Dancers ain't dead

Over the summer, the only reason I knew Dancers weren't dead was that I seemed to see (from afar) a member of the Denbigh group at near enough every festival/event I went to.
But that pointless story isn't important. What is important is that they have released a new track, Resigned (BELOW).

With anything between one and seven members at a time, the music they produce is a hazy dream pop. Full of lo fi sensibility, they have always seemed capable of something a little more grandiose, or polished.

Speaking at the end of last year frontman Dafydd Myddleton said: “I’d love to record properly. As it is, it’s a bedroom recording thing and the tracks we have on the internet are around a year old. I like the lo fi side of things and don’t want something super-polished. Just properly recorded.

“In my head I know how I want things to sound – it’d be good to get someone to help realise that.”

I can't be certain, but I think Resigned has been properly studio recorded. It sounds big, but there is something heart warming in Dancers not being able to completely shake off the bedroom pop mantle.

Trwbador got video

Ever enchanting, Trwbador have produced a video for Lluniau which you can view below. It's a whispy, almost-there piece of avant-folk. The Carmarthenshire duo represent many of the things that are so good about a lot of Welsh music right now: Fiercely independent, sounding like nothing else and, above all, ace.
Trwbador also have a full, proper record out soon. Which is incredibly exciting.

Their singer Angharad has also lent her unmistakable vocals to (One of the UK's Greatest Ever Bands) Cornershop's Christmas offering. you can, and should, listen to it here: http://thequietus.com/articles/10570-listen-cornershop-featuring-trwbador-every-year-so-different.

Not a Swn Festival Review

Shy and the Fight, Dempsey's, Sunday

A slightly shortened version of my Swn Festival review went into the Daily Post last Friday. If you picked it up and read it, thanks.. I had been intending to put a full version up here, but it has taken so long to do it's kind of missed the boat. By now, many other people/blogs/etc have run through why the weekend was so great in much finer style than I ever could.
I recommend the reflection over at thelineofbestfit.com. Simon Tyers, in particular, is a wonderful writer. He runs the amazing sweepingthenation.blogspot.co.uk.

My review is also now so long that unleashing the opus upon the public would be of benefit to nobody.
But, the feelings can be pretty much summed up in the excessive display of sentiment (which appeared in the review) below:


"I was asked – at a point now shrouded in the mists of Swn – how the Cardiff festival compared to previous years. It was a very difficult question.
For something that is for many the genuine, 100% bona fide highlight of the year, past experiences almost melt into one. One succinct lump of all the noise and musical brilliance that makes the event. All previous years, to me at least, can only be defined collectively as ‘Swn’. In a word, brilliant."

It also did this to my sister: