Gwyl Pili Pala festival hits the streets of Swansea

There are now only a few days to go before the inaugural Gwyl Pili Pala festival hits the streets of Swansea, with over 50 welsh artists performing, as well as a diverse literary roster, music and literary workshops and quizzes, sessions and much loveliness packed into 6 different venues across the city centre and Uplands areas of the city. There are loads of exciting musicians and writers performing over the weekend, with over 50 bands, including Masters in France, Cut Ribbons, Fjords, Laurence Made Me Cry, Denuo, Greta Isaac and Winter Villains, to name just a few.

There are also literary workshops at Dylan Thomas’ birthplace and a few festival exclusives - in particular The Revelator Orchestra on Friday night is one to look out for, being the first UK performance of Peter Murphy's literary reading-cum-musical act, who've been described as "combining the weirdness of Poe with the coolness of the Beats over a soundtrack that might’ve been created by the Velvet Underground". 

The festival is hoping to inspire Swansea's music scene in the same way the hugely successful Swn festival has done for Cardiff. Festival organiser Angela Muir says "the strength of the line up proves Swansea can do this kind of event - bands like The Adelines and Cut Ribbons on the bill are from Swansea and West Wales,  and we hope that other artists, teenagers just playing around on the guitar from around here will take notice and be inspired by the fact the festival is on their doorstep."

Those two bands have released singles on Jen Long's (Radio 1) Kissability records, and there's also a See Monkey Do Monkey Records stage, with Houdini Dax, Fist of the First Man and Houdini Dax performing on Friday night. There's also welsh language acts, and a varied genre mix, from headliners Masters in France's poppy math-rock, Fist of the First Man's throbbing, cinematic electronica and Laurence Made Me Cry's electronically filtered twee-folk.

Tickets are just £15 for a two day pass, giving you access to all 6 venues, including St James' Church, cafes, traditional gig venues and even Dylan Thomas' birthplace. All ticket sales go towards funding the work of WGCADA, a South Wales drink & drug abuse charity which is based just minutes away from most the venues.

"End Of Level Boss Music" Interview with Percy Filth.

 

 This ones for all you RSI sufferers, do your finger exercises and start bashing those buttons! Released as a joint venture on two Hip Hop labels, Eat Good records and Aerosolik, "End Of Level Boss Music", released on the 11th May is a 7 Track EP by Bristol based producer Percy Filth and co-collaborator Mylo Stone featuring a strong list of guests including Rola Roc, Sonnyjim, Kosyne, Juice Aleem, Bva, Eva Lazarus, Split Prophets and Serocee. Percy Filth gives us some insight in to the release out today!

 

EMW: How did "End Of Level Boss Music" come about?

PF: Me and Mylo have been friends for about 10 years through a mutual friend In Scarborough who runs Aerosolik records. We mentioned that we should work on something together but it never really materialised until about 18 months ago when I sent some beats to Mylo and he started writing to them.

EMW: So this isn't the first collaboration with Mylo?

PF: This is the 1st full collabo with Mylo Stone. I produced a beat for him maybe 7 years ago when he was part of a crew called the Cohorts but that's as far as it went as we both had our own stuff going on.

The track was called Go, Fly.        

    

EMW: Bristol seems to be a good place for Hip Hop music right now. Would you say there's been a resurgence in the last couple of years or has there always been a strong Hip Hop connection with the city?

PF: Bristol does have a good vibe musically and hip hop is a big part in that. The hip hop scene is very inclusive and welcoming in my experience. I have only been here for 12 months so I am yet to fully osmose into the scene so I can't really comment on how it has been in the past. I didn't come down here for the "scene" but I have been pleasantly surprised by how healthy it seems.

EMW: Birmingham based label Eat Good records are also involved with this release. Did having this connection help with finding guest vocalists for the EP?

PF: I've been involved with Eatgood records since its inception as I am close friends with Redbeard, Sonny and Kosyne. Obviously it helped get sonny and Kosyne on there as it made good sense for them to be involved considering we go back maybe 8 years and we share similar tastes and experiences. The clout that me and Mylo both brought to this project enabled us to get some great guest slots. We both have previous releases that people have heard or know about so people were pretty keen to get involved.

EMW: It's a strong selection of guest vocalists. Do you have a stand out track?

PF: For me the stand out track is "Raise the Bar" Mainly down to it being a turning point in the on going development of my production skills. It was a new direction that I wanted to go in musically and it payed off. Plus the emcees ride it really well and eva's strepsil smooth vocals really round the song off as a full package. Lots of movement, change and surprise.

EMW: I read somewhere that you've recently upgraded your studio. What's the main piece of equipment for you when writing beats?

PF: The only real upgrade I did was to kill my old P.C and copy of Cubase sx2 and freshen up my shit with a macbook pro and a copy of ableton. I don't need much kit, just a midi keyboard and a launchpad as a midi surface that I can also use with the ableton clip screen.

EMW: Do you have any advice for anyone wanting to start making beats?

PF: Yea, be brave, try things out, explore and experiment being yourself. Develop a style/sound and run with it. Never stop being a fan/listener as you will stagnate.

EMW: Solid advice! How can listeners hear more of your work?

PF: By visiting here. http://percyfilth.bandcamp.com/ 

EMW: Are you doing live shows at the moment?

PF: No not at the moment but you can catch me and mylo at this years boombap festival with the rest of the Eatgood crew.

EMW: How can people get in touch with you?

PF: If peeps have anything they want to ask me then just hit me up on Facebook or on Twitter @PhilthyPurse

Illbilly Hitec - Reggaetronics

The summer is here and festivals are starting to blossom up out of the ground all around us! One group who featured on the reggae circuit last year and even managed to squeeze in a slot at one of our nights are Berlin based group Illbilly Hitec. A little while ago they sent me their much anticipated debut album 'Reggaetronics' to review. A mixture of live drum breaks, dub fx, basslines to vibrate your bones and guest vocalists such as Lonfingah, Jah Jah Man, Ce'Cile and Lady N . It's an album that needs a big system, a sunny day and a smiling crowd. Take a listen and make sure you buy yourself a copy!

 

This is going to be on repeat this Summer in so many sound systems across the world! Dubmatix are here on remix duties of one of my favorite tracks 'Higher Calling' Ft Longfingah. Check it out >>>
 

Check out Illbilly Hitec and Lonfingah with the Dub master Lee 'Scratch' Perry >>>

   

WHATEVER YOU DO THIS SUMMER MAKE SURE YOU PUT SOME ILLBILLY HITEC ON! PEACE AND LOVE

Metabeats ft. Vanity Jay - Passport

Dripping in Soul, Metabeats track 'Passport' featuring singer Vanity Jay is a Neo Soul classic with Summertime hit written all over it. EMW catch up with Huw Caddy, the man behind the retro video that accompanies the song. 

MW:  So how did the project come about?

H: I've been working with the Associated Minds label for quite a bit. We've collaborated on quite a few video projects over the past few years and so they’re my bro’s now. One day I was at the studio, Metabeats was there tweaking this amazing sounding 80’s tune, which was going on his forthcoming 2nd album ‘Caviar Crackle’ so we just got talking over an idea for a video. As the last one was the amazing ‘Eyeseeyou’ which dealt with some strong issues. 

So he wanted to mix it up and follow through the theme of the whole retro vibe, which had the fun, funkyness to it and that just gave me some amazing scope to play with some ideas.

We had a few sessions where we just sat down and all watched a bunch of classic videos from back then to act as inspiration and get a loose idea of what we were both happy with, then I took it on from there. We wanted to use a VHS Camera from the get go to get the authentic look, so it was a definite challenge to work with footage & a camera that was over 30 years old which took actual VHS tapes! I’m super pleased with the outcome and a few people asked me where I got the stock footage from, so my job was done.

"Film and make as much as you can, meet people with similar interests and don't work for free!" 

EMW: What other projects are you working on?

H: The projects I'm currently working one are:

Another music video for Associated Minds produced by PLO with raps from Sonny Jim & Ralph Rip Sh!t entitled 'Bongproof' which is gonna have some visual niceness to it and not being your average hip hop video... hopefully should be dropping in the next few weeks, so keep an eye out for that one.

A few mini visual teasers aka Blipverts for BadTaste records out of Sheffield/LDN. check them out, as their putting out some amazing sounds.

A pilot vid for AM which involves a beat making collaboration session mixed with some gourmet cooking from yours truly called  'Taco Tuesday'

A music video for a track off Sonny Jim's forthcoming album and few other music video’s & bits in the early stages of planning, so looking forward to cracking on with those.

EMW:  Any advice for budding film makers?

Film and make as much as you can, meet people with similar interests and don't work for free!

Help Sonia (Push Promotions) Find a Bone Marrow Donor

Some of my first experiences of electronic dance music came through the outstanding label, Botchit & Scarper. They have been behind some of the best breakbeat records released ever! The Urban Funk Breaks compilation is a great introduction to the label. Mixed by SOTO and featuring an array of bass laden tracks designed to tear the face off of any dancefloor. One half of SOTO is Sonia (Sonia Push Promotions) who last year started getting in touch with music and interview opportunities. I managed to hook up with Memory 9 and bass warrior Freq Nasty because of Sonia and I am very grateful for this. Recently the very sad news that Sonia has Leukemia came through on social streams and in email. The dance music community have united to find Sonia a donor. 

http://www.savesonia.co.uk/

Please register today with www.anthonynolan.org.uk. I registered and it was as easy as spitting in a tube. Please share with friends and family and help the dance music community save one of their hardest working DJs and Promoters. Mixed race are especially important . Please share! FACEBOOK PAGE >>> https://www.facebook.com/HelpSonia <<<

If you are in London on the 28th March. There will be a dance music extravaganza with some of the best names in the business putting on a fundraiser at The Egg Club. FUNDRAISER EVENT PAGE

Live footage of EMW & Word Of Mouth: RLD Records Showcase

Gentleman's Dub Club come to Cardiff tomorrow on their UK tour!

Tomorrow night the capital will play host to one of the finest bands of the festival season the Gentleman's Dub Club! Now fully on their way into the High Grade tour after a huge Summer, GDC will be performing at The Globe, Cardiff on Tuesday 27th November. Tickets are still available from http://gentlemansdubclubglobecardiff.eventbrite.com/. With support from West Wales band Regime and DJ sets from Kaptin IsDead, Optimystic and Aacralystic. If you are in or around the Capital tomorrow night come along! It's going to be a banger. Tickets will be £12 all night!! Big love x

Tickets £12 All night