concerned with physicality, interpretations, and, yes, materiality, This Material Moment is an album akin to rummaging through a box of long-forgotten trinkets. With each song, Me Lost Me extracts something from the box and asks listeners to consider it from every angle. With the release of This Material Moment, Me Lost Me puts into practice the automatic writing techniques she developed during a workshop with Julia Holter, and in the process has spun her music in different directions that draws on poetry, psalms and using mesostic poems and phonetic translations to generate words. Whilst Jayne Dent's music as Me Lost Me has previously presented time stretching back and forwards in opposition, on This Material Moment she does away with linearity altogether, evoking rather than narrating, and presenting feelings, happenings and moods with no clear beginning or end point. Instead, each track on This Material Moment exists entirely in media res, adjacent to past and future, and instead sprawling across the endless now. This Material Moment was written and arranged solo, but played with a core band of John Pope on electric/double bass, Faye MacCalman on clarinet, and now with the addition of Ewan Mackenzie (Dextro/Pigs x7) on drums -- bringing in live drums and electric bass for the first time. The album was recorded by Sam Grant at Blank Studios in Newcastle, who also worked on RPG.
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CD
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UTR 173CD
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$13.50
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 7/25/2025
Follow up to the critically acclaimed 2023 album RPG. Me Lost Me -- the project of Newcastle-based artist Jayne Dent -- delights in experimenting with songwriting, creating a beguiling mix of soaring vocals and atmospheric electronics that playfully push the boundaries of genre. On Me Lost Me's fourth full-length, This Material Moment, she has created an "emotionally raw" album, her most honest and vulnerable yet. Concerned with physicality, interpretations, and, yes, materiality, This Material Moment is an album akin to rummaging through a box of long-forgotten trinkets. With each song, Me Lost Me extracts something from the box and asks listeners to consider it from every angle. With the release of This Material Moment, Me Lost Me puts into practice the automatic writing techniques she developed during a workshop with Julia Holter, and in the process has spun her music in different directions that draws on poetry, psalms and using mesostic poems and phonetic translations to generate words. Whilst Jayne Dent's music as Me Lost Me has previously presented time stretching back and forwards in opposition, on This Material Moment she does away with linearity altogether, evoking rather than narrating, and presenting feelings, happenings and moods with no clear beginning or end point. Instead, each track on This Material Moment exists entirely in media res, adjacent to past and future, and instead sprawling across the endless now. This Material Moment was written and arranged solo, but played with a core band of John Pope on electric/double bass, Faye MacCalman on clarinet, and now with the addition of Ewan Mackenzie (Dextro/Pigs x7) on drums -- bringing in live drums and electric bass for the first time. The album was recorded by Sam Grant at Blank Studios in Newcastle, who also worked on RPG.
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LP + BOOK
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UTR 171XB-LP
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$60.50
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 7/4/2025
Includes limited 150-page hand-printed softcover book. Scottish singer Quinie releases her third album Forefowk, Mind Me with Upset The Rhythm. The record is largely sung in Scots language, one of Scotland's three official languages along with Gaelic and English. Quinie sings with a style inspired by Scottish Traveller singers. "I began singing unaccompanied Scots Song in 2015 after hearing Scots Traveller singer Sheila Stewart on the radio. Initially I felt like I shouldn't sing these songs because I'm not a Traveller, and I saw people around me doing that in a way that made me uncomfortable. But on the other hand this music made sense to me and I felt driven to learn. Over the years I have met Traveller friends who taught me that settled people sharing these songs could contribute to raising awareness. Scottish Travellers are marginalized and discriminated against in modern Scotland, despite being custodians of so many of our important traditions. So I started to perform them and tell this story. From there I built on my repertoire and started writing my own songs." To develop this record, Quinie travelled across Argyll with her horse. They went on a pilgrimage of sorts through the ancient landscapes of the West of Scotland to explore the interconnected relationships between people, ancestors, animals, and place. The album's vinyl release is accompanied by a book and film, documenting this unusual research process. Forefowk, Mind Me was recorded in August 2024 at The Big Shed in Highland Perthshire with support from Creative Scotland. Quinie is accompanied by an ensemble of musicians: Ailbhe Nic Oireachtaigh (viola), Oliver Pitt (duduk, bouzouki, percussion), Harry Górski-Brown (small pipes, violin), and Stevie Jones (double bass, recording, and mixing). Each of these artists brings their own distinctive voice, bridging contemporary experimental practice with worlds of traditional and early music.
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LP
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UTR 171X-LP
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Black LP version with limited art print. Scottish singer Quinie releases her third album Forefowk, Mind Me with Upset The Rhythm. The record is largely sung in Scots language, one of Scotland's three official languages along with Gaelic and English. Quinie sings with a style inspired by Scottish Traveller singers. "I began singing unaccompanied Scots Song in 2015 after hearing Scots Traveller singer Sheila Stewart on the radio. Initially I felt like I shouldn't sing these songs because I'm not a Traveller, and I saw people around me doing that in a way that made me uncomfortable. But on the other hand this music made sense to me and I felt driven to learn. Over the years I have met Traveller friends who taught me that settled people sharing these songs could contribute to raising awareness. Scottish Travellers are marginalized and discriminated against in modern Scotland, despite being custodians of so many of our important traditions. So I started to perform them and tell this story. From there I built on my repertoire and started writing my own songs." To develop this record, Quinie travelled across Argyll with her horse. They went on a pilgrimage of sorts through the ancient landscapes of the West of Scotland to explore the interconnected relationships between people, ancestors, animals, and place. The album's vinyl release is accompanied by a book and film, documenting this unusual research process. Forefowk, Mind Me was recorded in August 2024 at The Big Shed in Highland Perthshire with support from Creative Scotland. Quinie is accompanied by an ensemble of musicians: Ailbhe Nic Oireachtaigh (viola), Oliver Pitt (duduk, bouzouki, percussion), Harry Górski-Brown (small pipes, violin), and Stevie Jones (double bass, recording, and mixing). Each of these artists brings their own distinctive voice, bridging contemporary experimental practice with worlds of traditional and early music.
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LP
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UTR 171LP
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Limited 180g black vinyl. Scottish singer Quinie releases her third album Forefowk, Mind Me with Upset The Rhythm. The record is largely sung in Scots language, one of Scotland's three official languages along with Gaelic and English. Quinie sings with a style inspired by Scottish Traveller singers. "I began singing unaccompanied Scots Song in 2015 after hearing Scots Traveller singer Sheila Stewart on the radio. Initially I felt like I shouldn't sing these songs because I'm not a Traveller, and I saw people around me doing that in a way that made me uncomfortable. But on the other hand this music made sense to me and I felt driven to learn. Over the years I have met Traveller friends who taught me that settled people sharing these songs could contribute to raising awareness. Scottish Travellers are marginalized and discriminated against in modern Scotland, despite being custodians of so many of our important traditions. So I started to perform them and tell this story. From there I built on my repertoire and started writing my own songs." To develop this record, Quinie travelled across Argyll with her horse. They went on a pilgrimage of sorts through the ancient landscapes of the West of Scotland to explore the interconnected relationships between people, ancestors, animals, and place. The album's vinyl release is accompanied by a book and film, documenting this unusual research process. Forefowk, Mind Me was recorded in August 2024 at The Big Shed in Highland Perthshire with support from Creative Scotland. Quinie is accompanied by an ensemble of musicians: Ailbhe Nic Oireachtaigh (viola), Oliver Pitt (duduk, bouzouki, percussion), Harry Górski-Brown (small pipes, violin), and Stevie Jones (double bass, recording, and mixing). Each of these artists brings their own distinctive voice, bridging contemporary experimental practice with worlds of traditional and early music.
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UTR 170LP
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Buffet Lunch have been a band since 2017. They are a pop group formed of musicians based in Glasgow, Edinburgh and (sometimes) Newcastle. Described previously as a band that creates "a hodgepodge of noises" who are "lyrically ridiculous." Both claims are strongly denied by the group. Buffet Lunch have released three EPs and two LPs since 2019, and six months after self-releasing For Display Purposes Only, they are back on Upset the Rhythm with their third album Perfect Hit! Perfect Hit! was recorded in the West Highlands, in the shadow of the UK's Biggest Ben, during Leap Year week 2024. George Horler (Holy Loaf) joined the band as recording engineer along with new members Matthew Lord and Jack Shearer plus founding members Perry O'Bray and Luke Moran, to spend a week writing and creating the record. The majority of the record was completed in the studio, with as much recorded "live" as possible. Most of the songs are new and only been played a few times live. Lyrically, the album contains more deliberately personal lyrics than previous records, with several songs addressing ancestry and becoming a parent. Elsewhere, the songs deal with thorny issues such as; identity and full face tattoos, hands, legs and a swordfish sighting, the importance of kindness, disgraced Presbyterian John Knox, a potentially disgraced sportsman featuring star turn from Beef Jerk front man Jack Randall Lee and historical consciousness via Wikipedia. Musically, the aim (as ever) was to make an album which is as fun to listen to as it was to make. These are mostly playful pop songs with a focus on melody and hooks. There are approximately 40% more guitar chords featured on Perfect Hit! than on previous records.
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LP
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UTR 172LP
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Two euphoric and crushing live sets from Vancouver Island's experimental rock demolition unit Earthball, featuring improv legends Steve Beresford and Chris Corsano. Pressing of 500 copies worldwide on 180gm black vinyl. Actual Earth Music: Volume 1 & 2 presents two caustic, yet alluringly unreal live sets from Canadian noise-rock entropy hunters Earthball. Following on from the group's critically appraised It's Yours LP (UTR 164LP, 2024), this release captures the band at the peak of their powers, playing live, composing spontaneously. Side A features Earthball live at The Fox Cabaret in Vancouver, supporting Wolf Eyes on August 4, 2023. Jeremy Van Wyck from the band considers this "the gig that sent us into orbit, really. Causing Olson & Young to wax poetic about our interstellar jams to a fine bloke across the big sea. Upsetting our casual rhythm and forcing our hand. All that talk led to an LP, It's Yours, and a full UK tour the following spring." Now, with the birth of this live series Actual Earth Music, it seems only fitting that Volume 1 should be this gig. It's a doozy. Listening back is a pure revelation. Earthball whip up a vortex of thrashing wild energy, the ecstatic release is off the charts. "You don't always catch every nuance of the jams as they come down. I mean, this one felt good, but upon listening back to the tapes, it sounded very good" confides Jeremy. "It reminded me of Von Trier's Melancholia: the sound of a large sphere coming toward you to bring doom. However, this one reverses course, heading away to some other shore, bathing you in reflective bliss before saying goodbye -- instead of ending humanity as we know it." Volume 2 occupies Side B of this LP, showcasing a collaborative summit from the second night of their recent Café OTO residency on May 21, 2024. This event featured Earthball laying down three separate sets -- all collaborations. This second recording presents their opening performance and features pivotal UK improv luminary Steve Beresford on piano and free-jazz phenomenon Chris Corsano on drums.
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CD
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UTR 169CD
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Nottingham duo Rattle's third album Encircle sees the duo expand their unique experiments in rhythm, meter and tension. Rattle are Katharine Eira Brown and Theresa Wrigley, formed in 2011 after meeting on the live circuit whilst both playing in other bands. Katharine was a guitarist who had recently started playing drums in the band Kogumaza, whilst Theresa was the drummer in Nottingham band Fists. Rattle have honed the four songs that make up Encircle by playing them live over the last few years, adapting and stretching them into endlessly inventive new shapes, playing with the concept of time and expectation. Encircle was recorded at Foel Studios, Wales, produced and mixed by Mark Jasper, and mastered at Liminal Audio by Shaun Crook. The stunningly colorful artwork was created by Martha Glazzard, who was also responsible for Rattle's other mesmeric covers. With Encircle Rattle have grown again, the songs alive with elemental power. They build-up and disintegrate, existing in two places at once, embracing the nuance, tracing the circle's edge. These are modes of song as pure gesture and eternal imagination, refined in mirrors after midnight. Rattle has performed at The Barbican, London and toured the UK with Animal Collective and Thurston Moore Group and Europe with The Julie Ruin and Protomartyr, and performed with Hot Snakes, Bill Orcutt Quartet, and Codeine. Also available on black (UTR 169LP) and pink color vinyl (UTR 169X-LP).
"Quietly dramatic and loudly intimate." --The Quietus
"Two drum sets. Two voices. One great idea." --MOJO
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LP
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UTR 169X-LP
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LP version. Pink color vinyl. Nottingham duo Rattle's third album Encircle sees the duo expand their unique experiments in rhythm, meter and tension. Rattle are Katharine Eira Brown and Theresa Wrigley, formed in 2011 after meeting on the live circuit whilst both playing in other bands. Katharine was a guitarist who had recently started playing drums in the band Kogumaza, whilst Theresa was the drummer in Nottingham band Fists. Rattle have honed the four songs that make up Encircle by playing them live over the last few years, adapting and stretching them into endlessly inventive new shapes, playing with the concept of time and expectation. Encircle was recorded at Foel Studios, Wales, produced and mixed by Mark Jasper, and mastered at Liminal Audio by Shaun Crook. The stunningly colorful artwork was created by Martha Glazzard, who was also responsible for Rattle's other mesmeric covers. With Encircle Rattle have grown again, the songs alive with elemental power. They build-up and disintegrate, existing in two places at once, embracing the nuance, tracing the circle's edge. These are modes of song as pure gesture and eternal imagination, refined in mirrors after midnight. Rattle has performed at The Barbican, London and toured the UK with Animal Collective and Thurston Moore Group and Europe with The Julie Ruin and Protomartyr, and performed with Hot Snakes, Bill Orcutt Quartet, and Codeine. Also available on CD (UTR 169CD) and black vinyl (UTR 169LP).
"Quietly dramatic and loudly intimate." --The Quietus
"Two drum sets. Two voices. One great idea." --MOJO
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LP
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UTR 169LP
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LP version. Nottingham duo Rattle's third album Encircle sees the duo expand their unique experiments in rhythm, meter and tension. Rattle are Katharine Eira Brown and Theresa Wrigley, formed in 2011 after meeting on the live circuit whilst both playing in other bands. Katharine was a guitarist who had recently started playing drums in the band Kogumaza, whilst Theresa was the drummer in Nottingham band Fists. Rattle have honed the four songs that make up Encircle by playing them live over the last few years, adapting and stretching them into endlessly inventive new shapes, playing with the concept of time and expectation. Encircle was recorded at Foel Studios, Wales, produced and mixed by Mark Jasper, and mastered at Liminal Audio by Shaun Crook. The stunningly colorful artwork was created by Martha Glazzard, who was also responsible for Rattle's other mesmeric covers. With Encircle Rattle have grown again, the songs alive with elemental power. They build-up and disintegrate, existing in two places at once, embracing the nuance, tracing the circle's edge. These are modes of song as pure gesture and eternal imagination, refined in mirrors after midnight. Rattle has performed at The Barbican, London and toured the UK with Animal Collective and Thurston Moore Group and Europe with The Julie Ruin and Protomartyr, and performed with Hot Snakes, Bill Orcutt Quartet, and Codeine. Also available on CD (UTR 169CD) and pink color vinyl (UTR 169X-LP).
"Quietly dramatic and loudly intimate." --The Quietus
"Two drum sets. Two voices. One great idea." --MOJO
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UTR 167LP
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Limited black bio-vinyl. 600 copies worldwide. Includes obi-strip and download card. The Green Child has grown into four people. Originally the recording project of Raven Mahon (furniture maker and member of Grass Widow, Rocky) and Mikey Young (recording engineer and band member of Total Control, Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Shutdown 66), The Green Child now boasts Shaun Gionis (of Boomgates) on drums and Alex Macfarlane (who runs the excellent label Hobbies Galore) on guitar and synths. This invigorated quartet from Naarm/Melbourne began writing the group's third album Look Familiar in 2023, working up demos in rehearsals, animated by having live drums present in their chameleonic sound. The Green Child still draws heavily on a refined psychedelic pop, with Raven's scenically measured vocal often shadowing the ebb and flow, but the energy of having four people in the room resulted in making the songs more upbeat.
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CD
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UTR 165CD
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Aesthetically, Ed Schrader's Music Beat hates to tread water. At the same time, the Baltimore-based two-piece of vocalist Ed Schrader and bassist Devlin Rice won't force their songs to fit a preconceived style. For Orchestra Hits, the band's latest, that alteration was welcoming longtime musical comrade Dylan Going into the fold as a co-writer and co-producer. A songwriter in his own right, a guitar sideman for ESMB on their last two tours, and a collaborator with Rice in the noise riffage band Mandate, Going had both a unique vision and an intimate familiarity with the ESMB vibe. The lack of external pressure in the process gives Orchestra Hits an almost paradoxical vibe. For all of the album's layers, that mix live and sequenced instruments, it never loses the raw energy of a small handful of friends in the same room plugging in, cranking up, and playing until they pass out. Lyrically, the album finds Schrader, now 45, meditating on experiences in their youth to make sense of the present moment. With percolating synthesizer arpeggios, and climbing bass grooves, "IDKS" is the album's dance-floor slapper. Lyrically, "IDKS" is a letter from the true self to public-facing self. "It's an angry song," Schrader said. "Because the public-facing self is always looking for an easy escape, but it forces the true self into a cage. I honestly thought my lyrics were corny and was about to change them, but Dylan was digging it just the way it was. So that's what you hear." With the soaring "Daylight Commander," the band went against all of their musty-basement-bred instincts. "I went full High School Musical with the vocals," Schrader said. "At first it felt almost embarrassing, but I remember reading somewhere that Bowie recommended always floating a little bit above your comfort zone, and that's what we did here." The song is part exercise in absurdity and part pop Trojan horse. "If ever we had a 'Shiny Happy People' moment, I guess this is it," Schrader said.
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LP
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UTR 165LP
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LP version. Aesthetically, Ed Schrader's Music Beat hates to tread water. At the same time, the Baltimore-based two-piece of vocalist Ed Schrader and bassist Devlin Rice won't force their songs to fit a preconceived style. For Orchestra Hits, the band's latest, that alteration was welcoming longtime musical comrade Dylan Going into the fold as a co-writer and co-producer. A songwriter in his own right, a guitar sideman for ESMB on their last two tours, and a collaborator with Rice in the noise riffage band Mandate, Going had both a unique vision and an intimate familiarity with the ESMB vibe. The lack of external pressure in the process gives Orchestra Hits an almost paradoxical vibe. For all of the album's layers, that mix live and sequenced instruments, it never loses the raw energy of a small handful of friends in the same room plugging in, cranking up, and playing until they pass out. Lyrically, the album finds Schrader, now 45, meditating on experiences in their youth to make sense of the present moment. With percolating synthesizer arpeggios, and climbing bass grooves, "IDKS" is the album's dance-floor slapper. Lyrically, "IDKS" is a letter from the true self to public-facing self. "It's an angry song," Schrader said. "Because the public-facing self is always looking for an easy escape, but it forces the true self into a cage. I honestly thought my lyrics were corny and was about to change them, but Dylan was digging it just the way it was. So that's what you hear." With the soaring "Daylight Commander," the band went against all of their musty-basement-bred instincts. "I went full High School Musical with the vocals," Schrader said. "At first it felt almost embarrassing, but I remember reading somewhere that Bowie recommended always floating a little bit above your comfort zone, and that's what we did here." The song is part exercise in absurdity and part pop Trojan horse. "If ever we had a 'Shiny Happy People' moment, I guess this is it," Schrader said.
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7"
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UTR 166EP
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Collaboration between DIY-pop grafter Robert Sotelo and Mary Currie (half of Flaming Tunes with Gareth Williams. Robert Sotelo is a bedroom pop songsmith who lives in Glasgow. Sotelo has released six albums since 2017, three of which came out on Upset The Rhythm. He also performs in Order of the Toad, Dancer, and Nightshift. Mary Currie is best known as half of touchstone DIY experimentalists Flaming Tunes, alongside Gareth Williams. Currie also performed in Officer! with Mick Hobbs amongst others. The Dream Songs 7" EP title captures the hazy, reflective nature of the music it also expounds on the origin of tracks. These four tracks flutter with a minimalist bass, drum machine and keys dynamic, allowing Sotelo and Currie's vocals to speak deeply into the back of your mind. "Expectations" is a pensive triumph of whirled moments and momentum with Currie's final words lending much gravity "the outcome of my days is always the same, a void that must be filled, a battle against time that drags us along; mutating, spinning, ebbing, flowing. Begin again, we work to give value to time." "Telegraph Hill" boasts a glossy fluidity, as it plays with images of motorways, ancient citadels, crows, paralysis and emanations. "Lady Fortune" meanwhile is a tranquil treatise on fate, imbued with finessed electronic embellishments and clarinet flourishes. You can't quite trust where these songs will take you, they feel particularly mercurial. Dreams indeed.
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UTR 163LP
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LP version. Empires into Sand is the first album of new material from Normil Hawaiians in 40 years. The group first refined their sound during the early '80s, hitting on a pastoral experimentalism that drew on ambient drone, motorik impulse and post-punk pep. Empires into Sand came together in the familiar manner of their original three albums, with improvisation and nuance informing the blueprint of the tracks. It was with the official release of this last record Return of the Ranters (originally recorded in 1984/85, but then unconsciously shelved) in 2015 by Upset The Rhythm that led to the group reconnecting with the intention of playing music together again. 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. Normil Hawaiians took their time to develop these threads at their own pace, allowing songs to mutate and settle over months. Simon Marchant deftly produced and recorded the album whilst also performing in the band, this marked the first time the band had total control of their own sound. Empires into Sand incorporates samples from old rehearsals and live music into the new finished pieces, this is in continuum with their previous records. Snippets of sound from the static of short-wave radio and satellite transmissions also embellish the work. In fact, the whole album is stitched together with interludes, creating an acutely immersive 45 minutes. The album's title is derived from a poem by band member Mark Tyler, who sadly passed away during the recording process and the transience of life is felt heavily throughout. Noel best coins the group's wish for the album: "We wanted to create an album that acknowledges our history and also reflects who we are today. We remained true to ourselves and we wanted to make something beautiful without removing the edges." Empires into Sand certainly does that, it's an echo from the past, an echo from the future. Featuring Rodney Relax.
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UTR 163CD
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Empires into Sand is the first album of new material from Normil Hawaiians in 40 years. The group first refined their sound during the early '80s, hitting on a pastoral experimentalism that drew on ambient drone, motorik impulse and post-punk pep. Empires into Sand came together in the familiar manner of their original three albums, with improvisation and nuance informing the blueprint of the tracks. It was with the official release of this last record Return of the Ranters (originally recorded in 1984/85, but then unconsciously shelved) in 2015 by Upset The Rhythm that led to the group reconnecting with the intention of playing music together again. 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. Normil Hawaiians took their time to develop these threads at their own pace, allowing songs to mutate and settle over months. Simon Marchant deftly produced and recorded the album whilst also performing in the band, this marked the first time the band had total control of their own sound. Empires into Sand incorporates samples from old rehearsals and live music into the new finished pieces, this is in continuum with their previous records. Snippets of sound from the static of short-wave radio and satellite transmissions also embellish the work. In fact, the whole album is stitched together with interludes, creating an acutely immersive 45 minutes. The album's title is derived from a poem by band member Mark Tyler, who sadly passed away during the recording process and the transience of life is felt heavily throughout. Noel best coins the group's wish for the album: "We wanted to create an album that acknowledges our history and also reflects who we are today. We remained true to ourselves and we wanted to make something beautiful without removing the edges." Empires into Sand certainly does that, it's an echo from the past, an echo from the future. Featuring Rodney Relax.
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UTR 164LP
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Truly psychedelic and damaged, Wolf Eyes favourite new group. "I was [working at a call center] a few months and at the time I reconnected with John Brennan who I had played with briefly in Montreal at the Mutek Festival. In Montreal, John was running an experimental music night at a burrito shop downtown called Garbage Night. While in Vancouver I began connecting with the music scene there and would go hang out with the Shearing Pinx lads who I think lived with Sydney the bass player at the time... Fast forward to today. 2024... John asks if I'll sit in with Earth Ball and I keep thinking about Earth Balance, the vegan butter everyone eats here. I brought my aching bones and my IPads on the beautiful ferry named the Queen of Oak Bay and out to Nanaimo BC, home of the nanaimo bar... [W]hen Earth Ball fire up the amps in Izzy and Jer's basement you can hear the voices of the ghosts hum through electrical lines and out the speakers, Kellen's hued feedback, Izy's sturdy basslines, Jer's paperbag guitar tone and rumble pack zaps, Liam's (aka the Kid) sheets of sound and Brennen's multidirectional drums. You wouldn't guess Earth Ball was auto-composing and from what my rat brain can tell -- the lyrics are improvised too... Improvising lyrics and singing them is the hardest thing to do in all of music... Izzy and Jer are pros. And their attitudes are pro too. The live show is scorched and without naming names they've been known to make headliners nervous. Lucky ones will get to see them live as they tour this beast of a record entitled It's Yours and I hope I'm one of them. But now you, fan of fun but totally fucked up music, have the opportunity to Ball with them thanks to Upset The Rhythm. Enjoy." --Alex Moskos, Montreal QC, Feb 2024. Limited 180g clear vinyl (500 copies worldwide). Matt finish sleeve with spot gloss detail, printed-inner sleeve, hand-painted art insert (by the band).
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UTR 162LP
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Recorded across three sessions over the last three years, Behold is a testament to Parsnip at their most creative, catchy and collaborative. This album showcases the multi-talents of all four members, with spirited performances adding dazzle to the thirteen tracks. Paris Richens lets the bass playfully roam. Carolyn Hawkins tumbles feeling into the drum rumble. Stella Rennex's guitar soars alongside her saxophone work, whilst a sprightly keyboard is tenderly attended by Rebecca Liston. Everyone sings amidst this lush canopy. Patience, environmental cues and internal signals are integral for a garden to flourish. The same can be said of the conditions necessary for Behold to emerge. It is an album gleeful in reassessment, changed priorities and anticipation. The roots are deeply anchored to mystery, drinking up a hidden wonderment that lies within. "The Babble" sounds like Ray Davies playing Wordle for enlightenment. In fact, most of these songs are pointing the way towards growth and understanding. "Turn to Love" is mesmeric and timeless, thoroughly serene and perfectly judged. Parsnip write songs as a form of communion with the intangible in our increasingly delusory world, but there is always a gentle reminder; don't take anything too seriously. On Behold, Parsnip explore both the inner and outer realms of consciousness with quick wits and some seriously quality jangle and jolt. "The Light" is a whip smart workout, sprouting naturally from the propulsive nature of their debut album When the Tree Bears Fruit (2019). "Placeholder" is also devastatingly honest and channels The Field Mice as it buries itself like an arrow into your heart. Anti Fade Records and Upset The Rhythm present Parsnip's first album in five years, Behold.
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UTR 160LP
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The Pheromoans are tenants of an unruly domain. Over the last 18 years the group have evolved from garage rock primitivists to auteurs of their own curious sound; a frothy brew of loose electronics, refractory rock and humdrum musing. Their songs are mutable, capricious, unreliable narrations, often withholding as much as they reveal. Russell Walker's understated vocal has always been the band's unifying focus, it is wry, unsparing and willfully honest. Walker's lyrics are an observational tour de force, sometimes droll, yet often tipping over into unlikely pathos. With previous releases on Upset The Rhythm, Convulsive, and Alter, The Pheromoans return with lucky album number 13, entitled Wyrd Psearch. It was recorded in Lewes throughout 2023. This was undertaken by founding member James Tranmer, his keen instinct for how the band should sound shaping many of the creative decisions. Joined by new guitarist Henry Holmes, the five-piece doubled down on a decidedly breezy, melodic approach. Scott Reeve's drumming is ever brisk, whilst Daniel Bolger explores AOR peripheries on keyboard and bass. Walker claims that the album's title is an expression of his frustration at the ubiquity of people claiming things are eerie or weird/wyrd in the present cultural milieu. The artwork for the record is designed as an actual word search too, a knowing nod to how everyone grapples for meaning amongst the absurdity of each day. The overriding impression given by Wyrd Psearch is of a band renewed with ideas. There's no trouble finding the right words, they're hitting their mark, keeping up with the commentary. Wyrd Psearch is a document of The Pheromoans mastering their unquiet moment. Limited 180g black vinyl. 500 copies worldwide.
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UTR 158LP
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Melbourne/Naarm synth-punk five-piece Screensaver return with Decent Shapes, their second album. Decent Shapes is loaded with bubbling tension, a low grade but growing fever, a rising rage. The frustration is so tangible you can taste it. Detachment and dissociation become survivalist coping mechanisms. Thematically, screensaver's latest offering finds them exploring existence on an ever-growing trash heap where we're desperate for the new, the nice and the shiny. A world where materialism reigns supreme and corporate niceties litter the public dialogue but behind closed doors the sentiment is warlike, total domination is the only answer to the bottom line. All of which is underpinned by the band's sonic sense of urgency and a commitment to creating a sound that taps into the mood and spirit of post-punk whilst also allowing space for new wave elements and electronic experiments to shine through. Decent Shapes was recorded and mixed by Julian Cue, who was also the recording engineer for Expressions of Interest. Defined by a kinetic energy, dynamic range and brooding atmosphere, the ten-track release comprises some tracks that were mainstays within the band's live shows -- featuring in their US tour set-list -- alongside others which were written later in the recording process. During the creation of Decent Shapes, the band also experimented with swapping instruments, allowing for different playing styles and song-writing approaches. Screensaver was formed in 2016 as a trans-Pacific project between Krystal Maynard (Bad Vision/ex Polo) and Christopher Stephenson (Spray Paint/Exek). Their debut album Expressions of Interest received support from the likes of Brooklyn Vegan, Beats Per Minute, DIY and Post-Trash.
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UTR 159LP
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Brontez Purnell has been making music since the '90s. The Southern-raised, Oakland-based American musician and writer has centered his queerness and Blackness in projects Gravy Train!!! and Younger Lovers as well as in his award-winning books 100 Boyfriends and Since I Laid My Burden Down. He is also a dancer, film maker and choreographer. Hot on the heels of recent 7" singles for Sub Pop, PPM, and his first solo electronic record No Jack Swing (Dark Entries/Papi Juice), Brontez returns in DIY-punk band formation for a new album entitled Confirmed Bachelor on Upset The Rhythm. These twelve songs presented are of the no-time-wasted variety. Fuzzed-out pop songs, hotly delivered from the heart, often sassy, sometimes sappy, always snappy! Brontez's band includes the multifaceted talents of Vice Cooler (who also produced and mixed the album), Sean Teves (of Younger Lovers) on drums, Kevin Preston (Prima Donna, Green Day) on guitar, Aaron Minton (Prima Donna) on piano and saxophone, and Laena Myers-Ionita on violin. The album was recorded in Los Angeles at The VCR earlier this year. Crystal clear vinyl.
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UTR 151BLUE-LP
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LP version. Blue vinyl. Me Lost Me, led by Newcastle-based artist Jayne Dent, announces a new album, RPG, via Upset The Rhythm. RPG (recorded in Blank Studios with Sam Grant of Pigs x7) is Me Lost Me's fourth outing as a collective. Having transitioned from an ambitious solo project in 2017, Jayne now regularly collaborates with acclaimed North-East jazz musicians Faye MacCalman and John Pope. Me Lost Me delights in experimenting with songwriting and storytelling, creating a beguiling mix of soaring vocals and atmospheric electronics that playfully weave together disparate genres, drawing influence from folk, art pop, noise, ambient and improvised music. Jayne Dent presents RPG as an homage to worldbuilding and the story as an artform, calling back to oral traditions around a campfire, bringing folk music into the present day as she does so. A central thesis of this album is the joy of creation, something which is paid homage to in the album's final track, "Science And Art." Crucially on RPG, Dent expands her songwriting and looks towards the unreal locations of worldbuilding in video games for inspiration. RPG upends the concept of the eternal return -- we may be in the midst of inevitable repetition, but we tell stories whilst awaiting the passage of time. LP version also available on pink vinyl (UTR 151PINK-LP).
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LP
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UTR 151PINK-LP
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LP version. Pink vinyl. Me Lost Me, led by Newcastle-based artist Jayne Dent, announces a new album, RPG, via Upset The Rhythm. RPG (recorded in Blank Studios with Sam Grant of Pigs x7) is Me Lost Me's fourth outing as a collective. Having transitioned from an ambitious solo project in 2017, Jayne now regularly collaborates with acclaimed North-East jazz musicians Faye MacCalman and John Pope. Me Lost Me delights in experimenting with songwriting and storytelling, creating a beguiling mix of soaring vocals and atmospheric electronics that playfully weave together disparate genres, drawing influence from folk, art pop, noise, ambient and improvised music. Jayne Dent presents RPG as an homage to worldbuilding and the story as an artform, calling back to oral traditions around a campfire, bringing folk music into the present day as she does so. A central thesis of this album is the joy of creation, something which is paid homage to in the album's final track, "Science And Art." Crucially on RPG, Dent expands her songwriting and looks towards the unreal locations of worldbuilding in video games for inspiration. RPG upends the concept of the eternal return -- we may be in the midst of inevitable repetition, but we tell stories whilst awaiting the passage of time. LP version also available on blue vinyl (UTR 151BLUE-LP).
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UTR 151CD
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Me Lost Me, led by Newcastle-based artist Jayne Dent, announces a new album, RPG, via Upset The Rhythm. RPG (recorded in Blank Studios with Sam Grant of Pigs x7) is Me Lost Me's fourth outing as a collective. Having transitioned from an ambitious solo project in 2017, Jayne now regularly collaborates with acclaimed North-East jazz musicians Faye MacCalman and John Pope. Me Lost Me delights in experimenting with songwriting and storytelling, creating a beguiling mix of soaring vocals and atmospheric electronics that playfully weave together disparate genres, drawing influence from folk, art pop, noise, ambient and improvised music. Jayne Dent presents RPG as an homage to worldbuilding and the story as an artform, calling back to oral traditions around a campfire, bringing folk music into the present day as she does so. A central thesis of this album is the joy of creation, something which is paid homage to in the album's final track, "Science And Art." Crucially on RPG, Dent expands her songwriting and looks towards the unreal locations of worldbuilding in video games for inspiration. RPG upends the concept of the eternal return -- we may be in the midst of inevitable repetition, but we tell stories whilst awaiting the passage of time. LP versions available on blue (UTR 151BLUE-LP) and pink vinyl (UTR 151PINK-LP).
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UTR 157EP
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Water Machine is an office romance between Hando Morice (they/them), Flore de Hoog (she/her), Jimmy Gage (he/him) and Goda Ilgauskaitė (she/her). An unassuming supergroup formed out of Glasgow institutions including Goth GF, Passion Pusher, Brenda, and Soursob, their sound careens between punk, country and alt-rock underpinned by the unique quality they call "Raw Liquid Power." Following last year's self-titled demo tape on Gold Mold Records, and fresh off of shows with the likes of Holiday Ghosts, The Cool Greenhouse and The Orielles, as well as a rollicking Viagra Boys afterparty, the four-piece will release their highly-anticipated first studio effort Raw Liquid Power on Upset The Rhythm on August 4th. The EP opens with a menacing, modulating synth melody. Gage's guitar enters with a mighty bend before breaking into the chugging rhythm of "Water Machine Pt. 2." "Stilettos" marches on indignantly with a spiky riff punctuated by Ilgauskaitė's cowbells. Staccato talk-singing tells a playful tale of stray cats following you home, but belies a darker subtext as the breakdown gives way to paranoid duelling guitars evoking The Fire Engines. The anti-anthem "At the Drive In" skewers joyless DIY crowds, reminiscent of much-missed Glasgow punks Breakfast Muff. Water Machine's irrepressible sincerity can't help but shine through in the final moments though, as jibes about "late night trade potential" give way to plaintive vocal harmonies. Morice tears public transport a new one on closer "Bussy," a First Bus diss track bemoaning precarious employment amidst crumbling infrastructure. "That's why I'm not on time!" they roar over de Hoog's frantic, pounding bass, bringing the record to a skidding, screeching halt.
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