Jamie Posted April 24, 2007 Report Share Posted April 24, 2007 Gruff RhysHaving coined his first song, Im Getting Old, at the ripe old age of five, (it was the tale of a train driver contemplating his demise), wily Welsh pop warlock Gruff Rhys has since become synonymous with technicolour army tanks, fifty-foot bears, and myriad hits with bonkers techno-rockers Super Furry Animals. Now moonlighting with an ace solo dodge (and backing band), Rhys current album, Candylion is the follow up to 2005s Welsh-language, wide-eyed wig-out, Yr Atal Genhedlaeth. Its a haunting, nostalgic, bucolic wonder, whose theses straddle Patagonian Spanish, desktop publishing, and Micronesian mammals.Offering a swooning, shorn and loveable correlative to the Super Furries' bounding, bountiful psych-pop, Rhys autonomous acid-folk grooves are adorned with raggedy rock and puckish verse and cranky guitars and toy-box electro: all of which warmly conspire to ensure that Rhys' verdant endeavours both live and on record continue to be met with ardour.EspersTransmitting directly from a parallel planet wherein Linda Perhacs fronts the Velvets, the Cocteau Twins are woven from hemp, and Faun Fables bludgeon warlocks to death, Philadelphias Espers are a magic(k) fantasy folk contingent of festive bells and witches tales: of unearthly gifts of black and gold and Frankincense and mirth.A giddy sextet from Floyd-via-Fairport, their lavish current album, Espers II, is a languid, droning, glorious tract whose benevolent charms span the 1970s, the middle ages, mummified wig-outs and lurid, futuristic psalms: stand-out tracks include Dead Queen like Venus in Furs as imagined by virgins; like Stairway to Heaven as plucked by a morgue and the brilliant, funereal lilt of Dead King a claustrophobic madrigal ballad that demands a long night of your life alone.Espers are lush, otherworldly and wonderful.Boom BipIts a handshake between a beggar and a duke. Its electronic music for cowboys. Its sandbox for baby robots to play in. So raves erstwhile Triptych funambulist Buck 65, viz the soaring aural canvas of jazz-fuelled, groove-lubed DJ, producer and performance artist Boom Bip: aka Cincinnati hip-hop experimentalist and acid funketeer Bryan Hollon. He's recorded for arch imprints Lex and Mush; he's remixed Mogwai, Four Tet and Jamie Lidell (amongst others); he's unearthed myriad genre-melding treasures since the late 1990s: not least exquisite, diaphanous ballad, The Matter (with spellbinding chanteuse Nina Nastasia); and the disarming, string-drawn, dawn-chorus of Dos and Donts, which features the vocals and lyrics of Super Furry Animals sorcerer Gruff Rhys with whom the exuberant Boom Bip is set to further collaborate in 2007.Euros ChildsA barking, bucolic, electro-pop harlequin whose erstwhile gaggle, Gorkys Zygotic Mynci, flogged gorgeous, oddball, toy-box anthems, Euros Childs is a skewed, elegiac, charming bard: his Welsh and English language psalms of donkeys, sheriffs, girls and pygmies are divine. His live appearances, meanwhile, are bedecked with unexpected treats. Childs latest solo enterprise, Bore Da (Wichita) the follow-up to last years offbeat treasure, Chops is due for release in the Spring: expect a congenial compendium of pastoral ecstasy and addled arias, from the king of kitsch disco and lunatic, lo-fi pop.http://www.triptychfestival.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Cynic Posted April 24, 2007 Report Share Posted April 24, 2007 I'm going to this to see Espers, ...just hope I don't miss them, as I'll be at Terry Riley earlier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biz Posted April 28, 2007 Report Share Posted April 28, 2007 Gruff RhysIf he dyed his beard grey ,Gruff Rhys could go on Stars in your eyes as Wayne Coyne oot o The Flaming Lips .He is a star, he gave me a mug wi a lion on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brymon Posted April 28, 2007 Report Share Posted April 28, 2007 So wiz at you standin just ootside the door shoutin "He gave me a Mug, He gave Me a Mug"?!?! Or something along that lines, i was a bit pished!(still am i think)I was speaking to him just before i left, he drew a picture of himself on my ticket!!!Top bloke, I got in just as Espers came on, really enjoyed them aswell. Gruff was outstanding though i really enjoyed his set! First time i had seen him too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
all_his_engines Posted April 28, 2007 Report Share Posted April 28, 2007 Both Espers and Gruff Rhys were absolutely superb, although it would have helped if 3/4 of the venue had not been conducting loud conversations during their sets rather than listening to the music. www.myspace.com/nopasaran1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirkt Posted April 29, 2007 Report Share Posted April 29, 2007 Gig of the year for me. All 4 acts were fantastic! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
french_disko Posted April 30, 2007 Report Share Posted April 30, 2007 Both Espers and Gruff Rhys were absolutely superb, although it would have helped if 3/4 of the venue had not been conducting loud conversations during their sets rather than listening to the music. www.myspace.com/nopasaran1yeah, I was standing next to someone who was talking to a girl all the way through Espers - I eventaully politely asked them to be a bit quieter as all i could make out was their conversation. I was three rows from the front at this point.....Anyway, espers finished and I'm confronted by a bloke demanding to know who'd told his girlfriend to shut up. Twat. only in aberdeen eh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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