Show #2588: Saturday 6th April 2024 - Until the Ribbon Breaks / The Alarm (Mike Peters) / Fflaps
Show #2588: Saturday 6th April 2024 - Until the Ribbon Breaks / The Alarm (Mike Peters) / Fflaps
Adam Walton, BBC Radio Wales, 6th April 2024: The Long Song - Until the Ribbon Breaks 'Strange Times' / Behind The Track - The Alarm 'Rain in the Summertime' / Hard Drive Deep Dive - fflaps + more
Listen again via BBC Sounds here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001y0ds
PLEASE NOTE: This isn’t an official BBC / BBC Wales post. All words / opinions expressed here are my own.
It's difficult to surmise Pete Lawrie Winfield's musical career so far because he's operated betwixt and between genres and places, under different artist names, since the early 2000's. At least I think he has. There was a band round about that time called The Lawries who had something special about them. I think Pete might have been involved, but thought and fact are rare bed fellows in 2024.
Pete Lawrie first came to my attention - under his own name - as a solo artist in 2007 or 2008. I know I was playing him regularly in 2009 and 2010. There was a collaboration he did with Speech Debelle which underlined beautifully that he wasn't 'just' a dyed-in-the-wool trad singer / songwriter... his oaky soulful larynx liked to roam different habitats: hip hop, r&B, folk, electronica.
Pete's debut album, 'A Little Brighter', came out on Island Records subsidiary Field Recordings in 2011. I remember liking it a lot. It was an artful synthesis of country, soul, folk, hip hop and electronic inspirations, that managed to avoid sounding dilettante in its broad spectrum colouration. I listened to it today and it sounds as timeless and strongly realised as it did back then. However it didn't elevate Pete to the next level, which might have been a concern for his backers, or maybe Pete's creative wanderlust meant that what the label had intended as an opening paragraph became - instead - a tantalising, self-contained haiku.
Pete dropped off my radar for a bit, re-emerging on the other side of the Atlantic as Until The Ribbon Breaks, a project that more explicitly explored his interest in breakbeats, electronic production techniques, and the more soulful side of contemporary music of black origin (Frank Ocean and SZA, in particular to my unlearned ears) but still with the capability to surprise and invert expectation: the flashing electro blues licks on 'A Taste of Silver', as one example.
Basically, try to stick a pin in Pete and you're going to miss. It's one of his many great qualities.
Until the Ribbon Breaks are responsible for The Long Song this week, 'Strange Times'. By this stage - 2024 - Pete has released two albums under the 'UTRB' guise: (2015's 'A Lesson Unlearnt' and 2018's eponymous second album). I'm not particularly familiar with either album - due to my own deficiencies and ignorance - but I can tell you with as much authority as I can muster that Until The Ribbon Breaks' most recent two singles are a vivid amalgamation of sounds and shades that have been part of Pete's music from the very beginning, a drawing together of the threads, as it were.
'Strange Times' is brooding, marooned, minimal, minor key, and one of those rare song recordings that actually warrants the descriptor 'cinematic'. It's bruised, trip hop soul, with a dub heart, and it's one of the most compelling recordings I've heard in recent times.
I imagine there'a new album coming. I will most definitely be paying full attention this time round. I promise you that much.
In this week's Behind The Track, Mike Peters from The Alarm tells us stories of (artistic) conception and realisation around the band's 1987 hit single 'Rain in the Summertime'. Mike is as generous, entertaining and impassioned as he always is. Every time I've ever had the great fortune to speak with Mike I've come away from the conversation feeling better about life. It's a rare quality. And this song is one of the great, stirring, radio anthems of our times.
I'm in the process of writing a much longer piece about The Alarm and their under celebrated contribution to UK music. They're of totemic importance to north Wales and have one of the most loyal and passionate international fanbases of any Welsh artist.
Please do send new music excellence to me via the BBC Introducing Uploader or as a download link to my BBC email address. You'll work it out. It has a dot between my first name and my last name.
Keep on trucking x
THIS WEEK’S PLAYLIST
Nirvana - 'Blew'
Seattle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirvana_(band)
Y Dail - 'O'n i'n Meddwl Bod Ti'n Mynd i Fod Yn Wahanol'
Pontypridd
http://ydail.bandcamp.com
WRKHOUSE - 'Out of the Blue'
North Wales / Cardiff
http://facebook.com/profile.php?id=100092008124615
Skunkadelic & Mr Substance - 'Prodigal Sun'
Cardiff
http://facebook.com/skunkadelicuk
Blackgold - 'One Chance'
Cardiff
http://facebook.com/BLACKGOLDHG
Nookee - 'Devil's Dining Room'
Cardiff
http://facebook.com/NookeeBand
THE LONG SONG #038 - UNTIL THE RIBBON BREAKS
Until The Ribbon Breaks - 'Strange Times'
Penarth
http://untiltheribbonbreaks.com/
Noah Bouchard - 'Reconnecting'
Cardiff
http://facebook.com/noahbouchardmusic
Wasp-18b - 'Lines in the Cement'
Cwmbran
http://djalkemy.co.uk
Lowri Evans - 'Paid gadel fi ar ôl'
Newport, Pembrokeshire
http://lowrievans.co.uk
HARD DRIVE DEEP DIVE #006
Fflaps - 'Chwildroi'n Gam'
Bangor
http://ankstmusik.bandcamp.com
Growing Cold - 'Endless'
Caerphilly
http://instagram.com/growingcoldofficial
Fortune Teller - 'Problematic'
Rhondda Valleys
http://facebook.com/fortunetellermusic.uk
Laila Woodward - 'Hidden'
Pontardawe
http://lailawoodward.com
Fabiana Palladino - 'I Can't Dream Anymore'
Cardiff parentage
http://fabianapalladino.com
Tom Jenkins - 'Blame It'
Pontypridd
http://facebook.com/tomjenkinsmusic1
John Hardy Music - 'Cavalcade Of Chaos (Title Theme)'
Cardiff
Slate - 'Remoter Heaven'
Cardiff
http://instagram.com/slatecaban
Hippies Vs Ghosts - 'Tiger Town'
Cwm Y Glo
Worldcub - 'One Small Mistake'
Llanrug
http://worldcub.bandcamp.com
The Anchoress - 'The Living Dead'
Merthyr Tydfil
https://iamtheanchoress.bandcamp.com
REEM SELECTS... LUKE RV
Luke RV - 'Paper Cuts'
Neath
http://instagram.com/lukervv
Angharad - 'Outsider’s Map of Wales'
Swansea
The Mudd Club - 'Bored To Death'
Machynlleth
Jon Langford & the Bright Shiners - 'Awake The Land Of The Shadows'
Newport
Rona Mac - 'And Then They Found Her'
Pembrokeshire
http://facebook.com/RonaMacMusic
Novo Amor - 'First Place'
Y Fan, Llanidloes
Gizmo Varillas - 'Ojos Nuevos ft. Amanda Whiting'
Wales / Spain
http://gizmovarillas.com
Jim - 'Phoenix (X-Press 2 On Fire Edit)'
Colwyn Bay
BEHIND THE TRACK #008 - THE ALARM
The Alarm - 'Rain In The Summertime'
Rhyl
http://thealarm.com
Bodhi - 'Reformat'
Cardiff
http://hotflush.bandcamp.com
Toby Hay & Aidan Thorne - 'Hope The Birds Return'
Rhayader / Cardiff
Mared - 'Lately'
Denbighshire
http://facebook.com/MaredMusicOfficial
Local - 'My Love'
Cardiff
http://facebook.com/stilllocal
Thumpa - 'Worth Your While'
Cardiff
http://instagram.com/gareth.johnson
Small Black Arrows - 'The British Museum'
Llandovery
http://instagram.com/smallblackarrows
Finding Aurora - 'Best Kept Secret'
Newport
http://facebook.com/findingaurorauk
Alys Hardy - 'Anchor'
Aberdyfi
http://alyshardy.com
Alister Malcolm - 'Filler'
Cardiff
http://www.instagram.com/alistermalcolm.music
John Cale - 'How We See The Light'
Garnant
http://john-cale.com
PAPERHOUSE - 'Dance Be Free'
Wrexham
http://linktr.ee/paperhouseexperiment
Lagadranta - 'Reverence'
Swansea
SHOW STATS
469 diff songs/ 526 Total. 350 Artists in 14 shows since 1st, Jan '24 (~Songs per:38, Unique artists per:25) Welsh:99% Cymraeg:10% (feat. lyrics in Welsh); Source: Uploader:43%, Direct:16%, Bought:17%, Plugger:21%, Commission:2%
Comprehensive Session / Interview List: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1w-rIPj0l0QhUcbEm08PUPLUWh-416mwlteG_8wpNWtQ/edit?usp=sharing
Subscribe to my Substack: https://adamwalton.substack.com
Adam Walton