Bethan Elfyn from BBC Radio One’s Introducing in Wales will be one of the hosts on the night and said, “Getting involved with Swn again this year is going to be a joy and a privilege. This will be the fourth year that I’ve been involved with curating a stage at the festival and in the past we hosted Duke Spirit, Truckers Of Husk, Heck and Black Cesar in 2007, Cats In Paris, Joy Formidable, Derwyddion Dr Gonzo, and Blue Wall in 2008, Marina & the Diamonds, Post War Years, Bright Light Bright Light and Zimmermans in 2009 so this year’s line up is again a range of new, established, Welsh and touring bands that we know will put on a rollicking good show.”

“This year is a meeting of minds, and we’ve collaborated with BBC Radio Wales’ Adam Walton and BBC Radio Cymru’s C2 to put on the finest new bands from Wales and beyond, that we are supporting and championing on our various shows. This Swn night, split across two stages at Chapter Arts Centre will be recorded and broadcast on all three stations on the various shows. Adam on Sunday at 10pm, C2 Monday to Friday from 8pm and BBC Introducing in Wales on R1 from Wed at Midnight through to Thursday morning.

“If anything it was just hard to narrow the choice down to eight new bands, but there’s a real mix of rock n’ roll, hardcore, folk, pop, shoegaze, electro, screamo, and punk on the night, and Chapter is such a wonderful venue and location. We hope it adds something to the festival as a whole, and makes 2010′s Swn festival something special.”

The BBC Wales night at SWN Festival 2010 will take place at CHAPTER ARTS CENTRE on Friday 22nd October. For more information on SWN Festival go to www.swnfest.com

WOMEN
IDIOT GLEE
+ support
…
Tues 31st August
The Globe
Albany Road, Cardiff
7.30pm
£8adv
This is 16+ show

On their self-titled debut, Women embraced sonic brashness that deeper examination revealed to be tinted with sly pop melody. With Public Strain the band have honed a sound truthful to that reverb drenched noise while allowing the pop sensibilities to surface into clearer focus.

In the autumn of 2009, Patrick Flegel (vocals/guitar), Matt Flegel (bass/vocals), Chris Reimer (guitar/vocals), and Michael Wallace (drums) went into the studio with an abundance of ideas, working around conflicting schedules and graveyard shifts. With Chad VanGaalen again on production duties, the band laboriously crafted a timeless sounding recording over the dead of winter in Alberta, Canada. The result exploits their usage of harsh, grating dissonance in smaller and controlled doses, using noise as the foundation for richly structured, layered songwriting.

From the opening strains of “Can’t You See” it’s clear that the album is far more than just a continuation of their debut. Resting upon Matt Flegel’s plodding bass line, Patrick Flegel’s deadpan vocal delivery, and Chris Reimer on bowed guitars and cello, this moody, nocturnal ballad opens the album on a dark note – one that is quickly countered by “Heat Distraction”, a jigsaw of bright guitar phrases and winding time signatures.

This exact balance of delicate and dense is a pervasive thread throughout the album, reflecting the contradiction of the band’s environment buried in urban sprawl framed by prairie landscape. Whether twisting through the urgent Krautrock of “Locust Valley”, an exercise of harmony through simplicity, or climaxing with the bittersweet melody of “Eyesore”, the album somehow builds luminous contrast out of a palette of greys.

In places claustrophobic, conjuring walking dreams of sexual anguish and general decay, elsewhere soaring with vintage guitar tones and vocal melodies or collapsing into swirling, mesmerizing swells, Public Strain cycles through insomnia, paranoia, resignation and euphoria, to capture a band with an undeniable voice coming into full awareness of their craft.

HARLEM
KUTOSIS
OUI MESSY
…
Buffalo Bar, Cardiff
Tues 24th August
Advance tickets £5 only from http://www.wegottickets.com/event/86580
7.30pm-11.00pm

SWN and flux=rad (which is John from SWN and Jen Long wanting to do some small shows with bands who’d otherwise skip Wales) pair up for some more fun. Here’s a growly post-Green Man wake-up gig with the band behind the fantastic ‘Hippies’ LP and two of our Cardiff faves.

HARLEM
Awesome Austin trio who’ve recently released their debut album Hippies through Matador. If you’re a fan of fuzzed out punk rock with a heart of pop gold then these are the boys for you. Here’s what the critics say…

“An uncomplicated, brilliant LP about what it’s like to be young, stoned and having A REALLY GOOD TIME.” NME 8/10

…”Committed to crafting bubblegum choruses flavoured with booze and cigarettes… They’ve stacked hook on top of hook on top of hook.” Pitchfork 8.1

KUTOSIS
Cardiff’s snarling punk finest.

OUI MESSY
Jagged and indignent indie rock.

This is also right after Green Man so come down for a pint to soak up your post-fest blues.

Advance tickets £5 only from http://www.wegottickets.com/event/86580

Friday 30th July
on the lawn infront of Cardiff City Hall and the National Museum Cardiff
7.00pm-10.30pm
Free entry / all ages

Facebook event

and then…

SWN / Flux=Rad present THE BIG WEEKEND AFTERSHOW
Fri 30th Jul
at Cardiff Barfly
Doors: 10.30pm-3.00am
£5.00 advance

FB event http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=134834073211000&ref=search

Wednesday 28th July & Thursday 29th July

Clwb Ifor Bach

7.30pm-11.00pm

SOLD OUT

Tony Da Gatorra and Gruff Rhys are proud to announce their forthcoming collaborative album, The Terror Of Cosmic Loneliness. This musically unorthodox, experimental record will receive a limited release in July. Tony and Gruff will also perform a handful of live shows to coincide with the album’s release, including a debut UK date at Cardiff’s Clwb Ifor Bach on 29th July, and the Field Day festival in London on 31st July.

Tony Da Gatorra is a Brazilian TV and VCR repairman, musical freedom fighter and the inventor of his own unique ‘Gatorra’ instrument. Part drum machine, part guitar, the Gatorra provides the unique sonic style of Tony’s peace-loving protest songs and features heavily throughout The Terror Of Cosmic Loneliness.

As a massive fan of Tony, Gruff set about tracking down the cult hero during his travels throughout South America (an adventure that also lead to road trip movie, Separado!).
Having finally met, the pair undertook their first gig together and promptly booked in to a Sao Paulo recording studio to begin rehearsals…

Gruff takes up the story: We spent 5 days rehearsing a set of songs to play live at the venue – our only shared language was music itself so there was no small talk, just intense concentration on the music. On the final day, as the rehearsals had been so productive, we hooked up some recording equipment and took about 5 hours out to make this record.

We recorded several live takes of each song then chose the best versions. I added a harmony vocal overdub on two songs, otherwise it’s pretty much what we recorded at the time. Upon returning to Cardiff I took the songs to producer Kris Jenkins’s studio whose excitement for the album and general encouragement was infectious – then we called in noise legend Sir Doufus Styles to oversee the final mix.

Armed with 5 flasks of strong coffee, 75 sticks of gum and a bank of vintage compressors we mixed The Terror Of Cosmic Loneliness at extremely loud volume in one epic 12 hour session.
Tony Da Gatorra adds: Hello, peace my brothers, this record was made with lots of feelings and true love to bring consciousness and show a little bit of truth that needs to be said without hypocrisy. We are creatures of God, so there’s no death. Spirit is light, all evil won’t prevail – there’s no evil when it crashes with goodwill.

The Terror Of Cosmic Loneliness will be released on 26th July via OVNI / Turnstile Music.

HARLEM
KUTOSIS
OUI MESSY

Tuesday 24th August
Buffalo Bar
7.30pm-11.00pm

Advance tickets £5 only from http://www.wegottickets.com/event/86580

FB event http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=140174662663584&ref=ts

HARLEM

Awesome Austin trio who’ve recently released their debut album Hippies through Matador. If you’re a fan of fuzzed out punk rock with a heart of pop gold then these are the boys for you. Here’s what the critics say…

“An uncomplicated, brilliant LP about what it’s like to be young, stoned and having A REALLY GOOD TIME.” NME 8/10

“Committed to crafting bubblegum choruses flavoured with booze and cigarettes… They’ve stacked hook on top of hook on top of hook.” Pitchfork 8.1

KUTOSIS
Cardiff’s snarling punk finest.

OUI MESSY
Jagged and indignent indie rock.

This is also right after Green Man so come down for a pint to soak up your post-fest blues.

Happening on October 21, 22 and 23rd in Cardiff City Centre, SWN enters its fourth year of bringing the best new music to the capital of Wales.

With some names announced today and many more to come, there’s less than three months until the festival kicks off in the heart of Cardiff.

Exciting times!