Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff
Fri 19 + Sat 20 May
Returning in more of a concentrated dose this year, From Now On’s 2017 edition once again offers a snapshot of high quality contemporary music, of esoteric sounds and playful experimentalism. Organised by Welsh label Shape Records, the previous three years’ worth of festivals have seen gold star sets from Julia Holter, Anna Meredith and Richard Dawson, as well as finding room for marginal thrills such as LA’s audience-manipulating Lucky Dragons, an H. Hawkline live soundtrack to an S4C horror film, and the incomparable, baguette-assisted drone of Breadwoman. The emphasis is on fun as much as Wire magazine-fondling, on gender balance as a matter of course, and always feels like a treat of leftfield musical discoveries. Chapter also has an excellent booze selection.
Hovering at the top of this year’s bill is the premiere of a new piece by Gruff Rhys and Roger Paez, the former having been invited to produce a musical response to the latter’s architectural work, in this case of a progressive, rehabilitative prison in Catalonia. Rhys’ specially invited band will be armed with heart monitors and a map of the prison, in what sounds like unmissable, improvisational greatness. Shape Records’ alter egos Islet also take another step back into live performance after something of a hiatus: last year’s Liquid Half Moon EP and subsequent gig showed the band still a fiery blast of rattling percussion and feral yelping so, again, do not miss.
Of the newer breed of curated acts, put a massive arrow pointing towards Yeah You, a father/daughter combo of fizzing noise, rambling vocals and other associated weirdness. Seriously, they are brilliant. Also in the top drawer are Yama Warashi, a Japanese/Bristolian folklore-infused dream, the London-via-Bahrain psych dervishes Flamingods, Roshi and Pars Radio’s colloquial electronica gathered from Wales, London and Iran, and superb analogue dystopian beats from local boy Twinfield. There is more.
You don’t need a reminder of the State Of The World to feel all this progressive internationalism doing you good, so for anyone not hiding in a nuclear bunker this month, you know what to do.
Tickets: £15 per day/£25 weekend. Info: 029 2030 4400
words WILL STEEN