Welcome to my Last Minute Christmas Present Buyer's Guide to the Best Welsh Albums of 2013.
Admittedly it's not the pithiest handle in the world ever — but it does do what it says on the tin. This week's show is a wall-to-wall celebration of the best Welsh albums released this year (in my over-inflated opinion).
I think it's been a remarkable year.
Compiling a 15 minute guide to the best Welsh albums of 1993 would have been a challenge (that was the year I started on Radio Wales) so this programme marks, to some extent, how much Welsh music has evolved in that period.
I do hope you enjoy what you hear.
I do hope it gives you an idea for something to buy for a loved one or a friend. Most of these music-making folk don't have a label behind them, funding their enterprise. They live off woodshavings and tepid water from borrowed taps in draughty bedsits.
Buying their music isn't the equivalent of sticking fivers into a fat cat, music mogul's diamond posing pouch; it'll help them get strings, pay for rehearsal time, you know, make more music, which is great news for all of us.
Some of them may even eat something. They're all very pasty looking (paste-y rather than pass-tee. Mmmm… pasties).
Anyway, do enjoy this broad celebration of great Welsh sounds. Feel free to suggest/recommend albums below that didn't make it onto my list.
I'm off to find a pasty pasty.
JOY FORMIDABLE, THE - 'This Ladder Is Ours'
Mold
FUTURE OF THE LEFT - 'Donny Of The Decks'
Cardiff
PAPER AEROPLANES - 'Little Letters'
Milford Haven
SWEET BABOO - 'If I Died Would You Remember That You Loved Me?'
Bangor/Cardiff
EARTH, THE - 'Operator'
Cardiff
GEORGIA RUTH - 'Week Of Pines'
Aberystwyth/Cardiff
TRWBADOR - 'Lluniau [Fersiwn Albwm]'
Camarthen/Cardiff
METABEATS - 'Battery Phunk'
Cardiff
LLWYBR LLAETHOG - 'Ed's Dub'
Blaenau Ffestiniog/Cardiff
GALLOPS - 'Jeff Leppard'
Wrexham
ZERVAS & PEPPER - 'Living In A Small Town'
Cardiff
THREATMANTICS - 'Apple Tree'
Cardiff
MR HUW - 'Cariad Afiach'
Caernarfon
IFAN DAFYDD - 'Celwydd (Feat. Alys Williams)'
Llanrug
GENTLE GOOD, THE - 'Antiffoni'
Cardiff
WINTER VILLAINS - 'The Air'
Cardiff
CATE LE BON - 'Are You With Me Now?'
Penboyr
SPARROW AND THE WORKSHOP - 'Shock Shock'
Wales
JOANNA GRUESOME - 'Sugarcrush (LP Version)'
Cardiff
HELEN LOVE - 'Atomic'
Swansea
TOTEM TERRORS - 'Art Of Falling (fall Song Rev. 6)'
Cardiff
Y PLU - 'Sgwennaf Lythyr'
Bethel
SAVE YOUR BREATH - 'Touchpaper'
Newport
FIST OF THE FIRST MAN - 'At Beyond The Pale'
Cardiff
NEON NEON - 'The Jaguar'
Cardiff/Los Angeles
BENJAMIN DAMAGE - '010x'
Swansea/Berlin
LOS CAMPESINOS - 'Cemetery Gaits'
Cardiff
YR ODS - 'Rhywbeth I Rywun'
Gwynedd
CIAN CIARAN - 'Sewn Up [Radio Edit]'
Bangor
EUROS CHILDS - 'Tête à Tête'
Pembrokeshire
PULCO - 'Gnarl Chess'
Bangor
SOFT-HEARTED SCIENTISTS - 'Seaside Sid And The Giant Squid'
Cardiff
ISLET - 'Triangulation Station'
Cardiff
SHORT AND CURLIES - 'Serene Again And Again'
Pembrokeshire/Cardiff/Liverpool
SŵNAMI - 'Cysgodion'
Dolgellau
QUEER'D SCIENCE - 'Requiem For Liberace Wolf'
Llanfairfechan/Manchester
NO CHOICE - 'Is This Punk Rock?'
Cardiff/Bridgend
BURNING FERNS - 'Sand'
Newport
HISTORY OF APPLE PIE, THE - 'Seeing You'
London/Bagillt
LITTLE ARROW - 'Our Taste Is Violence'
Cardiff
IRMA VEP - 'One Eye On Everything'
Llanfairfechan
ROSEVILLE BAND, THE - 'Take It'
Wrexham/Brynford
COWBOIS RHOS BOTWNNOG - 'Tyrd Olau Gwyn'
Llyn Peninsula
SIDDI - 'Un Tro'
Llanuwchllyn
COLORLIST - 'Sun Song'
Cardiff Label
