This week's supernova of mostly new Welsh music is powered by a fractal mountain of a live set from Wrexham's Gallops.Mountainous because the noises are massive and skyscraping, and fractal because the devil is in the intriguing fine details... the intricate arpeggios and multiple layers of subtle nuance.
Basically, Gallops blow your conceptions right out your earhole, but leave melodies Beethoven would have wept over in the smoking, empty space thus cleared. You're implored to turn this 11 minute 54 second passage of the show up loud to recreate, as closely as possible, the experience of seeing Gallops live. Having two bulldozers drive headlong into each other with your head in-between as the willing epicentre will make the experience even more authentic.
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00swsd8/Adam_Walton_27_06_2010/
David Wrench continues to lead us back through the dark histories that constitute many of the fibres his new album 'Spades & Hoes & Plows' is woven from. It's an album that reinterprets old folk songs in a way that would give most folk purists doom metal-shaped nightmares. And, rather like Gallops, ghosting in and out of the noise are moments of unexpected beauty and stillness.
The album is a triumph of instinct and curiosity. This week, David talks about his collaborators on this project: Black Sheep - a band featuring that human ley line of shamanistic inspiration, Julian Cope.
Huw 'Pooh Stick' Williams taps his blackboard of Welsh musical history in time with some of Amen Corner's exemplary blue-eyed soul.
Lara Catrin translates something beautiful from Jakokoyak.
A man called Ben comes in to pay tribute to the recently passed Chris Sievey, the quiet genius underneath Frank Sidebottom's fibre glass head.
And we have a painstakingly assembled selection of the most interesting Welsh music that has arrived by .mp3 or carrier pigeon in the last week, including debut plays for The Image of All, A Battleship Called 'Minks', Ratatosk and the Undivided.
Please send new Welsh demos/gig info etc. to: themysterytour@gmail.com
Next week, Simon And The Witch in session.
Have an excellent week.
Adam
FRANK SIDEBOTTOM
Zoo Scrapbook
NIXON & JARVIS [Bangor]
Summer
RICHARD JAMES [Cardiff]
Faces
DANGERMOUSE & SPARKLEHORSE [FEATURING GRUFF RHYS] [Bethesda / Cardiff]
Just War [radio edit]
THE IMAGE OF ALL [Llanidloes]
Someone
CULPRIT 1 [Newport]
Distraction
THE PIPETTES [Cardiff]
Call Me
AMEN CORNER [Cardiff]
Satisnek The Job's Worth
DIDZ [Cardiff]
Hot Gal
ISLET [Cardiff]
Holly
THE HEPBURNS [Llanelli]
Sad, Free, Excited And Empty
A BATTLESHIP CALLED 'MINKS' [Newport]
Pure Ode
RATATOSK [Cardiff]
Batavia's Gfraveyard
HEHFU [Caerphilly]
Mute
STEVELESS [Bristol]
Obligatory Love Song
Y NIWL [Llanrwst]
Chwech
DAVID WRENCH [Bangor]
The Blackleg Miner
GALLOPS [Wrexham]
Live From Central Station, Wrexham
SON CAPSON [Aberystwyth]
Panic Attack
JOHN MOUSE [Cardiff]
Sex With You
NEDRY
Live From Sonar
WILLO WISPA [Cardiff]
The Lollipop Lady's Favourite
CERI FROST [Cardiff]
All That Money Can Buy
JAKOKOYAK [Cardiff]
Troi
FRANK SIDEBOTTOM
Popular Medley
THE UNDIVIDED [Abergavenney]
Promises
PAPER AEROPLANES [Milford Haven]
Way Down
