Monday, February 27, 2006

IS THAT A RIOT?



Youngblood Brass Band are unlike any band you'll ever see. A nine-man US troupe with a DIY punk aesthetic, Youngblood have spent the last five years touring their breathtaking live show, stopping off at festivals including Glastonbury, Roskilde, Womad, and Pukkelpop along the way. You could call them a hip-hop band – certainly, they've got something in common with party-minded live outfits like The Roots or Ozomatli – but how many hip-hop bands do you see that make music entirely with live drums, vocals, and a line of horns including trumpets, trombones, and tenor saxophones? The wise or curious will be keeping an eye out for their new album 'Is That A Riot?', which lands on Layered Arts in February.

Tickets are available now for £7.50 from Spillers Records, or online now at www.clwb.net

PATHOS ATE BATHOS



BENEATH THE SURFACE PRESENT SHOOTING AT UNARMED MEN, MARCH 3

Haywire alt-rockers Shooting At Unarmed Men have won quite a reputation these last twelve months, exponents of a ragged, clatter-along live show spiked with eccentric humour and jerky, caffine-dosed energy. The splinter group of Jon Chapple from Cardiff’s sorely-missed Mclusky, Shooting At Unarmed Men have rather hit the ground running, turning out a debut album for Too Pure, losing a bassist, finding a new bassist, and recording a new album – provisionally entitled ‘Yes! Tinnitus’ – in little more than twelve months. Support on the night comes courtesy of FTSE100 – described on their MySpace as “faux-metal played by middle class music snobs” and Bristol’s very wonderful Bucky, whose drummer has one arm, but successfully plays the floor tom with his stump. Awesome.

Affairs kick off at 8pm, with tickets retailing for £5 a head, available on the door.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

EVERYONE IN POSITION



OCEANSIZE/PURE REASON REVOLUTION PLAY CLWB IFOR BACH, MARCH 28

“Oceansize are at the forefront of an exciting new frontier” - NME

Oceansize are epic rock maximalists of the most ambitious stripe. Combining an overdriven three-guitar front line with samplers, keyboard, and a hypnotic, percussive groove, this Mancunian quintet combine forward-thinking rock progression with a brutal, straight-for-the-jugular intensity. Fresh from support dates with Scots rockers Biffy Clyro, tonight’s show finds Oceansize criss-crossing Britain in their first UK headline tour of 2006, supporting recent single ‘New Pin’ (itself take from last year’s Beggars Banquet album ‘Everyone In Position’).

Support tonight comes from fellow prog heroes Pure Reason Revolution. Tickets cost £7.50, available now from www.clwb.net

THE WOLVES IN THE WALLS



MY LATEST NOVEL PLAY CLWB IFOR BACH, MARCH 23

"The Delgados thrashing it out with My Bloody Valentine and the Arcade Fire in a massive, clattering build of guitars, drums and violins that is, frankly, bloody magic.” - The List

Fresh from support slots with the Pixies, Arab Strap, and Sufjan Stephens, Scotland’s My Latest Novel call in on Clwb for their first Welsh date in support of new album ‘Wolves’, out March 6 on Bella Union. Tipped as the UK’s answer to the Arcade Fire, this Glaswegian quintet pack four-part harmonies, tricksy tempo changes, and feats of grandiose literary prowess into their intricate chamber-music arrangements.

The band chose the title ‘Wolves’ for a variety of reasons. During the recording of the album, wolves seemed to be everywhere, cropping up on billboards, in documentaries, and in books - Neil Gaiman’s The Wolves In The Walls was a big inspiration. The band began thinking of the all the various connotations and how they appealed to them - the way they hunt in packs, are dark and mythical, are in all the best fairy tales. Come catch this fast-rising band at Clwb Ifor Bach – but don’t come alone…

Tickets retail for £6, available now from www.clwb.net

THAT FUCKING FLASH



That Fucking Tank, upstairs in Clwb Ifor Bach, Sunday February 19th

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

SONGS FOR LOVERS AND LIARS



CYMBIENT/THE PEAKZ PLAY CLWB IFOR BACH, MARCH 4TH

A night of underground Welsh pop sees Cardiff’s experimental art-rock quintet Cymbient backed up by newcomers The Peakz. Featuring Rich Eardly of Peel favourites Melys, the band describe their sound as “pure Buzzcocks punk-pop meets Joy Division melancholy”. Their forthcoming debut album ‘Songs For Lovers And Liars’ – recorded with ex-Gorky's Zygotic Mynci man John Lawrence in Snowdonia's Nant –Y-Benglog Studios – has already been marked out for heavy rotation on Huw Stephens’ OneMusic show.

Support on the night comes from former JT Mouse/Soft Hearted Scientists sticksman Spencer McGarry, with tunes coming from the two-headed wax selector DJ Mashli. Doors 8pm, with tickets available soon from www.clwb.net

ALONG THE DIVIDE

MYFYRDODAU DAI



Dai Lloyd ydw i, a dwi’n gweithio fel trefnydd adloniant yng Nghlwb Ifor Bach, Caerdydd, mae gen i label recordio (Recordiau Dockrad), a chwmni cyhoeddu cerddoriaeth (um..Cyhoeddiadau Dockrad), a dwi wedi ceisio canu mewn amryw o fandiau dros y pymtheg ‘mlynedd dwetha’ - er wedi dweud hynny, ges i 7% mewn arholiad cerddoriaeth yn Ysgol Penweddig unwaith, felly efallai dwi ddim cymaint â hynny o arbenigwr wedi’r cyfan! ‘Ta beth – dyna ddigon amdana i – lle mae’r newyddion cerddorol, Dai??

Dyma fe – y band ifainc o Sheffield, yr “Artic Monkeys” yn gwerthu dros 100,000 o’u albym newydd yn y diwrnod cynta’ yr aeth ar werth. Ydyn nhw wedi neud hyn gyda cyllideb enfawr gan gwmni recordio? Naddo – maent wedi hybu eu hunain ar y wê ers amser mawr, yn rhoi traciau i ffwrdd am ddim, ac y creu dilynwyr i’r band oedd yn adnabod y cerddoriaeth bell cyn iddi gael ei rhyddhau. Dau rhif un yn y siartiau senglau wedi hynny, a’u albym cynta’ yn gwerthu dros mwy na 360,000 mewn wythnos - yn torri pob record – a llawer o’r gwerthiant yn dod o lawrlwythiadau syth i gyfrifiaduron y cyhoedd - sydd bellach yn cael ei gyfri i’r siartiau.

Gallwn felly weld faint mor bwysig yw’r wê i’r byd cerddoriaeth yn 2006. Pan dechreuodd pobl rhannu ffeiliau gerddorol ar safleoedd wê fel Napster nôl yn y 90au, collwyd cyfle enfawr gan y BPI – British Phonographic Industry, pan gwrthodwyd cynnig gan Napster i werthu’r cerddoriaeth arlein dros labeli Prydeinig. Agwedd y BPI oedd eu bod eisiau cadw’r arian iddyn nhw eu hunain, ac yn y pen draw, maent wedi colli allan, achos erbyn hyn, ‘dyw lot o bobl ifainc ddim yn sylweddoli bod lawrlwytho cerddoriaeth am ddim o’r wê yn anghyfreithlon, a’r BPI a’r labeli recordio mawr wedi colli miliynau ar filynau fel canlyniad,

Yng Nghymru, mae’r we yn gallu bod yn ffordd i hyrwyddo’ch deunydd cerddorol hefyd mewn ffordd rhad iawn – digwyddodd yr un math o beth gyda’r GLC – rhyddhau traciau ar y wê, a chreu cefnogaeth leol, cael eich arwyddo i label enfawr ac yna ymddangos ar “Big Brother”! Ie, wel, ‘sneb yn berffaith!

Mae safleoedd fel unarddeg.com yn cynnig lawrlwythiadau Cymraeg am ddim i’r cyhoedd, a’r amryw o safleoedd radio Cymraeg ar y wê yn cynnig ffordd i glywed deunydd na fyddwch efallai’n gallu clywed ar Radio Cymru, neu’ch sioe Gymraeg leol. Gallwch hefyd brynu crynoddisgiau Cymraeg arlein wrth gwrs o safleoedd fel sebon.co.uk, neu safleoedd y cwmnïau recordio, a chlywed sioeau radio Cymraeg y BBC ar y wê – bell wedi iddynt fod ar yr awyr – handi iawn os ti’n byw yn Turkmenistan.

Achos dyna ydi’r wê – cymuned arlein, ac mae fwyfwy o bobl ifainc yn troi ati I hybu eu hunain yn y byd cerddorol. Ewch draw i myspace.com – mae bron pob un band dan haul yno - gan gynnwys eich ffefrynnau Cymraeg.

Dai Lloyd runs Dockrad Records and works as joint promotions manager at Clwb Ifor Bach