music live
MELIN MELYN Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff, Sat 6 May Bunkhouse, Swansea, Sun 7 May
Melin Melyn, whose name translates to ‘yellow mill’
English, are coming at us with two gigs in Wales early next month. The first, in Cardiff’s Clwb Ifor Bach, is already sold out; the second, in Swansea’s Bunkhouse the following day, is not at press time.
in
The band’s popularity is rapidly increasing in Wales and afar, having released debut EP Blomonj in
Gathering last autumn. The latter is being reissued in extended form in May, coupled with many a festival appearance and live show this coming summer.
2021 and followup Happy
Split between London and Cardiff and formed in 2019, the band consists of frontman Gruff Glyn, guitarist Will Barratt, drummer Cai Dyfan, bassist Garmon Rhys, pedal steelist Rhodri Brooks and keyboardist Dylan Morgan. Despite only being around for
a few years, Melin Melyn have already played a packed-out Walled Garden stage at Green Man Festival and are due to make another appearance at this year’s edition. They have also supported Gruff Rhys, claimed as one of the band’s biggest inspirations.
Of course, Melin Melyn draw musical ideas from Welsh folklore and culture, but they blend it with a 70s-esque psychedelic sound with a sprinkling of rock and folk. It’s a massive mix of genres, but it works well in the band’s favour. The band brings a refreshing sound to modern Welsh music that is truly timeless, and one that is certainly needed; Melin Melyn are unique, whimsical, and brilliant performers.
Tickets: £8 (Cardiff sold out). Info:
clwb.net /
thebunkhouseswansea.com RHIANNON FARR
ALDOUS HARDING Tramshed, Cardiff Tue 25 Apr
Hearing New Zealand’s
Harding live back in 2019 felt like melting in a pot of opposite emotions – loneliness, comfort, and bewildering joy. Her voice shifts with a gravity that contracts her body, delivering expressions that will lure you in.
Aldous
Her lyrics are surreal, her presence is theatrical: she depicts a universe of her very own. While looking around in that intimate hall, I have never seen so many eyes weeping collectively. Truth to be told, I was weeping too, as I felt like I was reached from the outermost place.
Folk has been the axis that harnessed her career, but it does not fit a narrative that is easy to pinpoint. Her earlier records can be quite dark, but her sound turns light- hearted on the following two. The psychedelic-pop touch is playful on Lawn, from 2022, and 2019’s The Barrel is for sure one to sway on.
Harding’s show at Tramshed is a reschedule from spring 2022, and she’ll be supported by Cardiff- based collaborator H. Hawkline.
Tickets: £22.50. Info:
tramshedcardiff.com PETRE-ADRIAN BANUTA
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BENEFITS
Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff Mon 24 Apr
Benefits boil music down to its most basic elements. An uncompromising amalgam of abrasive electronic noise and blunt, urgent, in-your- face ranting. Sound and fury. And, for vocalist Kingsley Hall, there’s plenty to be furious about.
Debut album Nails, released three days before the band pitch up in Cardiff, is a 10-track primal scream, a brutal expression of rage and disgust at the rightward lurch of a nation catastrophically drunk on imperial nostalgia, exceptionalism, self-interest and hypocrisy. Fighting the flagshaggers’ crude political rhetoric with fire, the songs are littered with references to “cartoon fascists” and “this prison island”, and the sort of pithy soundbites you won’t find written on a Downing Street lectern or the side of a bus. “A new-found spring in your goosestep”, anyone?
On album opener Marlboro Hundreds, a sort of
cum-pep-talk, one of Hall’s repeated imperatives is “question everything”. And so you should – everything, that is, except the wisdom of attending this gig.
manifesto-
Tickets: £15. Info:
clwb.net
BEN WOOLHEAD
DAKHABRAKHA Pontio, Bangor Sat 22 Apr
DakhaBrakha’s bio describes them as “Ukrainian ethno chaos”, adding, “Reflecting fundamental elements of sound and soul, they create a world of unexpected new music.” Think of a smaller Le Mystère Des Voix Bulgares – albeit with a difference – plus a timewarped, ethnic, quirky B-52’s sense and a dash of Lene Lovich thrown in.
Their name means “give/take” in the old Ukrainian language, and theatre is a staple of the band’s performances because of the quartet’s background, hence their shows always have a strong visual element. Vocalists/musicians Marko Halanevych, Iryna Kovalenko, Olena
Garenetska use Indian,
African, and Ukrainian traditional instrumentation for a blend that’s old folk and contemporary vibe. DakhaBrakha want to make the world aware of the new but ancient nation that is Ukraine and also help their native land be free from the war criminal Putin and his army. “We play concerts throughout the world to support Ukraine and raise money,” they state; “we believe in the victory of good over evil!”
Tsybulska and Nina Arabic,
Tickets: £22/£20. Info:
pontio.co.uk
RHONDA LEE REALI
KRUELTY
The Cab, Newport Sat 22 Apr
Since last summer, the punk and hardcore scene in south Wales has been boosted no end by the emergence of Newport DIY venue and theatre space The Cab, and the promotional activity of gig bookers South Wales Collective. They’re announcing new shows weekly by hype bands fresh to these parts, and pausing only to namecheck a few others due in April and early May (NYHC longtermers Sworn Enemy, newer Hudson band Age Of Apocalypse, and a two-day mini-fest headlined by Bib from Nebraska) let’s single out monstrous Japanese outfit Kruelty for attention.
From Tokyo and on a sizeable Euro tour to promote new album Untopia, its release via extreme metal label Profound Lore might indicate that Kruelty’s brand of metallic hardcore goes big on the former element. They favour guttural, sludgy death metal over reheated Slayer riffs, though, and with songs regularly exceeding five minutes even the fittest mosh commanders might need a breather or two.
Tickets: £16. Info: southwalescollective.
bigcartel.com NOEL GARDNER
Emma Wallbanks
Michael Sreenan
Seijiro Nishimi
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