A St David's Day to remember

Feb 29 2008 by Huw Stephens, Western Mail

I AM excited by two wonderful records at the moment.

The first is the debut album by Eitha Tal Ffranco called Os Ti’n Ffosil. It translates into If You’re a Fossil and is a good indicator of the weird and wonderful lo-fi pop tunes on offer here.

Gruff and Daf from the band are still in school and have set up their own label, Klep Dim Trep, to release this. A brilliant move and a brilliant debut album to kick things off.

The other essential Welsh record is Truckers of Husk’s debut EP, Physical Education, on My Kung Fu records. Hywel from Truckers was a guest on my C2 show this week and described their sound as “sharp”. Check out it when they play Clwb Ifor in Cardiff on March 6.

Last weekend I was in Italy – in Fano to be exact. My friend, Kiko, was staging a concert in the beautiful Teatro della Fortuna in memory of Dani Piccoli. Both Dani and Kiko would travel far and wide to see bands play so the concert was a fitting tribute to her. Dani thought Martin Carr from the Boo Radleys, and later Brave Captain, was a musical genius. Martin played a few of his old songs, including Wish I Was Skinny, a favourite of Dani’s. He has completed a new album which he is releasing in the near future.

El Goodo from Resolven also played in Fano and they are about to release their second album. Dani and Kiko met them and fell for their exciting ’60s-influenced rock ’n’ roll.

Tonight I’ll be at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London where a host of Welsh groups are playing. Genod Droog, Radio Luxembourg, Mr Huw, Pagan Wanderer Lu and MC Mabon are all on the bill, and there will be electronic laptop sets by Evils, Stabmaster Vinyl and Pappy. It’s a St David’s Day eve gig – and Leap Day too – so who knows what might happen. There’s a big gig at Hendre Hall, just outside Bangor, tonight with singer-songwriter Dan Amor and new North Wales band Mudflaps among the artists playing.

Cerys Matthews continues her tour of Wales in Anglesey tomorrow night, and there’s a big night of new bands at Lampeter Uni, while Genod Droog and the aforementioned Eitha Tal Ffranco play Clwb Ifor Bach in the capital.