Mowbird, Daily Post July 27

Have I ever told you how good Mowbird are? There's an interview with Ben Sawin below. It was in the Daily Post on Friday July 27.
The foursome are playing Swn Festival in October and Green Man Festival before that. There is also mooted a split seven inch single with their kindred spirits Sex Hands on the Popty Ping label -- fancy that.

Listen to them:

Read about them:

IN October of last year, Mowbird were recording a radio session at the BBC’s famous Maida Vale studios. A picture of the White Stripes gazed down on them as they prepared to play on what singer Ben Sawin describes as ‘the world’s smallest drum kit’.
It was, perhaps, a fitting scenario for a band that walks the line between brilliant and shambolic with such aplomb – and despite appearances, that is a compliment.
“Maida Vale was a great experience,” says Sawin. “It was a case of just thinking ‘how on earth did we get here when so many of our peers haven’t?’
“We weren’t thinking we had made it or anything. The picture of the White Stripes looking down on us – playing in exactly the same space we were – kind gave you a bit of perspective.”
Since their inception as a bratty and abrasive punk band, Wrexham’s Mowbird have developed through line up changes, a clutch of excellent EPs and shows at the likes of Swn and Camden Crawl. The essentials are the same, jittering wedges of off-kilter surf pop are all present and correct. They are, though, more toned and glossy, like some pulp fiction magazine. But progressing and leaving the past behind leaves Mowbird little room for sentimentality.
Sawin continues: “We have a low tolerance and get bored easily. First off, we always aim to make it interesting for us. Once songs stop meaning something we stop playing them. We don’t want to carry on in the same furrow.
“It’s hard to let go sometimes, every song has a meaning but some get stagnant. It’s like re-reading the same book. One week you might read the first chapter and it doesn’t really work. You might then pick it up a week later and it’s different.”

An interesting footnote, around the time of the BBC session, found the band playing to bemused diners in a Harvester Pub. An experience, like all the others, that Sawin says added to the band's dynamic.
“Some of us have played gigs to 10,000 people, well, just one of us [drummer Ben with his other band Camera]. Some had never played a gig before being in Mowbird. We’re all different.
“Our gig at Telford’s in Chester was definitely a highlight. Any gig where it’s been tiny and worked. The big moments are just important as the little ones.
“I feel we’re becoming a singular unit. The important thing is that we hang out outside of the band. That means a lot.”
He adds the past year caught the four piece of Sawin, Mike Smith, Sue Dempsey and Ben Trow standing off guard.
“It’s been a little, well, it’s been a huge surprise. I suppose being from Wrexham it’s ingrained in us not to expect too much. Maida Vale and Swn Festival kind of came out on nowhere. We got caught up in that but there was a little bit of disbelief that people were genuinely interested.
"It still does surprise me. We’re playing Swn again this year and before that Green Man Festival. All that’s based on a band that’s recorded in basements.”
Mowbird play Green Man Festival in Brecon on the weekend of August 17. To listen visit mowbird.bandcamp.com.

Pulco, Man of Lists

Pulco (Ash Cooke) releases his record Man of Lists on the worldwide public on July 30 -- Monday. Below you can listen to some of it and below that you can read wot I gon writ bout it in the Daily Post as long ago as May. Remember May? Those heady days.  http://pulco.bandcamp.com/

NORTH west Wales’ Pulco releases a lot of material. With such a broad array of genres it is a credit to Ash Cooke that he maintains a fairly level standard of quality.
Man Of Lists is, for the most part, spoken words over musical backdrops ranging from slow piano and synth to near-tropical rhythm then to what sounds suspiciously like an eastern European fiddle. There are a lot of collaborators across the record’s 25 tracks. Perhaps this is what contributes to the record’s slightly stretched feel.
As a collection of tracks, it is by no means a mess. But as an album, in the sense of a package, it maybe spreads itself a little thinly. It is encouraging that Pulco’s lo-fi experiments in folk and electronica never lose their charm.
The Downside of Things is a SFA techno workout that alone would be lovely. In these surrounds it jars ever so slightly. Ultimately, Ash Cooke is an artist we should all be very glad exists. The sheer amount of music he puts out turns over every stone of his creative process. It gives you a distinct and unique picture of a distinct and unique musician. He has created an open-ness that is all too vacant from music today.
If you don’t like one thing, there will always be something nearby that you will love.
Pulco: Man Of Lists (out now) folkwit.com/artists/pulco

We Are Animal newydd

There are some new We Are Animal tracks! They've been around for about 13 days.
Bombastic isn't the word. Well, it is. It is more of the gnarled, battered and bruised brooding psych rock we have come to expect from the band. Every melody and riff dragged up and down Snowdon, through the mud and muck, before eat reaches our ears.
They are playing RJ's in Bangor tomorrow night (July 27). Get down.

Irma Vep, HAHA.

About every couple of weeks/month/now and then this record comes up behind me and smacks me over the head with its sheer abrasive/heartfelt brilliance.

Irma Vep is the solo incarnation of Klaus Kinski drummer, Sex Hands guitarist, etc. Edwin Stevens and HAHA is the tenth full length album he's released under this moniker.
There is little more to say other than it is an unpolished gem of a record. Startlingly human, it's a mix of aggression, heartbreaking balladry, introversion and beauty. Life, sex, humour, sadness, pretty much everything you want a record to be. A visceral collection of songs, distant cousins of the ones on The Velvet Underground's third album.
It is a rough diamond, but beneath the abrasive texture are sentiments both simple and beautiful. There is a vulnerability and authenticity that just doesn’t exist in the saccharine and shallow money-fed behemoth of the pop chart.
It was released around March time on Turquoise Coal records. You really should purchase it here: www.turquoisecoal.com now.
Listen to more here: soundcloud.com/turquoise-coal

Irma Vep at the closing of Cob Records, Bangor

Sweet Baboo, Daily Post July 13

There was an interview with the excellent Sweet Baboo in the Daily Post on Friday (July 13). You can read it below the music if you want to. He's playing Green Man Festival in August. Listen to more here. It could have been a considerably longer article. But I have my limits. Word limits.



SWEET Baboo, formerly of Bethesda, raised in Colwyn Bay and now of Cardiff, has officially released three albums in 12 years. On face value, it falls some way short of prolific.
Otherwise known as Stephen Black, his career has not followed the trajectory of a shy and retiring bedroom musician. As well as music of his own, the past ten years have been punctuated with work alongside the likes of Cate Le Bon, Euros Childs, Slow Club, Daniel Johnston and H Hawkline.
“I started as Sweet Baboo really early but just, kind of, released CD-Rs,” he says. “Loads of the stuff I did from 18 to 21 or 22 I just did in my room and then I started playing with other bands and giving my friends music.
“It wasn’t really until I started playing with Euros Childs that I began to release music. Through him I realised it's not all glamorous and you should do things yourself.”

Nowadays, he points out he does not draw on a full 12 years of material – for reasons beyond progression.
"I tend to do new songs, you want to play the stuff you’ve never recorded.”
Black adds: “When you’ve put them on record they’re done and finished. I forget a lot of songs as well. The main reason, I suppose, is that I play so much for other people. I’ve only got enough space in my mind. Others just fall out.”
He has played with Cate Le Bon for "about eight years," something which led to being part of Euros Childs’ band. Collaborations with Sheffield’s Slow Club followed in a similar way. One of his five appearances at this year’s Green Man Festival in Brecon will be a krautrock collaboration with Le Bon and Hawkline – the first time in “about four years” the act has performed.
“The main thing I’ve learnt with other bands is that it’s not all as glamorous as you think. It is great in one way when you get to tour America – and then driving seven hours to play to 25 people isn’t too bad. But when you do that day after day.”
This year, with the look of a man still in touching distance of 20, Black reached 30. If the approach has changed over 12 years the principles have remained.
“All I ever really wanted to do was be in a band and I suppose was a lot more shy when I was younger. That was before the music industry crashed, as it were, and I thought that maybe one day I would get discovered. It – I – was quite naive.”
He continues: “It has always been kind of the same principle. I still like making, like, pop records. The main difference would be that I’m wiser on how to record things and I’ve got better gear.
“But in a weird way, when I was recording for nobody’s pleasure but my own it was a bit nicer. Now I always have to think whether someone will like it.”
A new record, the tentatively titled Ships, was completed in May after a tour with Slow Club. No release date has been set. He plays at Green Man Festival in Brecon on the weekend of August 17. To listen to Sweet Baboo visit sweetbaboo.bandcamp.com. For more information on Green Man Festival visit greenman.net.

A Twisted Banana Extravaganza

Houdini Dax

SATURDAY 14 JULY, TIVOLI, BUCKLEY
The wonderfully named Twisted Banana Promotions have hand-picked six exciting Welsh bands for your ultimate summery musical pleasure. All for £10.
In their own words: “We are literally bursting with excitement to be putting them all in front of you on one stage on the same evening.”
It would be easy to take that statement with a pinch of salt. After all, they are promoters with tickets to sell. The line up for Buckley Tivoli on July 14 is, though, tremendous.

Sixties pop viewed through a rose-tinted haze, Colorama are based around the talents of singer-songwriter Carwyn Ellis – who has in the past worked with Oasis and Edwyn Collins amongst others.

Similarly Cardiff’s Houdini Dax jitter their way through Beatles-esque harmonies and doo-wop rhythm with reckless youthful fervour.  

Ewloe’s Golden Fable are the brainchild of Tim McIver and Rebecca Palin. They mix electronics and guitars into lush atmosphere. Camera, Cal Roberts and the Ill Gotten Gains and The Loving Cup make up the excellent roster. For full details go here.

Trwbador Newydd

The, frankly, ace Trwbador have been locked away working on their debut album. Which is exciting enough.  One of them has also found the time to remix a song by Huw M, which is below.



They've also got particularly snazzy t shirts. Purchase one from their website.

Why Did She Run Far Away?

In the Daily Post today, which you should definitely buy, is a review of the first track from Memory Clinic (formerly Pretty Places).
The verse, especially, has been ragging its way through my head for the past 48 hours, which can only be a good thing, right?
they're from Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. You can download it for free as well.

Focus Wales Got Video

Focus Wales 2012. The back of my head and part of my shoulder as I enjoy We Are Animal, I think.

Focus Wales will return to Wrexham on April 25, 26 and 27 next year. A set of super earlybird tickets have been released. A measly £15 for a weekend wristband if you get yours before October 1. Value.
In what is a slightly over-saturated festival market, Focus Wales is a very welcome bubble of air.
In a similar way to Cardiff's ever-wonderful Swn Festival, the event aims to provide a platform for new and interesting Welsh bands.
If you were to compare it to, say, Colwyn Bay's Access All Eirias event -- in terms of leaving a lasting impression on an area -- it is obvious how grateful we should be for Focus Wales.

Supported by Arts Council of Wales and PRS for Music Foundation, 2012's event took in over 90 bands over four days across eight stages. Race Horses and We Are Animal were particularly awesome.
In only its second year the festival was attended by over 1,500 new music fans – more than double the attendance of the previous 2011.
There is also a new video below.

Full details are here: http://www.focuswales.com

Gallops solo stuff

Here's some solo stuff by Paul from Gallops. Calafornia Jr, it's pretty primal -- as you would expect. Slightly more glossy. If you imagine the Wrexham act playing Detroit house you're pretty much there. It's great, Detroit Horse. Nice.