FOCUS WALES: DAY TWO
Although I’m focussing mostly on the music in these blogs, Focus Wales is much more than just a festival. The conference side is incredibly important, with most mornings made up of meetings, mixers, informative panels and talks. There’s also films and art which I’m yet to explore (though they’re on my list). I’m not going to go into too much detail on that side of things, but thought it was important to mention.
Sadly I missed Paris Pick in the morning who I’d been quite excited to see (largely thanks to this tune), and although I have to shout out a respectable Larynx Entertainment selection of Welsh Rap music (of which local rap crew Lizzi£ Squad - bizarrely named in tribute to Queen Elizabeth - bought the biggest energy), it actually took a while yesterday until I found what I was looking for, but when I did it was all worth it.
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I’d actually met Minas the day before, he’d been at a number of shows checking out other artists. Not only that, but a number of great Welsh artists have told me recently that he’s been producing their music. I arrived when he was in full flow, the rather polite and reserved person I’d met previously was now a fired up ball of energy. Backed by a DJ and bassist, Minas was out front in the crowd, busting moves, pacing the floor with determination and spitting out angsty raps, rants and poetry in a Cardiff accent, to driving Hip-hop and experimental electronic beats.
It’s not so easy to pick out all of the elements that feed into the Minas sound. He’s sporting Johnny Cash socks and a Wasted Youth T Shirt, but when asked tells me that Deftones and Burial are his biggest influences, which makes total sense. Either way, I’d say Post Punk is the closest catch all description I’d use, although I recommend going to see him and judging for yourself.
No rest for the wicked, Minas was also up on stage playing keys and providing beats for Luke RV a short while later. Luke is one of the most talked about new artists on the Welsh rap scene and certainly one to watch. His slightly sung rhyme style sits beautifully over Minas’ production as they go through a selection of singles and songs from Luke’s debut album ‘Going Nowhere’. I actually caught him at Focus Wales a couple of years back but just as a guest on Murkage’s set, this is definitely his time to shine though.
Sadly, with so many great artists, there are always going to be clashes and so I only managed to catch a snippet of both: Hannah Willwood, whom I’ve seen every year here and enjoyed watching her artistic progression; and The Breath, whom I love probably more than anyone else on the line up, but have seen them a few times now so had to make the sacrifice. Shame as both artists were performing in the St Gilles Parish Church, an incredible 16th Century example of ecclesiastical architecture. Sadly the duo had been cut in half due to covid and Ríoghnach was making the very best of a bad situation with a video of Stuart playing guitar on one side of the stage and Ellis, her romantic partner and fellow Honeyfeet band member on the other. If you’re in Bristol tonight then I highly recommend going to see Ríoghnach and Ellis at Lost Horizon.
My highlight of the evening came from a young singer called Mauvey. I’d not actually noticed him on the line up and thankfully bumped into him earlier in the day. We had met previously over zoom when I gave a guest lecture to a Tileyard course he was taking over lockdown, I’d been very much impressed with the music he’d sent me afterwards so I was excited to see him perform live, rightfully so it turned out.
Born in Ghana and raised in Southampton, he had rather ironically entered the festival as a Canadian export artist after moving over there last year (or perhaps even earlier this year). It’s hard for me to describe the sound to you or even put into words the power of his performance but the comparable artists that came to mind whilst watching him were Future Islands, Moses Sumney and Young Fathers, so in short, this guy is definitely a credible star in the making!
After only managing to catch a little of John (might have to catch up with their new album which is released today) who were undoubtedly rocking the place, I finished the night with: Stealing Sheep, an engaging electro pop trio whose white suits, blue and yellow veils and glowing purple eyes made them look like trippy evil Donald Ducks. At one point I remember describing the experience as being like “watching Bananarama in a K Hole” but I’m not sure how fair that description is; and then finally Gallops, one of Wrexham’s finest musical exports, who were bloody brilliant. My memory is a little hazy by this point, one of the bonuses of having a music conference in Wrexham is the bar prices (£5 for a double G&T) and the place was absolute bedlam by that time of night. But I remember them sounding like the soundtrack to the best science fiction action thriller I’d never seen.
If you’re here at Focus Wales today (Friday), then don’t miss my Kaptin Selects showcase from 11:30pm. It was due to be at the Town Square venue but for reasons too long to go into here they had to rather urgently move the whole venue last night to Penny Black (Abbot St, Wrexham LL11 1TA) so hopefully see you there instead!
