Clinigol
Sat 15 May 2010
Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff
There was a time when pop music was embraced only after too many double-Vodkas in Walkabout on a Saturday night. But recently, music of the super-happy sing-a-long variety have burst free of peoples’ ‘guilty pleasures’ playlist and found themselves as the scenesters’ tunes of choice.
Slick producers and downright bonkers front-men have helped put the ‘popular’ back into pop – and Cardiff-based Clinigol are no exception, bringing their Welsh-language brand of electro-pop to Clwb Ifor Bach this weekend.
From the bubblegum bounce of Hufen Ia to the blippy funk of Eiliad, pretty much every song was bursting with a catchy dancey charm that you couldn’t help but tap your feet to. And for the English speakers, the collective embarked on an irreverent whistle stop tour of modern pop music – mashing up everyone from Kylie to Roisin Murphy, and even managing to make I Gotta Feeling sound listenable again.
Front-man Geraint Pickard commanded the crowd’s attention with his evident passion for pop, and vocal meat was added by part time collaborators / full-time powerhouses Nia Medi and El Parisa.
Synths, Violins and Bongos rounded off the eclectic soundscape, and also suggested that this band may be made for bigger venues.
Overall, Clinigol’s debut headlining gig showed bags of potential, so it’s a shame non-English tunes are generally ignored by the record buying masses – their Swigod LP would sit nicely alongside the Alphabeats and Gagas of this world. But hey, if Jedward can forge some sort of successful pop career, anything is possible!