Sŵn Festival has by now become a cornerstone of the Welsh music scene, attracting artists (and fans!) from Wales, England, and further afield for three days packed with music and fun. It is a truly joyous event, much needed at a time when the Cardiff weather feels grimmer than ever, and in its 2023 edition […]
October has rolled in, and this can only mean one thing for music lovers in Cardiff: Sŵn Festival is back. Fully back on its feet after the interruption of the pandemic years and following a successful run in 2022, the beloved multi-venue festival is set to bring one of its most ambitious line-ups yet to […]
One of the most intriguing trends in UK alternative music in these post-lockdown years, perhaps fuelled by the enforced stop in touring of the early 2020s but growing seemingly ever stronger in the last year or so, has been the presence of a series of independent bands who simply refuse to play by any rules. […]
It may have been a rainy and stormy weekend in Cardiff, but Sŵn Festival brought its own brand of sunshine to the Welsh capital, with three days of quality music taking over the city centre. The multi-venue festival, the biggest of its kind in Wales, has finally returned in its full-scale incarnation, and in spite […]
False Heads have been setting the UK on fire on their recent tour, supporting the release of their second studio album, Sick Moon. Seeing the Essex trio live always comes with a promise of a thrilling experience; they most certainly don’t hold back when they climb the stage, and together with the remarkable amount of […]
Summer may be over, but festival season most certainly isn’t, and we have yet another welcome return to celebrate after the lengthy drought imposed by Covid restrictions. Sŵn Festival, the largest multi-venue festival in Wales, is coming back with a bang and taking over the clubs of Cardiff with three days of events celebrating alternative […]
Saint Leonard is one of those artists where you scratch the surface of their work and find an amazing depth: layer upon layer of meaning, reflection, and craft go beyond just songwriting to put together an experience that is both introspection and connection. It is so with his past music, for which the label of […]
Fresh from a triumphant London performance and about to embark on their first major headline UK tour, Pyncher have now released their debut EP after having been earmarked as one of the upcoming bands to watch most closely by the likes of NME. Chew is a perfect calling card for Pyncher, both in terms of […]
After the end of the lockdowns and the return of live gigs there has been a number of new bands making waves in the alternative rock scene, and Manchester’s own Pyncher are among those leading the charge. With a debut EP seeing the light in July, following a serious of successful shows in their home […]
Sometimes, when you get lucky, you get a band which takes an approach to rock music that takes it completely, almost devotedly seriously as art. And sometimes, when you get very lucky, that art has a brass section. Anyone who is about to listen to the debut EP by Brighton’s own Opus Kink, out on […]
We live in the age of offence. As we’re all pushed, like it or not, to think twice and thrice before putting any kind of opinion or statement out there, and artistic expression is increasingly constrained by a generalised concern with the risk of offending someone, brazenness may in the right circumstances become a virtue, […]
It might be somewhat of a stereotype that there is a parable with good bands and their early records, where the first is the raw gem breaking onto the scene, the second is the place for dangerous experimentation, and the third is the album of maturity, where some kind of balance is reached and some […]
I discovered Walt Disco at a festival in 2019, when I went to see them on the sole strength of the fact that they had what is objectively one of the best band names I’ve ever heard. I remember a very raw and very energetic performance which placed them immediately pretty close to the top […]
Heralded by a first single which proudly declared its ambition, this debut EP by Brian Destiny was certainly one of my most eagerly awaited releases of the year. Brian’s Got Talent is a product of the buzzing South London music scene, and is in a sense a perfect calling card for it in the way […]
Black Country, New Road’s debut, For the First Time, was easily one of the most interesting records in 2021. A number of features made it stand out – its ability to pair innovation and traditional sound to create something new, the boldness of the construction of its musical structures, the finesse in the interplay of […]
My first encounter with Jessica Winter’s solo work was at a day festival in London, shortly after the lifting of Covid measures, which turned out, by the way, to be somewhat plagued by organisational woes. In the rather palpable frustration that accompanied said issues, then, it was even more remarkable that her set stood out […]
Partly because of the later relaxation of COVID rules in Wales, partly because of a series of personal circumstances, this early-October serving of alternative rock was my very first live music event in Cardiff in nearly two years; it felt odd, comforting, and slightly tense to be back queuing outside the familiar door of Clwb […]
Hailing from Manchester and now South London-based, The Early Mornings are an up-and-coming band with very clear ideas which they’re keen to put into practice. We got a first taste of that with their recent self-released EP, Unnecessary Creation, a record with a provocative title and enough ambition to bounce between different genres and suggestions, […]
Even from its very first beats, Awake and Hungry, the debut EP by London-based collective Folly Group, sets out to challenge its listeners. Out this June for So Young Records, this is a hugely ambitious work by a group of artists who have a very clear idea of where they’re going and what they want to […]
Squid are one of those bands whose output has been steadily growing in quality through the last couple of years, which makes their debut album Bright Green Field one of the 2021 records I was awaiting most eagerly. It contains some familiar tunes and a good number of bold new ideas, packaged together in an […]