The regressive, fun-hating agenda of today’s social justice warriors was denounced online by dads galore last month, Newport’s Goldie Lookin Chain being the martyrs in this battle. Having been booked for Cardiff’s Pride Cymru bank holiday weekender, it was suggested that a group whose biggest chart hit was called Your Mother’s Got A Penis might undermine the ‘T’ of the LGBT community which Pride supports; they were swiftly dropped from the bill. Meanwhile, Rhondda council have faced (and, at the time of writing, resisted) pressure to can part of their Tribute In The Park lineup, a Beyoncé homage by a white woman accused of darkening her skin for the purpose. Leanne Harper, aka Beeyonce, insists that such claims refer to performances during a less enlightened era, specifically May 2017
A million miles from such ideological concerns, Stereophonics are set to return with another aural comfort blanket: their 10th studio album, Scream Above The Sounds, is due for release on Fri 3 Nov. Frontman Kelly Jones says its 11 songs “rally against those anxious feelings that have flooded through cities,” which will doubtless give succour to victims of [recent, grim city-based news story of your choice]; track titles include Cryin’ In Your Beer and What’s All The Fuss About?. The first single, All In One Night, is an 80s pop-rock brooder with lyrics about house parties, pregnant girls and drunk driving which sounds sort of like The War On Drugs
Cardiff indie label Bubblewrap follows up the release of wonky synthpop duo Finery (see the album reviews page) with three more discs for autumn. Quodega’s debut LP The Meanderlux Vessel drops on Fri 15 Sept – it’s the new pseudonym of Tom Raybould, and sees him team up with drummer Kliph Scurlock for a bout of noisy, kinda early Mogwai-ish instrumental rock. A fortnight later comes Eugene Capper & Rhodri Brooks’ Pontvane, 10 songs of easy-rolling, slightly stoned countrified indie which has Girl Ray chipping in on one song. Finally, in October there’s a split 12” EP between Cardiff’s mildly hotly-tipped Boy Azooga and Buzzard, who appear to feature some of the band Tibet
Community Music Wales is 25 years old this autumn, and is organising a birthday gig to celebrate. Founded in 1992 by musicians living in Cardiff, it began with a charitable aspect – improving the lives of others using music – it quickly expanded, and currently has offices in Cardiff and Caernarfon plus over 50 tutors, based across Wales and working with youth organisations and asylum seekers. The gig in question is titled 25 And Live, takes place at Cardiff’s Tramshed on Thurs 9 Nov, and will serve as a showcase of various community music performers, many of whom owe much of their development to CMW’s work
Malcolm Neon, an obscure but pioneering solo artist from the early 80s Welsh language scene, has recently had a large swathe of his discography compiled by Vinyl-On-Demand, a German label whose remit is reissuing music as marginal as this. Formally known as Malcolm Gwyon, he self-released several highly rare cassettes of bizarre, primitive minimal synth; one previous compilation, on the halfway-overground Fflach label, was released in 1992 but is long deleted. He’s nevertheless been championed by musicians including Gwenno and Gruff Rhys, and is of interest to UKDIY and minimal synth heads as well as Welsh language collectors. The comp, 1980-85, stuffs 42 songs onto two LPs and a bonus 7”
words NOEL GARDNER