FOCUS WALES: DAY FOUR
I feel like I should have a proper movie style tagline for this post: The Final Push; Out With A Bang; The Wrexham Wrap Up; or perhaps The End and The Beginning is best suited, due to the fact I shall be leaving here with much more than just sore feet and a hangover. I’m fully inspired by this long weekend, it’s given me an even greater fire in my belly to champion the music back home in Wales, as well as introduced me to a whole host of great bands, rappers, singers, producers, promoters, journalists, funders, bookers, visual artists, sound technicians, and all round passionate music industry folk across the board. I have no doubt that many of the meetings and late night chats (and rants) had will lead to some great things in future. I do bloody love a good music conference and despite it’s relatively humble size, Focus Wales always manages to be one of my favourites. So which particular acts did I choose to soundtrack this finale? Let me guide you through a few of my favourites one last time.
Like Mauvey, I first met The Honest Poet on a guest lecture over zoom during lockdown, although unlike most times I meet young artists in that way, I’d already been following his progress and enjoying his music. I was yet to see him live however and so was excited to see him perform yesterday. I was right to be, although a lot more laid back than a Mauvey show, his voice during singles ‘Purpose’ and ‘Red Light’ gave me my first and only goosebumps moment here. I remember him saying on Zoom that he felt confident he could rock up to any stage with his guitar and play a great impromptu show (we were talking about taking opportunities when they come, he wasn’t just giving it the big un) and after this I believe him. It’s definitely pop music, in the Hip-hop and RNB bracket for sure, but his perfect support slow would probably be an Ed Sheeran show. However there’s a genuine sincerity and obvious passion that shines through. In fact, I almost don’t want to see him picked up and polished into a pop star but he most certainly could be if anyone was savvy enough to be looking at South Wales.
Proving yesterday’s theory that when you see Minas on stage it’s going to be a good show, next up was Razkid… Actually before we go into that let’s talk about Minas again quickly, he produced a number of songs for The Honest Poet and for some reason I forgot to mention seeing Ophelia Xerri yesterday, she was great and he produced her new EP too. I couldn’t say how many other artists here he’s been producing for (neither could he cos I asked), but he’s definitely at the centre of something special happening in South Wales at the moment, keep an eye on him for sure.
Razkid is another artist I’ve not been 100% convinced by on his recorded material but live the energy is on point and it helps the tunes to really shine. It’s mostly Grime with a touch of Hip-hop, though his latest single ‘Dopamine’ with Luke RV (who joins him on stage for it) is a much more laid back affair and hits the spot just as well.
Calming all that fired up testosterone in the room, Unity bought some warm energy and positive vibes alongside fellow Ladies Of Rage: Cara Elise; Missy G; and St Bernadette. Unity is a Hip-hop all rounder with both breakdancing and graf in her skill set alongside the rapping (I can’t remember if she DJs too, but probably). The music definitely reflects that heritage with some smooth boom bap flavours.
I actually took a break from the tunes early afternoon and dipped into the festivals Film selection for a creepy psychological thriller-horror called Censor. I won’t say too much about it as it’s worth watching but it keeps you guessing and it captures the bleakness of 80s Britain really well.
Another absolute stand out set and one that a number of other artists were excited for, was Mace The Great (and oh look, there’s Minas on stage again!). If there was one rapper from Wales who should be all over BBC 1Xtra and talked about more within Grime circles it’s Mace (no disrespect to the other rappers who are just as deserving, it’s just the excitement talking). His EP ‘My Side Of The Bridge’ is one of the stand out releases of this year and has been played more than any other Grime release by me. His sound is unique and also super club friendly as I proved the night before when I played ‘Brave’ in that very same venue. The reaction then was nothing compared to seeing it performed live though, it was so hype he played it twice, more if you include reloads.
Trials of Cato are one of the most exciting new(ish) bands on the Folk circuit right now. They picked up a BBC Folk Award for their debut album in 2019 and since the addition of Polly Bolton who stepped in to replace Will Addison, they have been popping up on my radar even more. I actually booked them for Wilderness this year but sadly I had Covid and couldn’t go! I was looking forward to making up for it at St Gilles on Saturday evening, but given the sit down nature of this particular show and the ecclesiastical venue we got something of a subdued set in comparison to a big festival stage. Not that they weren’t excellent of course, I love the way that Polly seems to have added an Indie Pop element to their already fresh rootsy sound, and her voice is gorgeous.
With one or two of the band having roots in Wrexham, this was something of a homecoming show and you could tell from the huge queue outside when we turned up. I wish I could have stuck around to catch the whole thing but the show was 20 minutes late starting and I had to shoot off in time to catch the start of Kelly Lee Owens.
The reason I wanted to catch the whole of Kelly’s set is I walked in half way through at Green Man and just couldn’t catch the vibe, however I knew given the right time and circumstances she was an artist I would appreciate, and I was right. Her show was otherworldly, and I loved the way it progressed from floating ethereal goddess vibes to stomping techno rave up. The visuals were top notch too, in fact the whole performance was hypnotising, plus this was also a homecoming of sorts as it’s the first time Kelly, who was born and raised up the road in Rhuddlan, had performed in North Wales.
Although Mace The Great might be hype right now and deservedly so, Benji Wild is definitely the elder statesman of the Welsh Grime scene here this weekend and he isn’t about to get upstaged easily, even though he graciously says he won’t get mad if anyone wants to leave and catch KingKhan’s set over the road. It’s a killer clash and I do dip out to catch a little of KingKhan who from what we caught and what I know already, has a respectable repertoire of uplifting, honest and unpretentious Hip-hop based material. However me and Benji go way back and I managed his old crew Astroid Boys at the start of their journey. They are the biggest Welsh Grime act to have come out of Wales so far, although some might debate that due to the fact they had so many elements such as Punk and Metal to their sound. It’s good to hear Benji playing their track ‘Foreigners’ and his new solo tunes all sounded wicked live. Like Mace and a few others from the South Wales scene his tracks aren’t overly derivative, he definitely has his own sound and style going on and although that might be a hinderance in an industry that often likes to put you in a box (especially with Black artists it seems), it makes for much better listening. That said, his latest clash track in response to K9, Cadell and his brother Wiley who (as usual) kicked off the trouble, is straight up classic sounding Grime. Check it out below.
Another artist who isn’t so easily boxed in is Shao Dow. I first chatted to him back in the noughties when he would send me music for Chrome Kids and ever since he’s never quite been accepted by the UK Hip-hop or Grime scenes. As a self confessed geek, it seems he’s found a global following in Nerdcore however and having been trained in Kung-fu by Shaolin Monks he has to be one of the coolest nerds in class. At one point in his set the nunchucks come out and he shows as much skill with those as he does with his rhymes (that’s expert levels in case you were wondering).
Shao Dow is also a Manga Author and that spills out into his rhymes and show as he sports a boars head for ‘Inosuke Riddim’, a tribute to Inosuke Hashibira from Demon Slayer. He can also rap in Japanese as well as English, basically if you love Hip-hop, Grime, Kung Fu and Anime this is your dude, but even if you just love one of those things there’s plenty to enjoy in a Shao Dow show.
Sadly catching Shao Dow meant I got to Gruff Rhys’ show late and I was too far at the back to enjoy it properly, so I headed back over to Penny Black to catch Llarregub Brass Band (I never stop being amused by their name which is of course a tribute to the Dylan Thomas classic ‘Under Milk Wood’) who put on a great show as always, pulling in long time collaborator Mr Phormula (I knew he’d turn up somewhere) and some great guests from their new album, ‘Pwy Sy'n Galw?’ which is a tribute to Big Leave’s Welsh language classic from 2000. Their collaborative highlights aside from Phormula were Eädyth, Tara Bethan and a young singer whose name I shamefully can’t remember but turns out we both lived in the same house about a decade apart.
Next year Focus Wales will be back to their usual May dates, I urge all artists to apply for it and even if you don’t get to perform it’s worth grabbing a ticket or even just hanging out and trying to catch the various industry people who might be able to give you a helping hand in your career. I know so many acts who made some great connections this year, fingers crossed it means a solid step up for a lot of Welsh musicians in particular. Hopefully see you there in 2022.
