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‘THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE SMILE’ WALES’ BIGGEST FESTIVAL PROMOTERS ANNOUNCE EVOLUTION: ESCAPE RECORDS
The team behind Wales’ biggest events and festivals, including Inside Out and Colour Clash , have announced a major evolution for the company. Having previously operated as Climax Live, the launch of Escape Records is a huge development that sees the brand new record label, as well as all their existing festivals and club nights, fall under one exciting new brand. On top of this, there are bold plans firmly in motion for a brand new sure-to-be historic and much larger addition to their festival portfolio next year. Escape Records, then, is very much set to change the game in Wales and beyond.
This newest project from the team has already begun to pop up in various forms. You may have noticed a Batman-style light projecting a giant smiley face onto historic landmarks in major cities across Wales over the past few days? If you have, now you know why. This is the first of a number of inventive activations from the Escape Records team which you’ll see in the hills, streets and even clubs in the coming weeks and months, so keep your eyes and ears close to the ground.
Escape Records will officially launch on 17th May with the official launch party taking place one month later on 20/21 June, subject to all restrictions being lifted.
The Escape team has undoubtedly established themselves as the leading event promoters in Wales over recent years, launching and firmly establishing four festivals across the country; Inside Out, Colour Clash, Party At The Park and Escape, each with capacities ranging from 5000 to 20,000 people, with a huge new game-changing festival all set to be unveiled soon.
The collective have always strived to surround themselves and work with an array of amazing and creative people that are the heartbeat of what the brand stands for. Escape Records was very much a vision for the future, but after the enforced 2020 fallow year because of the pandemic, it now takes centre stage, as bold new challenges await whilst the team work on some very special new projects to be announced very soon.
Says Mark Hopkins, Director of Escape Records, “Our mantra is trust and love the process. This means we’ve had an incredible ride, with many knocks along the way, but we have learned from them all and improved each time and are now ready to take things to the next level. When this journey began, it was based in music and partying and the wider cultural impact in truth was not at the forefront of our minds. Fast forward 15 years and sadly the carefree attitude of youth is starting to escape us, but this space is now filled with a more meaningful purpose. The creation of our academy to support and bring through the next generation of music talent in South Wales, our range of charitable and project work most recently supporting the building of a home in Cambodia. Giving back in all its forms to our community, the industry further afield and making sure we embody that in all that we do.”
The launch of Escape Records is the first chapter in an exciting new story. Sign up here to keep up to date with all announcements and developments as the story unfolds.
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ABOUT ESCAPE RECORDS
The Escape Records team has roots that are deeply woven into the nightclub scene of Cardiff and the surrounding cities. Starting as students working for various other event companies, the team's passions were ignited and skills honed. As soon as they graduated from university, it was clear that working for corporate companies in the city was never going to work so together they formed their own small business. These young and creative minds paired with a determined work ethic led to huge early steps and major successes.
From the very smallest of spaces to the 3000 capacity venues of Greyfriars Road, the journey has been unique and enriching. Always determined to take a passion for music outside of four walls and into the open air, this manifested first in Newport through the creation of the Party At The Park and Colour Clash events. Immediately offering something new and different, the music community welcomed these parties with open arms and so Inside Out in Cardiff quickly followed, making an instant impact and achieving consistent growth and success since its inception in 2015. Escape in Swansea has since followed, with the team taking over the reins of the legacy brand in 2020 after a nine-year hiatus, breathing new life into one of the country’s most loved events, heavily credited for driving the emergence of dance music and the culture which went with it across the late 90s and beyond.
Newport Events Presents
FEEDER
THE HOMECOMING!
Friday 9 July 2021
Feeder have announced they are coming home to perform in Newport’s Tredegar Park on Friday 9 th July 2021. Tickets will go on general sale from 10am Tuesday 4th May via www.newport-events.com . Support for the homecoming will come from special guests The Magic Gang and Welsh bands Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard and Tom Auton and the Bottle Breakers.
As ever, Grant Nicholas leads from the front, alongside bass player and comrade Taka Hirose. The British rock mainstays are responsible for some of the biggest British indie rock hits in the past twenty years. With 8 top #10 studio albums and 20 top #40 UK, the band are responsible for such anthems, ‘Just the Way I'm Feeling’, ‘Tumble and Fall’, ‘Just a Day’, ‘Feeling a Moment’ and the widely loved ‘Buck Rodgers’.
Since forming in 1994, Feeder have released ten studio albums, spanning early albums like Echo Park to Comfort of Sound and Renegades. The Welsh rock band's ninth album All Bright Electric came out in 2016 and the band released their most recent album Tallulah in 2019, which was met with critical acclaim. The album peaked at No. 4 on the UK Album Charts on release and was supported with singles 'Fear of Flying', 'Youth', 'Daily Habit' and 'Blue Sky Blue'
Feeder have come full circle. More than two decades after their first show the band are reinvigorated, tapping into the essential, primal energy that first inspired them.
Support for this huge event come from very special guests Brighton indie band The Magic Gang , whose second album ‘Death of a Party’ received critical and fan adoration worldwide; NME hailed it as ‘A timeless and genre-blurring record’. The line-up also sees two Welsh artists performing, first up is retro rock outfit Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard, who have received prestigious air play from BBC Radio 1’s Annie Mac, Jack Saunders and Huw Stephens and disco-infused blues rock from Tom Auton & the Bottle Breakers.
Feeder will perform at Tredegar Park, Newport on Friday 9 th July 2021.
Tickets will go on general sale 10am Tuesday 4 th May via www.newport-events.com
Dawn-Song announce physical version of 'For Morgan' album Out 28th June | Share Single
By Ceri Shaw, 2021-04-16
Released physically via Ffynnone Records on the 28th of May, 'For Morgan', the beautiful debut album by Dawn-Song will be available on Limited Edition Vinyl and Compact Disc.
Come with us on an epic journey from Dark to Light, an extraordinary tale of total excess to finding ones inner calm, a musical time-capsule 'For Morgan' is an audio letter from Father to Son. Welshman Nick Evans originally from Penarth, South Wales found himself in the centre of London's consuming Music Business in the 90's. His Elemental Records a pioneering Label was home to Alabama 3, Rocket From The Crypt amounst others.
"I made an album of my songs with some wonderful collaborators over the last couple of years. When I’m gone I wanted to continue to be able to sing for my son Morgan if he needed me. My father published a small book of poetry before he died and if I’m missing him a lot I read a bit of it and I feel reconnected. I also wanted to make something my mother could enjoy. So the record is for Morgan" - Nick Evans AKA Dawn-Song
Links Online
facebook.com/dawnSongforMorgan
instagram.com/nickypevans
theconsciousfire.tumblr.com
twitter.com/NickypEvans
Freyja Elsy's "off the scale evocative" debut single 'Lungs' - out Friday April 23rd
By Ceri Shaw, 2021-04-14
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The debut single ‘LUNGS’ from Freyja Elsy - an epic, yet introspective look at the end of a relationship.
Freyja Elsy is an independent singer songwriter and composer with a nomadic past and a sound that pushes into the future. Creating songs with a keen ear whilst pursuing music education, she found herself within the vibrant, engaging Cardiff scene. Through both outside musical influence and internal personal conflict she started to establish a clear identity, forging a path forward to create ‘ Lungs ’, her first single.
Based around very real, very intimate voice recordings, ‘ Lungs’ starts small and reserved, fragile in its form and structure. The track slowly unfolds and develops into rising crescendos alongside uncompromising percussion. A mixture of glitchy synthesisers and rising strings interweave around Elsy’s voice, which sits unwavering and steadfast. Her bold lyrics are strong in the face of a contrasting anguish found in the recordings nestled within the music.
With other musical endeavours in the form of collaborations within the band Blue Amber, alongside orchestral compositions performed by members of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and thematic interludes created for commercial use - this single is her first, strikeout release and sets the course for a prolific career ahead.
'My Name Is Ian' collaborate with HMS Morris on brand new 'Where Is The Time?' single
By Ceri Shaw, 2021-04-13
We are delighted to welcome My Name Is Ian back onto our release schedule after an uncharacteristically long development period for their latest album, Fantastic Company , out via Bubblewrap Collective on 4 th June 2021 .
The band’s standard ‘prolific-and-terrific’ approach, culminating in no less than 18 releases since 2010, has been put to one side, with their latest being written and recorded over two years, with time spent in four different locales (Cardiff’s Rat Trap and King’s Road Studios , the pop-up Snowbird Studios in Riofreddo, Italy and Axe and Trap Studio in Wells). The resultant LP takes a substantive shift from the garage-pop of previous records and leaps double-footed into a charmingly wonky, indie-dance parallel universe where almost anything seems possible.
Placing centrally the multi-layered, pre-programmed beats of in-house production guru, Joseph Coleby, live instrumentation including electric guitar, four different keyboards and synths, smooth funk-soul bass and hand percussion are also liberally sprinkled throughout.
Flanking Reginald Foxwell’s ever-incisive lead vocals are over 20 other singers including members of The Burning Hell, Quiet Marauder, HMS Morris and more. The aggregated effect of this production methodology, musicianship, and spirit of sonic adventurism is a warming, texturally deep and irresistibly catchy set of tracks straddling pop, hip-hop and experimental soundscapes.
The next single to be released from Fantastic Company will be Where is The Time? Featuring HMS Morris on 16 th April 2021 . The album will be available on limited edition heavyweight black vinyl and across all the usual digital streaming and retail platforms.
Links:
https://mynameisian.com
https://twitter.com/goodmynameisian
https://bubblewrapcollective.co.uk/artists/my-name-is-ian/
https://mynameisian.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/mynameisianmusic
It’s been 10 years since Little Arrow emerged with their debut album, ‘Music, Masks & Poems’ way back in 2011. In marking this monumental milestone, we also celebrate the life and music of frontman, William Hughes, who we sadly lost to cancer in December 2018.
The release charts some of the many aspects of Will’s artistic life with a ‘Words & Art’ booklet showcasing his sculptures and lyrics; all accompanying the heavyweight, marbled blue vinyl of music. The digital reissue will also include bonus live recordings spanning Little Arrow’s career alongside interpretations of the album tracks re-recorded by some of Will’s closest friends. The first of these bonus tracks to be released is a live performance from Four Bars, Cardiff, in 2014. The track stands as a juxtaposition between the folk roots of the album version and the final live lineup of Little Arrow.
Brimming with themes of hope, love and community, the album remains an expansive, airy and understated folk-tinged gem. Label owner and Little Arrow drummer Rich Chitty elaborates in his accompanying liner notes:
“From the tranquil opening of ‘Bitten Blues’ to the vivid imagery in ‘Aeroplane’; the lyrics felt old-worldly but familiar. Full of hope, but tragic. Wetting its toes amongst the mayhem, as Will puts it in ‘Poetically Diseased’. It was intimate, strange and personal yet somehow relatable, as though it talked of your pain and your joy, all through metaphors nearly lost to time. ‘Easy Now’ and ‘Beneath the True Blue’ were haunting and heart-breaking. ‘People of the Volcano’, ‘Boat’ and ‘Poetically Diseased’ were optimistic but borne of that same curious cloth. To this day, it remains my favourite part of Will’s back catalogue.”
All proceeds from the album will be donated to Paul Sartori - Hospice at Home.
https://www.facebook.com/littlearrowmusic/
https://bubblewrapcollective.
Bandicoot’s description of their new single FUZZY perfectly incapsulates its timeless, joyful energy ... “FUZZY is a deranged attempt at seduction which draws on 70s ‘Top of the Pops’, glam rock and memories of misguided adolescence.”
Following hot on the heels of the bands successful debut single on Libertino ‘Dark Too Long’, FUZZY shares DTL infatuation with the decade where you cycled to catch your dreams on your trusted ‘chopper bike’ and ‘glittered teenage anthems filled the airwaves as much as your imagination’.
With FUZZY Bandicoot are Gene Vincent’s lustful, greasy-haired, leather-jacketed rebellion channelled through Bolan and the New York Dolls infectious boogie. As they sing FUZZY is their Vitamin C, now let FUZZY be yours!
According to Bandicoot “FUZZY is a strutting statement of intent, fizzing with energy, rolling relentlessly on. It captures the energy that we’re bursting with, cooped up in our homes, awaiting the return to the stage. And a triumphant, ferocious return it will be”
Described as “Lively, entertaining, and valuable – a real gem” by the journalist, presenter and newsreader Huw Edwards, the book considers the influences of key figures such as William Williams Pantycelyn and Ira Sankey also examines rhythmic elements in Welsh preaching.
Author, Ronald Rees, said:
“Two particular incidents led to the writing of this book. The most recent was my reading of Barbara Ehrenreich’s Dancing in the Street . Her book is about the need, manifested throughout human history, for communal expressions of feeling – in dance, parade and song. The other incident was a combined concert and cymanfa ganu held at St David’s Hall, Cardiff about forty years ago. The concert performers were members of Rhondda’s peerless Pendyrus Choir, led by the late Glynne Jones. The singing was hair-raising. As the final repeated chorus died, a deeply moved Glynne Jones let the hall grow silent and said quietly and reverently: ‘This is who we are.’”
Painstakingly researched in libraries and archives in both Wales and America, and encompassing information from emigrant letters and diaries and local newspapers of the period, this definitive history tells how hymns and the religious movements and revivals spread via Welsh emigrants to religious communities of the USA. For example, it was a group of Welsh migrants to Utah, led by John Parry, who formed the nucleus of the famed Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
“To engage their audiences, Welsh preachers at home and in America often delivered their sermons with a discernible cadence or rhythm in which sound could be as important as meaning. By combining the persuasive power of the word with the emotive power of music, assemblies could be brought to states ranging from spiritual readiness to hysteria. In our own times there are echoes of the mesmerizing, cadenced style in the recorded speeches of Dr Martin Luther King and the poetry readings of Dylan Thomas. Thomas’s great-uncle, Gwilym Marles Thomas, was a Welsh Congregationalist minister.”
“My objective was to explore how hymns, and the religious movements and Revivals of which they were part, fired the Welsh imagination. The chapels may have emptied but hymns remain our tribal songs,” said Ronald Rees.
