Show #2567 - Saturday 11th November 2023
New Welsh Music unleashed on the airwaves...
Adam Walton, BBC Radio Wales, Sat 11th Nov 2023: Joy Formidable live / Aleighcia Scott interview / Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard One Track Find / Reem Muhammed Chooses… Noah Bouchard & Hemes
Listen again via BBC Sounds here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001sckf
In a rush? Aim for:
0'28'12: Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard's 'One Track Find'
1'25'20: Aleighcia Scott 'Windrush Baby' interview
1'57'40: The Joy Formidable live from Clapham Grand 2023
Welcome to the first of my Substack posts sharing details about my weekly new music show on BBC Radio Wales, with the obvious intention of trying to nudge you towards listening to it. There’s a lot of great music in there, I promise.
This week’s show is a storm of excellence, and one of the finest radio shows it has been my pleasure to broadcast. Please give it a listen / subscribe / share via the link above.
With regards the relative quality of the show, I’m not exaggerating… no way would I ever do that, not if the lives of all of my loved ones, my guitars, my pets, my hidden cache of Crunchies and Fruit Pastilles, depended on it.
Often I feel that the excellence of The Joy Formidable is rather overlooked in their home country. Perhaps because they had the temerity to take their music beyond our borders? Of course I’m terribly biased and a huge fan, as I detailed at length here, but I’m only a fan because of their excellence.
The Joy Formidable’s albums stand as the best testament and proof to their rare alchemic sonic superpowers, but if you want some evidence as to why they’ve been one of the key mid-sized venue live draws in the UK, The States and Europe over the last decade and a half, there’s a ridiculous surfeit of ace in the live set I broadcast in this show. In fact, it’s only half of the set they performed at Clapham Grand in London, on the 28th September 2023. The other half of the set, just as jaw-dropping, can be listened to here as part of Huw Stephens’ Monday evening show on BBC Radio Wales.
Elsewhere Aleighcia Scott comes in to talk about many of the different themes and perspectives of her outstanding debut album ‘Windrush Baby’. Again, I’m not exaggerating. Aleighcia and her collaborator - the legendary Rory Stone Love - have crafted an album that celebrates so many different facets of Jamaican music: reggae, ska, dancehall, dub… and the super fertile intersection between Jamaican and UK music (most obviously, on this album, in the form of lovers rock).
Aleighcia talks about her family ties to Jamaica; her proud Welsh identity; and the multiple lyrical / stylistic inspirations on the album: love, protest, the environment, femininity.
She’s a fascinating guest. I hope the interview introduces her truly great album to a wider audience. Because I have a very high opinion of the influence of this show, and of you - too!!
My One Track Find this week goes to Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard. The first phase of this band was glam-slammed, 70’s flavoured and strutted through a debut album that moved feet and heads… it was a flare of bubble-written, glittery riffs and platform-heeled stomping fun (sorry… trip down memory lane, there.) Tom Rees - songwriter and one-man Sun Studios for so many other brilliant Welsh bands - has brought a darker, more angular flavour to the newest Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard single, ‘Therapy’, without sacrificing the hooks. It’s a convincing and tantalising return. Where will they go next? No idea. But I’m very very keen and excited to find out,
We have a new voice on the show! Reem Muhammed has been the apprentice at BBC Radio Wales in recent months, working on a range of our shows. She ended up in Wrexham last month, detailed to help out on the Evening Show, and her enthusiasm, love for music, and engagement with all of the fascinating things that are happening in - particularly - Cardiff and Newport right now, have earned her a well deserved, fortnightly slot on the programme. Her first choice for us is an excellent collaboration between Noah Bouchard and Hemes, seamlessly celebrating a soulful gradient between contemporary hip hop and future pop.
And - of course - there’s a selection of the absolute best music that has landed either in my inbox, or on the BBC Introducing Uploader, over the last week.
Fall under the spell of Ceitidh Mac’s new EP; shake a boggled head at the hectic prog breakdown that is Ichigo Evil; and have the hairs in your ears flattened by ICANTDIE’s hardcore shockwave.
See you next week?
Bendigedig.
SHOW STATS
1371 diff songs/ 1778 Total. 684 Artists in 44 shows since 1st, Jan '23 (~Songs per:40, Unique artists per:16) Welsh:97% Cymraeg:13% (feat. lyrics in Welsh); Source: Uploader:28%, Direct:17%, Bought:14%, Plugger:30%, Commission:9%
THIS WEEK’S PLAYLIST
Chroma - 'Look At Me'
Pontypridd
http://chroma.band
Yxngxr1 - 'Front Porch'
Penarth
http://instagram.com/yxngxr1
Afro Cluster - 'On The Up'
Cardiff
Until The Ribbon Breaks - 'Nature Mother ft. Emoni Wilkins'
Penarth
http://untiltheribbonbreaks.com/
Gruff Rhys - 'Silver Lining Lead Balloons'
Bethesda / Cardiff
http://gruffrhys.com
Ichigo Evil - 'Nee Naw'
Barry Island
http://instagram.com/ichigo.evil
ONE TRACK FIND #020
Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard - 'Therapy'
Cardiff
http://facebook.com/buzzardbuzzardbuzzard/
Ceitidh Mac - 'Jump In'
Pembrokeshire
http://ceitidhmac.com
Jon Langford & The Men of Gwent - 'Commercial Street'
Newport
http://langford.bandcamp.com
Edwin R. Stevens - 'Only Child'
Llanfairfechan
http://edwinrstevens.com
Bau Cat - 'Make It Right'
Denbigh
http://facebook.com/profile.php?id=100079657726785
AhGeeBe - 'Tynnu Gwaed'
Creigiau
Peach - 'Care'
Bristol / Llantwit Major
Johanna Warren - 'Black Moss'
Castell-paen, Powys
Antonymes - 'Remember Me'
Hawarden
http://antonymes.bandcamp.com
Gallops - 'Youth Medium'
Wrexham
http://gallops.bandcamp.com
Kim Hon - 'Baseball'
Dyffryn Nantlle
http://facebook.com/kimhon420
Fabian Mazur - 'Lost & Found ft. Sage Todz'
Penygroes collaborator
Macy - 'New Light'
Abertillery
http://linktr.ee/MacyMusic
ALEIGHCIA SCOTT INTERVIEW
Aleighcia Scott - 'First Love'
Cardiff
http://aleighciascott.com/
Aleighcia Scott - 'Good Vibe'
Cardiff
Aleighcia Scott - 'Hey World'
Cardiff
THE JOY FORMIDABLE LIVE AT CLAPHAM GRAND 2023
The Joy Formidable - 'Cradle (live)'
Mold
http://thejoyformidable.com
The Joy Formidable - 'I Don't Want To See You Live This - acoustic (live)'
The Joy Formidable - 'Share My Heat (live)'
The Joy Formidable - 'Little Blimp (live)'
The Joy Formidable - 'Twrch Leuad (live)'
The Joy Formidable - 'Wolf's Law ft. The Wolf Orchestra (live)'
The Joy Formidable - 'Left Too Soon ft. The Wolf Orchestra (live)'
The Joy Formidable - 'Y Garreg Ateb (live)'
Icantdie - 'Follower'
Bridgend
http://facebook.com/icantdieband
REEM MUHAMMED - REEM CHOOSES #001
Noah Bouchard - 'Came Close ft. Hemes'
Cardiff
http://facebook.com/noahbouchardmusic
pottery club - 'Rain'
Caerphilly
SZWÉ - 'The End'
Cwmbran / Carmarthen
Comprehensive Session / Interview List: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1w-rIPj0l0QhUcbEm08PUPLUWh-416mwlteG_8wpNWtQ/edit?usp=sharing
Subscribe to my Substack:
Diolch o galon,
Adam Walton
PLEASE NOTE: This isn’t an official BBC / BBC Wales post. All words / opinions expressed here are my own.