Upset the Rhythm presents Jamie Stewart LIVE.
Jamie Stewart is the principle songwriter, musician and vocalist behind the legendary group Xiu Xiu, he's very much one of UTR's favourite artists. Xiu Xiu's sound draws heavily from wildly disparate sources - cacophonous noise, gamelan, folk and the lush hooks of 80s UK post-punk, to name a few - while Jamie's tortured lyrics and anguished delivery consistently deal with the morose, suspected and the taboo. 'Women as Lovers' - the band's sixth full-length for Kill Rock Stars - was released last year to much acclaim, and after touring the record as a full band Jamie has decided to take to the road with more intimate performance. Expect new material, unusual covers and favourite tracks from the Xiu Xiu back catalogue, making for a truly special experience.
COLD CAVE are a cold wave / minimal synth avant-garage group out of Philadelphia, featuring members of American Nightmare, Some Girls and Xiu Xiu. PRURIENT is the nom de plume of noise musician Dominick Fernow, who works primarily with a microphone and amplifier to whip up a storm. On this short tour together in the UK they will be playing alongside each other in a mind-melting continuous set. Imagine automatic, parallel female / male vocals, that classic Euro atmosphere that defined all the best Asmus Tietchens / Absolute Body Control / Conrad Schnitzler sides, a cool sci-fi bedroom feel, vague, nocturnal electronics, and the kind of daffy leathers-and-shades approach of recent Enfant Terrible signings. If you dig minimal post-Industrial electronics, late-period Throbbing Gristle, wasteland USA basement psych and just plain weird pop / punk / new wave sounds, then this is your time capsule of choice, check out their spread of vinyl releases on the Dais, Hospital and Heartworm Press imprints now.
CRYPTACIZE began across the street from a Sugar Factory in Crockett, California, where Nedelle (Kill Rocks Stars) and Chris (Cohen, formerly of Deerhoof & The Curtains) lived in a tilted apartment. Constant dizziness and the smell of burning sugar became a permanent part of their psyches, and this is their premier influence. One morning while brushing their teeth, toothpaste running sideways out of their mouths, Nedelle pronounced the word "Cryptacize" and the house appeared to incline in the opposite direction. Soon after this strange incident, they discovered something even stranger on YouTube - a percussionist named Michael Carreira. Having only seen his video, which was a closeup of his hands, they sought him out and miraculously convinced him to join their uncanny crusade. The result is Cryptacize, humbly inspired by the larger-than-life emotions of West Side Story, The Wizard of Oz's bittersweet escapism and the other-world sentimentality of Sun Ra's Spaceship Lullaby. Deceptively simple, using modest means to achieve ambitious ends, never predictable, Cryptacize challenges preconceptions about how a song should go or how rock music should make you feel.Their first LP 'Dig That Treasure' and their brand new album 'Mythomania' are both available now via Asthmatic Kitty.
LIVE: JAMIE STEWART (XIU XIU) + COLD CAVE + CRYPTACIZE
8-1
£10 adv, £12 on the door.
