When I die, I'd like there to be a lightshow, smoke and effects pedals.

I really had no idea what to expect of A Place to Bury Strangers - they gained their critical acclaim for their self-titled album when I was in a little musical rut, listening to Deerhunter and not much else. Now I've heard it, I feel like I was missing out on something special. Imagine someone took Loveless, had it remixed by Trent Reznor, and sliced through it with a buzz saw. Don't Think Lover is almost a parody of a loved up My Bloody Valentine track, containing wonderful moments of clarity before I have to turn my iPod down else I'll deafen myself with the deep, high pitched, scratchy deathgaze reverb. And it works, draws you in and shuts your brain down until you can't do or think about anything but the music. Not Wallpaper.

The live show combines the principles of the album with totally fucking you up. Oliver Ackermann looks out sternly into the back of Clwb, like he's staring into the Mumbai massacre and interpreting the horror of twisted bodies and ammunition into an allmighty, industrial and remorseless drone. It doesn't start quite so brutal - the set begins with an allmighty wall of pretty conventional sound. We get a few minutes of recognisable "songs" which have beginnings, middles and ends, before two-thirds through where the overcoming aurual flood becomes a tsunami that goes on for 20 minutes but never seems to end and doesn't drag. You know that feeling you got when you saw Mogwai for the first time and thought the light show was amazing and the first deeply emotional experience you ever had at a gig? Imagine that, but being overcome with someone's total hate and loathing, like Stuart Braithwaite stopped the music and jumped over stabbing everyone in the eye. Smoke clouds the stage, strobes stop your eyes from working. You can't see or feel anything except the pulsating reverb, the music becomes the only thing you can feel. Other people don't matter - you're the only person there. tears up his guitar - that's not showmanship. That's a natural response. Of course he should tear it up. Why would he do anything else?

We came staggering out. What had just happened? Fuck.

I think that's a recommendation.

Labels: a place to bury strangers, cardiff, clwb ifor bach, forecast, saesneg

Well I started safe by popping over the road to the Gate to see Mr Huw... They really should make more use of this place as a music venue. It's slap bang in the middle of Roath and isn't too far from Cathays - surely capturing a significant majority of Cardiff's gig going public in one fell swoop. There was a nice candle lit atmosphere in the bar, Mr Huw was much louder than I expected and his simple guitar-bontempi keyboard set up works well. Sadly I'm not fluent so he could being singing about sleeping with serial killers for all I know but it barely matters.

Stayed with him for 30 mins, then off to see Stray Borders... Pleasent Explosions-style post-rock though a lot quiter and more meloncholy really. Starting to get itchy by this point... Clwb is probably one of the places that will sell out tonight, and I'm desperate to see Rolo Tomassi. If I don't go now will I be able to get in at all? I head over to Womanby Street then and find myself watching Volcano! in a packed downstairs bar. Mr Volcano! wears a pencil thin moustache and looks like a circus wrestler. Nothing wrong with him here, he's a bit cheeky and makes I laff a few times. They're a bit math-rock but more of a shambles than to have their time signatures down to a precise equation. Curious to see if the band has started upstairs I wonder, err, upsatirs...

Oh dear. The Big Pink have started playing already and there's no bugger in here. They are literally playing to a big empty space. That must be like one of those nightmares people in bands must have except actually really happening. I go downstairs where its inexplicably rammed and tell Vivers to drag some people to PAY THEM SOME RESPECT. So eventually there are about 25 people. Its no ones fault really, Big Pink apparently had probs getting into Cardiff and Volcano! started late. It's a festival, shit happens, its all part of the fun.... The band are really quite awesome and for me are the first nice surprise of the evening. I don't think I've really seen a shoegaze band up close before but they were throbbing - more with synths than with guitars. It was the first time that I considered not having ear plugs may be a decision I'll later regret. Hey, we'll find out the next time my smoke alarm goes off... But really, Big Pink were like being hit over the head with a cloud of fuzzy hammers. Lovely.

As quickly as BP finished Rolo Tomassi started. I'm surprised by how divisive this band are. You're either into screamo-prog-small-person-spazzing-and-jumping-around-like-a-contorted-cancer-victim or you're not I suppose. I have had Hysterics on me iPlod for a good couple of weeks now and I feckin' love it, so it surprises me the first 3 sons are almost a perfect facismilie of the album. I don't know what came first, I've not seen them before but by common folklore I imagine the album is a good representation of their live set, rather than the live set being a representation of... you know. Anyway ..... is jumping around and has to stop to take a breath at points. Thank yBREATHou. I haven't seen this kind of bodily commitment since I saw sweat pouring off all of Explosions in the Sky. Wish there was more shuffling at the front, the band seem to be doing all the work....

Rolo finish, head upstairs, Clinic start! Excellent timing. To be honest Clinic are one of those bands who I have criminally ignored over the years. The only song of theirs I'm familiar with is the Evil Bill one, which is awesome, but that was almost ten years ago now when I was a tiddler. Clinic are still around and have produced a great deal of material which I JUST DON'T KNOW. So I'm stood here with my BRAINS in a cup and its pleasent enough, I like the theatrics and the fact they still dress like doctors. Very bluesey, almost relaxing shudder, some chaps in the front are going mental for them, giving unfortunte glances of their stomachs on several occasions. They're fairly middle aged as well, don't they have homes to go to? That's really fucking condescending of me. Evil Bill is part of the encore and it rules and I jump up and down like the moron I couldn't be when I bought it and wasn't old enough or bearded enough to go to live musicals. It's a stomper and sounds as good now as it did then. Faith restored.

Clinic finish, I have it whispered into my ear that Kaz Bar still has bands on and low, Casiokids are on. On their myspace they sound a bit... well lame really but live its different. This is the kind of cow-bell disco punk nuttery that everyone was going mental for five years ago that people forgot about because they confused dance indie with the Klaxons. Cunts. I'm dancing like a moron and I don't care what anyone thinks. The stage show, for a predominantly electronic band, is highly evolved and they don't just stand there. No button pressing for us. Well received I think. My second surprise of the evening.

I'm hooked, and like a heorin addict I need more. Day two, please...

Labels: barfly, cardiff, casiokids, clinic, clwb ifor bach, kaz bar, mr huw, rolo tomassi, saesneg, stray borders, swn, volcano

Heck love each other. This is noted by the fact that, between one songs and in response to a complaint from drummer Steve that they had mucked up a song, Mike turns around and shouts WELL ITS NOT MY FUCKING FAULT, only then to begin a 5 minute tirade against every other member of the band, calling Matt Carter a jizz buffoon and Jemma a slut. Nice. To be honest, Heck are a welcome foil after Saturday's Loose love fest. Someone told me they sound like Shellac... Maybe early Shellac, around My Black Ass. They're certainly quite angular, you could draw perfect squares off those guitars. Jemma's vocals are less indignant and angry than Mr Albini but then she isn't the hulk of bitterness that he is. She's also stolen a red belt for tonight, she admits with glee before telling us the next song is about Witchcraft, which it probably almost certainly wasn't. What a beautiful, nasty spikey hate panto little joy Heck are.

(Wrestling saesneg off the mic, Mr I Monologue continues the review)

The first thing I notice about The French Quarter is that 2 of them look like Liverpool's Champions League winning midfielders, Xabi Alonso and Didi Hamman. Once I got past that I started listening to the music. It began rather unassumingly, post rock in the quiet/quiet/quiet mould until the third song which went a bit prog and sounded like Secret Machines. After that myself and Saesneg played 'spot the influence', at various points we had a Snow Patrol introduction, a jangly Sonic Youth tribute, some Coldplay drumming and most scarily, a Simple Minds guitar riff. The band held these crazy bag of influences together rather well and although they'll never change the world, I can see why they're getting attention from labels and press. Enough lofi to keep the musos happy sprinkled with the right about of commercialism to interest the masses.

(While he isn't looking, Saesneg trips up the intruder and knocks him out. Mr Monologue has not been seen since)

Ahem. Popular Workshop. On their myspace they seem... alright. Actually going by their myspace stuff they could be an interesting band. Reptilians is skin-crawingly infectious. But on stage, last night at least, they just fell apart. Gypsy, which I'm sure isn't his real name, didn't realise only 30 people had shown up for the gig and was swaggering like he was playing to 300 screaming children. He did himself no favours when, at the end of the set, he proclaimed he had been recording in the same studio as the Manics and Albini. That's lovely - so fucking what? We ended up with two grown men jumping around and tub thumbing with no real momentum from the crowd to feed them - like seeing your uncle spazz out to Charlotte Church on his own in the corner of the room. It really didn't help at all that the sound was so atrocious. We couldn't hear the bass at all, which trashed the earlier mentioned new single and made them sound like a guitar mash. In truth, PW probably weren't that bad, but their lack of humility and "we rock the fucking world" attitude wrecked it. What a bunch of tits.

Labels: buffalo bar, cardiff, Heck, Popular Workshop, saesneg, The French Quarter

After yesterday's news that Max Tundra will be replacing Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man at Friday's Barfly night, it has now emerged that, due to the Pipettes losing Anna MacDonald on Wednesday afternoon, the band will no longer be playing the Point this Friday. Yr Ods and Chew Lips, who were due on the same bill, will be moved to different shows. Silent Disco will continue, but will start earlier at 9pm, with Gwenno Pipette contining to DJ. Further details will be twittered/blogged/rumoured tomorrow....

Labels: cardiff, chew lips, saesneg, swn, the pipettes, The Point, yr ods

Any owners of the latest Swn handout will notice a big gap where a band should be after Loose's all dayer at Howard Gardens on Saturday. That's because doors are to close at 9pm, to reopen at 9.30pm for a night with the Peth! The Family are hosting Rhys Ifans for a ultra intimate show at the art college. I'll say no more on the subject other than if you like Mr Ifans.... well you can have him and Tommy's excellent range of cider, at the same time!

Don't forget the gig is prefixed by Loose's excellent array of chocolate delights, beginning at 3pm with The New Tea Party, followed by Little My, It Hugs Back, Connan Mockasin, Aidan Smith and finishing at 7 with the Boy Least Likely To. With all that quality indie, it'll be worth starting your saturday afternoon piss-up early.

Meanwhile on Friday it has been announced that Ox Eagle Lion Man has been replaced by Max Tundra at the Barfly Drowned in Sound night at around 8.45pm. Expect a set of video game electronic nuttery, with the Warp Records chap who has been overheating Amiga chipsets since 1998. Bleep! Bleeeeeeeeep! BEEEP!

Labels: cardiff, howard gardens, loose, peth, saesneg, swn, the family

MTT PRESENTS: NEVILLE STAPLE (formerly of The Specials) AND HIS BAND

The late 70s and early 80s were an extremely turbulent time for Britain. And there was no better band who soundtracked that time than The Specials. A multi-racial seven-piece band influenced by 60s Jamaican ska and 70s British punk, The Specials signified unity in a Britain torn apart by racial tension. As the black frontman and focal point of the band, Neville Staple is now rightly regarded as something of a hero.

As toaster and skat-man, Staple used his deep, booming voice to counterpart Terry Hall's chart-topping melodies. These were on songs like Ghost Town, Too Much, Too Young, A Message To You Rudy and Stereotypes. Songs now thought of as British classics, one and all. Making their name on the live circuit, it was Staple's on-stage antics that dominated their concerts.

After The Specials split, band leader Terry Hall took Staple (along with Lynval Golding) to form Fun Boy Three. Whilst their career was successful, it was also short-lived. Since then, Staple has remained in music, touring and recording with old friends. His new show comes to The Point in December and promises new material alongside classic hits.

Wednesday 10th December 2008, The Point, Mount Stuart Square, Cardiff Bay
£12.50 in advance and £14 on the door 7:30pm

Tickets are available through Spillers Records (02920 224905/www.spillersrecords.co.uk), Ticketline (02920 230130/www.ticketline.co.uk) and The Point (02920 460873/www.thepointcardiffbay.com) and are £12.50 in advance and £14 on the door.

Labels: cardiff, neville staple, The Point, the specials

Well wasn't last night a massive four-edged festival of glee. I've written so much now about Fredrick Stanley Star there's not much else to say - they are one of Cardiff's most interesting and charismatic bands and were on cheerful form. It's always going to be tricky to impress on a bill as long as this, and at such an early part of the evening. The band was also dogged by slight sound troubles, and were frustrated at times, so its definitely worth seeing them again at Swn this Saturday (Buffalo, 7.30pm) if you are yet to bathe in their full, unfettered glow. I love them like a newborn baby, coochee coochee cooooo.

Brontosaurus Chrous could wear their indie boys and girls badges with pride last night. The band has about 200 members, forming a kind of mini-Architecture in Helsinki kind of arrangement on stage. They're a busy, energetic force, an achievement considering this kind of music can easily slip into the kind of sentimental twee-mageddon that Steve Lamacq was so fond of. But they're focused talented muscians and produced some of the most gleeful and joyful music of the evening. I hear this was their first trip to Cardiff - they'd be welcome on a return visit. They were the perfect introduction to the first Kiwi visitors of the evening, Lawrence Arabia. According to my twitter, I said they were "a bit country", which seems terrible facile now. At its heart most indie has some folk root, its just that some bands bear them more readily than others. Lawrence combines acoustic guitars and harmonies with bittersweet lyrics; Leonard Cohen if he developed a jangly, sarcastic streek. Tonight there was more emphasis on the jangly, and in person aren't as tinged with the kind of tragedy you can hear in their lyrics. They were still a great watch though, but its worth getting the CD to appreciate the sadness and whimsey in the some of the songs which doesn't communicate well when everyone's having such a damn good time.

I never thought I'd like Afrobeat and I hated Vampire Weekend. I love Ruby Suns. They clearly don't take themselves too seriously, well appreciated at Howard Gardens which, by the time they took to the stage, was dancing like a sweaty dog on hot coals. Other than when Lawrence Arabia joined the band later in the set, Ruby Suns were almost entirely electronic. The curse of the knob twiddler failed to fall and they engaged through the whole, blissful set. Their eclectic influences add to the atmosphere and are well suited to the music, rather than feeling hemmed in with sticking plaster. It was great to see something so unconventional be so well received. Not everybody should sound like them, but what often counts for alternative music is often highly ordinary and standardised. Like Gang Gang Dance, MIA and others before them Ruby Suns fiddling with the boundaries of what it means to play this kind of crowd, sounding playful and not pretentious. More of the same, please.

Labels: brontosaurus chorus, cardiff, fredrick stanley star, howard gardens, lawrence arabia, saesneg, the ruby suns

Attack + Defend are three siblings who cheer everyone the fuck up. I'm a bit crap at spotting fancy dress intentions so you'll have to excuse my french, but Mark was dressed... Well, painted, appropriately, as a kind of Art Garfunkel character who had ran into a dulux factory. Their keyboards failed them a few times, but there's enough energy in this band it barely mattered. In fact Mark could probably generate music through adrenalin if he tried. I can't pin a style or convenient adjective on Attack + Defend. The songs defy description, creeping slowly into manic electronic craziness. They're the ultimate jam band, moulding songs from abstract ideas and running with them. The end result is a tickled house, well up for the storm to follow.

Legend has it the last time the Threatmantics incited a pit at the art college a fight had broken out about an hour before they went on stage. A chap was dragged away after starting a barney with the bar manager, leaving the crowd behind with so much restless energy that random outbreaks of dancing infected the remaining evening. There were no fight at tonight's album launch, but maybe the Old Rosie was enough fuel a metaller mosh pit in the front. Not bad for a Folk-Grunge outfit. Heddwyn, Ceri and Huw smiled like chesire cats at the atmosphere, which was well deserved for a tight, loud and angry set. I'm told the band are getting louder by the day, with newer songs weighing in on the higher decibel side. These moments are tempered with Heddwyn's Volia and their folkier side, conjuring an efficient loud-quiet set up. And I haven't been so bruised since my regular Friday night mosh at the Bristol Bierkeller when I were a lad. This, ladies and gentlemen, is what music is all about.

Threatmantics' Upbeat Love is out from Monday on Double Six, and we'll be reviewing it here shortly.

Labels: attack + defend, cardiff, howard gardens, saesneg, threatmantics

Swn festival and fledgling club night Disco Nectar are joining forces to bring you a live electronic extravagaza at Tafod Clwb. Headlining is Hague electro legend, Legowelt, whose Acid and Italo influenced sound has been described by Wolfers himself as 'technofunk', 'eurohorror', and 'a hybrid form of slamjack'. His early inspiration was the sound of Detroit Electro and the various types of Acid House played on Dutch radio stations. Wolfers grew up listening to the likes of Model 500, Underground Resistance and Chicago legends such as Mr Fingers, Farley JackMaster Funk and Blake Baxter and was later influenced by Aphex Twin, Drexcyia and Iridal Discs.. Wolfers began composing on the Commodore Amiga before progressing on to a basic second hand analogue kit. He quickly became a familiar face playing on the underground scene, attending the squat parties that spawned the infamous Bunker Records and forming musical allies such as IF, Melvin White and Orgue Electronique. Bunker later released his first vinyl, Pimpshifter, in 2000.


Despite being a man of few words, Wolfers is famously quoted as denouncing most dance music as “about nothing…it’s mindless”. Almost in reaction to some of the bland house and Eurodance emanating from some of the Netherlands’ mainstream clubs during the nineties, Wolfers’ tunes are immersed in mystery, myth and imagination whilst simultaneously laced with a quiet sense of humour. We’re sometimes transported to obscure, far away or legendary lands such as Under the Panda Moon, to the psychedelic Tower of Gypsies and Beyond the Congo.

As for his liveset, expect something in the spirit of a true Chicago box jam combining a myriad of analogue synths and drum machines resulting in more of a raw, lo-fi sound rather than a cleanly operated laptop affair. Admittedly, his passion for analogue machines forms the very cornerstone of his work to date. Plenty of images to pore over here if you share Legowelt’s love of beautiful synthesisers. You will even find a table endearingly pointing out the similarities and differences between the Roland Juno 6, 60 and 106.

The line-up also includes (more digitally driven) livesets from the Cardiff based Orcop delivering downtempo ambient techno, the clean-cut and sophisticatedly layered sounds of Valley Lines as well bass heavy electrofunk from usual Disco Nectar suspect The Hidden Persuader. Cian Ciaran of Acid Casuals will DJ.



Saturday 15th November 10pm-3am
@ Tafod, Despenser Street, Riverside
Entry fee: Free priority entry to SWN wristband holders
£7 walk-up price

Labels: cardiff, Disco Necar, electronic, Legowelt. Orcop, swn, Tafod, The Hidden Persuader, Valley Lines

God Is In The TV presents a pre SWN showdown:

POPULAR WORKSHOP

Three young turks from London Popular Workshop recently released their
Steve Albini(Nirvana, Pixies, P J Harvey) produced debut album "WE'RE
ALIVE AND WE'RE NOT ALONE" through This Is Fake DIY on October the
6th. Garnering some impressive words from members of the press(below),
who have compared them to the likes of Bloc Party, The Pixies, Frank
Turner and The Strokes.The band bring their angular art disco chaos to
Cardiff to a special pre SWN party show at Cardiff's Buffalo bar.

NME: "Three-pronged indie-pop masterminds. Sounds like Graham Coxon
armed with fresh socks and power-tools"

Artrocker Magazine: "The musical equivalent of falling off a cliff,
they are sharp, abrasive and uncomfortable; but by fuck have they got
some magnificent songs – both fractured and beautiful."


THE FRENCH QUARTER

Tillcountry's The French Quarter, self released 7 track EP this September.
Recording with Andy Miller (Mogwai, Delgados)they produce a brooding
progressive sound that takes in elements of Scottish band's like
Mogwai and Arab Strap, and dark new wave architects like Clinic,
Interpol and the National. Stopping off to peform in Cardiff as part
of their seven date November tour of Wales and England.Bands they have
played with recently include, The Twilight Sad, Glissando, Vessels...

"Haunting like no band around, 5/5" John Earls, Planet Sound, Teletext
'A wonderfully hopeful uplifting band' - The Organ Magazine


HECK

Opening the show are delectable Cardiff noise punkers Heck, featuring
ex members of Sammo Hung, Mo-ho-bish-opi and Shooting At Unarmed Men.

"The impressive skewed pop of Heck was on as part of Bethan Elfyn's
Radio 1 Introducing and they're a serious propostion for Welsh indie.
Although defiantly lo-fi, their sound was chunky and satisfying in
Clwb Ifor Bach's upstairs room. Frontwoman Jemma Roper stalked the
stage, and her much taller bandmates faded into the background." BBC
Wales Review

11/11/08 @ Buffalo Bar, Cardiff
11 Windsor Place [off Queen St]

Doors: 7.30pm
Price £5

http://www.godisinthetvzine.co.uk
The Independent music and culture webzine.

Labels: Bufallo Bar, cardiff, Heck, Popular Workshop, The French Quarter

CLWB IFOR BACH PRESENTS: THE WEEK THAT WAS plus Spencer McGarry Season

Peter Brewis is at it again. Not content with orchestrating the intelligent pop structures of his first outing with Field Music and then School Of
Language - he now opens his door of sonic colours with a collective of Sunderland's most creative and forward thinking musicians. Creating XTC's Drums And Wires-era drum sounds with a nod to mid-80's Talk Talk
production, this experiment is a musical puzzle referencing many 80s US 'progressive pop', a genre not given enough exposure in today's musical climate.

”Brewis constructs songs with architectural scale and precision – in its prim, nostalgic, English way. It’s pretty dazzling.” – Uncut ****

”Forward-thinking pop for the modern age from Field Music’s big brother, Peter Brewis” – Album Of The Month, Mojo ****

”..the agitated art-pop of XTC as a starting point, then affords it the sort of melodramatic production once favoured by Kate Bush” – The Times ****

Support comes from Spencer McGarry Season. You may know him from such great records as Episode One or such bands as The Soft Hearted Scientists, JT Mouse and not forgetting his alter ego in the exciting world of Celtic Wrestling of course!

Thursday 30th October 2008, Clwb Ifor Bach, Womanby Street, Cardiff
£6 in advance, £7 on the door, 8pm, 18+

Tickets are available through Spillers Records (02920 224905/www.spillersrecords.co.uk), www.seetickets.com and Clwb Ifor Bach's box office (02920 232199) and are £6 in advance and £7 on the door

Labels: cardiff, clwb ifor bach, Spencer McGarry Season, The Week That Was

If last night proved anything, the Cardiff indie scene is in rude health. Fredrick Stanley Star are hardly known outside of South Walian circles, and listeners to Radio 1's Welsh programme. Yet last night was a sell out - mostly thanks to the excellent word of mouth that FSS generate. It helps that bands support each other here, and much of the audience was made up of other misfits who spend their free time making wonderful music. In fact, the night itself was put on by Attack and Defend's DIY label Shape, who all looked a bit amazed and bedazzled as the night unravelled.

Among the support for 'Stanley Star tonight was the extraordinary Little Bear Wails. My learned friend told me this was only their third show. They look like they have been doing this for years and years, and were having tremendous fun on stage. If there's a concept here, its to get as drunk as possible while sounding like a pirate. This is the noise pissed and frustrated sailors would have made in the 19th century, with electric guitar, after returning from a four month long voyage. I don't think I've ever seen stomping used as a major form of percussion as part of a band's repertoire either. Awesome.

Fredrick Stanley Star, then. The first time I saw this band I was bowled over and surprised by their unity and passion, combined with their shambolic charm. This was still on show tonight. As Shape looked totally surprised by the turnout, FSS looked like the adulation and support from the crowd was beyond anything they had expected for the evening. They managed to hold their composure while the audience cheered for them, with the odd giggle of acknowledgement. FSS work in slow build ups and pace changes, building harmonies upon harmonies until they break under their own weight and the music needs to go somewhere else.

The whole time I'm wondering where this kind of music comes from. Out of my window at home I can see Plasnewydd terraces, not rolling hills and hillbillies. FSS are an escape from urbanism, from hard angles, concrete guitars and concentrated noise. You can literally close your eyes and let them carry you away into their universe, although if you did that you'd miss quite a show. If there are any negatives from the night, and this is a minor niggle, its that FSS would really benefit from a quieter atmosphere. But they still put on an amazing and powerful show even with the background fuzz. The album - Heaviside Layer - is out on Monday from Spillers and Diverse.

PS: Yes, sorry, Broken Leaf also played last night. Sadly the poor reviewer only arrived as Broken Leaf was finishing, although what I heard was quite suttle and splendid, and very much tied in with the rest of the evening.

Labels: broken leaf, cardiff, clwb ifor bach, fredrick stanley star, fss, saesneg, shape

LIVE NATION PRESENTS...

IDA MARIA

One of the big stories of the summer has been the emergence of Ida Maria as a starlet ready to take on the charts and British hearts. The Point are pleased to announce a headline show for the rising star on 12th November.

From Nesna in Norway, Ida Maria first made her name in her motherland where a couple of years back she won awards, had hit singles, was a national star, the whole shebang. This summer though, she's come over here and taken our charts and our music critics by storm.

Her single, I like You So Much Better When You're Naked, went top 20 and led to support slots with Lightspeed Champion, The Young Knives and Guillemots as well as appearances at most festivals in the UK this summer. Her appearances ensured her reputation as an electrifying, unpredictable performer.

Her debut album, Fortress Round My Heart, stole the hearts of everyone from the NME (“a rare, edgy talent”) to The Sunday Times (“A down-in-one treat”). With comparisons to PJ Harvey, Iggy Pop, Chrissy Hynde, The Ramones and even Dita Von Teese, this is a performer worth seeing.

Wednesday 12th November 2008, The Point, Mount Stuart Square, Cardiff Bay
£8adv/£10 on the door 7:30pm, 14+

Tickets are available through Spillers Records (02920 224905/www.spillersrecords.co.uk), Ticketline (02920 230130) and The Point (02920 460873/www.thepointcardiffbay.com) and are £8 in advance and £10 on the door.

Labels: cardiff, ida maria, The Point

On paper this probably wasn't the best context for this band. Monday was the opening of freshers week and, being a catch up for most of the regulars in Tommy's Bar, seeing the band probably wasn't the main reason people were there, and word of a rather cheap and satisfyingly destructive ale was also doing the rounds.

So it was like a creeping ninja that Frederick Stanley Star quietly smashed their way into the crowd, stunning the audience and distracting from the background chatter. Their music - mid-West spiritual Americana come-South Glamorgan - was enough to the turn heads of some of the more cynical visitors that evening. The band eased into their songs slowly but powerfully, reaching vocal crescendos which pulled you into the melodies and the lush instrumentation. FSS remind you of jam bands like Broken Social Scene, with the charm of looking shambolic but actually being very talented and well organised. Musically they are nearer Fleet Foxes and others from the more folky-indie end of the spectrum, and there is little in Britain to compare them to at all. This was always something more trumpted by Pitchfork than the NME - although that never stopped me spending my early 20s listening to I see a Darkness until every last tear was kicked out of it.

FSS can create something as powerful as that - extending a warm rainbow, gospel hug to the room, despite the challenging atmosphere of the evening.

Their debut album launch, with support from Little Bears Wail and Broken Leaf, takes place at Clwb on Friday October 17. £5 on doors.

Labels: cardiff, fredrick stanley star, howard gardens, saesneg, the family

UBERALLES PRESENTS...

BORN RUFFIANS

When one of your tunes is hand-picked by one of the hugest mobile phone companies to feature on their advert, you know you're on to a winner. More than just the obvious benefits, it's also a sure-fire sign that your tune is, what Jerry Lee Lewis used to call, 'Kill-uh'.

Born Ruffians, just one single, a couple of EPs and an album into their career have received that lucrative stamp of approval with their single, Hummingbird, currently selling phones by the bucketload. And, chances are, they'll follow the other bands who've been dealt that same hand and will be selling out venues and notching up mega-sales any time soon. Oh, and an appearance in the recent Channel 4 teen drama, Skins, won't have done them any harm either.

From Midland, Ontario in Canada they come, numbering just three. And with a refreshing, schizophrenic take on indie rock they are armed. In fact, so refreshing is their outlook that they've been signed to the legendary electronic label, Warp Records. The NME love them, Time Out labelled them “a must see” and even The Guardian quite liked them. Drowned In Sound webzine summed them up best though, labelling their sound “equal parts zappy pop smarts and bracing complexity”.

Thursday 18th September 2008
Clwb Ifor Bach, Womanby Street, Cardiff
£6 in advance, 7:30pm

Tickets are available through Spillers Records (02920 224905/www.spillersrecords.co.uk), www.seetickets.com and Clwb Ifor Bach's box office (02920 232199) and are £6 in advance

Labels: born ruffians, canada, cardiff, clwb ifor bach