Saturday 26 May 2018, 7.30pm
Grafting the relentless repetitions of modern minimalism onto the propulsive engine of rock and roll, Horse Lords create an ecstatic forward thrust driven by dueling polyrhythms that curve endlessly past one another. The Baltimore quartet, consisting of saxophonist/percussionist Andrew Bernstein, bassist/synthesist Max Eilbacher, guitarist Owen Gardner, and drummer Sam Haberman, employs arcane tuning systems to achieve their otherworldly harmonies, made possible by guitars refretted by Gardner. The resulting sound is at once stark and lush, tightly interwoven and threatening to fly apart, making their live performances spellbinding and utterly thrilling affairs.
Their 2016 full length Interventions on Northern Spy Records showcases this visceral approach to live performance, as well their interest in crafting studio compositions that pull apart and reassemble the constituent parts of their music into more abstract forms. Interventions was featured on several 2016 year end "best-of" lists, including Red Bull Music Academy and The Wire magazine.
"...hypnotic, fluid and vocal-free: rhythms and tones achieving trancelike effect through repetition and discipline." – Noel Gardner in The Quietus
"On “Interventions,” fast, repeated riffs become collaborative acts, over drones and strong skeletal grooves that stress the upbeat, and the whole thing is held together by concentration, timing and willpower." – Ben Ratliff in the New York Times
RATTLE released their third album ‘Encircle’ on Upset The Rhythm at the start of the 2025. ‘Encircle’ sees the drumming duo expand their unique experiments in rhythm, metre and tension. 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. With ‘Encircle’ Rattle have grown, writing 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 have toured the UK with Animal Collective and Thurston Moore and toured Europe with The Julie Ruin and Protomartyr, and have also performed with Hot Snakes, Bill Orcutt Quartet and Codeine.
