GREG COULSON
the bullingdon
wed 19 aug · 7.00pm
£10–£18
every gig · every venue
Julia-Sophie with support from Maria Uzor, Octavia Freud & DJ Simplex
Oxford's Love Music Hate Racism returns to The Bullingdon's main room after their sold out shows last year for this special Electronic Against Hate lineup that features two of the most exciting and provocative female electronic artists based in the UK.
Anglo-French avant garde electronic artist Julia-Sophie headlines the main room at The Bullingdon. Her debut album 'forgive too slow' combines traditional songwriting roots with experimental electronica — intimate vocals backed by warm analogue synths and precise drum machines. Influences range from New Wave to folk confessional to house to avant-garde 80s pop. The songs narrate a story of self-destruction, love, and loss. By the end, embers are still burning — but there is a sense of getting closer to something authentic. This promises to be a treat for Oxford music fans already aware of her talent and a joy for those who have not yet had the chance to catch her live show.
Esoteric electronic artist Maria Uzor will be performing tracks from her brand new album, 'Fantasyland' and bringing her restless energy to the stage. Her music lands like a pirate broadcast from a distant corner of the galaxy. Inspired by both dark and light, order and chaos, power and vulnerability, she blends genres into new worlds, mixing electro, trip-hop, proto-rave, bass, and techno to create a soundtrack for the outsider in search of dance floor epiphany.
Support comes from Manchester born Oxford based solo DIY electronic vocalist Octavia Freud. He writes sardonic, funny and emotionally charged songs about the relationships he has with friends, family and the state. Expect some new politically charged songs from his latest side project with producer i4M2 called The Complex.
Oxford based DJ Simplex returns to The Bullingdon with his high energy Jump up Jungle and DnB mix style to kick start the party with what promises to be a special evening of joy, celebration and resistance.
Oxford Love Music Hate Racism will provide their merchandise and information stall for the public to come and say hello and support the resistance against the rise of the far-right. All profits raised from the gig will go towards LMHR's community work promoting equality and fighting racism and fascism across the county.
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the bullingdon
wed 19 aug · 7.00pm
the bullingdon
thu 20 aug · 7.00pm
JULIA-SOPHIE
As a multiple cover star of Oxford's Nightshift magazine and winner of the converted track of the year award for her track 'telephone', it is fair to say Julie-Sophie's music is highly regarded in Oxford's local music scene. The song is a breathless and dreamy synth pop masterpiece of heartbreak and longing. Julie-Sophie explains,
"In 'telephone' I wanted to communicate that feeling of true wistful love, that feeling you have when you find that one person who makes you feel more alive than anyone else ever has. It feels magical. But then, as always for me, real life comes in and fucks it all up. Once again, I find myself trapped by the stories of my past, the ones I spend my life trying to run from, only to find my self alone."
Julia-Sophie has had a successful musical career performing previously in the more rock focused acts Little Fish (UNIVERSAL MOTOWN/ISLAND RECORDS) and Candy Says (BEANIE TAPES). She has toured the US with artists like Blondie, Courtney Love, and Juliette Lewis as a founder of Little Fish, and earned millions of streams with Candy Says for songs in the films ‘Close’ and ‘Burn Burn Burn'.
Her solo work has been highly praised by The Quietus, Bandcamp Daily, TLOBF, Lauren Laverne, Mary Anne Hobbs, Nemone, Don Letts, Huw Stephens, Our Culture, Under the Radar, Electronic Sound, and many others.
“Elegant and smoky electronic pop…Widescreen and ambitious, embodying both the freedom that comes with independent musicianship.” – The Quietus
“A forward thinking avant-popster.” – Electronic Sound
“Captivating synth textures, spiraling melodies, and intricate rhythms.” – The Line of Best Fit
“Mesmerizing…Worlds away from her garage-rock and pop beginnings in DIY bands...you can practically hear her tears within the soft, synth-led soundscape." – Bandcamp Daily
“The rising talent has garnered comparisons to alt-pop icons such as FKA twigs and Grimes, punctuating an ethereal, synth-washed production with her haunting vocal range” – DMY
'forgive too slow’ is the aching and ambitious debut solo album in her current electronic direction of travel. Her weird and winding journey to this debut has included experiences as an international major label artist (“I didn’t care enough about being famous to survive all the sh*t that was being thrown at me.”), recording film scores, motherhood, and much more.
The album is about relationships and what happens when we “forgive too slow” and can’t break out of patterns from the past. The songs narrate her story of self-destruction (“numb”), love (“falling”), and loss (“telephone”). By the end, embers are still burning and there is no telling if Julia-Sophie has found peace, but we do get a sense that she has gotten closer to the core of her being and is finally living authentically.
‘forgive too slow’ is released on vinyl via Brooklyn’s Ba Da Bing Records.
Https://juliasophie.bandcamp.com/album/forgive-too-slow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6vniTSuHoU
MARIA UZOR
Maria Uzor will be showcasing new tracks from her brand-new album, 'Fantasyland' for this special live electronic focussed event.
Singles, 'Don't Touch Me' and 'Cyclops' have already picked up glowing reviews in Electronic Sound magazine:
"Punching hard with a ricocheting, ballistic beat, heavy bass, and vocals that bounce between soft and confrontational, Cyclops creeps in with the majesty of a Ray Harryhausen film before dropping into a dirty, dub-inspired dance number, complete with a peppering of proto-rave."
Maria explains the creative thinking behind the new single, “The title came before the track. It popped into my head in the shower. I was thinking about how nuance is becoming a lost art, how we’re increasingly moving towards more binary thinking, which results in division and othering. The image of these pre-historic monoliths stomping around with single one-dimensional thinking. Cyclopses.”
Her live shows exhibit the kind of tension that comes from both fearlessness and a deep desire for human connection. Her music, part repetition, part reinvention, calls to never lose sight of the human inside the machine.
Born in Norwich, UK, to a Barbadian mother and Nigerian father, Maria grew up to the sounds of reggae and African music in the home, and punk, indie and hip-hop in the world outside. A black girl in a white environment, curious, observant, and with an increasing desire to carve out a landscape for herself in a world in which she had no reflection, her music bends and twists reality to shape a world in which she, and anyone else who wants to join, can feel at home.
Maria began singing and playing guitar in her first band, garage punk 4-piece The Incidentals in the mid-noughties, before moving on to the psych-witch solo project Girl In A Thunderbolt in 2008. She then formed the post-punk dance duo Sink Ya Teeth in 2017 to critical acclaim.
She’s been producing and self-releasing under her own name since 2021, gaining support from Jamz Supernova, Amy Lame, BBC Introducing, and 6 Music.
Uzor has released 3 EPs and one full-length album (‘Soft Cuts’ - 2023) to date, with her second album, ‘Fantasyland’, coming out on 3rd September 2026.
She’s collaborated with Acid Klaus (Eccentronic Research Council / Moonlandingz), A Certain Ratio, Chk Chk Chk, and Baba Ali, and has remixed a number of artists including Rozi Plain, The Umlauts, and Floral Image.
Performing nationwide and in Europe, she’s opened for Young Fathers, Black Midi, Snapped Ankles and Benefits amongst others, and played stages at The Great Escape, Nox Orae, Grauzone, Green Man, Manchester Psych Fest, Mutations, and Focus Wales.
Fantasyland LP is released on 3rd September via Hey Buffalo Records.
Www.mariauzor.net https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TeSurBlgr8
OCTAVIA FREUD
Octavia Freud is the alter ego of Oxford based DIY electronic artist Martin Andrews. His music releases have gained national airplay on BBC 6 Music, BBC Introducing and BBC Radio 4.
Martin's latest Octavia Freud album, 'Relationships' features songs that explore different types of relationship between his family, friends and the state.
Octavia Freud is currently writing and performing tracks with producer i4M2 for a new politically charged side project called The Complex. It questions the role of the state and the liberal elite who have failed to challenge the billionaires and the far-right.
Originally from Manchester, Martin first started DJ’ing and promoting club nights when he moved to London in the 2000’s and subsequently set up the South London electronic label Projector Records.
As a musician he has performed in various live electronic outfits that have performed across the UK and Europe, including London’s Institute of Contemporary Art, Fleche D’or club in Paris and the Isle of Wight’s Bestival festival.
Martin has collaborated with many other musicians and producers. His collaboration with Brighton electronic producer IDC led to a live session for John Kennedy's radio show and their track, ‘Modern Touch’ gaining single of the week in Mixmag magazine.
Martin’s own tracks have been selected on mix compilations by the late Andrew Weatherall, appeared alongside Goldfrapp on the seminal ‘Robopop’ electro album and been remixed at Death in Vegas’ famous Contino Rooms by Cosey Club founder Richard Clouston.
Martin spent several years running the influential live electronic music residency night, ‘Neural Ohmlette’ for London’s Heavenly Social club.
Since moving to Oxford, Martin has helped to develop its live electronic music scene, organising music events for Modern Art Oxford, collaborating with local DIY artists and releasing four studio albums as Octavia Freud.
His album, ‘Land Ahoy’ earned him a front cover of Oxford’s Nightshift magazine:
“Octavia Freud has hit gold with a deeply personal yet political style that reaches out of its electronic corner to embrace post-punk. All of life is contained in this unstintingly engaging forty minutes.”
While Oxfordshire Music Scene stated:
“This is an exceptional LP that your collection is incomplete without, and your summer will be significantly better for having this as the soundtrack"
Martin was commissioned to write the music concept album, ‘Mancbeth’, which is based on a script by writer David Lemberg. It sets Shakespeare’s tragedy in a 90’s Manchester rave club, loosely based on The Hacienda. It is narrated by Martin as a fictional DJ in the club who gets to witness the drug dealing gangster Macbeth and his wife Lady M take over the city with their murderous ambitions.
In the summer of 2024 the album was performed live at Manchester’s Band on the Wall venue in collaboration with two of Manchester’s musical legends, singer Rowetta from Happy Mondays and original FAC51 Hacienda DJ Jon Da Silva and received rave reviews.
“Martin has created a wholly coherent piece of work that succeeds in all of its aims, from remaking the original story in a completely different form, to creating an often glorious kaleidoscope of electronic music. Macbeth might be a tragedy, but ‘Mancbeth’ is a triumph” Nightshift Magazine.
Www.octaviafreud.co.uk www.octaviafreud.bandcamp.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9uOLHYMUSo
DJ SIMPLEX
If you are looking for high energy jump up Jungle and DnB party vibes then DJ Simplex delivers big time. Having been invited to open proceedings for last year's LMHR show at The Bullingdon, it is our pleasure to invite him back to get the party started for this special Electronic Against Hate event.
Https://www.instagram.com/@simplexdnbjunglist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1MhVtuWCjs
the bullingdon
fri 21 aug · 6.30pm