UPSET THE RHYTHM PRESENTS: CRYSTAL ANTLERS
CRYSTAL ANTLERS are a quintet from Long Beach, California, who create their own brew of reverbed psychedelia and raw, soulful punk. Their fearsome live reputation - cemented by last year's cross-country tour in a vegetable oil-fuelled school bus - led to the rapid evaporation of their first two 7"s. A self-titled EP came out first, recently reissued by Touch & Go, whilst debut full-length proper 'Tentacles' was released last year to wide acclaim. Tentacles finds the Antlers exploding through the unclaimed space between .60s garage toughs like the Music Machine and the Misunderstood, red-eyed noiseniks like Guru Guru and Les Rallizes Denudes (whose ever-present turbine whine serves as the sound of the Crystal Antlers' circulatory system) and the mechanized motor-soul of Osmium-era Parliament. Raw want meets raw power on songs like the title track and 'Until The Sun Dies Part 1' which push 'Black To Comm' break-outs into 'What's Goin' On?' sentiments while the trademark Antlers organ howls at lights on the horizon. Between the expected screamers come the scenery - the Pharoah Sanders-style sax snippets that confetti the end of 'Sun Dies', the gentle oceanic drone-poem 'Vapor Trail', the album intro that sounds like Blue Cheer chasing Terry Riley's 'Rainbow In Curved Air'. It's an album that functions as an organism - it breathes, it sleeps, it wakes up hungry and ready to chase something down.
http://www.myspace.com/crystalantlers
TALK NORMAL was born with rigorous beats, post-punk dissonance, and darkly evocative vocals from the friendship of Sarah Register and Andrya Ambro in 2007. Forming in Brooklyn their lightning-strike first guitar-n-drums appearance followed quickly whilst their sound stormed upward and outward, referencing few and relating to many, a jarringly songful gale of rhythm and noise supporting pleas and plaints, signal-calls and marching orders. Echoes of No Wave-era noisemakers - particularly the dogmatic rants of Lydia Lunch's Teenage Jesus and the Jerks and the urgent abstractions of Ut were unmistakable. But the duo also has firm roots in the present New York underground, specifically the noise-rock of veteran trio Sightings, whose Richard Hoffman guests on their records and often performs onstage with them too. After a couple of years having done-it-themselves; including self-released demos, the 2008 EP 'Secret Cog' and shows played alongside Marnie Stern, Major Stars, Chris Corsano and Magik Markers to name just a few, Talk Normal have now perfected their heavy eerie quality of their music, surpassing the cavernous territory first dug out by the early dirges of Sonic Youth and Swans. Talk Normal released their debut album 'Sugarland' on Rare Book Room Records last year and it instantly became one of our favourite records of the year, we are very excited to have them over in the UK on tour for Upset The Rhythm.
http://www.myspace.com/talknormaltalknormal
TEETH are Veronica and double Simons from London. Luscious female vocals smeared over synth barbles and squiggles, pummelling 4/4 drums and a general seediness that would give Crystal Castles a worry in the night, Teeth make a joyous mania. On new tape 'Jammers 2008-2009' released this week on Milk Records, the band are also documented in full-blown psyche-synth meltdown, with practice blow-outs bringing Gang Gang dance vibes into the mix and live clips injecting some visceral punk garbage into the stink. TEETH have a forthcoming single through Moshi Moshi hatching in the future, look out for that too!
http://www.myspace.com/teethdance
