Nov 15 2008 4:00 pm, Pic: Karen Toftera

Sŵn 08: Kate Wellham

Various Venues, Cardiff

14-16/11/08

 

The only time I’d visited Cardiff before this weekend, I was bundled into a warehouse where men covered in green paint were climbing the rafters like monkeys, in the name of art. Then I went to get chips that were far too salty, and then I left. In fact, I may as well not have bothered visiting Cardiff in the first place, for the insight that first visit gave me. So, even though it was my second time in Cardiff, technically, I was as excited as if I were going to Foreign for the first time.

 

The journey to Sŵn itself made for a good start; initially disappointed at having no magazines to read, we soon meet a genuine trainspotter who talks to us about trains, and even expands into the bus area, for more than an hour, although it does seem like it lasts the entire six-hour journey, so we definitely get our money’s worth.

 

Gigs on Saturday night having already started, we plunge straight into Cardiff nightlife as soon as we get off the train, heading, of course, for the Barfly. There we find Broken Records, an energetically mournful Celtic bunch, and a great introduction to Wales, despite the fact that they’re from Scotland, and sound Irish. Trying to think of names for this hot new genre, we settle on ‘Mickemo’, before thinking that sounds a bit shady and deciding never to mention it in any way ever again, especially in print.

 

Later on, in the same venue, we catch some of Amazing Baby, from Brooklyn. Amazing would be a strong description for them (unless any of them are actually babies, in which case they’re doing amazingly well with their facial hair). However, they’re tight, fun to watch, and easy on the ear – we pick out strains of Stone Roses and BRMC during a decent set.

 

On Sunday, we have a nosy at a couple of the ‘In Transit’ sessions, in which Emma from The Fly crams unsuspecting musicians from Cardiff into the back of her transit van to film them doing an acoustic set, literally ‘in transit’. More of that round these parts in due course.

 

Anyway, this is how we get to see Little My at close quarters. Every time we go to a festival we consider it a duty to come away with at least one new band to stalk, and at Sŵn it is Little My – from the fluffy animal ears to the glockenspiel, to the sheer effort that must be involved with getting ten people to agree to practise at the same time, we’re impressed. They’re nice enough to stay stacked in the back of the van for long enough after their session for us to interview them for a bit, and we hope to see them live at some point in the future, when they can breathe.

 

The other biggie today is Goldie Lookin Chain, who entertain the crowd who have turned up to The Point for the 80s prom style closing party, many in very high quality fancy dress. For all GLC’s gimmick and swagger, it takes talent for this many people to remember that many words, and deliver them with two-level comedic effect, plus carefully choreographed dance routines. As Eggsy explains to us afterwards, when asked why they’ve been away for so long, “the words, they flow like water… it’s just the dancing, that’s what takes so long”.

 

I’m pleased to announce that, rather than men covered in green paint climbing all over the ceiling, I can now say that my renewed lasting impression of Cardiff is a couple on stilts, bobbing precariously to an eight-strong comedy rap act, beneath a huge mirrorball, while Rhys Ifans watches from the balcony. At last, I have seen the real Cardiff.

 

Kate Wellham

« Back