New music review with singles from SCALER ft Tlya X An and Upchuck
- Julia Mason aka The Decibel Decoder
- Aug 28
- 5 min read
Our weekly fix of the best new music as Julia Mason (aka The Decibel Decoder) brings us her new music review with singles from Scaler ft Tlya X An Evolve and Upchuck Tired
Artist: SCALER ft Tlya X An
Track: Evolve
SCALER have shared a new single titled Evolve ft. Bristol-based multidisciplinary artist Tlya X An. The single comes on the back of the announcement of their new album Endlessly set for release on 26 September via Bristol tastemaker label Black Acre (home to Commodo, Sully, Karen Nyame KG, Waldo's Gift, Crimewave and more).
Powerful and immediate, like a raised pulse under taut skin, Endlessly tugs at emotional threads and sonic touchpoints that feel tangled up – deliberately so – in the musical heritage of their city. There are traces of trip-hop, drum‘n’bass and experimental electronic, plus flashes of pupil-dilating techno, metal and drill, all carried by immense low-end pressure and tempered by more subdued, spatial stretches that drift and sprawl. Voices layer and loop, instrumentals do the same. Evolve arguably marks the most melodic and hook-led moment on Endlessly, offset by warped instrumentation inflected with nu-metal and rivethead industrial elements.
Speaking on the single, the band says: “This song came to life in January 2024. The strange bells in the chorus were the first element that set the scene, they created the perfect backdrop that inspired the rest of the song. Talia's amazing melodic choices make the song a standout moment on the record. The harmonies and backing vocals throughout the track envelop you further into the swathes of emotion.
Throughout the creation of this song we were trying to keep the arrangement relatively simple and stripped back. I (James Rushforth), was trying to encourage everyone to sit back a little and rely on songwriting more than sonic warfare, a practice we’re not particularly well versed in. We had worked up the lyrics in the verse, evoking confusion and searching for stasis. We had visualised an expansive abandoned cityscape being flooded, a sense of no future or past. It felt like a mental state.
Speaking on her contribution of the record, Tlya X An shares: "I had the melody for the chorus written for one of my own songs, but I was struggling to finish the song. Now I think it’s because it was always meant for ‘Evolve’. The chorus - “Only one I know who can see more colours” is about my dad, as he is the most positive person I know, always seeing the best in people.”
The single is also accompanied by a new visualiser edited by, and starring, Tlya X An.
Having recently finished a packed-out EU tour with And So I Watch You From Afar and Robocobra Quartet, the band recently announced details of a UK headline tour for November 2025 – their first since 2023. SCALER have also announced additional EU dates to follow the UK leg of the tour.
SCALER Live Dates
November
6 – London, UK – Electrowerkz
11 – Glasgow, UK – Room 2
12 – Newcastle, UK – Cluny 2
13 – Manchester, UK – YES Pink Room
14 – Sheffield, UK – Sidney & Matilda Gallery
17 – Birmingham, UK – Hare & Hounds
18 – Leeds, UK – Brudenell
19 – Cardiff, UK – Clwb Ifor Bach
30 – Paris, FR – Point Éphémère
December
2 – Dunkirk, FR – Les 4Écluses
3 – Brussels, BE – Rotondes
5 – Utrecht, NL – EKKO
6 – Gronigen, NL – Vera
8 – Berlin, DE – Kantine am Berghain
* * *
Artist: Upchuck
Track: Tired
Atlanta’s Upchuck, (vocalist KT, guitarists Mikey Durham and Hoff, bassist Ausar Ward, and drummer/vocalist Chris Salado), share their newest single Tired, the ferocious opening track of their forthcoming album I’m Nice Now set for release on 3 October.
The track finds KT desperately trying to keep her feelings of hopelessness at bay. Alongside a thunderous beat and scalding guitar riffs, she confronts the constant spectacle of social injustice that has become a daily drudgery for her generation: “How many times I gotta tell ‘em that our pockets cryin’?... How many people you gon’ lie to and say you’re not lyin’?” Her vicious vocal performance spirals over and over like the endless depressing news cycle, but it’s not a signal of defeat; it’s a sharp critique, maybe even a threat, to the powers that be: “And I’m tired of the darker news / And I’ve tried warning you / It feels right scaring you.”
As KT puts it, there’s never been a moment when she didn’t have rage. As the singer of Upchuck, the Georgia punk band whose music is as sharp as a scythe, KT has felt fierce energy inside her well before she had the band as an outlet through which to channel it. As a Black woman in America, rage has been the tint on the window through which she’s had to view the world. The experience of listening to Upchuck is to feel a distillation of that existence, all of its pain, sorrow, anger, and fear translated through raw punk music.
Upchuck’s Domino debut is I’m Nice Now. But don’t mistake newfound niceness for weakness. It’s self-preservation. “In this world of constant distractions and stressors it’s important to keep your mind, body, and spirit sane and sound enough to continue through this seemingly never-ending fight,” she says. “Being a POC, by default, you’re gonna have that rage." But she hits a note of optimism, too, if a wry one. “You're gonna have that desire for change, and that desire for the fuckery to end.”
With I’m Nice Now, Upchuck channel their feverishness into an album that, yes, is filled with rage. But in addition to being a continuation of their musical exorcism, the album delivers a sharp critique of the powers that be, lamenting why they still have to be those in power.
Following two searing performances at Green Man Festival as well as two London shows earlier this month, Upchuck will head out on a headline tour in the States in September before returning to the UK & Europe in November.
Upchuck Live Dates
August
28 - 30 - Muddy Roots Festival, Cookeville, TN
September
26 - Palmer Events Center, Austin, TX
28 - Levitation, Austin, TX
29 - Ruins, Dallas, TX
October
1 - Launchpad, Alburquerque, NM
2 - The Underground (Nile), Mesa, AZ
3 - The Whistle Stop, San Diego, CA
4 - Sardine, San Pedro, CA
5 - The Echo, Los Angeles, CA
6 - Rickshaw Stop, San Francisco, CA
8 - Star Theater, Portland, OR
9 - Black Lodge, Seattle, WA
10 - Shrine Social Club Basement, Boise, ID
11 - The DLC at Quarters, Salt Lake City, UT
13 - Moe’s Original BBQ & Bowl, Denver, CO
15 - Subterranean, Chicago, IL
16 - Third Man Records, Detroit, MI
17 - Bottlerocket Social Hall, Pittsburgh, PA
18 - Elsewhere (Zone One), Brooklyn, NY
20 - Foto Club, Philadelphia, PA
21 - DC9, Washington, DC
22 - Static Age, Asheville, NC
31 - Goat Farm, Atlanta, GA
November
4 - Hare & Hounds, Birmingham, UK
5 - Pitchfork Festival @ Village Underground, London, UK
6 - Wharf Chambers, Leeds, UK
8 - Simple Things Festival, Bristol, UK
9 - YES, Manchester, UK
11 - Brussels Botanique, Brussels, BE
12 - Point Ephemere, Paris, FR
13 - Skate Cafe, Amsterdam, NL
14 - Hafenklang, Hamburg, DE
15 - Copenhagen Loppen, Copenhagen, DK
16 - Berghain Kantine, Berlin, DE
18 - Bumann & Sohn, Cologne, DE
19 - Bad Bon, Dudingen, CH
Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and never miss out on gig info and our latest deals
Comments