Upset The Rhythm presents their 20th birthday party with…

LINDA SMITH & NANCY ANDREWS shared a big house in Baltimore in 1983 with a continuously revolving cast of artists and musicians. It was there the like-minded artists formed their first band, Ceramic Madonna Head, a short-lived project which included housemates Elizabeth Downing and Peggy Bitzer. By the time the lease was up, Linda and Peggy had decided to move to New York where they would form a new band called The Woods while Nancy and Elizabeth remained in Baltimore and formed a performance art band called Lambs Eat Ivy.

While playing guitar in The Woods in the mid-80’s Linda purchased her first 4-track cassette recorder and embarked on a pioneering decade of solo, DIY home recording with a series of cassettes and 7” records of smart and moody singer-songwriter bedroom pop music. This trailblazing period was recently documented on jewel-box compilation ‘Sky Girl’ and Captured Tracks’ retrospective compilation ‘Till Another Time: 1988-1996.’ During this same period Nancy pursued art, animation and filmmaking. The friends stayed in touch but hadn’t worked on a project together in nearly thirty years.

In 2020, Linda rediscovered in the back of a drawer some old tapes of Nancy’s songs she had recorded for her in the 90’s. In the process of digitizing the old recordings she was inspired to reach out and float the idea of a new collaborative recording project with her old friend. ‘A Passing Cloud’ (Grapefruit/Gertrude Records) is the fruit of their rekindled long-distance musical conversation. All the songs were composed incrementally by passing tracks back and forth between Maine and Maryland, making for some beguiling pop music that draws us in with a carefully rendered intimacy.

RATTLE are a Nottingham based duo, Rattle focus almost exclusively on drums and more drums, beneath a delicate overlay of vocal harmonies and percussive effects. Formed by Katharine Eira Brown and Theresa Wrigley, Rattle began as an experiment in crafting rich songs and melody using drums and voice alone. Their music weaves and intertwines post-punk, minimalism and experimental rock, through off-kilter rhythms, patterns and counter melodies. Rattle effortlessly blend the avant-garde with irresistible melodies and hypnotic drum beats, using rhythm and harmony to create a refreshing sound that is utterly new - a pretty rare feat these days when we're saturated with so much music. Rattle's immense ‘Sequence’ album came out recently through Upset The Rhythm.

RUSSELL WALKER is a 43 year old resident of Hitchin, Hertfordshire who dislikes Piers Morgan's son. He writes / performs on his own as well as in various projects - his most recent releases are Soothers with Malvern Brume (Are You Before, 2023) and I Can't Remember as the Lloyd Pack (Digital Regress, 2023).