The EP is a flurry of recent work, with reflections on recent situations. 'Take Me With You' dives headfirst into the current feeling and situation. It asks for salvation in a time of threat, uncertainty, division and chaos. The chant of "lockdown, lockdown, lockdown" is an angry cry of frustration amongst a distorted diatribe against powerfully overdriven beats.  “What My Monster Looks Like” haunts with its warning “you’d be out of sight if you knew what my monster looks like” and repeats “never mind” in an all too familiar apathy. Pulsing bass and looped samples push the track forward.

'Gander’ is brutally melancholic at first, echoing and duplicating as it emerges from one theme, the monotonous loop and cycle of not being able to move forward or do something. It then transforms into a dance beat - evoking freer times - before exposing the original theme again, losing the memory for reality. An acoustic guitar evokes sweet resonance on "As It Goes" under the raw honesty of a final argument at the end of a relationship. The structure also grounds it in the Groundhog Day feeling a lot of people have been experiencing this year.

The EP winds its way through both jarring and soulful transitions as well, capturing a state of mind that bounces between chaos and serenity at whim.

Minas is the project from Cardiff producer James Minas alongside drummer Greg Davies and bassist Bob Williams. The songs tell stories of a chequered past over a mix of deep melodic soundscapes and loud, aggressive stanzas. Covering subjects from personal struggles with mental health to finding a place in the society we have. As a producer James is working to build a new sound for the South Wales scene with a number of artists and genres (such as Luke RV, Dead Method, Dan Bettridge, Razkid and more) but as an artist he presents brutal honesty going against his natural defenses to present the most open and vulnerable self for anyone who wishes to listen.

Minas grew up in the circus with parents who were heavily involved in the 1980’s Punk scene and then moved to secondary school in the Welsh Valleys, with the boredom and misbehaviour that came with it. Minas aims to create music that discusses these things and ends with an empowering feeling of hope, something we all need in right now.

Seven years on from its initial release, Cardiff-based Quiet Marauder are set to unleash a contemporary reimagining of their record-baiting, format-stretching debut album MEN. Cut back from its original guise of 111 tracks and nearly five hours, its sister EP, Tiny Men Parts, clocks in at a much more manageable nine songs (and just over 25 minutes). Released at the end of November, Tiny Men Parts is a celebration of Quiet Marauder’s live band over the last few years, stepping away from the lo-fi, bedroom aesthetic of their debut and embracing the bombastic rock conjured by the group as a whole.

Recorded in Rat Trap Studios with Tom Rees (Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard) at the helm, the remit was to channel the sweaty joviality of a dive bar gig - something even more poignant in the context of coronavirus. This feat was accomplished with aplomb on the punk-rock bassy, bangy scuzz of previous single Eggs! and is repeated throughout via tracks such as The Business Deal, Lucky Tonight and I Want A Moustache, Dammit. Naturally, these tracks and the EP as a whole, share the same thematic and lyrical concerns of its longer predecessor; a study in the darkness of toxic masculinity, lad banter and the insidiousness of gender inequality.

Tracklisting

1. The Business Deal

2. I Want A Moustache, Dammit

3. Roda And The Bunker

4. It Wasn’t Me, It Was The Moon

5. The Internal Monologue Date

6. Lucky Tonight

7. The Animals Are Spying On Me

8. Eggs!

9. I Want A Moustache, Dammit II (Dance Remix) . .
...

Released by Bubblewrap Collective, Tiny Men Parts will be preceded by digital single The Animals Are Spying On Me on 28th October, lyrically about human capability for irrational and yet somehow intractable paranoia. Following that the full EP will come on 27th November, arriving in limited edition heavyweight white ‘fried egg’ vinyl with accompanying ‘real man’ temporary tattoos. ...

This record is a celebration of the longest-serving live incarnation of Quiet Marauder, as well as a reimagining of our ridiculously long debut album, MEN. Way back when, seven years ago in 2013, a lot of that album was recorded by one man banging a frying pan on an inflatable mattress in the Cardiff suburbs. As fun as that was, fast-forwarding to 2020 and the tender touches of Tom Rees in Rat Trap Studios capturing our innate rock rawness was one thousand times more rewarding. Huge thanks to Tom and Ed Truckell for their tracking and mastering, Bubblewrap Collective for still indulging our whimsy and to the kind souls reading this who, we assume, have not stolen this or in the midst of destroying it...and of course, the Quiet Marauder players responsible for making the fundamental noises in the tiny grooves of this disc: ...

Simon M. Read: Vocals, acoustic guitar

Ian Williams: Vocals, electric guitar

Rowan Liggett: Vocals, bass guitar

John Whittles: Drums

Francesca Dimech: Vocals, trumpet, melodica

Kadesha Drija: Vocals, percussion ..

Many of these songs chart the darkness of masculinity and human behaviour - its lack of logic, its danger and the spectrum underlying that on which we all sit and should be conscious of. Beyond the dark, there's more often than not some light. Be and stay kind.

She's got Spies  has shared the new video for her track ' All Outta Tears' filmed in Moscow, Russia in 2012, watch/share it below. This lovelorn tune is lifted from her new album 'Isle of Dogs' which is out now.

She’s Got Spies’  second album  ‘Isle of Dogs’  refers to an area of London, Laura Nunez’s hometown,  as well as the state of turmoil of the island of Britain. The follow up album to her debut Welsh language album ‘Wedi’, ‘Isle of Dogs’ features songs written over the last decade. She’s Got Spies is the project of Laura Nunez and her cast of collaborators. She spends her time between Cardiff and London, she’s multilingual and can sing in Welsh, English and Russian.  

Following the release of ‘Babanod’, ‘Poetry’ and ‘Myfyrwyr Rhyngwladol’ earlier in the year, HMS Morris are back with the fourth and final single in the series, ‘Partypooper’, will be released on November 6th.

Songwriter Heledd Watkins explains Partypooper’s origins thus:

‘It’s a response to the mental highs and lows of being a musician – or any kind of human person really. A great deal of us struggle with a little internal partypooper, a malignant imp who likes to wait until we’re at our happiest before screwing up her mean little face and blowing mightily on her shit-horn of doubt and regret, leaving our ears ringing and our confidence in tatters as she skips gleefully away. She’s not above putting the boot in when you’re down either; during the downtime in between gigs, or as you’re reading a crap review of a record you spent the last year perfecting, or when you see a hype band flying past at 100 miles an hour to New Music Friday-land or some equally alluring destination. We all have one. We all deal with them in different ways. Here’s hoping that mine has a fear of high-tempo Latin numbers with horns and distorted wailing.’

Partypooper features guest appearances from the superb Owain Gruffudd and Gwyn Owen from Band Pres Llareggub (Owain also arranged the brass). Iestyn Jones is on drums. It was recorded at St Peter’s and Fitzhamon Studio in Cardiff, and Stiwdio Sain in Llandwrog. Partypooper will be available to stream or purchase digitally from all the usual platforms.

Yn dilyn y senglau ‘Babanod’, ‘Poetry’ a ‘Myfyrwyr Rhyngwladol’ yn gynharach elenni, bydd HMS Morris yn ôl gyda’r bedwaredd sengl yn y gyfres, a’r olaf, ar Dachwedd y 6ed. Ei henw yw ‘Partypooper’.

Ebe Heledd:

‘Mae’r gân yn ymateb i’r uchderau ac iselfanau meddyliol sy’n rhan o fywyd cerddor – neu unryw berson a dweud y gwir. Mae nifer fawr ohonom ni’n ymrafael â partypooper bach mewnol, ryw hen ‘sguthan flin sy’n joio torri ar draws dy hwyl gyda’i hutgorn alarus, gan aros nes dy fod di’n hapus dy fyd ac yna’n dy foddi mewn atseiniau o amheuon ac edifeirwch. Ac dyw hi ddim rhy browd i dy gicio di pan wyt ti lawr chwaith; wrth i ti ddarllen adolygiad gâs o record rwyt ti newydd dreulio blwyddyn yn gweithio arni, yn ystod y saib ryfedd yna rhwng gigs, neu pan wyt ti’n gweld y band-heip diweddaraf yn hedfan heibio ar 100 milltir yr awr ar eu ffordd i diroedd gyfriniol New Music Friday neu debyg. Mae un ganddon ni i gyd. Ry’n ni oll yn delio â nhw mewn ffyrdd gwahanol. Dwi’n gobeithio fod fy un i â ffobia o diwns Latin tempo-uchel gyda chyrn a sgrechfeydd’.

Mae Partypooper yn elwa o gyfraniadau gwych Owain Gruffudd a Gwyn Owen o Fand Pres Llaregub (diolch hefyd i Owain am y trefniant brass). Iestyn Jones sydd ar y dryms. Fe’i recordiwyd yn Stiwdio Fitzhamon a St Peter’s yng Nghaerdydd, a Stiwdio Sain yn Llandwrog. Bydd Partypooper ar gael i’w ffrydu a’i phwrcasu yn ddigigol o’r llefydd arferol.

Dyma drydedd sengl MÊL ond y gyntaf i gael ei recordio fel band ‘go iawn’, gyda Rhodri Owen (Owens), Morgan Jones a George Amor yn cyfrannu eu darnau – ar ben gwaith Eryl (Pearl) Jones.

Mae cyfraniadau allweddol a hollalluog Llŷr Pari a Geraldine Mac Burney i’w clywed yn y cawl hefyd. ‘Tri cynnig i Gymro’ medd rhai, ‘third time lucky’ dwêd y Sais – ac yn wir (ym marn dewiniaid y topia’) dyma sengl orau MÊL hyd yma. Mae’r band wedi bod yn trafod efo’r dewiniaid a Chyfoeth Naturiol Cymru ar gynllun i ymdopi efo’r llifogydd o ganmoliaeth bydd yn gorlifo atynt o bob cyfeiriad yn fuan (neu beidio). Dylanwadau / tarddiad y gân: Profiad diddorol ger dinas Cusco neu Cuzco (Peru), englyn y ci defaid, MGMT (albym Congratulations), cactus San Pedro, Fabien Bistoubrette, Velvet Underground, rhyfeddod llwyr, Soft Machine (y llyfr a’r band), dyddiadur y daith o 2016.  

She’s Got Spies releases her new album ‘Isle of Dogs’ on the 6th of November. It’s preceded  by the single ‘Super Sniffer Dogs’ on the 23rd of October. 

She’s Got Spies’  second album  ‘Isle of Dogs’  refers to an area of London, Laura Nunez’s hometown,  as well as the state of turmoil of the island of Britain. The follow up album to her debut Welsh language album  ‘Wedi’,  ‘Isle of Dogs’ features songs written over the last decade. She’s Got Spies is the project of Laura Nunez and her cast of collaborators. She spends her time between Cardiff and London, she’s multilingual and can sing in Welsh, English and Russian.  

‘Isle of Dogs’  is a charming trilingual travelogue album, with most of the songs written on the move  while travelling or whilst Nunez was living in various countries. She spent time in Russia, Vietnam, Italy,  Tierra del Fuego in Argentina, and parts were also written in Cardiff, London and other parts of Wales  and England. Threaded with Laura’s knack for a bittersweet earworm melody and surreal yet personal  lyrics, these charmingly wonky songs are underscored with dark psych tinged sounds and an unsettled  feeling which reflects the turmoil of current times. 

With music hall style pianos, bounding percussion, fizzing guitars and a playful vocal, new single  ‘Super Sniffer Dogs'  is inspired by Laura’s time spent visiting Poplar on the Isle of Dogs, an area of high contrast with the rich, banking area of Canary Wharf and large, destitute council estates. It’s about an  imaginary dystopian festival with lots of restrictions in a high walled destitute area. Despite its serious  themes, which is juxtaposed by a catchy singalong melody, it’s a joyous tuneful romp. 

The delightful first single from the album, ‘ Wedi Blino’, was released in 2019 and features a video filmed by Laura in Antarctica when she won a trip there in 2018. Meanwhile ‘The Fear’ is the newest song, written during lockdown. It reflects uncertainty of whether the record would ever see the light of day due to the pandemic, after the last days of studio time were cancelled as the lockdown started. It ended up replacing another song that was meant to be on the album that had not yet been recorded. 

All songs are written by Laura apart from three co-written with Gruff Meredith ( MC Mabon ), who also co produced with Frank Naughton on them. Recorded in Tŷ Drwg studios in Cardiff (with additional recording in various locations including Moscow, London, Vietnam, etc.) with producer Frank Naughton. The album cover was designed by Laura and features a fox that visited Laura’s garden daily during lockdown that she  caught on a night vision camera, and photographed remotely when he came to her doorstep. 

She’s Got Spies band members include Gareth Middleton (guitar) and Mel Beard (glockenspiel/ keyboard) on some tracks, additionally with Pixy Jones ( El Goodo ) on guitar, Andy Fung ( Derrero ) on drums and producer Frank Naughton on piano, synths, guitar, bass, strings and percussion. She’s Got Spies started as a project by Laura Nunez in 2005 with Matthew Evans ( Keys ). Laura’s originally from London but moved to Cardiff and learnt Welsh inspired by bands such as Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci, Super Animals, Melys  etc. 

She’s Got Spies have recorded sessions for BBC Radio Cymru as well as having performed and been roadcast on Welsh television channel S4C. The band have performed at festivals such as Indietracks, Focus Wales, National Eisteddfod and Wales Goes Pop, as well as appearances in more far flung  places including Russia, Bulgaria, Italy and even on an Antarctic expedition ship.

‘Isle of Dogs’ album cover ‘Super Sniffer Dogs’ single cover

‘Isle of Dogs’ Tracklist: 

1. Super Sniffer Dogs (2:31) 

2. Mariah Pariah (2:54) 

3. Despair Over Here (3:08) 

4. All Outta Tears (3:38) 

5. Harasho (3:22) 

6. Vladivostok (3:18) 

7. Vietnam (3:23) 

8. Mank Shoreshank (3:08) 

9. Cwympo (3:02) 

10. The Fear (2:41) 

11. Wedi Blino (2:30) 

12. Where Did You Go? (4:04) 

For further details please get in touch at: 

Bill Cummings: soundandvisionpr@googlemail.com 

info@shesgotspies.com 

www.shesgotspies.com  

Following the release of two pre-covid singles ‘Babanod’ and ‘Poetry’, HMS Morris are back with the third in the series,  ‘Myfyrwyr Rhyngwladol.’ , which translates as ‘International Students’. The single will be released on September 16 ^th

HMS Morris HQ is nestled on the edge of one of the most multicultural streets in Cardiff, City Road. It’s a noisy, colourful cosmopolitan crush of restaurants, shisha bars and barbers, which have recently been invaded by posh student accommodation projects. But while this may have been the initial impetus behind  ‘Myfyrwyr Rhyngwladol’ , by the time it had solidified into a definite sound and feel it was no longer a rant about fancy student halls.

Rather it had become an assertion that the world be a better place if we were all International Students. In the context of this summer’s global race-relations reckoning, there is a general moral imperative for us all to become students of the international: to watch the news as if it’s our own story, to actually take it in, to learn and adapt our behaviour. We should be prepared to immerse ourselves in other cultures, just like the international students of City Rd do.

'Myfyrwyr Rhyngwladol'  will be available to stream or purchase digitally from all the usual platforms.

See them  not  live:

September 10-12 – Waves Vienna Digital Showcase
October - ‘Out of Focus’ Digital Festival organised by Focus Wales

Watch it back:

HMS Morris live from Cultvr Lab Cardiff -  https://www.cultvr.cymru/hmsmorris/

Yn dilyn y senglau cyn-covid ‘Babanod’ a ‘Poetry’, mae HMS Morris yn ôl efo’r drydedd yn y gyfres, ‘Myfyrwyr Rhyngwladol.’  Fe fydd y sengl yn cael ei ryddhau ar Medi 16eg.
 
Mae hwb creadigol HMS Morris yn swatio ger un o strydoedd mwyaf amlddywilliannol Caerdydd, City Road. Mae’n gawl gosmopolitaidd o fwytai, shisha bars a barbwyr – sydd yn ddiweddar wedi eu gorlethu gan neuaddau posh i fyfyrwyr. Problem enbyd heb os, ond er mai hyn oedd yr ysgogiad gwreiddiol tu ôl i  ‘Myfyrwyr Rhyngwladol’ , erbyn iddi galedu yn deimlad a sain pendant doedd hi ddim yn rant am neuaddau myfyrwyr swanc bellach, ond yn hytrach yn fyfyriad ar faint o le gwell fyddai’r byd petaen ni i gyd yn fyfyrwyr rhyngwladol.

Yng ngyd-destun y daeargryn cymdeithasol byd-eang ddechreuodd yn Minneapolis ym mis Mai, mae hi’n ddyletswydd moesol arnom ôll i astudio y rhyngwladol: i wylio’r newyddion fel mai ein stori ni ein hunain yw e, i’w ystyried yn ofalus, i ddysgu ac addasu ein ymddygiad. Dylen ni fod yn yn barod i drochi mewn diwyllianau eraill, yn union fel mae myfyrwyr rhyngwladol City Road yn gwneud.
 
Fe fydd ' Myfyrwyr Rhyngwladol'  ar gael yn ddigidol i’w ffrydu a’i lawrlwytho o’r manau arferol.
 
Gwyliwch nhw ddim cweit yn fyw - 

Medi 10-12 – Gwyl Ddigidol Waves Vienna
Hydref - ‘Out of Focus’ Gwyl Ddigidol Focus Wales
 
Gwyliwch yn ôl:  

HMS Morris live from Cultvr Lab Cardiff -   https://www.cultvr.cymru/hmsmorris/  

.. .

Ani Glass announces her new ' Ynys Araul'  EP released through  Recordiau Neb  on the 11th of September. As well as the title track it includes three new remixes; one by electronic legends  OMD,  plus versions   by  Seka  and  Venus on the Half Shell.  

'Ynys Araul'  is lifted from Glass' debut album  MIRORES   which was released this spring to a very warm reception. In August it was also announced as the Welsh Language Album of the Year at this year's National Eisteddfod resulting in the  BBC National Orchestra of Wales  performing two of her songs.

'Ynys Araul'  (which means  'Serenity' ) is woven with Glass's infectious yet ethereal vocals and haunting melodies, underpinned by kaleidoscopic synths and rolling mechanical loops. Glass says  "Ynys Araul is not only about love and loss but also expands on the album's overall themes of movement and progress. It discusses how our memories and emotions are often connected to certain places and presents the bewildering impact of development on your sense of self when those places change or disappear."   

With its tapestry of electronic sounds, MIRORES takes us on a journey around her hometown of Cardiff. You can hear Ani’s recorded sounds of the urban landscape throughout; the movement of traffic and people and the magical yet infrequent sounds of nature coming together to create the score of a city’s symphony. All of which – especially at present - seem like a distant memory, adding a certain sense of nostalgia to the album.   

MIRORES also represents Ani’s first foray into production having been inspired by her experience of working with  Martin Rushent  during her time as member of indie-pop group  The Pipettes . Glass' sound is inspired by many leading electronic and avant-garde artists and producers of the 1980s including  Giorgio Moroder, Vangelis, Jean-Michel Jarre  and  Arthur Russell  whilst the album’s wider themes are inspired in part by the works of abstract painter Agnes Martin and the author and activist Jane Jacobs.   

"Ani’s tracks draw from dancey electro-pop, with production that’s sharp and clean, pushing shimmering vocals and bright synths to the forefront." Dazed   

"A super-sweet electro-pop stomper with some stunning choral vocal work and a soaring chorus to melt even the stoniest of hearts." The Quietus

Cardiff based musical collective Ghostlawns release their second single 'Ffoi' (pronounced ph- o-ee) digitally through Bandcamp and streaming services on 4 September 2020, taken from their forthcoming debut album 'Motorik' (30 October 2020).

'Ffoi' (which means “flee”) features motoric guitar riffs, ambient synth waves and vocals with live drums to offer a contrasting sound to the band’s debut single, 'Breaking Out'.

Ghostlawns have featured at showcase festivals including Focus Wales and Swn and have contributed songs for the Hope Not Hate and Iechyd Da (Gorky's Zygotic Mynci tribute) compilation albums.

Ghostlawns have finished recording their debut album 'Motorik' with Charlie Francis (REM, Robyn Hitchcock), which will be released via SUB Records on 30th October 2020.

Their first single 'Breaking Out and album taster “Y Gorwel” received radio play on the BBC, and across the UK, US, Canada, France, Germany and Italy.

They are all active members of the Welsh music scene, playing in bands including Right Hand Left Hand, Gulp, Gentle Good, Cotton Wolf, Manchuko and with Can legend Damo Suzuki.

Album Sampler:  https://soundcloud.com/ghostlawns/sets/motorik-album-sampler

Web: https://www.ghostlawns.net/

Social media:

https://www.facebook.com/GhostlawnsCF

https://twitter.com/ghostlawnsCF

https://www.instagram.com/ghostlawnscf/