music live


KELLY LEE OWENS Y Plas, Cardiff University Students Union Thurs 25 Nov


Kelly Lee Owens’ first non-festival live performance in Wales takes place at the other end of the country to the one where she was born and raised, and can reasonably be called ‘long-awaited’. It would be less reasonable to say that this purveyor of dreampop-streaked techno melancholia rose without trace, but certainly there’ve been many more loudly hyped acts of late who’ve achieved much less.


Her rural Flintshire origins are often invoked biographically, and seem to have had two lasting effects. For Owens the (aspiring) musician, it spurred her into moving away – initially, in the late 00s, to Manchester, and then to London, where her indie rockish tastes were eventually overtaken by dance music. This first manifested in three vocal spots and one writing credit on Drone Logic, the 2013 debut album by her friend Daniel Avery, then a debut 12” of her own the following year. A self-titled album in 2017, on stylish Norwegian label Smalltown Supersound, was a critical rave, its swirling techno depths not wholly removed from the likes of Avery but with a more pronounced pop,


or at least song-based, sensibility.


Inner Song, released a little over a year ago into a club music landscape reduced to home listening and so being played live for the first time this autumn, found Owens flagging up her Welsh identity more prominently. John Cale, an earlier beneficiary of the Welsh-village-to- London migratory path, supplies vocals on album centrepiece Corner Of My Sky; its bread-heavy video stars Michael Sheen. “When you leave somewhere, you realise the impact it had,” Owens has said of Wales.


Inner Song as a whole is both ravier and more accessible than her debut: vocal parts are pushed further up in the mix, while instrumental tracks vary from stout rhythmic thumpers (On) to hypnotic bleep/ambient rushes with a new ager’s sense of melody (Jeanette). This show is set to ‘gig’ rather than ‘club’ hours, so what will the impact be in a big room? Only one way to find out!


Tickets: £20. Info: cardiffstudents.com


NOEL GARDNER


CWMWL TYSTION II / Tomos Williams’ Cwmwl


RIOT! Various venues across Wales Wed 24 Nov-Thurs 2 Dec


project first toured in 2019, approaching improvised jazz from a Welsh angle sonically and conceptually. Williams, a trumpeter, has form here in his folk- influenced group Burum, as did other guests including harpist Rhodri Davies. For the second suite under this name, though, Williams has assembled a near-totally new group (only drummer Mark O’Connor remains), comprising established heavy hitters and new blood.


Vibes player Orphy Robinson and saxophonist Soweto Kinch [pictured] are both titans of contemporary UK jazz, and both feature here alongside Williams, O’Connor, bassist Aidan Thorne and Merthyr vocalist Eady Crawford, who records as Ëadyth. Kinch’s latest album The Black Peril, inspired by historical race riots, has a comparable purview to this project, whose movements are each inspired by a notable incident of unrest in Wales. Citing Black jazz greats including Don Cherry and Wadada Leo Smith as inspiration, Cwmwl Tystion tours to Aberystwyth, Cardiff, Merthyr, Bangor, Rhayader and Swansea, plus London right in the middle.


Tickets: £10-£17.50. Info: twitter.com/cwmwltystion


NOEL GARDNER Tystion


PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS


PIGS PIGS PIGS Sin City, Swansea Sat 13 Nov


JR Moores’ potted history of heavy music Electric Wizards concludes with a chapter quite rightly hailing Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs as the standard bearers for “Sabbath Phase IV”, titans of the “modern heavy underground”.


No longer a niche concern, the Geordie quintet seem to hone their


broaden their appeal a little more with each release, all the while compromising on nothing but song length. Viscerals, from 2020, nodded to thrash and old- school metal while remaining true to their doomy roots – as exemplified by the way that the floor suddenly falls away in album opener and single Reducer, plunging you neck-deep in the sludge.


The secret of Pigs’ success is arguably a sense of humour – wit as well as weight. Never imagined how legendary occultist Aleister Crowley might have fared on Bake Off? Frontman Matt Baty has, and he might tell you about it, while stripped down to his Newcastle Utd shorts and performing tai chi.


Tickets: £16.50. Info: www.sincityclub.co.uk


BEN WOOLHEAD craft and


MILLIE MANDERS AND


THE SHUTUP The Moon, Cardiff Thurs 18 Nov


Telling Truths, Breaking Ties, the debut album by London band Millie Manders And The Shutup, feels a bit like a record No Doubt might have made if they’d started in the era of Paramore rather than late 80s Californian punk. Large radio- pop hooks, larger choruses and relatable lyrics about relationship drama and fluctuating mental health are joined by party-soundtrack horn parts and upbeat ska rhythms.


A more polished production than their previous EPs, which date back to 2015, Telling Truths… was released last autumn and is finally to be performed in the environment where the band made their name.


popularity on the UK’s ska-punk scene, as well as being a fixture at Blackpool’s gumby punk weekender Rebellion, as well as the previously mentioned sounds the quintet throw in hip-hop and metal influences, notably on politicised songs Poor Man’s Show and Panic. This lengthy pre-Christmas tour precedes a 2022 cross-European run supporting Floridian ska-punk veterans Less Than Jake.


Tickets: £8. Info: themooncardiff.com


NOEL GARDNER Accruing word-of-mouth


THE SNUTS The Globe, Cardiff, Wed 3 Nov; Sin


City, Swansea, Wed 10 Nov; Tivoli, Buckley, Sat 20 Nov


Back in March, The Snuts from West Lothian announced their debut album W.L along with a huge UK tour, running from September to November of this year and featuring dates in Swansea, Cardiff (already sold out), and Buckley.


This UK tour follows their highly-praised set at Reading & Leeds festival in August this year. Last year, the band landed a top 15 album chart position with their debut EP Mixtape, a number one spot on the UK vinyl chart, and over 30 million streams. They’re the first Scottish band to top the UK album charts for 14 years: W.L notched up over 20,000 first-week sales, the biggest debut from a British band in half a decade, and features hits including Somebody Loves You, Glasgow and Elephants.


Adored up and down the country for their uninhibited, sweat-drenched live shows, don’t miss the opportunity to catch The Snuts on this exciting UK tour.


Tickets: £10-£12.50. Info: thesnuts.co.uk


SARAH BOWDIDGE


36


Sarah Stedeford


Gaz Williamson


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