upfront The historic Penderyn Square
welcomes Merthyr Rising once more After the customary two years out, this weekend of music, comedy, art and debate – named in tribute to a workers’ revolt in the town in 1831, a hugely significant event in proletarian British history – is back in June. With three years’ funding in place to usher in bigger things from next year, here are 10 acts worth catching among its 2022 lineup.
BASEMENT JAXX (Fri 10 June)
Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe have come a long way since their mid-90s DIY club nights in Brixton alehouses, but they’ve never left that behind entirely, and you can still catch the core Basement Jaxx duo doing DJ sets – like the one they’re booked in to do here – that retain that stripped- down vigour and are also guaranteed banger-full.
THE DUALERS (Fri 10 June)
Rare grassroots success story The Dualers are an uptempo old-skool ska big band (nine members!) from south London. They’ve been going since the late 90s and have released stacks of albums, with 2004 single Kiss On The Lips – a top 30 hit from nowhere – precipitating a rise through the ranks that’s seen them recently ascend to arena- band status.
STIFF LITTLE FINGERS (Sat 11 June)
First-wave punk stalwarts fronted by Jake Burns and an essential cog in the genre, especially for anyone whose tastes bend towards the gritty, melodic and political, Stiff Little Fingers have continued to put out new material (eight years since their last album notwithstanding) but acknowledge that it’s their early classics like Suspect Device that’ll shake most action.
ALABAMA 3 (Sun 12 June)
Venerable fusion of rave, dub, funk and country with a strong Merthyr connection in the form of vocalist Larry Love – or Rob Spragg to his old mates in the town – Alabama 3 rose to notoriety in the heady late 90s and have been a magnet for party monsters ever since. They will presumably play the Sopranos theme everyone knows.
WILL VARLEY (Sat 11 June)
Very much from the latter- day school of textured, sophisticated-troubadour UK folk-rockers, Londoner Will Varley has released six albums, 2021’s The Hole Around My Head being the latest, and Buzz’s review of a live show last month praised his “ability to invest the audience through gorgeous wordplay and melodic progressions”.
CAPTAIN ACCIDENT (Sun 12 June)
The nom de skank of Cardiffian Adam Parsons, whose live sets are most often assisted by his backing band The Disasters and who has been rising through the ranks with his melange of ska, reggae, rocksteady and punk sensibility since 2010 debut album Pick Up The Microphone.
JAMES AND THE COLD GUN (Sat 11 June)
Wavemaking duo from south Wales who (as well as both being called James) are named after a Kate Bush song and sound rather un- Kate Bushlike, JATCG’s stream of singles and EPs since 2019 – culminating in the recent five-song False Start bear a heavy early 00s alt-rock and post-grunge influence.
ADWAITH (Sun 12 June)
A recent gig review of this going-places Carmarthen three-piece highlighted their
“the pulse of booming drums”, and that’s what you can expect from imminent second album Bato Mato, released through the Libertino label and offering a feminist, Welsh-language and pleasingly off-centred take on vintage college rock.
“fuzzy guitars” and
CODEWALKERS (Fri 10 June)
Slick rock-meets-beats- meets-rap operation from Cardiff, with a strong presence up front in vocalist Seun Babatola and a clutch of singles, Codewalkers got a break when they were chosen for the BBC Horizons scheme in 2019 and have secured plays and praise
including Tom Robinson and Adam Walton.
from radio heads
BRYONY SIER (Sun 12 June)
One of the lineup’s Merthyr originals, Bryony Sier plays upbeat, soul-influenced folk-rock and claims Johnny Cash, Fleetwood Mac, Ben Howard and Sigrid as chief influences. Most recently she’s released single We’re On Each Other’s Team, a paean to the Wales football team ahead of their World Cup playoff on Sun 5 June.
. Merthyr Rising,
Penderyn Square, Merthyr Tydfil, Fri 10-Sun 12 June. Tickets: £110 weekend. Info:
merthyrrising.uk
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