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Angharad releases sublime 'Motherland' debut via Libertino

Emerging with an intense amalgamation of genre's, impressive debut long-player from Swansea based singer-songwriter 'Angharad' is certainly an interesting listen that flits accross traditional 'perfect pop', disco, Americana, Folk Pop, and extends to the darkest depths of avant garde experimental noise with spoken word.

Stand out tracks are 'Postpartum' which is certianly the darkest and most experiemental song on 'Motherland', self titled album opener boasts downtempo beats and jazzy sax which comes accross as a fantastic foreward and sets the vibe. 'Don't Burn Bridges' stops you in your tracks, beautiful piano and superbly orchestrated strings carry you away to the 'Motherland'.

Angharad's eclectic debut is a sublime testament to the beauty of creating life, living and enjoying it, and whatever it brings.

ANGHARAD releases her anticipated debut album 'Motherland' via Libertino Records.  Deemed as an artist and songwriter 'with fire, passion and unflinching honesty at the core of all her music' Angharad's music has been described by Deb Grant, BBC 6 Music as 'Provocative' and "A confident and positive ‘call to arms’ for women in the music industry" by Cassie Fox of Loud Women

Angharad Added:

"My mother is also a musician, but took a back seat from her musical career for some 15 years in order to focus on raising me and my sister. Even before I was ready for children, it played on my mind how could I follow a career in music and become a mother. I used to play out different scenarios in my mind, such as giving myself a certain amount of years, then a change of career. When the time came, I wasn’t ready for a career change. I felt I had more to offer creatively than ever before. I’d reached an age where I had knowledge, confidence and useful networks to really progress to the next level. I wasn’t prepared to let all that go simply because I’d decided to start a family. So far, starting a family has enhanced my creative output. I just need to be flexible, and open to thinking differently about how to manage it and get it out there. My wish is to see the industry being as open to these changes as me, and every other mother who’s tirelessly figuring out how to do both.” 

Motherland – Angharad

I am mother . These are the first words we hear after hitting play on Swansea-based [genre: e.g. pop-folk storyteller] Angharad’s debut album Motherland, and this affirmation resounds across the twelve tracks that follow, revealing the gravity of what initially appears to be a simple statement but is in fact an assertion weighted by the story of mothers and motherhood across the ages. I am strong. I am gentle. I am mountainwoman. I am nourisher . I am life-giver . I am all you need right now. I am the moon and the stars. I am everything to you. I am your world.

It’s said that early motherhood is simultaneously the happiest and hardest period of time a mother can experience, and this is reflected by the juxtaposition of the dreamlike spoken-word jazzscape of title track ‘Motherland’ and the bass-driven midnight-feed nightmare of ‘Postpartum’. In ‘Motherland’ we listen as the tidal pull of the moon ushers new life in – “nocturnal and luminous” – while in the album’s first single ‘Postpartum’ both music and mother unravel in an unapologetic cacophony of fatigue and repetition: “I’m exhausted and I’m broken, exhausted and I’m broken, I’m exhausted and I’m broken…get off my tits.”

As the songs that open the album, these two compositions couldn’t be more different, but as Angharad points out “...this is exactly what motherhood is like. It’s the joys and horrors.

Elation and despair . I put those songs next to each other because that’s how it is in real life – you can feel both emotions simultaneously .”

Although Angharad is an experienced musician, perhaps best-known as part of revivalist Welsh folk band Calan, Motherland represents her first foray into songwriting – something which has long been an ambition. “I’ve always felt like I had a lot to say , but I presumed that someone else somewhere would be saying the same things. It took me so long to realise nobody else can tell my story .”

However , it was the double isolation of experiencing early motherhood during Covid lockdowns that finally made her pull on this songwriting thread. “I’ve always collaborated with others when it comes to music, but lockdown forced me to work alone. I’ve written melodies in the past, but never lyrics. I began with making up songs to get my daughter Tanwen to sleep, and then I’d find myself fine-tuning them during daily walks with her in the pram, or making up new ones. I’d never sung before but, after becoming a mother , finding my voice was both a necessity and a gift.”

Motherland Tracklist

1. Motherland 2. Postpartum 3. Little baby embryo 4. I don’t know how 5. Don’t burn bridges 6. Because I’m a woman 7. Hey, there’s always the night 8. Time, time again 9. Hormone called love 10. Every inch of you 11. Hwiangerdd Tanwen 12. Babi ni

Buy 'Motherland' Here

https://www.libertinorecords.com/product-page/angharad-pre-order-motherland

#Angharad #Motherland #Debut album #Libertino records #Wales #Cymru #Motherhood #Sexism Music Industry #Feminist #Bandcamp

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Mei Semones Announces Debut EP 'Kabutomushi'

Mei Semones, the 23-year-old Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter and guitarist, announces her new EP and Bayonet Records debut, Kabutomushi, out April 5th, and shares a new single/video, “Inaka.”   “Inaka” follows the previously released “Wakare No Kotoba,” a “lovely slice of indie pop with some serious guitar chops” (Brooklyn Vegan), which also will appear on her forthcoming EP. Kabutomushi sees Semones refine her sweetly evocative blend of jazz, bossa nova and math-y indie rock, chronicling infatuation, devotion, vulnerability, and saying goodbye to some of her closest relationships, complete with sweeping strings, virtuosic guitar-playing and heartfelt lyrics sung in both English and Japanese. Throughout the EP, Semones’ straightforward vocal delivery calls to mind that of the late bossa nova great Astrud Gilberto, while also having drawn comparisons to Japanese contemporaries Ichiko Aoba and Lamp.   One of the more indie rock-leaning songs Semones has written, “Inaka” still has glimpses of jazz harmony throughout, with cinematic strings adding a romantic flair alongside Semones’ guitar lead.   “I wrote this song shortly after moving to Brooklyn in the autumn of 2022, when I was feeling defeated and exhausted everyday,” Semones says. “I’ve grown to love the city, but at the time I was idealizing losing all ambition and moving to the countryside with my partner, hence the name of the song "Inaka" which means “countryside” in Japanese. Looking back at that time, I realize the city wasn’t the issue, I was just tired.” In the video, directed by Lucas O.M., Semones starts in New York City’s Lower East Side, before taking the train to her friend’s farm in Old Lyme, CT, visualizing the track’s theme of escaping the city and moving somewhere more pastoral.  

WATCH THE VIDEO FOR “INAKA”

  Originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan, Semones began playing music at a young age, starting out on piano at age four before moving to electric guitar at age eleven. After playing jazz guitar in high school, she went on to study guitar performance with a jazz focus at Berklee College of Music. College is where she met her current bandmates, including string players Noah Leong and Claudius Agrippa, whose respective viola and violin add softness and multidimensionality to Mei’s intricate guitar work. After releasing a slew of singles and an EP in 2022, coinciding with her move to New York City, Mei and her band have since gone on to collaborate with post-bossa balladeer John Roseboro, and embarked on their first-ever tour with the melodic rock outfit Raavi.   All of the songs that comprise Kabutomushi are written and sung in both English and Japanese, with Mei wanting to stay connected to her first language through her music. The EP title translates to “rhinoceros beetle” in English, named after the horned insect that she would spot and catch in the park when visiting her grandmother in Japan growing up. Keeping things stripped-down with the help of electronic subtleties and plucked strings, Mei’s voice intertwined with her guitar come off as a poignant lullaby of treasured memories long-gone, but not forgotten, encapsulating Semones’ sonic trademarks: ornately catchy, genre-fusing compositions serving as the backdrop to tender lyrics touching on the universalities of human emotion.   Mei is embarking on a short solo tour with Bratty in the lead up to the release of Kabutomushi, with shows in New York, DC, Philadelphia, and Chicago, to name a few. Additionally, Mei has announced her record release show with full band on April 15th at Brooklyn’s Baby’s All Right.

Kabutomushi EP Artwork

MEI SEMONES ONLINE:  WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM | BANDCAMP

#Mei Semones #Inaka #Kabutomushi #Youtube

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Bored At My Grandmas House Announces New Album

Not being funny, but Bored At My Grandma House produces hazy pop gold at its very peak, Amber's new anticipated debut album 'Show And Tell' drops on the 7th of June via CLUE Records / EMI North and we personally cant wait.

After making waves with her critically acclaimed debut EP Sometimes I Forget You're Human Too, Bored at My Grandmas House, AKA Leeds-based Amber Strawbridge, announces her debut album Show & Tell for June 7th via CLUE Records (The Wedding Present, Van Houten, YOWL) / EMI North (Nadine Shah) as well as a a London headline date at MOTH Club on October 16th.  The title track is out now with the reveal of the record - following late 2023 release ‘Inhibitions’. Reminiscent of artists like Soccer Mommy, Snail Mail, and Alvvays, ‘Show & Tell’ is a breezy track which meets at the intersection between dream-pop, bedroom-pop and shoegaze, the sprightly guitar work echoing the droll lyrics and themes. It’s a hooky song which lays bare difficulties with trust, and building walls for self-protection. As Amber explains:  “Show & Tell is quite a tongue-in-cheek song about me being the opposite of an open book and all the little specific things about me that I sometimes wish were different. Overall it’s about me being a guarded person and fearing the possibility of having to be vulnerable and realising that vulnerability is actually a beautiful thing and something i shouldn’t be so scared of.”  On her debut album, Amber explores a broad range of heavy topics including anxiety, friendship, introspection, love, human greed, mental health, loss and empathy (or a lack of it) in the world. Despite the breadth of themes covered, each track deals with the weight of the subject with real conviction, while not losing any of Amber’s trademark pop sensibilities. She elaborates a little more on the thematic process:  “The main overall theme of this album is connection. Connection with myself, connection with the world and connection to the people around me who I love. This album is for me first and foremost and was a way for me to internally process.  The origin of these tracks all stem from me wanting to understand these connections and process my emotions surrounding them. The album covers topics such as the power of queer love, humanity and its ‘delusions of grandeur’,  reflection and purpose.  It would be unwise to say that I haven’t developed and changed a lot since my EP. I’ve experienced more, questioned more, felt more and allowed myself to be vulnerable more - which I hope translates throughout the Album.”  Amber has received support and coverage from DIY, Dork, Clash, BBC Radio 1, BBC 6Music, Rough Trade and more in the past, and has played Glastonbury, BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend, Swn Festival, Standon Calling, Deer Shed (main stage) and more.  Originally from Cumbria but now based in Leeds, Amber began recording music in 2017 using garageband on her phone; she updated her bedroom set-up after saving up to buy a laptop and Logic Pro. After a couple of years of self taught production and recording Amber began working with Clue Records, releasing her debut EP Sometimes I Forget You're Human Too which gained critical acclaim and sold out two pressings all before Amber had ever played a single gig.  Amber wrote and recorded all the demos for her debut album in her bedroom, before taking them to The Nave studio where she worked with Alex Greaves to give them a studio twist, allowing them to fulfil their rightful potential. 

BORED AT MY GRANDMAS HOUSE ONLINE  TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | SPOTIFY 

#Bored At My Grandmas House #Show And Tell #EMI NORTH #CLUE Records #Supercat Pr #Youtube

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Worldcub announce new album 'Back To The Beginning'

North Walian psych-pop stalwarts Worldcub return with dazzling new single 'Back To The Beginning' which is out on the 15th March with brand new album, of the same name, dropping on 17th of May.

The single is tantalising taster of what's to come from Worldcub's newly announced long-player, hazy and psychy with a deliciously Doors esq bass-line and drum shuffle glueing it all together. A real joy to discover.

Worldcub invites you on a jaunt through past lives and memory with their brand new concept album 'Back To The Beginning' a carefully crafted collection of tracks containing sharp hooks, joyous West Coast pleasure trips and contemplative stop-offs along the way. Beguiling lead single and title track rumbles through time and space, that opens up new worlds on the arms of a kraut rock groove. spacey guitar licks, splashes of keyboards, floating harmonies, the vocal interplay guides you deep into the mind's eye of a melody, at once both wistful for a past and for a future of unknowns. 

Worldcub, are a group from North Wales piloted by brothers Cynyr (guitar & vocals) and Dion Hamer (drums & vocals), they began their musical journey under the name CaStLeS, taking influence from 70s/80s Paul McCartney and DIY ‘Fantastic Man’, William Onyeabor. They produce material from their home studio on the hills of Eryri, splicing together elements of surf guitar music, kraut-rock grooves and hypnotic psych tinged Cymru vocal harmonies.

Through fourteen lucid and addictive tracks ‘Back To The Beginning’ journeys through wormholes, keyholes and time warps.  'Grog' is an awesomely woozy trip, fantastic surf guitars decorate a pulsing percussive tapestry,  trippy and lilting vocals, it could be something lifted from the famous Nuggets compilations. Haunting ‘One Small Mistake’ with its lucid melodies, almost bossa nova rhythms and bouncing psych pop sound, is an off kilter delight.

The album also contains previous single 'Look through the Keyhole' is a hypnotic, West Coast tinged, surf inspired jaunt through past lives and memory. The record also contains Welsh language tracks the gleaming ‘Hel Y Hadau’ and the iridescent entwined melodies, 70s fuzz guitar and insidious percussion of ‘Pwysau Yn Pwyso’ which translates as a Pressing Matter. 

Their self-released, site-specific themed debut album Fforesteering gained coverage on major platforms such as The Guardian and UNCUT Magazine, with air time on BBC Radio 6 Music, BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio Cymru & Wales. The band also earned their debut performance slot on the BBC Introducing stage at Reading & Leeds Festival and found success playing shows as part of the 'Horizons 12' scheme; which included a recording session at the historic Maida Vale Studios in London.

After an extensive run of live shows, including festivals such as Liverpool Sound City, Liverpool Psych Fest, Farmfest and more recently BreakOut West in Canada and main support to Public Service Broadcasting at FOCUS Wales Festival, Worldcub emerge again with a new catalogue of material for 2024 along with band members; Calvin Thomas on Bass and Jasmine Roberts on guitar.

#Worldcub #Back to the beginning #sound and vision pr #psychedelic #60s psychedelia #North Wales #Cymru

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flor Unveil Epic New 'Same Color As The Sun' Video

Today, Hood River, Oregon's alt-pop pride and joy flor are riding out the joy of independence with the release of their new single "Warm Blood Pt 2." With the song's precursor dating back to their 2016 debut album come out. you're hiding, part two wasn't initially created as a follow up. But as the band began writing with the intent of creating something as rapturous as the original, things started to fall in place — Stream. 

Lead singer Zach Grace shares,“When we got together to start working on ‘Warm Blood Pt 2’ we were trying to make a song that felt as euphoric as ‘Warm Blood’ did when we played it live. We wanted to compose a new song with that inspiration in mind.”

flor closed out 2023 releasing “Same Color as the Sun”, quickly seeing it praised by Rolling Stone and Ones to Watch. Soon after, the single began taking off at Triple A radio, with early support at at 91x, KVYN, WWCD, WERS, KLRR, KQCJ, KROQ, KITS, WAQX, WNRN, Sirius XM/Spectrum. Last week, the single was given an official video to accompany it — Watch. 

Also at the end of last year, flor joined their friends in The Maine for a massive North American tour, selling out almost every single date. Over the coming months, flor will continue to ride their current wave of inspiration with lots of new music on the way.

ABOUT FLOR

flor finds light in the promise of a new day. The Hood River, OR trio—Zach Grace (vocals, guitar), Dylan Bauld (bass), and Kyle Hill (drums)—excavate unshakable melodies from jubilant synths, buoyant beats, and lush guitars as they relay a coming-of-age story all their own. 

The story began as high school kids playing in a garage. The band quietly generated hundreds of millions of streams in the wake of their 2016 debut come out. you’re hiding. In 2019, ley lines only accelerated their momentum buoyed by tracks including “white noise,” “slow motion,” and “dancing around.” Critical acclaim followed from NYLON, Billboard, Paste, and Ones To Watch who hailed the album as “an exhilarating balancing act.” 

They concluded a successful headline tour at the top of 2020 only to face the harsh reality of the Global Pandemic with the rest of us. Once it became safe enough to do so, the musicians congregated back in Los Angeles at Dylan’s studio for a series of writing sessions. This time around, they built the bulk of the songs face-to-face together inspired by favorite records from the likes of MGMT, Phoenix, The Killers, and M83. The result was their 2022 third full-length album, Future Shine which won over the praise of Rolling Stone, AltPress, and many others. 

After taking some time to evaluate who they want to be creatively, flor is now back and more refreshed than they’ve ever been. The end of last year saw the release of “Same Color as the Sun” as the band joined The Maine for a massive North American tour. 

###

For more information on flor, please visit:

Website / Instagram / Twitter / YouTube / TikTok / Spotify / Apple Music

#flor #same color as the sun #Madi Florence PR #Youtube

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Hollow Coves Release Fantastic New 'Nothing To Lose' Album

Brisbane folk duo 'Hollow Coves' create beautiful atmospheric folk music that certianly raises the hair's on the back of your neck, new Lp 'Nothing To Lose' is a mourish testament to their songwriting craft and is sonically fantastic, a real pleasure to discover.

Capturing the blue-sky ideologies and open sense of adventure that courses through their new album, new single “See You Soon” is a masterclass in their spacious acoustic songcraft. Creating a pin-drop aura with chiming guitars and those glistening Gold Coast harmonies that Matt Carins and Ryan Henderson call their own, this latest single from the childhood friends is a testament to the unbreakable bonds and unforgettable memories we make in life. As they explain: “So you have made a new best friend somewhere in the world and you’ve shared so many great memories with them. Your time together comes to an end and you go your separate ways. Life gets busy and your communication together gets more and more distant. Eventually, you forget to ever contact them or call them but you always have moments in your life that remind you of them or the memories you shared together. This song is all about this feeling and trying to encourage the listener to reconnect with those people. Just send them a message or give them a call and see where they’re at. I’m sure they’d really appreciate it.” Said to be inspired by the works of Angus & Julia Stone (who the band would occasionally cover when they first started out), this tender song was written by Matt Carins with his wife Molly, before receiving the final Hollow Coves finesse with Ryan Henderson as they mapped-out their new album. Recorded at Matt Corby’s Rainbow Valley Studio, the ARIA-winning producer and songwriter teamed up with Hollow Coves for the creation ‘Nothing To Lose’, their eagerly anticipated sophomore release. Seeking to overcome the anxiety and burnout that accompany the relentless pace of the modern world, ‘Nothing to Lose’ is an album all about reconnecting with nature and re-learning to appreciate day-to-day life. Opening up a world of early morning surf trips on Australia’s Gold Coast, to getting lost in the expansive national parks of the American West, or even the slow-and-steady pleasure to be found in craftsmanship; the resultant album is one that explores all aspects of life and how we live it.

With recurring themes of  gratitude, perspective and simplicity, Hollow Coves deliver 11 beautiful new songs of silver linings (“Milk & Honey", “Letting Go") and seeing family (“Photographs”), following your dreams (“On The Way”, “Let’s Go") and having faith to be yourself (“Harder To Fake It”, “Nothing To Lose"), and so much more. Featuring the previously released singles “Photographs”, “On The Way”, “Milk and Honey”, “Letting Go”, “Harder To Fake It” and “See You Soon”, ‘Nothing To Lose’ will be released on 1 March, via the Nettwerk label. In support of the new album, Hollow Coves are preparing for their biggest live shows to date, beginning with a UK and European this Spring. The UK and European dates are listed as follows:

Hollow Coves - UK + European Tour 2024

March 26 - Gebäude 9 - Cologne, Germany

March 28 - Muziekgieterij - Maastricht, Netherlands

March 29 - TivoliVredenburg, Ronda - Utrecht, Netherlands

March 30 - Zeche Carl - Essen, Germany

March 31 - Uebel & Gefaehrlich - Hamburg, Germany

April 2 - Columbia Theater - Berlin, Germany

April 3 - MEETFACTORY - Prague, Czech Republic

April 4 - Simm City - Vienna, Austria

April 5 - Technikum - Munich, Germany

April 7 - Magazzini Generali - Milan, Italy

April 8 - Komplex 457 - Zurich, Switzerland

April 9 - Les Docks - Lausanne, Switzerland

April 11 - halle02 - Heidelberg, Germany

April 12 - Opderschemlz - Dudelange, Luxembourg

April 13 - Le Trabendo - Paris, France

April 14 - AB Ballroom - Brussels, Belgium

April 16 - O2 Forum Kentish Town, London, United Kingdom April 17 - Brudenell Social Club - Leeds, United Kingdom April 18 - Academy 2 - Manchester, United Kingdom (early + late show)

‘NOTHING TO LOSE’ - TRACKLIST

1. Nothing to Lose

2. Letting Go

3. Milk & Honey

4. Photographs

5. Harder to Fake It

6. Let’s Go

7. Purple

8. On The Way

9. Be Alright

10. Fact or Fiction

11. See You Soon

#hollow coves #Nothing To Lose #New Album #New Releases #Brisbane #Australia #Folk #Youtube

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Silent Forum New 'Domestic Majestic' Album (Libertino)

Cardiff based Art-Pop Post-Punk purveyors 'Silent Forum' have released their second long-player entitled 'Domestic Majestic' via prolific Welsh label Libertino Records (Adwaith, Keys)

Their music is influenced by post covid new normal life that emphasises embracing self-help, self-improvement, yoga and remote lone working bubbles.

The albums singles have reached the ears of some top national dj's, gaining support from BBC Radio London, Radio X and BBC Introducing.

'Domestic Majestic' sounds and looks amazing and with asthetic consistency paired with the bands songwriting prowess it will certainly get Silent Forum where they so rightly deserve to be.

Featured video Yes Man’s opening and closing choral sections were devised by producer Charlie Francis over 2 years after the band had written the bulk of the track. It sounds as if David Byrne was invited to write a songfor Gran Turismo 5 - the ultimate driving song.

The lyrics relate to life working under a psychopath, againneatly fitting into the album’s self-care theme. The eye-catchingly titled The Grand Burstin Hotel (named after the dilapidated ship shaped hotel in Folkestone, Kent) provides another curveball with the bandunexpectedly embracing a swing time rhythm.

Whilst they wear many hats it all fits neatly on one record.

'Domestic Majestic Tracklist' 1. Yes Man 2. Here’s the Email 3. Treat Yourself 4. Better with You 5. Me but not Tired 6. Cat Pose 7. The Grand Burstin Hotel 8. Petrol Station Flowers 9. U OK? 10. Little Bird

You can buy 'Domestic Majestic' Here it here on Clear Vinyl

https://www.libertinorecords.com/product-page/domestic-majestic-silent-forum

#Silent Forum #Domestic Majestic #Libertino #New Album #New release #LP #Cardiff #Wales #Cymru #Jason Phillips #MBW #Youtube

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Frankie and the Witch Fingers - Futurephobic (Official Video)

Los Angeles psych-punk quartet Frankie and the Witch Fingers have shared new track “Futurephobic” alongside an official video. The song is taken from their seventh studio album Data Doom, due September 1 via The Reverberation Appreciation Society / Greenway Records. FLOOD Magazine gave the video an early debut, describing it as “in line with the album title’s vintage dystopian sci-fi connotations, swapping weed-smoke riffs for frigid new wave pulses and staccato vocal deliveries.”

“The main riff was an idea we came up with during the writing process for our album Monsters Eating People Eating Monsters… but we kept it in our back pockets, as it wasn’t quite fitting in with the theme of that album,” the band explains. “When we started writing Data Doom, it reemerged very organically and everyone latched onto the idea surprisingly fast and ran with it. We expanded on the main riff and came up with the other parts and overall arrangement while writing with our new lineup in our studio in LA. The whole process went surprisingly smoothly. We added backing vocals and overdubs while on tour last year in Europe, doing all the passes to complete the song from various apart-hotels, attics in France and Amsterdam.”

Though they’re currently in the midst of a massive trek across Europe, the band recently announced an extensive run of headline U.S. tour dates for this fall, which include performances at such esteemed venues as Warsaw in Brooklyn and The Troubadour in Los Angeles. See below for the full list of currently-announced dates.

Through six progressively expansive albums, innumerable live dates on an ever-expanding list of continents, and performances with the likes of Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, Cheap Trick, ZZ Top and more (to say nothing of their impressive headline dates), Frankie and the Witch Fingers have earned their throngs of global fans with their ecstatically wild live shows and layered, visionary recordings. With Data Doom, the band is poised to welcome even more uninitiated into the fold – it’s their most eclectic work yet, while remaining undeniably cohesive, and they’re supporting it with the biggest headline shows they’ve ever played. 

Over the past decade Frankie and the Witch Fingers have operated as an outright force of nature, offering up a revelatory form of psych-rock that hits on both a primal and ecstatically mind-bending level. In the making of their new album Data Doom, the Los Angeles-based four-piece forged a sublimely galvanizing sound informed by their love of Afrobeat and proto-punk—a potent vessel for their frenetic meditations on technological change run rampant, encroaching fascism, and corrosive systems of power. Animated by the explosive energy they’ve brought to the stage in sharing bills with such eclectic acts as Ty Segall and ZZ Top, the result is a major leap forward for one of the most adventurous and forward-thinking bands working today. 

Rooted in the cerebral yet viscerally commanding songwriting of co-founders Dylan Sizemore (vocals, guitar) and Josh Menashe (lead guitar, synth), Data Doom marks the first Frankie and the Witch Fingers album created with bassist Nikki “Pickle” Smith (formerly of Death Valley Girls) and drummer Nick Aguilar (previously a touring drummer for punk legend Mike Watt). In crafting their most rhythmically complex work to date, the band drew heavily from each new member’s distinct sensibilities: Smith tapped into her extensive background in West African drumming (an art form she first discovered thanks to her music-instructor parents), while Aguilar leaned into formative influences like longtime Fela Kuti drummer Tony Allen. Self-produced by the DIY-minded band and recorded direct to tape by Menashe, Data Doom ultimately took shape through countless sessions in their Southeast L.A. rehearsal space, with Frankie and the Witch Fingers allowing themselves unlimited time to explore their most magnificently strange impulses.

Once again showcasing the expansive and fantastically eccentric musicality of past efforts like 2020’s Monsters Eating People Eating Monsters..., Data Doom encompasses nine high-wattage songs constructed with both dizzying intricacy and unfettered imagination. On “Mild Davis,” for instance, the band shares a gloriously spaced-out track inspired by a piece from Miles Davis’s early-’70s electric period, cycling through a vast whirlwind of rhythms and textures and wildly spellbinding guitar parts. “We worked on that for two weeks straight, puzzle-piecing together different parts into one very weird and stream-of-consciousness song that’s mostly in a 7/4 time signature,” Menashe recalls. Meanwhile, Sizemore’s lyrics shift between savagely despairing the state of the world and resolutely dreaming of a brighter future. “I wrote the lyrics to ‘Mild Davis' in a moment of feeling pessimistic about what technology is doing to our society, especially as AI is creeping to the forefront more and more,” says Sizemore. “But then the bridge comes from a more optimistic perspective, where it’s questioning whether we could reboot the whole system and start all over.”

After opening on the epic majesty of “Empire,” Data Doom launches into the first song the band’s new lineup wrote together: “Burn Me Down,” an irresistibly jittery track that perfectly encapsulates the album’s transcendent collision of blistering riffs and polyrhythmic grooves. On “Electricide,” Frankie and the Witch Fingers unleash the LP’s most unabashedly punk offering, a bombastic rallying cry built on Aguilar’s breakneck drumming. One of several songs featuring Menashe on sax, “Syster System” slips into a hypnotically fluid tempo as Frankie and the Witch Fingers muse on the possibilities of partnership culture (a concept introduced by futurist Riane Eisler in her seminal book The Chalice and the Blade). “Riane Eisler talks about how our society has a very masculine energy that manifests as the need to exert power, which she refers to as dominator culture,” Sizemore explains. “The alternative to that is partnership culture, which has a feminine energy that’s more symbiotic with nature. The idea behind ‘Syster System’ is that if we could bring that energy into technology, it could help make everything more harmonious.” And on “Political Cannibalism,” Data Doom closes out with a dance-ready anti-anthem stacked with so many loopy details, such as a warped and otherworldly guitar part Menashe spontaneously composed in an attic in France.

To create the cover art for Data Doom (a co-release from Greenway Records and the Reverberation Appreciation Society), Frankie and the Witch Fingers reached out to Italian illustrator Carlo Schievano and UK-based graphic designer Jordan Warren, who then joined forces in assembling an elaborate mixed-media piece complete with its own language system and accompanying decoder. “It was really fascinating to see two different artistic voices working together to make something so unique, with all these hidden elements for people to figure out,” says Smith. Not only an echo of the album’s endlessly immersive quality, Data Doom’s visual component reflects the band’s devotion to unbridled collaboration in all aspects of the creative process. “There was no pressure and no real time constraint for this record, and because of that the creativity flowed in a very free way that probably wouldn’t have happened if we’d been on the clock in a studio,” says Sizemore. “It showed us that the more we take the time to communicate and share our ideas with each other, the more it feeds our creative energy and helps us to make something we’re all really excited about.”

#Frankie and the Witch Fingers #Futurephobic #BigHassleZack #Youtube

[musicblogwales]

Small Miracles - 'ExtraTerrestrial' Feat. Mirari

Following on from their very well recieved 'Mercury' single in May, Cardiff New Wave band 'Small Miracles' release brand new 'Extra Terrestrial' single on the 27th July Via Dirty Carrot Records. Small Miracles are a dynamic quintet from Cardiff, Wales. Inspired by the early New Wave movement, they infuse elements of Punk, Blues and Grunge into their genre-bending sound. Their music has a distinctly queer, underground feel, finely balancing heavy grooves and breakdowns with catchy hooks and choruses. The band were honoured to recieve support for last single 'Mercury' by Deb Grant BBC Radio 6 Music, Adam Walton, BBC Radio Wales, Treblezine, Circuit Sweet, Edge Of Arcady, No New Wave No Fun, Amplify The Noise. The band describe 'Extra Terrestrial'..... ExtraTerrestrial is a protest song and a condemnation of war, initially written in response to Putin's invasion of Ukraine. As the lyric developed it became clear that Putin couldn't be criticised without acknowledging the damaging consequences of Western interventionism in the Middle East, and this became the crux of the song.

It is an attack on the British and American governments which have waged war on the Middle East for decades and the deceptive colonisation of capital which accompanies this warfare. This is mirrored in the track with jarring samples, a screeching guitar solo and Mirari's defiant verse. The crossover of punk rock and rap is, in itself, both anti-establishment and an act of resistance, and this is the energy of ExtraTerrestrial.

'Small Miracles' Feat Mirari lastest single 'Extra Terrestrial' will be released on the Thursday 27th of July via Dirty Carrot Records.

Buy / Stream 'Extraterrestrial Here

https://song.link/gb/i/1695908375

#Small Miracles #Mirari #Extraterrestrial #Dirty Carrot Records #Youtube

[musicblogwales]

Aderyn - 'Chip Shop Boy' (Official Video)

'Do you want Salt n Vinegar on them?' Cardiff Indie Grunge Pop Artist 'Aderyn' returns with fantastic new single 'Chip Shop Boy' which is available now everywhere! With hooky riffs and euphoric chord changes 'Chip Shop Boy' will make all your Chippy Dreams come true, and is certainly 'Aderyn's' strongest single to date. Love it!

Aderyn says “Chip Shop Boy is a song about the rush of first having a crush on someone, and how those daydreams can make the mundane feel magical.” Chip Shop Boy is available on all streaming sites and bandcamp, and will be released on CD and cassette as part of Aderyn’s debut EP Sea Glass on 14th September.

Chip Shop Boy was written about Aderyn's infatuation with the boy who worked at the local chip shop during Covid lockdown. Aderyn says: “The chippy was the only place open in lockdown, and my imagination ran wild with blissful visions of our future together. It turned into this really fun song thats always a big crowd pleaser on tour.” Chip Shop Boy is an irreverent and irresistibly fun indie pop song with moments of Pavement inspired guitars, and more hooks than a fisherman. Aderyn also played all the drums on the track, which was recorded in West Wales with producer Gethin Pearson (Orla Gartland, Charli XCX, Adwaith).

Aderyn will play Gwen Gwen Festival this summer. Chip Shop Boy is the second single from Aderyn's debut EP Sea Glass, out 14 September

Cardiff’s “Queen of Indie Pop” (Radar Mag), Aderyn grew tired of life on a Welsh sheep farm and left home at 16 to be a drummer in a grunge band. Now striking out on her own in her first solo project, Aderyn’s music weaves together irreverent hook laden pop, with a scuzzier grunge influenced sound. Aderyn won the Welsh Music Prize Triskel Award in 2022.

Buy 'Chip Shop Boy' Here

https://song.link/gb/i/1693584395

#aderyn #chip shop boy #newsingle #Youtube

[musicblogwales]

Pseudo Cool - 'Sharp's Catching Waves' Single

Indie Punk band 'Pseudo Cool' release their brand new 'Sharp's Catching Waves' single Independently on Friday 11th August. It's an empowering homage to 1970's Welsh surfer Linda Sharp.

Linda Sharp was a champion surfer who was born in Aberafan. She won the European surfing championships twice, the British surfing championships ten times and the Welsh surfing championships 19 times. She is deemed one of the most successful British Surfers of all time.

Inviting you back to the polluted skyline of 1970s Port Talbot, Pseudo Cool return with their latest single ‘Sharp’s Catching Waves’.

Join them to cheer on trailblazing surfer, Linda Sharp. Woah! Their previous singles featured on Adam Walton, Lisa Gwilym shows on BBC Wales.

‘I felt both uncomfortable and thrilled. That’s exactly what I’m looking for!’ ‘Dirty Riff with excellence over the top.’

Adam Walton (BBC Radio Wales)

Pseudo Cool are a ‘Dirty Pop’ band from Maesteg, South Wales. Witty, punchy and raw with influences ranging from The Clash to Lily Allen.

‘Profound but with some light-heartedness and humour’

Nicole Mendes, The Other Side Reviews

BUY / STREAM HERE

https://song.link/gb/i/1693140794

#Youtube

[musicblogwales]

PIGEON WIGS NEW MINI-ALBUM 'ROCK BY NUMBERS'

Cardiff’s PIGEON WIGS release their eagerly awaited mini-album ‘Rock By Numbers’. 

An amorphous box of tricks that shape-shifts between psych, blues and indie rock with seamless time-warping chic, the quintet are also pleased to present one of its standout moments: “Iron Dynamite”.

The final track to be spotlighted from the record, “Iron Dynamite” is a whimsical, merry-go-round of 60s-indebted psychelia to rival the Electric Prunes, Strawberry Alarm Clock, or frankly anything to be heard on the seminal ‘Nuggets’ compilation.

Revolving around a guitar lick as slick as a new pair of winkle-pickers on Carnaby Street in 1967, the riff was conjured by the band’s Louis Jugessur as he tried to emulate the vintage grooves of the hit ‘Mama Told Me Not To Come’ by fellow Pontypridd legend Tom Jones. Instantly plugging-in to its psychedelic vibe, frontman Harry Franklin-Williams assembled a kaleidoscopic spiral of words at once in-tune with the track and just a little removed from reality... As Harry explains:“Iron Dynamite is probably my favourite song of the record lyrically, Louis wrote such a psychedelic riff and I wanted to build on that as much as I could. I made a Jenga tower out of 60s-inspired metaphors and muso-nerd references that still never fails to put a smile on my face. The verses are swirling psych with a portion of madness while the chorus is much more your classic 60s pop lyrics, simple and direct but with my trademark cynicism at the end, “it’s just another line”.”

“Iron Dynamite” arrives hot on the heels of recent singles including the Rolling Stones saluting “Radiation Blues” and the wormhole whirlwind that is “Hold Up!”; drawing attention from the likes of Louder Than War, The Independent, The Rodeo, and The Line of Best Fit, with the latter praising “[Pigeon Wigs are] now in full force in bringing their vision to life: a hybrid, retro/futuristic, psychedelic-shaded sound.”

These singles are just the tip of a knickerbocker glory of delights waiting to be scooped out of their first mini-album release ‘Rock By Numbers’ (out today, via Clwb Music). Recorded before Pigeon Wigs had played a single gig, the duo of Jugessur and Franklin-Williams wrote the mini-album over the course of just a few weeks. Making for an impressively accomplished debut release that spans alternative rock references from across the ages, the band say they just wanted to “arrive on the scene fully-formed, like a baby with a moustache or furniture not from IKEA”. The 11-track record was produced and mixed by the esteemed Tom Rees of fellow Cardiff band Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard.

Speaking about the mini-album on the day of its release, the band’s axeman-in-chief Louis Jugessur expresses: 

“It means a lot to release Rock By Numbers because it’s been in the pipeline for so long, we’ve had so many hurdles in the way but now it’s finally getting out there. I’m really proud of what we’ve written, it feels like one solid body of work where all the pieces fit together to paint a pretty lil picture”.

While frontman Harry Franklin-Williams adds: 

“Through a series of funding delays, rescheduling meetings, and global catastrophe we have waded, to be coming out on the other side is akin to drinking fresh water after being lost in the desert or that moment you realise both nostrils are clear after an especially bad cold. This is only the beginning, you ain't seen nothing yet."

PIGEON WIGS - UK LIVE DATES

AUGUST

05/08/23 - Newport, Le Pub headline

17/08/23 - Green Man Festival

25/08/23 - Shambala Festival

Newly sprung from the fertile soil of Cardiff’s blossoming music scene, Pigeon Wigs are a five-piece alt-rock band whose riff-laden fuzzy tones and melodic harmonies come crashing together to form a wild beast like no other. Tackling everything from social commentary to dysfunctional relationships and alien abductions, the band was born out of a writing partnership between Harry Franklin-Williams and Louis Jugessur and came to life when the pair “corralled some of Cardiff’s finest to record a new project”. 

Having already attracted glowing praise from the likes of BBC Introducing and BBC Radio Wales, Pigeon Wigs have gained glowing reviews from a range of alt-rock contemporaries such as Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard and Panic Shack who enthused: “all of Jagger’s love-children couldn’t write a better banger than this.” 

#Youtube

[musicblogwales]

Cara Hammond - 'America' Single

'America' is Cara Hammond's second self produced single of 2023.

Influenced by Lana Del Reyand Fleetwood Mac, 'America' is a summer anthem about what happens after the American dream. Country guitar slides, gospel organ and 60s girl group harmonies blend together in creating a classic Americana sound that slowly disintegrates via harmonic shifts.

I wrote America after returning from showcasing at SXSW 2022. At the beginning of 2022 I’d been dropped by my label & left my management, so when I was invited to play this huge festival in Austin, Texas, I couldn’t have been happier.

I spent all my time practicing, planning and emailing industry in the lead up that I didn’t give anything else much thought. SXSW was a dream so when it ended, I landed home with a bump. The weeks after that I felt very lost and unsure what my next step was. Luckily songwriting held the answer and America was born on a rainy day in Dolgellau, North Wales.

Written and produced by Cara Hammond Electric guitar recorded by Peter Woodin (Wunderhorse)

Post production by David Boyden Mixed and mastered by Ian Barter

Photography by Grace Evans

Buy Here

https://song.link/gb/i/1694487519

#SoundCloud

[musicblogwales]

ARA DEG FESTIVAL LINE-UP ANNOUNCED

Yann Tiersen, Gruff Rhys, Deerhoof, Cerys Hafana and more announced for ARA DEG 2023.

Yann Tiersen, Gruff Rhys, Deerhoof, Cerys Hafana and Rozi Plain are among the local and international artists performing at the fifth edition of Ara Deg Mae Dal Iâr (AD23), an accessible, all-ages festival in Bethesda, north-west Wales on Thursday 24th, Friday 25th and Saturday 26th August 2023.

Ian F Svenonius and Escape-ism, Quinquis, Cathead and Permanent Draft are also set for this year's Ara Deg, which aims to stage experimental and eclectic offerings that will open minds in the Gwynedd quarry town on the edge of Eryri National Park.

Performances will be held at community arts hub Neuadd Ogwen, Bethesda's original cinema and village hall, with the Fic pub next door hosting a record fair on Saturday August 26th and broadcasting Radio Ara Deg throughout the festival. Further pop-up events and associated goings-on will be announced in the coming weeks.

A mix of acts with international careers spanning decades such as Tiersen, Svenonius and Deerhoof with newer names such as Hafana, Quinquis and Cathead, the artists on the line-up, selected by the AD23 decentralised planning committee, are united by a sense of experimentation and curiosity - not just in terms of their own creativity but also in relation to the wider world of 2023.

Opening the festival will be the mesmerising electronic soundscapes and Breton songwriting of Quinquis aka Émilie Tiersen, who sails to Ara Deg with world-renowned artist-composer Yann Tiersen on their boat Ninnog, named after Saint Ninnoc, a mediaeval abbess reputedly born in Wales who travelled to Brittany to become a protector of women, agriculture and woodland. Having already voyaged from their island home in Ushant to perform in Ireland, the Faroe Islands and Shetland, the Breton artists view their Ninnog tour as a political statement challenging the ecological impact of established large-scale touring and as a means to establish connections with new communities.

In 2022's ‘Seim’, her debut album for Mute as Quinquis, Émilie's haunting, evocative electronica explores nature and the stories and culture of Breton, the only Celtic language remaining in use in mainland Europe. Quinquis will be followed by Permanent Draft, the queer record label, micropress and live project founded by writer/poet Fanny Chiarello and musician Valentina Magaletti a London-based drummer, percussionist and composer whose work is informed by folklore, collaboration and endless experimentation with new materials, sounds and stories.

Thursday's concert will end with the emotive harmonies and switched-on, stream-of-conscious songs of Rozi Plain, who returns to Ara Deg following her 2022 visit playing bass with her band This Is The Kit. With ‘Prize’, her recent fifth solo record, Plain explores the calm reflection of the present moment as a way to begin to navigate the uncertain future.

Opening Friday's performance will be Cathead aka Gwen Siôn, an experimental composer and multidisciplinary artist from the nearby village of Rachub. Currently being mentored by Brian Eno, Siôn works with sound, film, sculpture and installation to create works inspired by ecology, mythology, ritual and transformation, often using non-traditional composition methods, field recordings and hand-built instruments and electronic sound devices using physical fragments of the landscape.

Also performing on Thursday is young Machynlleth artist Cerys Hafana, a master of the triple harp. Though commonly known as the Welsh harp, the three-rowed instrument originated in Italy before being adopted by Welsh musicians in 17th century London. In 2022's ‘Edyf’ ("thread"), a Guardian Folk Album of the Month, Hafana investigates the contemporary resonances of songs unsung for 200 years she found in the archives of the National Library of Wales with lithe, textural vocals, glistening melodies and a raw, percussive edginess that's sharply contemporary. Writing in 2022's ‘Welsh (Plural): Essays on the Future of Wales’, Hafana explains how Welsh folk music can be told "as a story of change, of new influences and ideas being brought in by people from other places, and a story of new struggles and challenges that will inevitably enact changes over the centuries."

Hafana is followed by a set from Yann Tiersen, himself a lover of Celtic languages, including his native Breton. Though best known across the world for film soundtracks (eg Amélie, Good Bye, Lenin!), Tiersen has been involved in music for most of his life, forever pushing boundaries of genre and instrumentation as a recording artist, live performer and collaborator with a galaxy of artists from Dominique A and Françoiz Breut to The Divine Comedy, Elizabeth Fraser, Sage Francis and the late Jane Birkin. His set coincides with the release of ‘Kerber Complete’, a CD box set charting the evolution of his Kerber project from stripped-back piano work to its electronic resolution ‘11 5 18 2 5 18’.

Like Tiersen, the ever-evolving careers of Saturday's performers stretch back to the 1990s, with Ian F Svenonius making his album debut in 1991's post-hardcore teen rebellion manual ‘13-Point Program To Destroy America’ as part of breakneck Washington DC noisemakers The Nation of Ulysses. Svenonius has headed several similarly irrepressible outfits over the years, such as The Make-Up, Weird War, Chain and The Gang, and current project Escape-ism. Svenonius, also a published author and online talk show host, will open the day with a lecture relating to his latest “book to end all books” ‘Against The Written Word’ and a screening of ‘The Lost Record’, his first feature length film made in conjunction with Alexandra Cabral, shot on 16mm about a girl torn between revealing a lost masterpiece album to the world or keeping it all for herself.

Svenonius will subsequently perform as Escape-ism, their abrasive, high energy rock 'n' roll offering contrast to the sweeter, though similarly omnivorous vibes of Gruff Rhys whose recent work includes 2021's ‘Seeking New Gods’, a visionary psychedelic pop album inspired by Mount Paektu, a desolate stratovolcano on the North Korea-China border, and ‘The Almond and The Seahorse’, a teaming, evocative soundtrack to Celyn Jones and Tom Stern's 2022 film about rebuilding life after brain injury starring Rebel Wilson and Charlotte Gainsbourg.

Ara Deg's final live performance of 2023 will come with Deerhoof, the influential San Francisco experimentalists whose recent nineteenth album ‘Miracle-Level’ was described by Under The Radar as "a celebration of the human spirit, one that offers optimism and wonder in the face of pessimism and hopelessness."

Radio Ara Deg will be broadcasting throughout the festival live from the Fic pub via Soho Radio including interviews and live sessions with AD23 artists.

Other events and pop-up performances will be announced in the coming weeks taking place in and around Bethesda, a creative quarry town located close by the splendour of Eryri's multiple mountain ranges, tranquil valleys and ancient woodland.

Camping can be found at Eagle Camping at nearby Bethesda Rugby Club.

Since 2019 Bethesda has welcomed acclaimed artists such as Aldous Harding, BCUC, Jane Weaver, mùm, N'famady Kouyaté, Sage Todz, Snapped Ankles and Troupe Djéliguinet for Ara Deg, which is planned and run by a collective centring on community arts space Neuadd Ogwen.

As well as a £50 weekend pass offering access to all three days' performances, tickets are available for each day, with concessions for unemployed people, pensioners and students and discounted prices for those aged 6 to 15. Under 5s go free.

Gruff Rhys, part of the AD23 decentralised planning committee, says: “The idea with Ara Deg is to put on good music, but not to the point of fatigue or to have too many acts to digest meaningfully.

We invite musicians to play longer than a usual festival set if they want to, and nobody is going to clash with another act. We hope to expose local ears to diverse sounds and ideas from across Wales and the world and expose our guests to the cultural, scenic and linguistic wonders of Eryri. It’s a small 400 capacity festival so hopefully it doesn’t overwhelm the area either.”

For tickets visits https://neuaddogwen.com/en/ara-deg-2023/

[musicblogwales]

Silent Forum - 'Treat Yourself' (Official Video)

Silent Forum released their most unashamedly poppy single to date, Treat Yourself, coming out now via Libertino Records. Treat Yourself is a mixture of revealing, uncomfortable lyrics paired with animated, uplifting pop instrumentation. You can hear the band having a great time playing around in much poppier territory than they are used to - this is as bubblegum as they're ever going to get.

Treat Yourself is the classic mixture of revealing, uncomfortable lyrics paired with animated, uplifting pop instrumentation. You can hear the band having a ball playing around in much poppier territory than they are used to. “Why don’t you treat yourself to a little self love / You matter, you matter so much / You don’t matter, you matter"

The Cardiff, London and Barcelona based four piece have make it a habit of not playing to expectations since their inception. With just a handful of singles to their names, the quartet swiftly drew comparisons to acts like Talking Heads, Gang of Four and XTC.

Taking a more angular approach than many of their contemporaries, Silent Forum have carved a unique line of uneasy punk crossed with skewed pop sensibilities.

New Single 'Treat Yourself' is a brightly shimmering indie post-pop-punk classic and the video was filmed in a London 'All You Can Eat' restaurant.

#Youtube

[musicblogwales]

Green Man Festival 2023

Green Man Festival - 17th - 20th August 2023

Eve Appleton Band is this year’s Green Man Rising Winner!

Cardiff band Hyll will also claim their spot on the Rising Stage as finalists too, congratultions to them.

Green Man is thrilled to announce that Eve Appleton Band is its Green Man Rising winner for 2023, and will bag a slot on its Mountain Stage this August.

The Bristol-based act beat off competition from a record-breaking 3,000 hopefuls and over 30,000 votes to claim the annual award after they were announced as the judges favourite at the virtual final.

The Dorset born songwriter’s brand of progressive folk music won over a panel of industry experts including Hayley Morrison, Ivano Maggiulli, Kate French-Morris, Liam Keightly, Nuha Ruby Ra, Steve Nickols, Tom Baker and Ben Coleman.

Following a rise to prominence on the UK live music scene, Eve is now set to claim her place on the biggest stage at Wales’ largest music festival alongside the likes of First Aid Kit and Self Esteem.

Eve is herself a lifelong Green Man fan, having attended regularly as a child from its beginnings as a much smaller event held at the Baskerville Hall Hotel, just outside Hay-on-Wye

She said: “I knew music was my life because of Green Man - I cannot believe I now get to set foot on the mountain stage with my best friends. To everyone at Green Man Festival, the judges board of GM Rising and Green Man trust for providing musicians like us this amazing opportunity, we are forever grateful.”

Delighted to be announcing this year’s Green Man Rising winner, Managing Director and festival owner Fiona Stewart said: "I want to thank all those involved in Green Man Rising. The judges all agreed that the standard of entries was so incredibly high this year, and I’m so pleased for Eve Appleton Band! They really will make a spectacular addition to our line-up.”

The Green Man Rising competition celebrates the best emerging talent every year. Each entry is listened to by the Green Man team before a long list is put out to public vote in order to find the final five, which this year attracted more than 30,000 votes.

Cardiff band Hyll and other finalists will also get play at the festival on Green Man’s Rising Stage as a result of their success in the competition too. Other Welsh acts confirmed for the 2023 event include Cardiff duo, Rogue Jones, who will be performing at the Walled Garden stage on Thursday as part of an all Welsh language day in the Walled Garden, alongside acts such as Aisha Vaughan and Caldicot’s The Bug Club. 

The magic of Green Man lies not just in its scenery and music. Made up of 10 individual areas, the festival also offers a diverse range of events to accompany its incredible line-up, boasting art installations spread throughout the tranquil valley, a beer and cider tent to enjoy a crisp Welsh pint, an Ancient Egypt-themed area of discovery and exploration for the little folk, a relaxation and workshop space for the teenagers, plus science engagement area Einstein’s Garden. Further line ups of music, science, film, comedy & literature will be revealed in the coming months.

The Settlement Stage

This years Greenman Settlement Stage has been carefully curated by Libertino Records Gruff Owen with Angel Hotel, Angharad, Cynefin, Edie Bens, Elin Grace, Gille, Half Happy, Ivan Moult, Joe Kelly & The Royal Pharmacy, Mari Mathias, Red Telephone, Siula, Sonny Winnebego, Spencer Segelov And The Great Paintings, The Family Battenberg, Voya and YNYS all gracing the stage.

Festival goers who have purchased a Settler’s Pass, a special ticket which includes discounts on local heritage sites, galleries, castles and more, will arrive on Monday 14th August for a week in the Welsh valleys as part of their Green Man 2023 experience. Tickets for this year’s festival sold out in just four hours in September 2022, following a fantastic 20th anniversary celebration in the Welsh Mountains just weeks before.

The full lineup is as follows

Devo | First Aid Kit | Self Esteem | Spiritualized |  Amyl & The Sniffers | Young Fathers | Slowdive | The Walkmen | Confidence Man | Goat | The Comet Is Coming | Squid | Lankum | Horace Andy ft. Dub Asante Band | Sudan Archives | Snail Mail | Warmduscher | The Delgados | Les Savy Fav | Beth Orton | Daniel Avery (live) | Gilla Band | Jockstrap | Obongjayar | James Holden | Bob Vylan | PVA | Dur-Dur Band Int. | The Wedding Present | Courtney Marie Andrews | Billy Nomates | Sorry | Lost Map presents Weird Wave | Rozi Plain | Buck Meek | Julie Byrne | Clipping. | Special Interest | Alabaster Deplume | Gina Birch | Cory Hanson | Girl Ray | Etran D’el Air | Anna B Savage | Jake Xerxes Fussell | Sarah Jarosz | H Hawkline | Eddie Chacon | Kanda Bongo Man | Melin Melyn | The Bug Club | Josephine Foster | Crows | Marie Davidson (DJ) | Arushi Jain | Say She She | Alice Boman | Water From Your Eyes | Thus Love | Julie | Salami Rose Joe Louis | Nuha Ruby Ra | Floodlights | James Ellis Ford | Spencer Cullum | deathcrash | Yasmin Williams | Oscar Lang | Mega Bog | Σtella | Gently Tender | Aoife Nessa Frances | Fat Dog | MADMADMAD | Deptford Northern Soul Club | Hagop Tchaparian | 4am Kru | Drahla | The Gentle Good | Etta Marcus | Sister Wives | Sam Akpro | Brad Stank | Bricknasty | Juni Habel | Clara Mann | DD Darillo | Aisha Vaughan | Rogue Jones | The Social | Dutty Disco | Postmen DJs | Popperz - Spank DJs - Belinduh belinduh belinduh - Babymorocco - Joanie - Kuntessa Butch Kassidy | Cumgirl8 | Freak Slug | Island of Love | Lady Maisery | The Last Dinner Party | Lilo | Mandy, Indiana | Mary in the Junkyard | Minor Conflict | Morgon Noise | Sans Soucis | Seb Lowe | Spielmann | Suep | Uh | University | Yabba | And many more ........

Now in its 21st year, Green Man Festival is an award-winning, independent music, arts, comedy and science festival held in the breathtaking surroundings of the Bannau Brycheiniog. Uniquely, Green Man refuses sponsorship so that independent Welsh food & beverage producers can be offered and curational freedom retained. The festival is comprised of ten unique areas – from comedy, literature, theatre, film and art, and is the only large UK festival where a woman has majority ownership.

Green Man Festival is a melting pot of Welsh, national and international artistic talent and a creator of opportunities. The Green Man Trust charity extends the festival’s artistic, educational, and cultural ambitions by cultivating creative development, showcase and training opportunities within the arts, sciences and local communities. Over the last three years, 10,000+ people have been supported by Green Man Trust, £16,000 donated to Welsh food banks in 2022 in response to cost of living crisis, £3,000 donated for Ukrainian war relief, £16,000 has been raised for Welsh vulnerable people affected by storm Dennis flood, £100,000 was spent to commission 223 artists during the pandemic and over 100 community projects have been supported.

www.greenman.net/

[musicblogwales]

Richard Walters - 'Anchor' (Official Video)

Richard Walters is back with new single “Anchor”, the latest track to be cut from his upcoming solo record ‘Murmurate’ (out 17 November, via Nettwerk). Enveloped by Walters’ tender falsetto, “Anchor” is a spacious piano piece adorned with longing string arrangements to stir the soul. A song dedicated to his daughters, it finds the artist opening-up about the intense and transcendent connection we feel with our closest family. As Richard explains:

‘“Anchor” is a song about and for my daughters; I've been away a fair bit the last 12 months, which felt especially hard post lockdown, and it's a song about that familial pull and instinct to protect and support them.”

Co-written with esteemed songwriter Edd Holloway (Lewis Capaldi, Tom Grennan), who had also recently become a father around the time of writing, the resultant single is another fine example of Walters’ exceptional ability for intimate storytelling, captivating vocals, and intricate musical arrangements.

“Anchor” swiftly follows recent teaser tracks “After Midnight” and “Move On”, all of which reveal different shades of Walters’ upcoming solo album ‘Murmurate’, which is released this Autumn.

Written in 2022 as the world recalibrated to the tides of change, ‘Murmurate’ homes-in on those feelings of waking up in the post-pandemic world to the realisation that many of us had changed too. An album that ruminates on our human need for real-world relationships and the importance of meaningful connections with those closest to us, these recurring themes would also play into the palpable intimacy of ‘Murmurate’ and its recording. As Richard explains:

“When it comes to music, throughout lockdown I was desperate to be in the room with other people making things again. In my opinion, Zoom just doesn’t cut it when it comes to finding common musical ground and building things up” says Walters. “That’s where the title ‘Murmurate’ comes from - I just wanted to feel that unison again, to move in time with other songwriters and musicians, to flock and gather and soar a little bit, even if the distance from my homelife made me feel torn from time to time.”

Combining unassumingly complex arrangements and openly heart-on-sleeve songs, it’s an album that graciously shifts from nocturnal piano ballads (“All Over”), to sprightly folk/pop poetry (“Long Way Down”), darkly lilting lullabies (“Open Everything”) to longing, love-lorn duets (“Locked Up Never Fade”).

With all tracks performed and written by Richard Walters, ‘Murmurate’ was recorded, produced and mixed by Eliot James, before receiving its final mastering by Dyre Gormsen. Amongst the myriad instruments performed by the pair, listeners will also be able to detect Eliot’s 11 year old son Leland James on cello, plus guest vocalist Lydia Oliver. ‘Murmurate’ is released on the Nettwerk album on 17 November 2023. 

An artist, performer and songwriter based in the UK, Richard Walters has amassed over 100 million streams across his five critically acclaimed albums and four EP's to date. Since his debut release in 2005, his music has featured on a number of TV shows including Grey’s Anatomy, CSI: Miami and Tin Star, while receiving praise from titles including The Guardian, Clash, Line Of Best Fit and other tastemaker press.  Richard’s solo releases have also gained notable support from BBC 6 Music’s Lauren Laverne and Guy Garvey, plus BBC Radio 2’s Jo Whiley and Dermot O’Leary.

Sought-out by stars including Grammy-winner Joe Henry, British icon Alison Moyet and Oscar nominated actress and singer Florence Pugh, Walters has also lent his talents to influential electronic artists including Kx5,  Solomun, Sonny Fodera, Sultan + Shepard and more.

A member of the group LYR (with poet laureate Simon Armitage and Patrick Pearson, who release their second album 'The Ultraviolet Age' on 30th June); Richard also released the album ‘Shapes In My Head’ under the name Sun Lo, a collaboration with ATTLAS, earlier this year. Catch Richard tour his latest work this November at these UK  headline dates: 

RICHARD WALTERS - LIVE DATES 2023 24 Nov - BRISTOL, The Louisiana 25 Nov - OXFORD, Jericho Tavern 29 Nov - MANCHESTER, The Castle Hotel 30 Nov - LONDON, The Grace Tickets on sale now: https://www.richardwaltersmusic.co.uk/live

#Youtube