Big up Cardiff Council for spending 45 grand on coronation celebrations that were dwarfed by the republican demonstration; money that could have gone on foodbanks, homelessness action, commitments to youth and community groups, or booking Wanda Group to play the CIA. I’d like to reaffirm my burning disdain for these shameless careerists and all who work alongside them
TTN’s second show with SHIFT is now confirmed. Details to follow but save the date: July 15th. I hope you like trombones, and riffffs
THE GOOD STUFF
SUN MAY 7: DJ GUY ALL NIGHT LONG @ Paradise Garden, Cardiff, 17:00
The capital’s ruling selector puts in a serious shift down City Road. If you haven’t already, you can read my two-part chat with Guy here
TUE MAY 9: HALF/TIME, RHYS TRIMBLE, PEIRIANT @ The Bunkhouse, Swansea, 19:00
Seething Te Ao Māori goth-punk from this wicked Aotearoa (NZ) mob; raw rehearsal room gear that speaks on decolonisation and ‘the half-caste experience’ in modern NZ. What a treat: touring the length and breadth of our beastly land (including Le Pub on the 10th) as part of a cultural exchange between Cardiff and Waikato universities, examining ‘minority language’ use in popular music. Support from the Bangor-based poet, pianist and performance artist Rhys Trimble, and perennial TTN faves Peiriant; minimal etchings from the enchanted peripheries of Mid Wales, from guitar and violin duo Rose and Dan Linn-Pearl
SAT MAY 20: COMFORT, HARPOON & SACHASKY @ SHIFT, Cardiff, 19:30
I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say the British state’s fetid institutions—but in particular, the press—are conducting open warfare on trans people. It’s grotesque, and so I’m pleased to see vital discord arrive in Cardiff in the shape of Glasgow siblings Natalie (vox / electronics) and Sean McGhee (drums). This in support of new LP ‘What’s Bad Enough?’; sneering skin-and-bones hip-hop with instrumentals that give a wink to Sophie, Stawberry Switchblade and more. Come and see what it’s all about. Support from bloodied Bristol rhythm unit Harpoon, and ‘Sachasky’, who you might know as frontier beat-brawd Sachasom, only this time joined by rapper skylrk
THU MAY 25: KNIFEDOUTOFEXISTENCE, SLOW MURDER, SWEFN, ACTS OF WORSHIP, DEATH OF SEASONS @ SHIFT, Cardiff, 19:00
Dean Lloyd Robinson aka knifedoutofexistence has one the most varied, sensitive palletes of anyone making noise today, incorporating feedback worship, abyssal ambience and frosty, tremelo-picked laments. Support includes Cardiff’s Slow Murder—music to think about the National Grid to—and SWEFN, aka Ian Watson, whose ‘August into September’ release—’A selection of outtakes from recorded sessions using no-input style feedback methods in modular synthesis’—I enjoyed
FRI MAY 26 – SUN MAY 28: CARDIFF PSYCH AND NOISE FEST W/ GNOD, PSYCHIC GRAVEYARD, BASIC DICKS, MOGAN, BETHAN LLOYD, EYE, RED TELEPHONE AND MUCH MORE @ Womanby Street, Cardiff, see website for times
Christ, is it that time again? As of yet they haven’t done venue line-ups or times. Some tips:
GNOD: You know the score; blundering, mammothian mutant rock from Salford, come get your eardrums done
PSYCHIC GRAVEYARD: Relatively new, axe-free outing from all the old noise rock lot; ex-Arab on Radar, Chinese Stars, Doomsday Student, all the stars are here Jenny! Bedlam synths, vile textures and lumbering, dumb-as-hell drums
BASIC DICKS: One-take feminist malaise from Oxford weirdo punx, big tip for everyone who misses Saturday nights at Cathays Community Centre
MOGAN: Queerdo, scrapyard electronica from the South Wales-born, Manchester-based artist; soulful and wild-willed
NUHA RUBY RA: Brooding Suicide worship and bad-mood psych, has recently released her ‘Machine Like Me’ ep
SAT MAY 27: WHITSUNTIDE W/ MXLX, TRAVIS JOHNS, MARLO DE LARA, ‘SWEFN’, JAKE HEALY, ARDAL BICNIC, THE KEELING CURVE, COME LORD, 1969, SI PATON & MORE @ SHIFT, Cardiff, 13:00
This is part of a weekend of events at SHIFT featuring experimental music, performance art, installation and movement, full details here. Some names:
MXLX: Back in Cardiff following last year’s Psych and Noise; many-headed, freeform electronics from Bristol, with pulverising dirges, chest-thudding breaks and screeching low-born fantasy
TRAVIS JOHNS: You may know Johns as the man behid VauxFlores, an Ithaca, NY-based label and electronics company specialising in esoteric Eurorack modules, synths and guitar pedals. His own output is of a meditative, industrial bent, big tip ffo Kevin Drumm
MARLO DE LARA: AKA Marlo Eggplant, a Baltimore, Maryland-based sound artist with releases on VauxFlores Industrial, among others. Wonderfully mottled, textured compositions, contact mic delicacies, and an outsider chance of a Robyn cover
JAKE HEALY: Loved this from Sugar Horse guy Jake Healy last September; fractured, feverish ambient in the vein of Leyland Kirby, sans the ream of hauntology footnotes
ARDAL BICNIC: Cardiff-based duo of Rosey Morwenna and Heledd C Evans, brilliant last time I saw them: dense loops of heat-treated violins and probing clarinets, like losing your way through some sweet-smelling swamp
THU JUN 1: CHAIN OF FLOWERS, FINLAY SHAKESPEARE, BEAUTY PARLOUR @ Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff, 19:30
Homecoming show for the Welsh post-wave practitioners in support of their Never Ending Space LP, upcoming on Helm’s Alter Label. New singles Serving Purpose and The Wall plumb depths not reached in previous work; a bruising, strung-out wash of residual emotion. Support from the talented Finaly Shakespeare, an engineer and synth-builder who straddles an obscure line between weirdo modular studies and propelling synth pop. Also on the bill: me
DO YOU WANT TO KNOW
Thankyou very much to everyone who came along to TTN / SHIFT’s first promo, with Miedo Total (Alex Comana), ecolagbohrsac2021 (Atay Ilgun) and myself performing as Beauty Parlour. Safe to say that Alex pulling out the woodwind midi controller, patched through a foghorn, was a big moment for us all. Meanwhile, Atay’s densely layered, stuttering fanta-synths and hi-res woodland hymnals were mesmerising, the stuff of fever dreams. Very grateful to both for coming down.
Alex is of Welsh-Italian extraction, and after the show we had a chat via email about what’s led up to his current practice as a musician and composer.
X: Tell me about some of the central themes in your recent work, and where you think these have come from
A: I keep coming back to the subjects of obsession and repression, which I feel like are almost two sides of the same coin. Growing up and being socialised as a male person has basically been an exercise in navigating these two states, and then later rejecting them. Now that I’m questioning my gender identity a lot more, I see them as the root of a lot of my (and I think other people’s) struggles with mental health and individuality, especially if we’re thinking about repression of emotions and self-obsession. This project feels like a channel for these two states, and a release of pressure for me
X: What for you is the link between maleness and these twin themes?
A: In my experience—and I’m thinking specifically about the British School Experience—growing up and being socialised as a male person felt like a cycle of these two states. It involves, to some extent, the repression of any emotions that aren’t inherently masculine, and simply caring about or trying hard at anything can feel like a sign of weakness. You’re essentially curating yourself to fit within a narrowly accepted archetype, and inevitably you end up obsessing over the opinions and judgement of others. To me, the repression that I have actively practised throughout my life has basically meant that I’ve numbed myself to a lot, and developed obsessions such as health and social anxieties as a result
X: Do we see this exploration of gender identity in your work?
A: Definitely, I think there’s a lot of aggression in my work, in the music itself and especially in the live performance. I’m really interested in exploring the performance of aggression, particularly because it’s seen as an emotion that emerges due to a lack of control and, coincidentally, a masculine trait. For me, there’s something captivating about the relinquishing and regaining of control when it comes to making music.
X: I sense a lot of ‘world-building’ in your work, something which a lot of people—myself included—seem to do these days. Why do you think that might be?
A: World-building is definitely what I’d call it. It’s a lens through which I channel a lot of my work, through superstition, fictional mythologies and rituals, both in the lyrical and instrumental content. I’m not traditionally religious but I use the frameworks of religion, it’s a way of giving meaning to the parts of my life that I am either unable to control or explain.
I think people are turning to world-building a lot more because we’ve reached a point in time where the future is no longer the horizon for possibility we once believed it was. World-building, folklore and ritual mean that you know what the rules are; at the same time, everything feels chaotic, and I think we’re all secretly hoping there’s someone up there taking score.
X: Do you think there's a danger in the idea of hopelessness driving people to ‘world-building’, in that creatives become disengaged with everyday trials, realities, instead becoming insular and separated?
A: I think we’re already going through that regardless. Capitalism sells access to creative tools, including social media, under the banner of democratisation, in such a way that encourages separation and insularism; the idea that you don’t need anyone else, you can make it on your own because you have all the tools you need at your disposal
I actually think that world-building may be a way of developing community. I don’t necessarily see it as being a practice in entering your own personal fantasy but more a creation of lore that is based on values and experiences that you believe to be important to your identity. Often I think those values and experiences are shared by many people. The rising trend of traditional folklore, paganism and wider mythology in art is such a good example of that. In its most basic form, it’s wanting to return to a simpler lifestyle, one before (or long after) capitalism
X: After some years away you’ve recently had work in Wales at the Swansea Grand, performing a live score for National Theatre Wales’s ‘Cost of Living’. Have you reflected on the place, and the environment here for artists?
A: I lived in Cardiff during my time at university and stuck around while I was playing in bands. I definitely took it for granted, barely venturing outside of the city centre. I moved to London about 10 years ago because, at the time, it just felt like something you did. I’ve returned to Wales a lot as a composer for theatre and I have to say that the arts feel very inherent, in the sense that poetry, music and particularly theatre feel like they are part of the Welsh identity, whilst in England they feel like an industry; that’s not to say that there isn’t incredible work being made in England, but the possibilities feel greater in Wales. However I do wish there was more of an artistic dialogue throughout the UK, particularly when it comes to sharing Welsh work outside of Wales
X: Do you reckon there’s any ‘WELSHNESS’ in your work?
A: It’s very cliche but Dylan Thomas has had a big influence on my lyrics, I think that definitely counts. I also think I’ve discovered the ‘WELSHNESS’ in my work a lot more recently through spending more and more time here. I also have to thank my friend Casi Wyn for this, who is currently Bardd Plant Cymru. To me she is such a shining example of a WELSH artist. We’ve worked together on various things for years and she’s definitely taught me to be very proud of the half of me that’s Welsh
X: What’s next?
A: I’m currently halfway through writing a full length album, and in the very early stages of some work with Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru and NDCW, meaning that hopefully I’ll be back for an extended period of time
THINGS I HAVE BEEN LISTENING TO:
I can’t get enough of Sewn the Name by Old Saw, who go long on knackered banjos, lap steels, fiddles, bells and tapes to summon beautiful, cursed landscapes of sap, rust and unworldly energy buried hundreds of miles deep in the forest. Spellbinding gear
A big favourite during ecolagbohrsac2021’s aforementioned set was ‘MEDIÆVAL HYPERPOP’, which as he kindly points out is available here. One for the questers
F1 FORUM!!!
VAMOS CHECO!
I will likely be on hiatus next month for exams, but I just wanted to say I’ve been really enjoy writing this lately and I thank you all for keeping it real, I hope you’re getting something out of it; not sure how we’ve ended up with two weirdo all-dayers clashing in Cardiff this month but the fact it’s happening says something to me. I think there’s plenty of people who could use this newsletter but still haven’t encountered it, so I’d be grateful if you spread the word
I am a Cardiff-based musician, promoter and writer. You can listen to my music here. Through the Night is published monthly on Substack. You can subscribe below.
If you are a recording artist in Wales or from Wales making anything freaky, I’d love to hear your stuff, particularly if you’re from a group that traditionally lacks representation. You can email me at throughthenightwales@gmail.com
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