It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Assuming you like running at pace around various Cardiff venues, that is, and if you don’t you’re in the wrong place.  There’s a massive amount of ace new music to explore – trust me, I’ve spent the last fortnight on Myspace seeking it out – so spreadsheets at the ready, and off we go…

Thursday packs a punishing amount into six hours and seven venues.  Christen the festival in familiar style with Threatmantics (Clwb), currently on career-best form – loud, delirious folk-rock with cracking tunes.    Or try Dad Rocks (Y Fuwch Goch), belying an awful name with intricate plucking, mournful trumpet and lyrical quirkiness.  Kutosis kick off a fine evening with the Barely Regal label, bringing whipsmart indie punk tautness to Dempseys; dip in there then back to Clwb for Sweet Baboo’s country-rock reboot of his endlessly charming songbook before taking in Sun Drums (Model Inn), alternately blissed-out and uneasy with spooked vocal hiccups woven into pitter-patter electronica.  Your appetite for some mid-evening beats duly whetted, Chad Valley’s beautifully melancholic Balearic euphoria – think Tough Alliance, Dolorean etc – should be a must, and Nedry’s marriage of Bjork/Fever Ray ethereal gloom to dubstep wobble in CAI wil stop you in your tracks.  An alternate route can be found via Spectrals’ bus station doo-wop fuzz  (Clwb) or Right Hand Left Hand’s ever-brilliant math-rock genius (Dempseys), followed by either the redoubtable, insidiously eerie pop of Clinic (Clwb) or Attack + Defend’s one-off live return (Model).  Three choices, all excellent, and it’s only Thursday evening.  Whichever you choose, haste ye then to Lesson No. 1’s showcase at the Model in time for Nordic tundra-metal titans Arabrot; from there, White Ring’s foggy, bad-acid slo-mo electronica (Undertone), Talons’ fret-tappy post-rock epics (Dempseys) and Samoans’ widescreen, Aereogramme-recalling math-prog (Fuwch) would all be fine options before taking in the twisting, soul-baring tension/release and Shellacian tautness of Bellini (Model).  That seems an ideal point to close the first day.  You’ll need your rest, after all.

Don’t know how to tell you this, but Thursday’s just an icebreaker.  Friday stretches the legs and the stamina still further, typified by the corking one-two across the bows that is Drains‘ cheeky, grungey hood-wearing punk (Chapter) and the magnificent Jesus Lizard creep and flex of the splendid Brandyman (Clwb).  A gentler introduction lies with Lucky Delucci (Undertone), reborn as gently anthemic folk-rockers.  Standard Fare‘s last Cardiff appearance was blighted by braying goons sharing the venue; their smart, vulnerable and hugely catchy indie-pop deserves better and will be one of the day’s treats.  Skip across town to Chapter for more big-hearted joy from Steve Baboo and Rob Voluntary Butler Scheme’s supergroup Wickes, perhaps; followed by a sly outside bet in the form of Stricken City (Undertone), all strident Polly Harvey/Zola Jesus vocals and luminous reverb-soaked, darkly inviting odd-pop.  Clwb, meanwhile, sees the re-energised Truckers Of Husk showcase new additions to their supremely catchy math-pop catalogue, and from there half an hour of Bastions‘ furious North Walian hardcore should naturally follow.  Plenty of top-drawer electronica once again today – Dam Mantle‘s glitchy, stuttering breaks and burbling dubstep-not-dubstep synths and the sublime Warp Records IDM classicism of Quinoline Yellow go back-to-back at CAI, while the skeletal Nintendo beats and Zomby-esque bleeps of Becoming Real are a hot tip for excellent leery, bassy fun at Buffalo.  Hang on there for Visions Of Trees, perhaps, whose horrid name hides an unexpectedly lovely, ghostly North Africa-goes-R n’ B take on Telepathe’s crystalline darkness.  Or take in a rare visit from legendary Dutch anarchist post-punks The Ex (Clwb), restless experimental visionaries as relevant now as ever.  Lesson No.1 strike again, there.   The confident, gleaming psych-pop classicism of The Keys will be a revitalising pop rush for tired ears and legs, so stop in at Y Fuwch Goch for that before deciding between Raffertie‘s queasy, rollercoaster dubstep/rave hybrid (Buffalo) or the Ras Kwame-helmed late-nighter at Clwb where grime don P Money holds court.  Or both.  No work tomorrow, y’know?

Saturday.  Plenty of ways to start day 3 in relaxed fashion, with Ballad of Britain taking a Welsh slant on the UK’s folk music history in the company of Trembling Bells and Richard James.  That’s in Chapter, with DJs and Scrabble in Dempseys; hardier souls will dive straight back in to the live tackle.  Undertone hosts H. Hawkline, now offering chewy psych-folk songwriting with krautrock leanings, and the lo-fi Welsh language glam-pop of Mr Huw.  Throats‘ overdriven math-metal lunacy is the pick of an earthier line-up at Clwb.  One of the year’s must-see bands play twice today; Y Niwl‘s expertly turned out surf twang will have you twisting in the aisles at both CAI and the Model.  See ‘em twice, pausing inbetween to take in the a nice counterpoint of Still Corners (Buffalo), whose glowing girl group balladry recalls trashy death-disc sadness and Broadcast’s exquisite poise.  Nice.   Tough choices abound come the evening, and weariness may play a part.  The Legendary Meic Stevens (TM), the increasingly ace stirring folk of Evening Chorus, the sweet acoustic sampledelia of Huw M and The Gentle Good‘s reliably pretty Welsh folk tales all feature on a great  bill at Chapter, where the day’s standouts Trembling Bells later bring awesome, soaring Incredible String Band folk-rock.  Do. Not. Miss.  Cate Le Bon clashes directly with them, which is truly gutting as her bucolic, earthy psych is ever a treat.  She’s on in Buffalo, and should you be in town you can also catch Let’s Wrestle and their endearing, shambolic lo-fi heartbreak pop, or the return of elusive Peel faves Melys (Clwb).  Spector-worthy pop thrills abound in Clwb, too, with the way-underrated wistful C86 joys of The School and the unnervingly young Magic Kids‘ Sesame Street Beach Boys vibe.  Clutch them to your weary bosom, before racing off to the Model to catch some of Beach Fossils‘ insidiously catchy, chiming indie pop, then to Dempseys where Veronica Falls offer expertly poised girl-group angst and smart male/female harmonies.  James Blackshaw should not be missed, should you be able to get into the MMH; his staggering 12-string guitar mantras would ideally be showcased at Chapter, but that’s my tough luck.  Whether you’ve chosen some of the above, or Perfume Genius‘ much-vaunted exploration of crushingly bittersweet Sufjan Stevens balladry, shoegazey FX and Antony Hegarty’s glassy vulnerability, do whatever is necessary to cram into the Model Inn for Islet‘s closing set.  Surely hopelessly oversubscribed, their feverish, joyous polyrhythmic attack and crowd-bothering interaction will echo the crazed scenes of last year’s Strange News and Right Hand Left Hand shows.  Those forking out the extra dollar can move on to catch the once-in-a-lifetime realignment of Swans at the MMH; the rest will drag their sorry frames to Clwb, or to the Silent Disco, and reconvene at Dim Swn (Gwdihw) on Sunday to drink away the pain to the strains of Gruff Rhys and Pete Fowler’s soothing DJ sets.  I’ll be there.  I might need a hug.

Flagrant self-interest time yet again here at Joy Mansions.  Spencer McGarry Season have, in this humble illiterate’s opinion, released one of the finest and most ambitious pop albums of the year in Episode 2, and this week they’ll once again run through the album along with 2009′s Episode 1 in a brace of warm-up gigs for next weekend’s Green Man festival.

The taut, intelligent three-piece guitar pop of Episode 1 (think Kinks, Talking Heads, Field Music) gets its first outing in over a year tomorrow (Thursday 12th) with support from Sweet Baboo and Barefoot Dance Of The Sea.  The former will be fronting a guitar-bass-drums line-up for the first time in a good while and airing songs from upcoming third album I’m A Dancer/Songs About Sleepin, out next month on Shape.  The latter will have an EP on Businessman later this year, and will add their voices to the expanded Spencer McGarry Season for Friday’s gig.

An early curfew will necessitate a slightly curtailed version of Episode 2 on Friday, but that’ll still be nearly a full hour of dizzying orchestral arrangements and typically intricate, dextrous wordplay.  Not to mention songs worthy of frequent comparisons with Wilson, McCartney or Sufjan Stevens and an infectious, freewheeling sense of enjoyment.  Composer and singer-songwriter Stephen Wheel supports at the second show.

£5.00 entry for either gig on the door, or a combination ticket for £7.00 allowing entry to both nights.  Bargain.

Spencer McGarry Season – Great Enemies

“Great melody filled out with a pop baroque orchestration reminiscent of a 1950s Disney film” – Kruger Magazine

“Awash with deft pocket-symphony touches, brassy asides and slivers of strings… tunes that keep changing pace and refuse to go where you want” – Paul Lester, the Guardian

SPENCER McGARRY SEASON: Episode 1

SWEET BABOO

BAREFOOT DANCE OF THE SEA

+ Bethan Elfyn / Businessman Records DJs

Buffalo Bar, Cardiff

7.30pm Thursday 12th August

£5.00

———————————————————————————————-

SPENCER McGARRY SEASON: Episode 2

STEPHEN WHEEL

Buffalo Bar, Windsor Place, Cardiff

7.30pm Friday 12th August

£5.00

Entry to both nights for £7.00 from http://www.wegottickets.com/event/87458

Bethan Elfyn presents a Cherryade Records night:

THE LOVELY EGGS
HOTPANTS ROMANCE
& JOY OF SEX

+ Joy Collective DJs

Thursday 15th July
8pm-4am
£5 entry / £4 NUS

THE LOVELY EGGS are David and Holly. One likes books and historical things, the other likes cine light shows and fixing things that are broken.

Their music is mainly influenced by the ecstasy of the modern mind and all its trappings, The Velvet Underground, Daniel Johnston, Sonic Youth, Jonathan Richman, The Make-Up, Moldy Peaches and Bikini Kill.

HOTPANTS ROMANCE are three girls in hotpants playing three chord songs for fans of The Ramones, The Headcoatees, The Slits and Huggy Bear.

“Hotpants Romance are easily my perfect band this year or any other” – Everett True.

The Lovely Eggs MySpace
Hotpants Romance MySpace

CATS & CATS & CATS plus
THE SIEGFRIED SASSOON  /  OK
& more tba

Thursday 20th May
8pm-3am
£5 entry / £4 NUS

CATS & CATS & CATS – “The Boy With The Beak is where Cats demonstrate what truly sets them apart; a track that fizzes with energy whilst still managing to provide moments of aching beauty.” 5/5 God is in the TV zine

“Violin and trumpet echo over atmospheric and mathy guitars, accompanied by a shaky yet confident voice as the band pounds and crescendos all over the shop.” The 405

THE SIEGFRIED SASSOON  are Surrey band. Depending on who you ask we are Art/Post/Pop/Prog/Noise/Jazz/Math/8-Bit/Hardcore/Indie/Rock

We are just finishing recording a few new songs. Once they’re done we suppose we’d better play some bloody gigs.

TSS x

One of the very few bands doing something that sounds different…falling somewhere in between Fugazi, The Flaming Lips and Dartz!
-The Music Magazine

The Siegfried Sassoon sound is a sophisticated, jazz-pop hybrid; stunning AT-AT drum patterns intertwined with melodic and sporadic vocals. Their song-writing style is of the maximum number of hooks per square inch variety.
-Small Town America Records

Cats & Cats & Cats MySpace
Siegfried Sassoon MySpace
Bethan Elfyn & Friends MySpace

YES.  Cardiff welcomes a proper bloody indie hero for the first time, and not without some prior effort from your estimable hosts at Lesson No. 1.  Politicised socially-aware rabble rouser, hardline vegan, twice-over punk hero (a three-album stint leading cult mod/punk heroes Chisel preceded the Pharmacists) and Anglophile adopter of hybrid musical styles (punk, folk, ska…), Leo’s fit a fair bit into a career spanning nearly twenty years.  Having recorded for an enviable series of fine labels – Gern Blandsten, Lookout!, Touch & Go – the Pharmacists released sixth full-length The Brutalist Bricks on Matador in March, and a fine return to peak form it is – perhaps his best since 2003′s bloody brilliant Hearts Of Oak.  In a place the size of Buffalo, with a whip-smart band featuring ex-Nation of Ulysses/Make-Up man James Canty on guitar, this is not to be missed.

There’s superbly-chosen support, too.  Bedford Falls basically petitioned to play this gig, and their heart-on-sleeve punk (think early Lemonheads, Buffalo Tom, Hüsker Dü) should be an excellent foil for the passion and tunes of Ted Leo.  Spencer McGarry Season, meanwhile, shared much of Leo’s powerpop dynamism on debut album Episode 1, and while the current set offers a very different approach the songwriting quality is undiminished if not stronger.  Seriously, n0t to be missed.

Lesson No.1/Loose/Bethan Elfyn presents

TED LEO AND THE PHARMACISTS
www.myspace.com/tedleo

SPENCER MCGARRY SEASON
www.myspace.com/spencermcgarry

BEDFORD FALLS
www.myspace.com/bedfordfalls

7.30pm

£7 adv/£8 on the door

TICKETS
http://www.wegottickets.com/event/72206

(Photos by the great Simon Ayre)

So I’ve been reading the Luke Haines book a lot recently. His trawl through the Britpop era is pretty devastating, and after a while Haines’s sneer drills its way into your brain to merge with your own thoughts. Short sentences. Lots of distain. Anyway, Luke Haines would hate A Scholar And A Physician to the point of bloodpuke. Two floppy-haired men, possibly brothers, who play keyboard and guitar cheekiness and flounce about like Kevin The Teenager, or maybe stray members of Earl Brutus posing as kids’ TV presenters. Their opening instrumental is awkwardly epic, sort of autistic hands in the air stuff, but the rest of the set leans heavily on jokey vocals and not a little zaniness. Just far enough from the ground walked by people like cancerous shit Gideon Conn (they actually recall forgotten ’90s funsters Wubble U, weirdly), ASAAP are strangely lovable damn them, like a Valentine card drawn in felt tip.

Mat Riviere comes from Norwich, and looks it. This year’s winner of World’s Worst Jumper kneels on the floor behind a small bank of keys and computer trickery and brings… it… down. Organ notes are let out one by one, slowly, at length. Some mumbled vocals suddenly flare into random screams and a drumstick smashed against a chair. It’s like some primitive therapy session, or a nerd exorcism, and oddly compelling. Tunes are obviously a little thin on the ground but Mat Riviere’s spirit is cock on, twisted and uncomfortably so.

One lesson from tonight might be: if you have a brain, please use it. Andy Regan, the Pagan Wanderer Lu, has two fully working hemispheres and his songs bristle with self-reflexive intelligence, tunes About Stuff that double up with doubt and caustic wariness. Catchy buggers too. Ostensibly a push for new LP ‘European Monsoon’, tonight’s set varies little from previous appearances, which means it’s another dose of guitar and Lego block backing, slightly aloof and packing a delicate punch. Good stuff.

One more weirdo then. Another one-man-guitar-and-electronic-backing, Stairs To Korea‘s set passes in an agreeably slinky manner, balmy, horizontal songs that bring to mind the summery pop breeze that someone like Jens Lekman is capable of. Very little sticks in the memory, bar the fact that Will Vaughan looks like a cartoon you simultaneously want to hug and tickle, but his presence seals a heartening evening. Four acts, all at different tangents to each other, yet all connected by some crooked musical thread of awkwardness. Long may Brainlove collect these square peg weirdos.

Bethan Elfyn presents a BRAINLOVE RECORDS SHOWCASE

STAIRS TO KOREA
PAGAN WANDERER LU (new album playback)
MAT RIVIERE
A SCHOLAR AND A PHYSICIAN
followed by Bethan vs Guto SFA DJ til 3am!

Thursday 29th April
8pm-3am
£4 entry / £3 NUS

BRAINLOVE RECORDS is an independent record label aiming to unearth and present exciting new music, supporting musicians who exhibit creativity, spirit, intelligence and imagination regardless of genre, commercial potential or technical ability. As such, Brainlove is very much a label with the artistic rather than commercial value at its core.

The label has run parties and live music events with ICELAND AIRWAVES FESTIVAL, WHITE HEAT, CLUB NME, WOOLFIRE FESTIVAL and it also runs Brainlove Club and an annual Brainlove Festival in London.

Current acts on the label include NAPOLEON IIIrd, KEYBOARD CHOIR, MATT RIVIERE, STAIRS TO KOREA and Cardiff wonky electronic lofi favourite PAGAN WANDERER LU. Brainlove has also been responsible for several one-off singles and compilations featuring acts such as CATS IN PARIS, RETRO SPANKEES, BEARSUIT and MISTY’S BIG ADVENTURE.

Brainlove Records website
Stairs to Korea MySpace
Pagan Wanderer Lu MySpace
Mat Riviere MySpace
A Scholar & a Physician MySpace

Record Store Day returns for 2010, casting deserved light on the oft-troubled labours of love which act as inspiration, tastemaker and hub of activity for local scenes the world over.  Some heavyweight names lend their two penn’orth this year, with notable vinyl-only RSD special releases including a Thermals/Cribs split single and the first new Blur material in seven years.

Events take place across Wales, from Diverse in Newport to Cob in Bangor (details below), with our own Spillers hosting a full and varied day of live performances (from The Automatic, Christopher Rees and Cosmo) and in-store DJ sets which will hopefully see the place as bustling as it was for the 2009 event.   There’ll be special edition Spillers RSD 2010 t-shirts to purchase, and prize giveaways too – get along there and give them the support we all know they deserve.

Make a night of it by trundling drunkenly along to Clwb later on.  The new-look, five-piece Threatmantics headline, with Wrexham post-punkers Gallops! and the frankly preposterously named Vvolves in support.  Entry is £6, but those wearing Spillers tees will apparently get in cheaper.  Bargain.

THREATMANTICS

GALLOPS!

VVOLVES

+ DJ MEIC P

Clwb Ifor Bach, Womanby Street, Cardiff

Saturday 17.04.10

8pm £6/less with Spillers T-shirt

RECORD STORE DAY 2010 – WALES

CARDIFF Spillers Records:  The Automatic (live), Christopher Rees (live), Cosmo (live), Bullet For My Valentine (DJ), Bethan Elfyn (DJ), DJ Rascal (DJ), Gary Twisted (DJ), Ben (DJ), Sam (DJ)

NEWPORT Diverse Vinyl:  Jimi Alexander (live), Stephen Light (live), Goldie Lookin Chain (DJ)

BANGOR Cob Records: Y Niwl (live), Wirlygigs (live)

CARDIFF Catapult:  Netsky (DJ)

ABERYSTWYTH Andy’s:  Goody bag giveaways

CARMARTHEN Tangled Parrot:  Alex Dingley (live), Y Cyfoes (live), The Conductors (live), Dapper Cadavers (live)

Lt. Meat is an excellent collection of atoms, a sardonic bald man who looks like a sexy version of the alien from Ridley Scott’s film, and who plays thrashy waves of surf guitar over preprogrammed laptop tranches of bloops, Garageband drums and weird speech samples. It’s brilliantly amateurish stuff, full of odd noise collisions and technical hitches, the Meat man (okay, his name’s Dave) covering all gaps with rambling, surreal humour and bare-faced charm. You could make a pretty watertight case, as a clip from an old sci-fi film leads into another twanging detonation, that this is all a little Man… Or Astroman-covers-by-way-of-Guitar Hero but you’d be a) a git and b) denying the awesome power of surf so don’t even talk to me.

More bonus points about tonight: great live art from Gareth John Day, and his drawing that slowly evolves into a lady with sharks in her hair. Mustard Allegro have a song about sharks too – a perky little number that finds time amongst its condensed guitar lines for “Great! White!” to be hollered at the ceiling. This Bristol band only do perky little numbers: cheeky, mostly instrumental surf vignettes that bounce and jerk perfectly and typically last under a minute, ending abruptly with a bashful smile. There’s something nicely off centre here: Mustard Allegro aren’t slavish copyists, more playful fans running with singular ideas, making the whole set into something akin to being licked by an excitable puppy. Well worth getting, er, wet for.