Art, culture and the best of what’s on in Wales

Bluesman from Louisiana, well into his ninth decade and not to be confused with Jimmy Reed the bluesman from Mississippi, having appropriated his name when the latter died in 1976. I guess it was a heartfelt tribute but the story of it does read more like identity theft. Ex-Groundhogs sideman and fellow octogenarian Bob Hall …

Brighton songwriter with the sort of rep they call burgeoning, thanks chiefly to this year’s Light Sleeper album (Atwell’s third) and a credits list that throws the US indie-folk kitchen sink at listeners: Aaron Dessner from The National produces, with fellas from Beirut, Big Thief and Sufjan Stevens’ band moonlighting.

From Toronto and starting life as a two-piece function band, Bywater Call now boast a full lineup – although the core duo actually played Cardiff last year, supporting Robert Jon – and play a combo of “gritty blues, gospel, soul and classic rock” in the words of Buzz’s Colin Palmer, who interviewed the band last …

Bridging the not necessarily vast chasm between chart dance of a 90s/00s vintage and trance/happy hardcore/hardstyle of the type more often found in actual dance clubs, this event runs from 6pm-1am and features Billy Gillies, Andy Whitby, Sash!, Ultrabeat, Flip & Fill, Klubfiller and MCs Keyes and Wotsee.

London-based purveyors of best-time dance-pop Electric Fire are playing their first gig in Wales this month, and that’s something to be dead pleased about. What’s more, their appearance forms part of an evening of other notable debuts, hopefully adding up to a valuable and inclusive foundation going forward. The quartet have been booked by Bwthyn …

If you caught cult Japanese band Melt-Banana on their UK tour last month, you might fancy checking out Osaka duo Hyper Gal too, as they have a pretty similar vibe in the scheme of things: fast noisy rock with electronic elements and a surreal pop sensibility, as showcased on new album After Image. Spünday and …

Having recalibrated his blend of classic and electronic pop with assistance from producer Ivor Guest, whose name is a self-contained ‘knock knock’ joke, John Grant is touring the results of this recalibration – The Art Of The Lie, his sixth album – this month, stopping off in Cardiff as he often does. Midlands duo Big …

Cardiffian emo/alt/pop-punk/post-hardcore luminaries Kids In Glass Houses dipped their toe in the ‘being a band again’ water with some 2023 gigs, and have now recorded a new album – Pink …

Punk-turned-new-wave-turned-pop hitmaker Mr Ant is to spend over three weeks touring the UK this autumn, with Cardiff sitting pretty in about the middle. The tour’s called Antmusic 2024 and seems like a very back to basics, no self-indulgence, I know you’re here for the hits and my wide brimmed hat type show.

As with Jah Wobble’s last Welsh visits, in April, some of his shows will feature the music of his band since the 1980s, Invaders Of The Heart, and others will offer recreations of {Metal Box}, the revered Public Image Ltd album on which he played bass. In this case, Aberdare gets PiL. (Note the early …

Rappin’, rockin’, complainin’ in song about not winning crap music prize ‘the Mercury’: London duo Bob Vylan can do it all. Singer Bobby Vylan, not to be confused with his bandmate Bobbie Vylan, was an engaging Buzz interviewee ahead of their latest album’s release, and the band have duly returned to Cardiff in a bigger …

First unveiled in the form of an album in 2023, Stolen From God is a folk song cycle tackling England’s involvement in the transatlantic slave trade. The writer behind it, Somerset-based singer-songwriter Reg Meuross, performs its songs live alongside vocalist Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne and multi-instrumentalist Suntou Susso.

Buzz’s Ben Woolhead called Beak>’s album >>>> “a genuinely psychedelic experience” on its release in June. I dislike when people use keyboard characters for titles rather than actual words, so dismissed it on principle, but folks with better things to care about may thrill to the rangy Westcountry rock action of Geoff Barrow and co.