Trust Me Deerhoof, We Are More Than Friends

Not content to put out another ace album in the form of The Magic earlier in the year, the inimitable Deerhoof are gifting us this new 7", I Thought We Were Friends, just before Christmas! A Side 'Risk Free' is breezy, blase pop, Satomi joined by Greg in a languid ballad that still fits in a tetchy Tortoise bassline, spiky Deerhoof vocalisation patterns and terse organ downplay in the final third, while the crunch and groove of 'Delight' kicks in like a proto glam basement dweller, bastardised garage rock recorded on a broken tape deck. They are truly one of a kind, continue to put out intricate, zany, out there, insanely addictive noise pop, are supporting the Red Hot Chili Peppers (really!) and are playing a one off London show at Village Underground next year (Monday Feb 6).

Never Upset About Deerhoof Magic

Massive news! The inimitable Deerhoof are releasing a new album later this year called The Magic - and it's coming out on one of my favourite gig promoters-slash-lil label that could, Upset The Rhythm! The first track off it is this showstopper, 'Plastic Thrills'. This has made my day (as has the above photo of the band - bloody brilliant all round). You can pre-order The Magic from here in white vinyl and a covers tape (that includes a version of a Twisted Sister song!) - expect a massive London show to launch this bad boy in the summer!

Calling Out For Gun Outfit Tonight

Tonight LA trio Gun Outfit hit The Lexington (supported by Amps For Christ in yet another Upset The Rhythm gig) to launch their excellent Dream All Over record. But they also have two other offerings in play (not that it should surprise us, they have been notably prolific since their inception some ten or so years ago). Two Way Player came out last week and it is even more open and enigmatic than the album. Featuring members of Milk Music and Growing, the EP shows the band spiralling further into the hazy American West guitar psych that fellow explorers The War On Drugs can be seen to inhabit. It is an atmospheric journey that will inhabit your daily travails and your nightly dreams.

The band also have a tour-only cassette available - race you to it!

Distracted Youth On The Bridge

Last year London's Sauna Youth brought out an excellent LP in the form of Distractions. Well, I am making assumptions - I still haven't gotten around to buying it yet. But their launch in Hackney last year was bloody great, as is this cut from it, 'The Bridge', which is being released as a clear 7" on the Upset The Rhythm label next week before they tour Europe. They are at their most sinewy, sharp-edged limits here, the sweat flying off frets and fringes, both erratic and meticulous, cantankerous and giddily polite. The double-edged punk that the four-piece always traverse is a hard one to pull off - think here of Metz with a Wedding Present hangover, or The Clean fed piecemeal into a shorting blender. Straddling the punk rock extremes - they are the bridge.



Buy The Bridge here. See below their tour dates, kicking off in Brighton with Soft Walls:


27th January – Brighton, UK – Sticky Mike’s w/ Soft Walls, The Glugg

28th January – Rennes, France – Bar’Hic

29th January – Bordeaux, France – TBC

30th January – San Sebastian, Spain – Lurrazpiko Festa

31st January – Madrid, Spain – Wurlitzer Ballroom

1st February – Zaragoza, Spain – La Lata de Bombillas

2nd February – Barcelona, Spain – Heliogabal

3rd February – Toulouse, France – Le Rabelin

4th February – Antwerp, Belgium – Music City

5th February – Leiden, Holland – CAB03

6th February – Amsterdam, Holland – Pacific Parc

7th February – Rotterdam, Holland – TBC

13th February – London, UK – The Forge “The Bridge” 7” release party

Let's Talk About Upset Terry

Want some wonky, off-key, fully addictive scrapheap pop? Try Talk About Terry, the new 7" out by new act Terry through Upset The Rhythm. A veritable Melbourne supergroup, Terry features the already-spread-thin Al Montfort (Dick Diver, Total Control, UV Race, Lower Plenty, shall we go on?), Zephyr Pavey (Total Control, Eastlink, Russell Street Bombings), Amy Hill (Constant Mongrel, School Of Radiant Living) and Xanthe Waite (Mick Harvey), Terry are all about bad choices (don't listen to them state to the contrary), but delivered with such a feather-light level of jangling insincerity that it doesn't matter. Doug Mosurok calls it "post-traumatic pop" which made me laugh, but is pretty apt too - there is a yearning for acceptance in the early hours of repetition and regret that lends Terry both a fragility and a acerbic wit that belies its slightness. Great stuff. Grab the white 7" here.

Double Dogged

It feels like ages, but warped London trio Wetdog have finally followed up their Frauhaus! album of 2009 with new LP Divine Times (out through Upset The Rhythm)...and its as eclectic, frenetic and kinetic as you could possibly expect. Fourteen tracks of sudden scuzz, tetchy tension, garish gurning and arrhythmic rhythms - they wear their Raincoats more snugly this time around. There are delicious detours - the erred esoterics of 'Ridgway Crash', the ska-lite swing and ebullient nature of 'Jym Fingers' or the hushed choral contemplation of 'Twilite' - but they are at their best when they ratchet up the tension with post-punk stop-start atmospherics, before bursting the bubble with kaleidoscopic abandon. I've always seen Wetdog as the warped half-sister of Trash Kit, and Divine Times accentuates that outlook.

And I thought I would double up on the dog motif with Holiday, an EP out through Soft Power from Brighton duo Dog Legs. A thrashy punk bliss bomb, the title track blast open the doors; 'Ugly' takes on the 50s cutesier guitar pop staples and roughs them up a bit; 'I Trusted You' is a scuzzed-out mantra; 'Ice Cream Cone' is thirty-six seconds of the same idea. My favourite track is the ominous Cramps-lite crunch in the 'Xmas Cookie', before the weirdness rears its head on 'Messy Cloud' and the excellent 'Things I'll Never Be' rounds the whole thing out. It's a fun release that reminds me of when I heard Slowcoaches the first time back in 2012. Hurry up there is only one cassette left! GET IT.

Another Lash Of Bloody, Acidic Spray Paint

One of my favourite bands of the last few years has been Austin angular misanthropes Spray Paint. Their self-titled record on SS Records was an unheralded sucker punch of a record; and at the tail end of last year they followed it up with a great 7" on London's Upset The Rhythm label in Cussin and a new album in Clean Blood, Regular Acid. I have spoken about this excellent record already, but feel the need to mention it again as it is being released in Australia this month (through the excellent Homeless Records via Monofonus Press) and it inexplicably slipped through my fingers first time around.

Suffice to say that Spray Paint's third album is a tour de force of rusted and warped guitar, slow yet incessant drums, a fetid heartbeat bass and barbed, deadpan lyrics chanted with narcotic-numbed nonchalance (Homeless' head honcho Richie claimed it as his album of the year in 2014). Kicking off with the discordant twangs of seemingly incompetent musicians, the uneasy metronome that develops into a mordant urgency on opener 'Wet Beer' is maintained for the entirety of the album. 'Texas Talking Powder' comes across like Supersuckers boiled to their basest elements and lit with bare wires; 'Threesomes Can Wait' takes some of the anodyne precision of Disappears, flays it open with the brutality of a drunken butcher while The Cramps and B-52s beat each other to death with their own shoes on the crackling, blood spattered wireless radio.



There is a rich seam of American rock music at the moment that maniacally latches onto the literate outliers, intent to amuse and unseat, to entice and endanger. Parquet Courts are the light; Pile lurk in the dappled shadows; and Spray Paint twitch and mewl in the darkness, seemingly lost of faculties, ranting pitch black platitudes, all the while luring you closer and closer until you wake up, a jittering soothsayer, covered in filth, viscera and arcane words spiked in Nikko. Buy Clean Blood, Regular Acid here - you'll thank me later.

Miss Destiny Likes Her Southern Comfort Straight

So I am heading to Straight Arrows tonight as they support Jack Oblivian alongside The Sheiks. It's gonna be a blast. Check out the interview I did with Owen from the Sydney garage titans back here to get a taste. But as you know, the band isn't the only outlet for these guys, and out of them the most prolific tends to be Angie Bermuda. Outside of her old stuff as Circle Pit (with Jack Mannix), Angie has done her solo record Turning (which was a late contender for best album of 2013) and this year's Ruined Fortune (with Nic Warnock), and now we another slice courtesy of Hozac Records.

But before we get to that, there is another Aussie band with a 7" pumping through the Hozac veins (anticipation is rife!) Miss Destiny is a grungey Hole-esque blast-out, and 'The One' is a killer track that belies such audacious comparison claims. The four-piece from Melbourne (which features Harriet Hudson - the link is clear in a minute) slam the speakers with some much needed bite, a bracing band that borrows from 70s garage rock and rips it to shreds with vehement glee. Great stuff.

Also out on Hozac is a 7" from Angie's "other" band (of which there are many), Southern Comfort (and the penny drops!) . Now I actually bought this 7" at the Sonic Masala Fest when Angie played, and wrote a post up about this (alongside releases by The Man and Mary Monday) but it disappeared off my laptop. So now's a good time as any to talk about it. 'Suzanne' is a much breezier jam than Hudson's Miss Destiny, and it's good to see the colour palette is wide spread. Sometimes you need to let the sun out as much as kick out the jams.



And yep, if in London you can see Angie play in another of her bands, Straight Arrows, tonight at the Bethnal Green Working Men's Club. They are supporting Jack Oblivian and The Sheiks. It is another great Upset The Rhythm show - get along to it, it's gonna be LOOSE.

Spraying Paint Over Those Upsetting Fuck Words

I am a massive fan of Texans Spray Paint - their self-titled album from last year was one of my favourites of the year - and of the last five. And now they are back, albeit with a 7" courtesy of Upset The Rhythm, and it's a goddamn bristling sledgehammer of abrasion and spit. It's got more of the Parquet Courts ranting in the vocals this time around, but remains more driven in dark detritus. It chugs and chimes with disturbed intent, and leaves far too early - the sign that they have exited at the right time then. Replay value at 1000%. Destruction imminent. Get on this NOW - you can pre-order the 7" here. Let it kickstart a killer weekend...

This Waskerley Way Is More Haunted Than Before...

I have been a fan of UK native Waskerley Way since his bedroom project took flight back in the early days of Sonic Masala. His lo-fi mantras and mesmeric noisescapes have always intrigued, and in the case of 'Wind Shear', truly excelled. Now we have a longplayer in our midst, Haunted Tors.

It was not what I was expecting.

And whilst tracks like 'Deadquarters' follows in some of the lo-fi sonic plateaus that WW has traversed in the past, I was shocked when the opening one-two salvo of the title track and 'Sista' - these songs are heavy! There is some crazy shit going on here. 'Sista' in particular reminds me of the much missed Aussie band Snowman in its sonorous vocals married to some toxic noise and off-kilter synth, yet the noise itself when it kicks in is in a quieter corner of Fuck Buttons territory. There is a conceptual theme running throughout the album that pertains to resisting tyrannical governments and honouring family and friends. The lyrics evoke as much - if you can make them out, they are heavily distorted and thrown in the mix. It's all very medieval/fantasy with a darker edge, therefore the lyrics are quite interesting, and it would be a shame that they remain obscure if the music wasn't so great as is.


Waskerley Way (AKA Michael Bridgewater) calls himself a composer and a sonic miscreant. Beforehand, on such works as Energy Legs and Waterfall, I would have said that he still had the training wheels; with La Magie Rouge, a formula had been realised; with 'Wind Shear', some lightning in a bottle. Haunted Tors is the amalgamation of all these teething sessions, and sees a noisenik in full flight. Long may he soar (and no offence, but WW are something other than Washed Out entirely. I read that somewhere. It made me laugh).



Waskerley Way is playing a show in May well worth checking out if you are UK bound:

Saturday 12 May at The Victoria, Mile End, London with Way Through (Upset The Rhythm)

Islet Display Their Wealth Of Fortune

I was warned by Paul one fated May night as we travelled to the sadly now defunct Barden's Boudoir in Dalston, London that I should prepare to have my face melted off. We were going to yet another Upset The Rhythm gig. The headliners - Mi Ami, the nigh on impossible to categorise US band that certainly killed many cells in my body. but Paul was also making reference to the support, a small Welsh act called Islet. With their manic instrument swapping, impromptu percussion (using the ceiling, anyone?) and effervescent exuberance, these kids won me over.

Their EPs Celebrate This Place and Wimmy are great, yet its hard to believe that it has taken them this long to get around to releasing an album proper. Yet it is finally in the can, and Islet have announced their debut LP, to be released 23rd January 2012 on Shape (Turnstile), called Illuminated People. Being largely recorded on a farm in Worcestershire, Islet worked with an outside producer, Drew Morgan, for the first time - hence this may become their most coherent and cohesive record to date. Seeing as the label putting it out is run by the band's Mark Thomas, though, there will be no compromise on the band's manic maelstrom of sound.

Don't believe me? 'This Fortune' is the first taste off the album, and is available now as part of a tour-only 12", which features a vinyl only 15 minute sound collage made by the group; a swirling mass of found sounds, fragmented thoughts and previously unheard tracks.

If you are in the UK this month, you will have ample chances to pick up this release whilst seeing this exciting band in action, culminating in a show on November 16 at one of my favourite London haunts, The Lexington.

Paul, thanks for the Islet warning. Now get me that vinyl, or we're done.

Islet - This Fortune

Double Baltimore Magic

It was sad news indeed that two Baltimore acts, Double Dagger and Ponytail, have hung up their chaps in 2011. Both bands were up in my top ten live acts of all time (as witnessed by me - that's how these things work, right?). But two other B-more acts continue to ply their trade with excellent results.


First up we have the electro-shock artist and dance-party authority Dan Deacon, renowned as one of the world’s funnest and most epic live performers. I saw him play at London's ULU in 2009 - such an amazing show, it had all the funky white kids shuffling (they are too hip to dance). The Dr Marvin Monroe maniacal yet lovable alchemist, is equal parts crazy and inspirational, participatory and energetic, and his intense live show breaks down audience inhibitions to enable mass mayhem and fun. He has just signed onto Domino Records, and is making his way to Australia in January 2012! What's more he is bringing his ensemble - sop full band awesomeness! AND one such member is Denny from Double Dagger! Wow.

But the excellent times do not halt there, as he will be supported by one of 2011's most lauded artists in John Maus. His groundbreaking new album We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves (released on one of our fave labels ever, Upset The Rhythm (as if you didn't already know!!!), distributed locally through Inertia) has been one of the iconic records of 2011. The confrontation of punk, the fleeting poignancy of 80s movie soundtracks, the insistent pulse of Moroder and the spirituality of Medieval and Baroque music all find salvation in John Maus.

The show is rounded out by locals Toy Balloon, whose sound is a collision of shambolic noise, plump dance grooves, brother / sister vocal harmonies and rigid polyrhythms. The result is a brilliant and confounding bastardisation of pop music that few people can resist. With one foot in a world occupied by new wave, cosmic disco, early hip hop and acid house, and the other foot firmly planted in the introspective, experimental indie rock world, the four piece has built a scene-busting following through their dynamic and diverse live shows. It all happens at Woodland on Thursday January 12 - grab your tickets here. AND A NEW ALBUM IS ON ITS WAY!!!

Dan Deacon - Red F


Then we have Future Islands, who also played that titular ULU show. Their new album, On The Water, is every bit as great as was hoped, and whilst they aren't known to be touring Australia soon, this album is more than enough to keep you afloat! Grab it here.

Future Islands - Give Us The Wind
Future Islands - Before The Bridge

With these two acts in business, the world is not a cold, dead place...

A Week of Curtain Calls @ The Luminaire...

It was with great sadness that local London venue The Luminaire (and its brilliantly dingy pub counterpart The Kings Head) closed up shop New Years Eve 2010. The lovely folks that kept such an institution going arent leaving without an appropriate knees up however, and are banding together with close friends to have a bit of a Wake Week, covering all the bases of what was an eclectic venue - all genres were welcome! - but one that was much loved.

Starting tonight with promoters Fence Collective, who have a night with the likes of Pictish Trail, King Creosote and Alexis from Hit Chip gracing the stage. This one is sold out folks - you will do well to find tickets there.

Friday sees Brighton-via-London-via-Norfolk's Mariner's Children head up a night of folk rock, for six squid.

Saturday is one that us Sonic Masala-ers are most excited about, as fave promoters Upset The Rhythm do an entire day (well, from 5pm) of likable pop-punk-garage-whatever. Zounds, Cold Pumas, The Sticks, Way Through, The Lowest Form, Warm Brains and Left Leg will be filling the house. All this for a steal at four quid too! Go on, you know you want to...

Sunday sees Transgressive Records put on two separate shows - Luminaire mainstays Dry The River play with Monument Valley (and is a first come, first served basis show, only 2 quid, with the fare a donation to the Teenage Cancer Trust) - and its a 14+ show, starting at 1pm, cleaning out by 5. This is then followed by (sadly sold out) Johnny Flynn/Sweet Baboo/Marques Tolliver show.

And to close it all out, Club AC30 takes over, bringing with them Piano Magic, SM favourites Ringo Deathstarr, SPC ECO and Club AC30 DJs.

Then thats all she wrote, boys and girls! Now dry those tears, get shitfaced and reminisce about the good times - you've got a week to get it all out of your system!

The Luminaire 2005-2010 RIP

Telling It Like It Is Isnt For Everyone...

Chain and the Gang have filled a hole in my musical heart I didnt know was there, providing in Music's Not For Everyone a great little garage album that is very, very funny. No surprise, really - it is the twisted brainchild of on Ian Svenonius, somewhat of an icon in the post-D.C. punk, indie-garage funk/punk/soul scene. We have debilitating call and response honesty in 'Not Good Enough' ("If you feel that you're not good enough, then you're probably not/And you know what?/You'll never ever will be"), the sloppy rawness of 'Livin Rough' with its riproaring organ, the trials of trying to keep everyone high, the ode to Detroit music in, err, 'Detroit Music'... Svenonius really gets some laughs, with a track like 'Bill For The Use Of My Body' or the snot-nosed childlike stroppiness of 'Why Not'. Then you cannot forget the diatribe that is the title, track - a spoken word number about the fact that most people don't know what music is if it kicks them in the balls - its an eerie, woozy idea that is inexorably works. In fact, every song on here works. Music may not be for everyone - but Music's Not For Everyone certainly deserves to be.

Lucky London - Chain and the Gang will bring The Dome to the ground in May (the 24th to be exact) - this will be an amazing show, brought to you by - who else? - Upset The Rhythm.

Chain And The Gang - Not Good Enough
Chain And The Gang - Detroit Music
Chain And The Gang - Music's Not For Everyone

Harden Up For The Dolphins

One of Paul's favourite albums of last year was San Fran via NYC outfit Mi Ami's Steal Your Face, a record of intense viscerating craziness. They also played an insane set at the now defunct Barden's Boudoir which was one of the highlights of the year. Well, a bit has changed since then - bassist Jacob Long has left the band, thus Mi Ami becoming primarily a two piece. That was how it was all run in the first place - Damon Palermo and Daniel Martin-McCormick pretty much ARE Mi Ami - so no great loss there. The second piece of news is that their next EP is coming out soon, and is to be called Dolphins. The first track of it, 'Hard Up', is a bit of a tangential jump for the band, with the electro vibe much less accelerated and fevered than usual, and seems to mark in interesting new chapter - but it still holds the intrinsic core that the band is known for. If you wanna check the other tracks on the EP, head here - Martin-McCormick's voice is still as manga-crazy as always...

Dolphins will be out March 15 on Thrill Jockey (they just keep churning out the good stuff, dont they?) Mi Ami will be blasting Europe away in April, with a date at Corsica Studio under the Upset The Rhythm banner, so keep your eyes peeled for those dates...

Mi Ami - Hard Up

Nice vid for 'Hard Up' too...

Mi Ami - Hard Up from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.

Japanther Scuffing Their Rhythm Up Tonight!

Its been a while since we talked up an Upset The Rhythm gig, but we have one for you now, headlined by an act that I came across accidentally. Near the end of 2009, my friend Dan had downloaded what he had thought was the album that I was talking to him about at a party some time previous. When he put it on, I was immediately perplexed at the scuzzy as fuck scattershot punk that was coming out of the speakers...and were they really singing about River Phoenix?

Turns out that the album Dan thought was Japandroids' Post Nothing was actually Japanther's Scuffed Up My Huffy - and a new favourite band was born. Japanther may have started out as an art project, but their profanity-fuelled sampled introductions, incredibly loud scuzzy guitars and nonchalant viewpoint on just about every aspect of society makes these crazy Brooklynites an absolute must-see. They are to be supported by Bitches (we have talked about them here) and Shellshag.

Japanther et al are playing The Dome tonight for 8 squid. Dont worry - there are plenty of tickets on the door. This will be a cacophonous clusterfuck of a gig, which means a lot of booze, a lot of noise, and a hell of a lot of fun.

Japanther's Rock N Roll Ice Cream is out now.

Japanther - River Phoenix

Tyvek Tour Will Make It Fit

One of the things about Tyvek is that they punk it up like nobody's business, but dont really give a shit if they are punk, garage, or fucking classical rap. They do what they do and go home. On strangely overlooked album of last year Nothing Fits, it is clearly evident that they have better production values, but then go about thrashing themselves stupid for thirty odd minutes before taking their bat and ball and going home, mission well and truly accomplished. It copped a bit of flak for being too much like their forebears (The Stooges, New York Dolls, Stiff Little Fingers et al), but Tyvek dont hold any high falutin aspirations other than to fuck shit up. Preferably all over your face. We stated before the album broke in November that it would be messy, breakneck and addictive as hell - and Im standing by that notion.

Dont believe me? Well, we stated back on October that Tyvek would be on tour this year - plenty of warning. Get your arse to their Upset The Rhythm show at the Grosvenor on March 15th then, where they will be more than ably supported by UK's The Pheromoans. If you cant make that, then you have all of February and March to catch them playing in some corner of Europe, so there's no excuse really.

Tyvek - 4312

Hank Haint Beat Thee

Way back a couple of weeks ago I was fortunate enough to attend another Upset the Rhythm gig, Thee Oh Sees, supported by SM faves Sex Beet and new to my ears Hank Haint, down Brixton way at Plan B.

Now I could wax lyrical about how good Thee Oh Sees were, live they really are in a different league, John Dwyer had every eye locked on him during the four piece's raucous set. Dwyer snarling and gnawing his mic the whole way through with the kind of venom and joy that inspired crowd surfing and mosh pits on a cold Monday night. I could tell you how Sex Beet started proceedings with the brash confidence of a much more experienced band, laying down a perfectly timed set that demanded attention and held it. But no, I want to tell you about the one man garage blues explosion whose set was blighted by a faulty amp. A man despite his kit letting the side down pushed on regardless and in doing so rounded out another perfect line up for Upset The Rhythm - Hank Haint.

Now when any band has technical problems you've got to feel for them, but when you're on guitar, harmonica, bass drum, hi-hat and vocals, all on your own, in front of a crowd hungry for Thee Oh Sees, well you've got really feel for the guy. It was even more of a let down as if Hank Haint had been able to let rip one track of his noise-soaked blues before disaster struck, it would have been a proper taste that, given a couple more tracks, the crowd's attention would have surely been rooted, mine was after just one. Hank Haint did try and solider on, blasting out a couple more jams. And full marks for keeping going 'cos his walls of brash blues punk really did hit the spot. More garage and DIY than any other band on that night (he's got a mic made out of a tin can!) Hank Haint is a classic case of a man who wants to make music and nothing will stop him, not even a crap kit or lack of a backing band. You've got to admire that and the damn fine results too. I can't wait to see a full set.

Hank Haint - Problomatic

2010's Best Releases and Gigs...by The Ex

One of the more surprising gigs I got to see this year was catching the inimitable The Ex as a part of Upset The Rhythm's brilliant gig roster back in October. Not that its strange to see these Dutch post punk pioneers - they have been touring incessantly since the late 70s, and have just released their umpteenth album Catch My Shoe which is also pretty damn rad - just that I wasnt expecting to really catch them. They have been a band that has informed the blueprint of my musical tapestry since hearing their In The Fishtank session with Tortoise some time ago (I know, a weird starting point, but I started with Washing Machine as my Sonic Youth genesis, so there you go...)

Anyway, it was a blistering gig, so I spoke to Andy Moor after the show about his current tastes in modern music. As is widely known The Ex subscribe wholeheartedly to a worldview when it comes to musical inspirations, so it comes as no surprise that their selection is highly travelled - as are their favourite gigs of the year, spanning all over the globe. The Ex show no sign of slowing down then...

2010 - best of:

-Live gigs-

Chelachew Ashenafi / Illilta Band - Centre Urbain Kultur Kino Siska ,Ljublijana 17.07.10

Ab Baars - Tilburg, Incubate Festival 13.09.10

Appy Wizz - The Croft Bristol 23.10.10

Chocolat Billy - Krakatoa Bordeaux 18.11.10

Lithurgy - Knoxville,big ears fest USA 27.03.10

Dj Rupture - OT301, Amsterdam 16.09.10

Anne james Chaton - La cave Dimiere Argenteuil France 15.10.10

Han Bennink - Vera Groningen 30.09.10

Trash Kit - London Th eDome 19.10.10

Jackdaw with Crowbar - Islington Mill Manchester 20.10.10

The Thing XL - Nickelsdorf konfrontationen fest 16.07.10

Ab Baars, Ken Vandemark, Paal Nilssen-Love - Bateau Ivre Addis Abeba jan 2010

Xavier Charles Office Culturel Gignac 21.11.10

Agustí Fernandez & Ingebrigt Haker Flaten & Paul Lovens Nickelsdorf konfrontationen fest 16.07.10

-Albums-

AB Baars - Time To Do My Lions

Paal Niellssen Love - Miro

Tessema Eshete - Ethiopiques 27

Shangaan Electro - New Wave Dance Music From South Africa

Youssef en Kamal - compilation

Kanipchen-Fit - Multibenefit

Fanajana - A Collection Of Recordings And Photography From Madagasikara
ICP - 50!

Xavier Charles - solitude

The Ex's latest release Catch My Shoe is out now.

The Ex - Cold Weather Is Back

The Ex - Maybe I Was The Pilot

School Tour? Yes Way!

Back at the tail end of the summer, the inimitable Upset The Rhythm set up a three day festival here in London showcasing art and underground music. Most of it was UK based, but there was one 'outsider' - Ireland's School Tour. Sculpting short stabs of electronic drone and pulsing rhythms, School Tour is an ever-growing work in progress, and is getting better. Yes Way really seems to have been an important stepping stone in this move onwards and upwards, as he has put out an EP in its honour! Yes Way is seven tracks of lo fi pulsing waves of ethereal mysticism, and is a nice snapshot for where he is heading. Check it out here.

School Tour - Skating With Another