Buzz Magazine May 2013 | Page 38

live

GWYL PILI PALA FESTIVAL Various venues, Swansea Fri 17 + Sat 18 May Kicking off the Welsh festival season nice and early this year is the inaugural Gwyl Pili Pala Festival, a music and literature event which is taking over various venues in Swansea for a weekend in support of the West Glamorgan Council On Alcohol And Drug Abuse. In addition to supporting the charity, organiser Angela Muir hopes the event will showcase some of the talent in Wales’ second city.“ If you’ re involved with music in and around Swansea you know there are a lot of amazing bands in the area, but there aren’ t a lot of opportunities to showcase them locally, and there aren’ t many bands from elsewhere who come to the area to play – it all sort of stops at Cardiff,” she explains.“ Pili Pala will hopefully put Swansea back on the creative map.” Over 50 bands and writers will descend on the city for the weekend, with musical highlights including Masters In France, The People The Poet and The Keys [ pictured ]. There will also be literary programs, including writing workshops and readings, run by Carmarthen’ s Write4Word. Fundamentally, though, the hope is that the event can help raise awareness for an otherwise little-known Welsh charity.“ It’ s an opportunity for us to raise awareness of WGCADA and the work we do,” Muir continues.“ Unless you’ ve been referred to our services, or know someone who has been involved you may not even know we exist, even though we are the largest substance misuse charity in the area and we’ ve been around since 1979. Plus, at some of the events our service users will have an opportunity to perform, which is something they can really be proud of.” So can we expect to see Gwyl Pili Pala return in the future?“ There’ s definitely a need for something like this in Swansea, and there’ s been a lot of interest and support from the community, the media and the local music scene,” Muir concludes.“ I think as long as we’ re willing to be open-minded and flexible about how to progress in the future we can make it work.” Admission: £ 20 /£ 15 adv. Info 01792 646421 / www. pilipala. org JIM SWIDENBANK
pic: PIERRE HUM
THEE OH SEES
Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff Wed 8 May Initially started as an outlet for ex-Pink & Brown, Coachwhips and Landed mastermind John Dwyer’ s solo material, San Francisco’ s Thee Oh Sees have now become a fully fledged touring band. Anybody vaguely familiar with the aforementioned bands probably has some idea of what to expect from Thee Oh Sees, but if you’ re not familiar, I forgive you. It’ s OK. John Dwyer has played weird noiserock, three-chord garage thrash, apocalyptic world-ending noise and death metal in a long and varied career, so he’ s obviously storing a lot of music in his brain that needs to escape. Depending on what material from Thee Oh Sees you listen to, you might hear quietly cooed lullabies, beefed up and noisy garage rock or ever-expanding psychedelia, but what you won’ t hear is mediocrity. As for the live show, Thee Oh Sees are a pretty lively bunch and you can expect lots of energy, flailing fringes, high volume, and tambourine playing that shows a reckless disregard for British standards of health, safety and common decency. If you aren’ t already jaded with guitar-based rock music, then I’ m preaching to the choir, but if you think it isn’ t like the good old days, you may have an epiphany after attending this show. Do everybody a favour and put some North Californian good vibes into your diet, because you’ ll like it. Or not. Just don’ t blame me. Admission: £ 10 /£ 8 adv. Info: 029 2023 2199( GM)
ELIZA CARTHY & JIM MORAY
The Glee Club, Cardiff Bay Tues 14 May Acclaimed folk musicians Eliza Carthy and Jim Moray have announced a joint tour in which they will be playing some of their best love tracks with the aid of an all star band. The Wayward Tour is an opportunity to experience two of Britain’ s best folk artists in a one-off performance. Carthy, a singer and violinist from a peerless folk pedigree( her father is Martin Carthy, her mother Norma Waterson) describes herself as a“ modern English musician” and her career has spanned over 20 years. Having won five Radio 2 Folk Awards amongst numerous other accolades, Carthy is a highly respected musician who effortlessly blends traditional English folk with more modern genres, creating exciting and eclectic piece of music. She is a firm believer that music shouldn’ t have boundaries and doesn’ t confine herself to a particular genre or style. Similarly, Jim Moray blends folk, rock and pop to create songs which are current but which are still grounded within the folk tradition. A multi-instrumentalist, Moray uses an array of instruments including electric guitars, melodeons and thumb pianos; he’ s also used beatboxes and rappers in his songs. With both musicians experimenting with genres and blending traditional folk with more modern sounds, this gig promises something different. Tickets: £ 20. Info: 0871 4720400( ED)
CHRISTY MOORE
The Riverfront, Newport Mon 27 May Showing no signs of slowing down as he approaches his 70s, iconic folk singer / songwriter Christy Moore heads to Newport, the third stop on the Welsh leg of his tour. Sets in Rhyl and the Hay Festival precede this date, giving fans in Wales plenty of chances to catch Moore, once cited as“ Ireland’ s greatest living musician”. Producing music both solo and with bands Planxty and Moving Hearts, Moore has built a loyal and creditable following, inspiring other musicians with his populist take on traditional Irish folk and making appearances at many events – including Oxegen in 2011, where he duetted with Coldplay on a cover of Jimmy McCarthy’ s Ride On. He most recently played for the Dalai Lama as part of the Children In Crossfire’ s‘ Culture Of Compassion’ Event in Derry. Although ill health forced him to slow down his workload in the 1990s, he began 2012 with three sell-out shows at Dublin’ s Grand Canal Theatre, performing his rendering of Kevin Littlewood’ s Morecambe Bay, which was nominated for Best Original Song at the BBC Folk Awards. This was swiftly followed by a series of Irish dates before Moore embarked on a 10-day tour of the UK, including two shows at London’ s Royal Festival Hall. All in all, a thrilling opportunity to see this legendary singer / songwriter perform. Tickets: £ 32.50. Info: 01633 656757( SM)
SOULEANCE
Gwdihw, Cardiff Sat 11 May Consisting of producer Fulgeance and clubnight founder DJ Soulist, popular connoisseurs of all things funk, soul, hiphop and disco, Parisian duo Souleance will bring their slick compound of beats, breaks, classic soul and funk – all played out live – to Gwdihw’ s stage, in an event predicted to bubble with sound-soaked, mind-bending melodies and sonorous bass rhythms. Souleance are hitting Cardiff this month to promote their debut album La Belle Vie. The duo first collaborated in 2006, having established a mutual love of fresh production and forward-thinking beats. Producer and remixer Fulgeance is notorious for his intense rhythm-chopping and flawless live performances. Focused on hypnotic hip-hop, Fulgeance innovatively mixes sounds to create his signature‘ low club’ groove( Low Club Anthem being the lead track on his last EP, Musique Large). DJ Soulist is the creator and resident DJ of Paris’ clubnight What The Funk, which recently celebrated its sixth birthday. As a disco, soul, funk, hip-hop and Latin music enthusiast, he’ s shared a stage with some of the leading names in the worldwide scene including Cut Chemist, Keb Darge, DJ Vadim, Quantic, DJ Nu-Mark, Dudley Perkins, Madlib and Pilooski. With a clutch of wildly popular mixes on Soundcloud, the Parisians are a first-rate choice for an evening of live music and intoxication. Admission: £ 4. Info: 029 2039 7933( LM)
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