Show #2597: Saturday 8th June 2024 - The Allergies / Moletrap and Jylt
Adam Walton, BBC Radio Wales, 8th June 2024: The Long Song - Moletrap 'Nation of Sanctuary'; Behind the Track: The Allergies 'Koliko ft. K.O.G'; Hard Drive Deep Dive - Jylt.
Listen again via BBC Sounds here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001zzgw
PLEASE NOTE: This isn’t an official BBC / BBC Wales post. All words / opinions expressed here are my own.
My introduction to hip hop was my brother playing Beastie Boys, Ice T and NWA at ear-dissolving volumes through our adjoining wall at home. The hills around Nannerch shook to the sound of 2 Live Crew's motherfuckers and misogyny... our countryside squirrels must have been appalled. Family car trips were a riot of ‘Licensed To Ill’ (my mum and dad bristling in the front seats), my mum's Van Morrison tapes, my dad's Bob Dylan or Ry Cooder albums, and - when I could sneak them in - The Cure's 'Staring At The Sea' or U2's 'The Unforgettable Fire'.
Hip hop always always sounded more exciting, a forbidden territory of street language and thundering, irresistible beats. Danny's floor was scattered with gangsta rap 12" covers... all guns and tiny thongs. Hard to ignore when you're 16 years old.
By the time I had my Damascene experience when The Stone Roses played Blackpool in August 1989 - hearing Dave Haslam dropping Public Enemy, Young MC and Eric B and Rakim in amongst the psych, indie and house tunes in his support DJ set, I was a convert. And - like many indie kids of my generation - the real gateway drug to hip hop was De La Soul's '3 Feet High and Rising'. No other album I had heard - or have heard - was as kaleidoscopic, as much of a trip to listen to, as much unadulterated fun.
It was The Muppet Show on breakbeats and a breathtaking, genre-spinning palette of samples. I discovered so much music through that album: Cymande, Maggie Thrett, The Turtles, The Jarmels, Parliament, A Tribe Called Quest, Queen Latifah, Sly & the Family Stone etc etc.
One of the album's great achievements is making listeners feel like they're mates hanging out with Posdnuos, Trugoy and Mase, that we're party to the in-jokes and their lexicon. It's an album that still makes me smile, still makes me feel included, and I can't help but be inspired by its day glo love for music and hyperactive childlike wonder.
Beastie Boys' 'Paul's Boutique' came out the same year, but I didn't discover it until a few years later. If '3 Feet High and Rising' was the gawky suburbs kids geeking out, 'Paul's Boutique' is the sound of the city, and - particularly - the sound of New York city. Impossibly, inaccessibly cool (to me, marooned in north Wales)... except through this phenomenal album.
So, these two LP's were the yin and the yang of my love for hip hop. Sample-based, mostly non-confrontational, minus the braggadocio and violence that characterised a lot of other hip hop. I didn't like the gun-related, locker room stuff. I'm not castigating it, it just wasn't for me and I had the privilege of not understanding the social environments it emanated from as a necessary soundtrack of defiance and prestige.
My earliest radio shows - in '93 and '94 - celebrated The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy (interviewing Michael Franti was one of the early highlights of my shows); Ultramagnetic MC's; Credit to the Nation; Dilated Peoples; DJ Shadow / Mo' Wax; Cypress Hill; Jurassic 5.
We played Welsh hip hop: Headcase Ladz, Junior Disprol, Joe Blow, Llwybr Llaethog, Blaktrix, Humurak D. Gritty, Tystion, MC Mabon, Cofi Bach a Tew Shady, Genod Droog, Mudmowth, Metabeats, Beatbox Fozzy, Akira the Don, Astroid Boys... and many others (an illustrative rather than definitive list)
And we're fortunate to celebrate the boggling creativity of contemporary Welsh hip hop and its sub genres... Deyah, SageTodz, Mace the Great, Local, Juice Menace, Luke RV, Mr Phormula, Lemfreck, Ogun... again, illustrative, not definitive.
The artists who most embody the philosophies of the yin and yang of hip hop I mentioned earlier - '3 Feet High and Rising' and 'Paul's Boutique' - are Bristol-based, but 50% Wales-forged - The Allergies: comprising DJ Moneyshot (Roy Spencer) and Rackabeat (Adam Volsen). Their credo is: "making funky music is a must" and 11 years+ of releases absolutely lean into that philosophy, crate-digging technicolor new samples and crafting beats par excellence to fuel their vibrant floorfillers.
One of their most recent singles - 'Koliko' - is already a shoe-in for the pantheon of great music releases with Welsh DNA in its core. It's a cynicism-trampling love letter to Afrobeat, life-affirming to its core, without for one millisecond being trite. It's my go-to single of the year for bringing good vibes to bad mornings.
In this week's Behind the Track, Moneyshot and Rackabeat give us a fascinating insight into the genesis of the track and their collaboration with K.O.G. I get exactly the same feeling - an unfettered joy at creating and sharing - as I do listening to '3 Feet High and Rising' and 'Paul's Boutique'. And - although the music I make is a long way from hip hop, I'm still inspired to sit down and create - to find new highways to explore in my imagination - by The Allergies' words. Which is *exactly* the point of Behind The Track.
I hope you enjoy the ride too.
Our Long Song this week - as an ongoing tribute to the legacy of legendary music broadcaster Janice Long - is Moletrap's 'Nation of Sanctuary'.
The continuing evolution of music is - of course - about taking inspiration and recasting those inspirations in new lights, through new imaginations. So Moletrap might weld plutonium heavy riffs to irresistible 808-minimal beats, a la Rage Against The Machine, early Beastie Boys (them again), Faith No More, Skindred or - as they namecheck themselves - Bob Vylan, but it's the character they bring to proceedings that makes 'Nation of Sanctuary' their own... somewhere in the politicised tub-thumping, the Frusciante-flavoured light wah to lightning strike power chords, and especially the build two thirds of the way through, that - somehow - takes us back to Gregorian plainchant, before going supernova.
They're from mid Wales, too often ignored when the tastemakers of Wales pontificate about who in Cardiff, or Wrexham or Caernarfon is making the most thrilling music (me included). On the basis of 'Nation of Sanctuary', they're unignorably great. A thousand mosh pits beckon.
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
Please subscribe to the programme via the BBC Sounds app, and then the programme will automatically download so that you can listen at your convenience, wherever you like (via Smartphone / portable devices etc).
Feel free to share the link below:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001zzgw
And if you have a chance, you can check out other recent editions of the programme:
01.06.24 Georgia Ruth goes Behing the Track with 'In Luna'. Ivor Woods is the recipient of The Long Song. Hard Drive Deep Dive from Chloe Leavers: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001zsd9
25.05.24 Janice Long Tribute Show from Focus Wales 2024: a celebration of Janice Long's legacy here in Wales with live music from Kidsmoke, Laura J. Martin, Pixy Jones and Cara Hammond, + lots of interviews: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001zlc5
18.05.24 Jon Langford from The Mekons goes Behind the Track with 'Where Were You'. Dactyl Terra are the recipients of The Long Song. Tribute to Steve Albini. Hard Drive Deep Dive with Katell Keineg https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001zc2l
11.05.24 Peace Transmission Module (repeat): Adam curates a meditative mix of the finest ambient, folk, trip hop, jazz, orchestral and transcendental Welsh music of 2023 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001tpyw
If you would like information about any of the featured artists, please don’t hesitate to reply.
More information about BBC Sounds here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds
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THIS WEEK’S PLAYLIST
Elkka - 'Break all my walls down'
Cardiff
Elkka - 'Right Here'
Cardiff
Rio 18 - 'Sempre Amor ft. Elan Rhys'
Benllech / Cardiff
Ynys - 'Gyda Ni'
Aberystwyth
http://facebook.com/YnysMusic
The Glorybirds - 'Stay So Young'
Swansea
http://www.instagram.com/theglorybirds/
Stepco - 'Gettin' Physical'
Ammanford
http://soundcloud.com/stepcodj
Campfire Social - 'Wendy'
Chester / Newbridge
http://campfiresocial.co.uk
Georgia Ruth - 'Tell Me Who I Am'
Aberystwyth
http://georgiaruth.co.uk
King Hannah - 'Milk Boy (I Love You)'
Tan Lan / Liverpool
http://kinghannah.com
euansounds - 'Beautiful Speaking (Intro)'
Swansea
http://instagram.com/euansounds
Trutopia - 'Reality Void ft. Liz Cass'
Swansea
http://facebook.com/trutopia
E.L. Heath - 'Yn Y Mor'
Shropshire / Powys
Group Listening - 'Old Reeds'
Colwyn Bay / Cardiff
http://grouplistening.bandcamp.com
Secluded Bronte - 'Elbow Grease'
Croesyceiliog
http://fforddallan.bandcamp.com
De'lour - 'Cold Decisions ft. Jamie Mathias'
Port Talbot / Tredegar
http://facebook.com/Delourband
THE LONG SONG #044
Moletrap - 'Nation of Sanctuary'
Rhayader
http://mltrp.com
Charlie J - 'BACK 2 U ft. Mistry'
North Cornelly
http://linktr.ee/officialcharliej
NayyaH - 'Fire In My Soul'
Llandudno
http://www.nayyah.com
Ciri-ann - 'Pedestal'
Flint
http://ciriann.com
Muttnik - 'Pale Face'
Aberdare
http://facebook.com/Muttnikband
Excellent Skeleton - '(Tell Me Where I) Get Some'
Cardiff
http://Excellentskeleton.bandcamp.com
Psychotic Fuzz - 'Psychedelic Moonshine'
Cardiff
http://facebook.com/PsychoticFuzzBand
Midgley Jr - 'Do What You Like'
Cardiff
Tesni - 'Savoury'
Gower / Swansea
http://www.instagram.com/Tesni___
Elkka - 'Crushhh ft. John Carroll Kirby'
Cardiff
Yellow Belly - 'Golden Hour'
Cardiff
http://facebook.com/YellowBellyMus
Nathan Mizra - 'Please Don’t Waste Your Life'
Barry
http://www.nathanmisra.com/
BEHIND THE TRACK #014
Allergies, The - 'Koliko (feat. K.O.G)'
Cardiff
Papa Boi - 'Izarra ft Lauren Humphreys'
Llanfrothen
Keyala - 'Ynof Fi (feat. Betsan Lees)'
Cardiff
Crystalline - 'Better Off Without You'
Cardiff
http://facebook.com/CrystallineBand
HARD DRIVE DEEP DIVE
Jylt - 'Spin'
Milford Haven
Atlas Theory - 'Apollyon'
Ebbw Vale / Cardiff
http://www.facebook.com/ATLAStheory/
Revenant - 'Forward Thoughts'
Rhondda
http://www.facebook.com/revenantwales
Freefall - 'Changing'
Blackwood / Swansea
http://www.freefallband.co.uk/
Love On Loan - 'Enjoy Your Bliss'
Tonyrefail
http://facebook.com/weareloveonloan
Pale Spirits - 'No Leader'
Llanybydder
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555359910833
izzo wizzard - 'prettiest thing'
Newport
http://www.instagram.com/izzowizzard
Peiriant - 'Taflu Dŵr'
Hay On Wye
http://peiriant.bandcamp.com
Elkka - 'Air Tight ft. Dot Major'
Cardiff
SHOW STATS
796 diff songs/ 878 Total. 522 Artists in 23 shows since 1st, Jan '24 (~Songs per:38, Unique artists per:23) Welsh:99% Cymraeg:10% (feat. lyrics in Welsh); Source: Uploader:40%, Direct:16%, Bought:18%, Plugger:21%, Commission:4%
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
Diolch o galon,
Adam Walton