Happy New Year World and Happy New Internet Era Upper Class! More news coming soon!
The shop will be online shortly so check back in for some sweet UC stuff!
2005 is nearly done, 2006 will be our biggest year ever, i promise, and here's some stuff to bring you all up to date on what's new over here...
Firstly, I gotta say, big ups to Nike - if you go to Nikegoddess.comyou can work out to The Cansecos , The Russian Futurists , Cut Copy and more hot jams, really, no joke.
Here's some news on Upper Class bands to end off a great UC year:
Cadence Weapon's debut album "Breaking Kayfabe" is now in stores in Canada. It is receiving mad love in the press.
Cadence Weapon just played Toronto and Montreal with Lady Sovereign and Ghislain Poirier and did a special 1am Wavelengthset after in Toronto, essentially blowing the roof off the place.
Check Vice Recordsout to hear Cadence Weapon's Disco D and Do They Know It's Halloween remixes.
Also Vice-releated - If you can get your hands on the January issue of Vice with the sampler attached to it - congrats! you have just got yourself a copy of the single "Sharks" from Breaking Kayfabe!
Cadence's hometown CD Release Show is Dec 17 @ Velvet Underground in Edmonton.
The Russian Futurists are back from 5 weeks in England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Spain, Sweden, Norway and Finland! We promise great things for the Futurists in Europe in the new year! Many Many thanks to Dan, Ryan and Pete aka Caribouaka the hot shit, for all the love this year.
The Russian Futurists "Paul Simon" video is on Muchmusic (watch it here ) and nominated for the Chart Magazine Reader's Poll thing for best video of the year! If you can get your hands on the January issue of Vice with the sampler attached to it - congrats! you have just got yourself a copy of the "Paul Simon" video.
The Ruskies playWavelength in Toronto for the first time in about 4 years, Sunday December 18 at Midnight.
Girlsareshort's timeless yet under-purchased album "Early North American" is now available for download at galleryac.com! Just buy one track even...my suggestion is"Mississauga Theme" and i'll even give you some bonus knowledge - Russian Futurists front man Matthew Hart does guest vocals on the track!
The Cansecos new album "Juices!" is set for March 2006 release.
You can have a sneak listen of a few new jams at their Myspacething.
It's serious fire folks, serious fire.
Food For Animals are releasing a split 12" on Fat Cat with Lightning Bolt . HOT.
Finally, I am happy to say we are in the midst of major website renovations.
The Russian Futurists' video for "Paul Simon" is out-spinning the Backstreet Boys on Canada's Muchmusic! The Ruskies are in Sweden, Norway and Finland right now. They return to Toronto mid-november. Look for a Wavelength show in December followed by a Canadian Tour. And then - big news in the new year.
The Ruskies also just did a remix for Stars!
Cadence Weapon "Breaking Kayfabe", the debut album by the untouchable Edmonton producer/rapper is coming for real. December 6 will be the day you can go out and buy the Cadence Weapon album. There will be shows, people will be writing about Cadence, the whole deal, soon. Until then you should peep the Cadence Weapon remix of Do They Know It's Halloween. I'm not sure where you might find it - Vice promised us it would be on their single then they totalled pulled a kife move and didn't put it on. Yet, everywhere you will search on the internet - it's Cadence's remix that people are playing, so i'm sure you'll find it!In fact, here.
The Cansecos have finished their new album Juices! It's coming out in the new year but we'll get you some shit before then...somehow.
Team Upper Class flew across the pond to London last month to take in some Caribou/Russian Futurist shows, make some friends, meet some people, shake some hands, get drunk and have our pockets picked in a new place. It was a ridiculously good time. Shout outs to all our new friends - David C, Dean T, Ollie J, Matt J, Paul E, Mark W, Katie D, Mel B, Garreth R, Jane M, Au Revoir Simone, Stephen B, Paddy F, Lee C, Ewan, Nathan B, Jonnie D, Tony M, and all you others that i've left out. And big ups to all you familiars that took care of us while we were there - Dan S, Ryan S, Pete M, Natasha K, Matt H, Scott F, and everyone else. YES! Thanks too, to Anders and Kalle in Sweden who are helping us out monstrously. Thanks to Nike, who, once again will use some songs of ours on some shit and give us shoes. Thanks to James @ Heavy for making that happen!
The Russian Futurists and Caribou are heading out on tour together yet again! The 2 ex-roommates Matthew Hart and Dan Snaith will this time cross England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland in a 17-show, 3 week tour. We'll post those dates soon.
Meanwhile, the great reviews on Hart's third album OUR THICKNESS keep rolling in...Spin, XLR8R, Pitchfork, Plan B, Whisperin' & Hollerin', BPM, CMJ, Dusted, BBC, CBC, WOXY.com, so many supporters!
Thanks to you all!!!
The Futurists will also headline the Toronto Film Festival Opening Night Party at The Drake September 9 at 1:30am!
Food For Animals and Cadence Weapon will be pounding out some shows together in Ontario in a few weeks! Again, we'll post the dates soon but expect shows in London, Hamilton, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and more!
POPmontreal has been kind enough to find spots for 4 of our bands this year!
The Cansecos play on the 28th, The Russian Futurists play on the 29th and Food For Animals and Cadence Weapon share a bill on the 30th!
The Cansecos and Cadence Weapon albums continue under tight preperation to ensure maximum freshness. Look for Cadence Weapon's BREAKING KAYFABE this fall and the new Cansecos album shortly after!
The summer rolls on. The Russian Futurists have been heavily praised by SPIN, XLR8R, Pitchfork, Whisperin' & Hollerin', Plan B, CMJ, CBC, BBC and all kinds of other nice folks. We're working on some more Russian Futurists live dates for y'all - the people that are in charge of this stuff (our alter egos) are telling us Canada, UK, Sweden, Spain and beyond this fall!
Cadence Weapon's debut LP Breaking Kayfabe is coming in October. You won't even know what hit you when you hear this. We're working hard in the lab on how to break wide open in the crazy worl of radio stations and media moguls to get this music to you. Seriously though, you're going to lose your mind.
The Cansecos album is basically done and being mixed and mastered. It's a mix and it's masterful. Ever heard of Kraut Funk Indie Pop? You're going to. Ohhhhhh, you're going to!!!!!!
Food For Animals will be hitting the road once again. IN CANADA! We're stringing together a little '401' tour as we call it - Detroit to Montreal. We'll let you know as soon as it's all set.
girlsareshort's Al-P continues to take over the world. He and Death From Above's Jesse K. have opened a production studio here in Toronto. These guys aren't half-assed - they bought the mixing console that was used on Fleetwood Mac's 'Rumours'. Jesus Christ!!! www.mstrkrft.com is their home.
Things are busy. We're going to deliver more incredible jams to you. For god's sake though, in the mean time - if you haven't bought all our shit, why not get on it? Give it all a shot. Thanks!
The Russian Futurists new album "Our Thickness" is turning some crazy heads! Cover of CMJ last week, Muchmusic gave "Paul Simon" a video grant, SPIN is writing about them...look for reviews in the June issues of Tokion, Magnet, Resonance, Grooves, XLR8R, URB, Tastes Like Chicken, Under The Radar and a whole bunch of shit! And yes, apparently SPIN is calling them the 'band to watch' in the July issue?!
Thank you to all the early supports of The Russian Futurists and of "Our Thickness" - fans, radio, magazines, websites, bloggers, promoters, everyone, good times.
The Russian Futurists new album "Our Thickness" is now in stores.
Insound.com is offering for us to offer you 15% off the purchase of the new Russian Futurists album until May 17. Just click on THIS link and enter this coupon code when you go there: thickness15
The Russian Futurists are on the road with Caribou and The Junior Boys. If you live in a relatively large town in Canada or the United States there's a good chance they're coming to your area, and if not, I'm sure they're not too far a drive from you!
Thank you to everyone who came out April 23 for The Russian Futurists CD Release get-down!!!! Good f*&^ing times.
Cadence Weapon aka Rollie Pemberton is putting the finishing touches on his debut album "Breaking Kayfabe". It will come this summer and you will lose your mind!!!!!!
The Cansecos are well into the recording of their second album. They played about half of the new album live at the El Mocambo on the 23rd. This record will be out late in the summer. Check them out live June 12 at Wavelength in Toronto (Sneaky Dee's) http://wavelengthtoronto.com
The Russian Futurists are off touring Italy and Spain, some people are starting to hear "Our Thickness" - the new album and everyone is saying great shit!! Team UC just got back from SXSW in Texas - oooh shit! Now that was some serious fun!!! Did you go? Did you get one of our hand-crafted and custom-crayoned 2005 UC samplers? We hope so. #1 show of SXSW - M.I.A. at the Victory Grill...#2 MF Doom at the Scion show, #3 The Go! Team 3am at a fucked up Vice Party on an old art commune complex, #4 Hotchip again at a Vice event - please note we're poor as hell and we had no official badges or wristbands or even drinking money so the fact that we got into all those shows and there was free beer at all those shows is what made that trip so god damn amazing!!!
It is now official - The Russian Futurists CD Release party is Saturday April 23 in Toronto at El Mocambo. Tickets are at the door only. The Cansecos and likely another special guest will be opening for the Futurists.
We are ecstatic to announce our newest Upper Class artist Cadence Weapon aka Rollie Pemberton from Edmonton. The Cadence Weapon mixtape Cadence Weapon Is The Black Hand, already catching the attention of press folk like Pitchforkmedia and Exclaim is just a warm up for Breaking Kayfabe - Cadence Weapon's debut album coming from us this summer!! You really should get on his shit - you can get the mixtape at www.cadenceweapon.com - you also need to check out Rollie's massively popular blog
We have four amazing new things for sale in the UC Store . #1 You can begin pre-ordering The Russian Futurists new album "Our Thickness" - #2 You can now buy Food For Animals T-Shirts - they are HOT. #3 You can now buy a Food For Animals Remix EP. It's a CDR with hand-made packaging that is alone worth the small price. The music though - holy shit! #4 Ricky Rabbit of Food For Animals has unleashed a solo record of psycho beats. "Strictly Ricky" is another minimal investment for amazing hand-crafted packaging and maximum ear damage. and #5 there are now Russian Futurists stickers and pins for sale!
The Cansecos continue work on their 2005 release...look for it late summer. In the meantime you can catch them live at The Russian Futurists CD Release party in Toronto and once again June 12 at Wavelength. The Cansecos "A Common State Of Being" is being used in the debut full length film "IDAHO PEAK" by Aubrey Nealon (House Arrest, Abe's Manhood, In Memorium)!!
The legacy of girlsareshort lives on. Al-P from girlsareshort has teamed up with Death From Above 1979's Jesse Keller to form remixing team MSTRKRFT. Check out their mix of The Panthers "Thank Me"
That's all for now, thanks for continuing to visit upperclass.to, check out the mp3 blog, go see The Russian Futurists when they come to your town and for god's sake, don't wait to buy "Our Thickness" - easily the best Russian Futurists album so far!!!!
