´óÏó´«Ã½

This week's show is my three hour mixtape of the best Welsh sounds it has been my pleasure to play in 2010. I played over 1200 different pieces of music in the last 12 months. Trimming those down to less than 60 was an enormously difficult challenge. I've left things on the cutting room floor that I love dearly: great songs or pieces of music from the likes of , Exit International, D.E.R. Collective, Ookami, , Drains, , , Evariste Galoise, and many more. These are the names branded into my conscience, but the surfeit of excellent music that is missing is empirical evidence that it has been a Very Good Year Indeed.

/iplayer/episode/b00wsqmg/Adam_Walton_26_12_2010

I hope it's an intriguing snapshot of the Welsh music the show has celebrated this year. It's moulded entirely by my subjective tastes, of course. These are my favourite Welsh sounds of the year not an attempt to present you with an all-encompassing Best Welsh Music of 2010. I'd be intrigued to hear what you would have included. There's plenty of space in the comments section below!

And so the search for the most interesting and original Welsh talent continues into 2011. If you have any music you're particularly proud of, or you've heard something incredible at a friend's house or at a recent gig, please share your excitement. Demos should be sent as download links or .mp3's to: themysterytour@gmail.com and you can post CD's / vinyl to:

Adam Walton
´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Wales
Library and Arts Centre
Rhosddu Road
Wrexham
LL11 1AU

I'm (still) particularly interested to hear from artists in Mid Wales. Looking at the geographical scope of the show, that is the major blindspot and I'd love to redress that next year.

2011 looks set to be an amazing year at ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Wales: Radio Wales Music Day 2 will be officially announced early in the new year; Bethan Elfyn's Saturday evening show is a great showcase for Welsh talent and the Evening Show, Frank Hennessy and the playlist in general provide even more opportunities for Welsh artists. I can't wait to hear the surprises - the hitherto unknown musical visionaries - who are around the many hidden corners of the next 12 months.

Back to this week's mixtape. I do think that what is contained therein is fascinating, imaginative and inspirational. I hope you feel the same way.

Happy New Year / Blwyddyn Newydd Dda!

(Aberystwyth)
Cambrian Sky

(Prestatyn)
Fyodor

(Cardiff)
Aubade

(Anglesey)
Island Living

(Bangor)
Up And Down

(Cardiff)
Awesome Tapes From Africa

(Bangor)
Long Finger

(Wales)
St. Martin

(Cardiff)
Is He Really Coming Home?

(Benllech)
Box

(Bethesda)
Shark Ridden Waters

(Cardiff)
Tubby's Intervention

GTFO

(Cardiff)
People Meet People

(Porthmadog)
Creuaduriaid Byw

(Gwynedd)
Undegpump

(Cardiff)
Y Chromosome

(Bethesda)
Love Handle

(Cardiff)
Case Closed

(Cardiff)
Dig Way Down

(Caernarfon)
Greyhound

(Camarthen)
Off Beat

(Llanfairfechan)
1983

(Holyhead)
Mae Dy Ffrindiau (Gyd Am Dy Ladd Di])

(Pembrokeshire)
Beach Party

(Llansteffan)
Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea

(Aberystwyth)
No Mans Land

(Cardiff)
Wilmington

(Ewloe)
Finders Keepers

(Cardiff)
Ringerz

(Cardiff / Swansea)
Something New

(Llangefni)
Hijack

(Barry)
Versek

(Cardiff)
Great Enemies

(Cardiff)
Brother

(originally Wrexham)
Hero

(Llanfairfechan)
Skellington Horse

GARDENING (Llanfairfechan)
Resting On A Planet

(Cardiff)
Business Is Good

(Cardiff)
Mercurial

(Cardiff)
Letter From The Queen

(Cardiff)
Grey On White

(Cardiff)
Whip Around

(Pembrokeshire)
Loving Someone Else

(Newport)
Boomtingz

(Wrexham)
Miami Spider

(Penyffordd)
Wash Where The Needle Has Gone

(Cardiff)
Standing On The Surface

(Cardiff)
Carreg

(Cardiff)
Who Would Have Thought...

(Cardiff)

(Cardiff)
Bubblegum

(Mold)
I Don't Want To See You Like This

(Aberystwyth)
Jean's Therapy

SENSEGUR (Penmachno)
Cyfoeth Gwlyb

(Bangor)
A Radical Song

Alan Thompson had the first play of a Christmas cover recorded exclusively for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Wales by Kids In Glass Houses on his Evening Show last night.

Kayley Thomas from Good Morning Wales has been following the band all year. When she posed the question of recording a Christmas track, she thought they'd find it all a bit naff - but found she couldn't get them into the studio quick enough! The whole band were there, check out drummer Phil on the sleigh bells!

Good Morning Wales' Kayley Thomas has been following the band's progress over the year as part of the programme's Ones to Watch in 2010. She's also been following opera singer Catrin Aur Davies from Beulah, Actress Georgia Henshaw from Swansea to see if they could make it big in 2010.

Catrin was snapped up by Glyndebourne - one of the largest Opera Houses in the UK, and internationally renowned. Georgia starred in Skins (on E4), filmed Sea Monsters (coming out in 2011), Shelfstackers (´óÏó´«Ã½ 2) and got a part on Steve Coogan's new HBO comedy Documental, rapping in a spandex purple leotard!

Kids In Glass Houses released their second album, toured with fellow Welsh rockers Lostprophets, toured in Japan and Australia, got to support their childhood heroes Stereophonics at the first ever gig at Cardiff City Stadium.

They also released Undercover Lover, featuring Frankie from girl group The Saturdays, capped off a phenomenal year with a headline tour and plan to do it all again next year.

The ´óÏó´«Ã½ Cardiff Singer of the World competition now has a presence on Facebook and Twitter, so you can sign up to follow us there for all the latest news.

Be a fan on Facebook:

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Accommodation in Cardiff

If you're planning to come to the competition, there is a wide range of accommodation to suit all tastes and pockets in Cardiff.

Please be aware, however, that there will be a particularly heavy demand for accommodation, as Take That are performing sellout concerts at the Millennium Stadium on Tuesday and Wednesday, 14 and 15 June. The Tourist Information Centre advises booking early – you can check out listings on their or call +44 (0)29 2087 3573.

Don Van Vliet - better known as Captain Beefheart - died at the end of last week. This week's programme is dedicated to his memory and the influence his music has had upon some of Wales' most original, leftfield artists.

Mostly this is a subjective and interpretive exercise: I've never heard Future Of The Left, for example, claim influence from Captain Beefheart; but there's definitely something in the anacrusic, off-kilter guitar patterns that reminds me of the Captain's unpredictable groove. Elsewhere the influence is open and overt: Klaus Kinski and Syd Howells/Steveless have never been backwards in their praise for Van Vliet. So, another master has passed but any sadness has to be tempered by the enduring influence of his remarkable, recorded legacy.

The remainder of the show is the usual celebration of the most fascinating Welsh music to have blessed my inbox in the past week. Some of it is Christmas music. But it is great Christmas music. And on those festive notes, I'd like to wish anyone who has listened to or contributed to the show a very Happy Christmas/Nadolig Llawen. It's been a tremendous year at the coal face of Welsh music. Next week's painstakingly put together Best of 2010 Show should demonstrate that in excelsis.

2011 has a lot to live up to. If you have music you'd like me to support, gigs you'd like me to mention or any thoughts you want to share, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Next week's show is a three hour mix(tape) of my favourite Welsh music from 2010. It features 56 pieces of amazing Welsh music and NO SPEAKING. Well, apart from the occasional station indent so people don't get too queasily lost amongst the maelstrom.

Not speaking means I get to squeeze in a couple more tracks, but it also means you may not have any idea what it is, exactly, you're listening to. The full playlist for the show will be posted on here next week. I may well Tweet it as the show broadcasts (), but that all depends on whether or not I'm in the country or compos mentis.

Thank you so much for your support / diolch yn fawr iawn,

Adam

CAPTAIN BEEFHEART AND THE MAGIC BAND
Steal Softly Thru Snow

(Penarth)
Coventree Carole

(Bangor)
Two Bad

(Llanberis)
Raise You Weapon (switch Fusion Remix)

(Cardiff)
Bones Of A Tiny Bird

(Prestatyn)
When She Wears

(Cardiff)
Little Nick

THE JOY FORMIDABLE (Mold)
Austere (single)

SAMOANS (Cardiff)
Vladimir

(Cardiff / Tredegar)
I Am Weatherproof

(Barry)
Genik Riddim

CAPTAIN BEEFHEART
Tropical Hot Dog Night

FUTURE OF THE LEFT (Cardiff)
Lapsed Catholics

(Bangor)
Prime Plant Locks

(Aberystwyth)
Did You Crash A Car Into Stonehenge Girl?

(Mold-ish)
Lufthansa

(Cardiff)
Dirty Greasy

(Pontardawe)
Happiness Runs (Pebble And The Man)

(Swansea)
I Feel Like I'm Dead

(Newport label)
Goodbye England (Covered In Snow)

(Llangefni/Bala)
Rise

(Caernarfon)
Luminous Nights

(Connah's Quay)
No Romance

(Pembrokeshire)
Candyfloss

(Swansea)
Feel The Sun (Dance With Me)

(Rhyl label)
Daydreamer

CAPTAIN BEEFHEART AND THE MAGIC BAND
Electricity

(Cardiff)
Work It Out

DATBLYGU (Brecon)
Tymer Aspirin

(Cardiff)
Living In Manila

(Swansea)
Vaguely Toxic Paint Stripper [session Track]

(Llanfairfechan)
Happiness Happiness

(Neath)
Falling

(Aberystwyth)
Llyn Conach

Oak Moon

(Caernarfon)
Atgofion Neges Destun

(Cardiff)
Whip Around

(Pembrokeshire)
Loving Someone Else

(Newport)
Boomtingz

THE GREEDIES
A Merry Jingle

(Pembrokeshire)
King Penguin

HELEN LOVE (Swansea)
Merry Christmas (i Don't Want To Fight)

DANCERS (St Asaph / Denbigh)
I Hate The Beach

CAPTAIN BEEFHEART AND THE MAGIC BAND
Old Fart At Play

If you missed the first half of my end-of-year round-up, you can read it here.

- Cliche
Writing chiming, uplifting and memorable radio songs that effortlessly imprint themselves on all manner of peoples' consciousnesses is a rare skill. It's easy to be sniffy about too, especially peered at from the back of a high horse grazing in the leftfield. Paper Aeroplanes are one of Wales' finest exponents of great, easily accessible, heartfelt songwriting. Their craft has earnt them playlist support on Radio 2. Cliche is somewhere between There She Goes by The La's and something that sold trillions in the Corrs' back catalogue.

- How Could I Complain?
Rollicking Van Morrison does Sergio Leone sounds on this début from Penarth's bourbon-voiced songwriter. Unashamedly soulful and heartfelt, it sounds light years away from The Drums, Foals or other attempted resuscitation attempts on 60s reverb twang or 80s aloofness and all the better for it. Obviously.

- No Man's Land
I could have chosen anything off their wonder-filled début album Goodbye Falkenburg... the two singles, Cake and Pony, in particular. But I loved - almost above anything else this year - this joyous tribute (and cover) of Syd Barrett's No Man's Land. It gives a very real insight into the roots and influences behind this most excellent band. And demonstrates their ability to bring a sunshine glow to the darkest corners of the human psyche.

RICHARD JAMES - When You See Me In The Pouring Rain
Woozy, lachrymose, sounding like a Welsh Townes Van Zandt, utterly beguiling and likely to charm psychopaths into charity work. Temporarily, at least. Richard makes effortless, natural music. It just flows out of him and raises the rest of us. Thank you for the elevation, Mr James.

- Case Closed
Big beats and crazed rhymes that make Dr Octagon and Method Man sound like Flanders and Swann. Totally great apart from the fact that the bass has bust two sets of speakers this year. The bill is in the post.

- Grey on White
Febrile, ominous hardcore-ish fuzz that sounds like Fugazi being sucked through a wormhole. There is something massive and pricelessly unpredictable about Saturdays Kids. Unique and thrilling.

- Is He Really Coming Home?
Perfect. Pop. Music.

- Boomtingz
My wish for 2011: that all souped-up Nova boy racers - with woofers megawatted to the square root of their IQ - get exposed to 10 seconds of this totally messed-up bass crunch. Lives would be changed, forever and for the better.

- The Trees Don't Seem To Know That It's September
A lilting ode to the dying embers of summer, probably as a metaphor for a failing relationship. This sounds like something my dearly departed Grandma Walton used to listen to on 78rpm. Which is a very good thing. The tragic thing is that only a tiny handful of people have heard the album this wonderful song is taken from. Another wish for 2011, then, is that Wandermoon gets a full release. Please.

- I Will Break You
One of this band is from Wales, I think. This is a moody skitter along moonlit rooftops soundtracked by off kilter acoustic guitars and a beautiful, but uneasy, female voice that recalls Throwing Muses or Nina Nastasia. Tim Burton would probably try to marry this and give it a starring role in his films.

- Great Enemies
Spencer's greatest achievement with his Episode 2 album wasn't that he managed to put together a shoestring orchestra to fulfil his vision, although his powers of charismatic persuasion and inspiration should be marvelled at, but that the songs on the album are so damned good. Spencer's inspiration is more Gershwin, Reich and Rodgers & Hammerstein than rock 'n' roll. In less cynical and knowing times he might have been acknowledged as something of a genius. This song is about robots and it is ace.

- Tubby's Innovation
This monumental slab of bass has been a staple of my DJ set all year. It's so much more than the token dubstep track. It bridges all the old school reggae I play with a future that throbs with dark, modern strangeness. The vocal sample is perfect, rooting the track in the dub tradition pioneered by the likes of King Tubby. The Large Hadron Collider of Welsh dubstep.

- Letter From the Queen
SNFAS (colloquially shortened to: Sniff Ass, which must have been foreseen?) strip all the flam out of modern rock. There is no pretence, there is only riff. And denim. And a voice that tremulates (a new word, it's the only one that will do) with all the sexual predation of Jerry Lee Lewis at a Texan prom night. It's frantic, exciting and brimful of singer Jimmy's idiosyncratic charisma. Not having a clue what he's singing about is a lot of the fun here. Shaking your head along like a loon constitutes the rest.

- Finders Keepers
In stark contrast to Sniff Ass, Tim and Sam sound like they grew up in a universe far removed from AC/DC, Dinosaur Jr, and Mclusky. Amplifiers do exist in the Tim And Sam Band, I know this because I have seen one. It may have been being used as a stand for a glockenspiel, but it was still an amplifier. This is beautifully layered, arranged and produced - a flawless gem of folkish indie pop. Like all the shiny things from childhood before life tarnished them.

- Cyfrifi4duron
I don't get the four fetish either, in all honesty, This is dreamy, but excellently realised bedroom electronica. Apparently it's about Porthmadog. Sounds like Porth has been transported into a strange Japanese animation or video game. Or like Jan Hammer soundtracking Pwllheli Vice (sock-free espadrilles not recommended!).

- Fyodor
This is the stand out track on a magnificent EP. An EP so good I broadcast it in its half hour entirety with no interruptions. Fyodor recalls Panda Bear electronically assimilating Surf's Up-era Beach Boys. It's a grotto filled with wonders and joyous memories you will not want to escape from.

- Wapping
Lee Underpass is a man at one with his spectrum of sounds. Few I've heard this year have as good an ear for constructing a palette of timbres that compliment each other as well as Lee does. Amongst the warm, Boards of Canada tones there is a frantic tapping, something industrial, that gives this a real momentum. It's brilliantly done. And it's a good tune, which helps. Sound in glove. Excellent.

- Loving Someone Else
Not much of what I've enthused about (at great length, sorry about that) is this relentlessly focused on the dancefloor. This is a full on club classic. Steeped in sounds cleverly updated from the 80's and insouciantly stolen from French masters it's brilliantly produced and clear testament to the great talent at work in these young Welsh minds.

- 1268
These are guitars, Jim, but not as we know them. It's not art school. It has no clear lineage back to punk. It's far too insistent and grinding to come from this decade's fey and rather chaste indie aesthetic. This smells of rock. Just a hint of engine oil in hair. It's very very good is what it is.

- Barehed
A rather frenetic, psyched-out inversion of the folkier climes that Jo Bartlett (It's Jo & Danny) usually inhabits. This is still DADGAD, but it's Pentangle force-fed a foix gras of psychedelics. Superb, rollicking fun.

For the past two weeks or so, we've been asking for your thoughts as to the best Welsh album of 2010. In this wholly unscientific effort, we've been amazed by the response and the fervour with which you've argued the case for each record.

Here we present 10 albums which have caught your eye (and ear) this year, in no particular order, However, it would be remiss of us not to doff our caps to Lostprophets, whose army of fans came out in force for The Betrayed. The Pontypridd band tweeted and retweeted our invitations to participate and it's testament to the force of social media that hundreds took up those invitations on their behalf.

We must also say that by-and-large asking for suggestions through social media (as well as the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Wales website) means the responses were self-selecting. Those acts with big Twitter and Facebook followings are those who were able to marshal those followers effectively. No doubt, had Katherine Jenkins released a new album in 2010, her 40,000 followers would have inundated our mailboxes.

As it was, it was pretty much down to the indie and rock bands this year:

The Betrayed

Lostprophets - The Betrayed
(Visible Noise)

We've covered this record extensively since it was released in January. It rewards repeated listens and its dark - albeit poppy - sounds translated well on their spring arena tour. Ridding themselves of the constraints of major label A&R men seemed to liberate their songwriting. JackBlaze on our blog wrote: "Lostprophets - The Betrayed. Best band in the UK, and an amazing album."
Read the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Music review of the album.

Persistence In This Game

- Persistence In This Game
(Xtra Mile Recordings)

This record came late to me this year, but listening to it extensively in the car in recent times has shown an inventive, tuneful, slightly gritty pop rock record that augurs well for their future.

The very first comment we had on the blog was from Davy: "Straight Lines - Persistence In This Game. Brilliant lyrics doused in pop-punk melodies makes it almost impossible not to bounce and sing along."
Read the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Music review of the album.

- Bad News Makes Big Noise
(Rogues Gallery Records)

This south Wales indie rock band really surprised me with the amount of support Bad News... got. Their grungey power pop rock prompted Lucy to email us and say: "Welsh album of the year has to go to Colours Of One for Bad News Makes Big Noise. I saw them support Attack! Attack! last month and subsequently bought their CD - it blew my mind. I think I've listened to it every day since then. I love, love, love Burning Ants the opening track! Beautiful intro meets destructive verses! Fab!"

Kids In Glass Houses - Dirt
(Roadrunner)

Anyone who saw their great headline performance at Cardiff's Big Weekend in 2009 will know how these Valleys boys command a stage. This year's Dirt took them further into the big league of UK rock with its big sound and bigger hooks. Steven emailed us and said: "My album of the year has got to be Kids In Glass Houses' newest album Dirt. Those guys are such a nice breath of fresh air right now and of course the album is top notch! The fact they've worked so hard to make it and actually succeeded is really inspiring."
Read the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Music review of the album.

Luck

The Storys - Luck
(Angel Air)

Sadly departed now, The Storys (fronted by the charismatic Steve Balsamo) delivered an album in 2010 of classic MOR pop rock. They had their big break supporting Elton John a couple of years back, and they impressed many with their West Coast Americana feel and British pop nous. On the blog, starman2001uk said: "The Storys' Luck album is without doubt the finest Welsh album of 2010. Steve Balsamo and co exhibit musical genius; and Steve has one of the finest voices in the world."

Parade

The Last Republic - Parade
(Monnowtone Records)

This record reminds me of Britpop also-rans (whose singer's heroin habit let him to being caught for nicking garden ornaments), plus bits of Radiohead, Elbow and harder rockers like Muse. Its stadium rock atmospherics inspired Freebornjen to post on our blog: "What an amazing album from extremely talented musicians. Loving every song. Definitely worth checking out."

Tear The Signs Down

The Automatic - Tear The Signs Down
(Armoured Records)

This, their third album, was ignored by most, but it was under-appreciated rather than disappointing. On Radio Wales this year the band showed what they could do with new(ish) man Paul Mullen in the fold with some great acoustic session tracks. Check out Interstate and Run And Hide. Their indie pop has lost some of spikiness but gained a subtlety. Goteamdrama on the blog said: "The Automatic - Tear The Signs Down is brilliant; really, really underrated album and band."
Read the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Music review of the album.

Postcards

Manic Street Preachers - Postcards From A Young Man
(Columbia)

A real return to the commercial arena, Postcards... was a critical success, even if commercially it followed the pattern of their recent releases. Mind you, appearing on Strictly Come Dancing certainly put them in the limelight. Peter D Cox told us: "Constant re-invention, great musicality, real 'outreach' for new audiences, solid and commendable sentiments, and bloody great entertainment. It will last the course. Another stepping stone in a remarkable career path."
Read the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Music review of the album.

Fever

Bullet For My Valentine - Fever
(Sony)

There was a surprising paucity of votes for Fever when you consider that BFMV are both the heaviest and biggest band of all those featured in this list. Fever was their second album in a row to break the US Billboard top three and this week they play Wembley Arena. As ever with BFMV it's monster riffs, massive production, hyper-frenzied drum beats. Unfortunately none of their fans had anything in depth to say about the record, so we'll just say: if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Read the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Music review of the album.

The Latest Fashion

Attack! Attack! - The Latest Fashion
(Hassle Records)

Very much part of the new generation of rock bands from Wales, Attack! Attack! delivered a chunky, occasionally earnest, mostly fun album of fist-punching power pop. Again, no-one gave us a reason for The Latest Fashion, but as we said in our track-by-track guide, "It sounds expensive; it's polished hard rock with a keen ear for killer hooks and with support from magazines, TV and radio it could be another in a long line of Welsh guitar-toting successes".
Read the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Music review of the album.

Feel free to comment! If you want to have your say, on this or any other ´óÏó´«Ã½ blog, you will need to sign in to your ´óÏó´«Ã½ iD account. If you don't have a ´óÏó´«Ã½ iD account, you can - it'll allow you to contribute to a range of ´óÏó´«Ã½ sites and services using a single login.

Need some assistance? , or get some .

This week's show features a radio first. I think. If you know different, please drop me a line ASAP so I don't embarrass myself (too much).

I invited Cardiff's Mathew Mayes, aka Channel Swimmer, to sample elements from the last two broadcasts and to re-edit/mix/weave them into a session for this week's programme. Quite a task. By Mathew's own admission: "It was really, really difficult. There are a million different combinations and ways to take it even within the tight timescale, then there is the mastering of each sample. But it was still really good fun."

And so it proves. The two tracks Mathew has crafted for this week's show are outstanding. Especially the final track, Tawelu, which is one of the finest pieces of music it's been my pleasure to broadcast this year. And - like I say - I believe that this is the first time that this has been done. Of course, firsts mean nothing if they have no quality or value. But this session has both. In overflowing vats.

Elsewhere, Alan Holmes reveals the fascinating story (of the blues) behind Laurie Gane, head honcho at Bethesda's world-renowned Bryn Derwen studios. A story that takes in Clapton and Captain Beefheart, and features a damn fine piece of music too.

Lara Catrin translates some rather beautiful, festive Meic Stevens.

Ben Hayes doffs his tweed hat to Frank Zappa.

And there is music: fascinating, beautiful, twinkling, inspirational music from all over Wales. Most of it is new. All of it is ace.

Welsh demos should be mailed (as high quality mp3s or download links) to themysterytour@gmail.com or posted to:

Adam Walton
´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Wales
Library & Arts Centre
Rhosddu Road
Wrexham
LL11 1AU

Thanks for listening/diolch am wrando, have an excellent music-filled week.

Adam

(Birkenhead)
Corgi Registered Friends

(Pembrokeshire)
Do More Fun Stuff

(Pembrokeshire)
Candyfloss

(Cardiff)
Racket (session Track)

(Featuring elements of: Alex Mountaineer's Something Better, Fernhill's Adar, Girls' Alright, Mr Huw's Everything We Do, Telefair's Until the Chain's Come Off, The Gentle Good's Aubade and the Mountaineers' Red Thong.)

(Welsh label)
Daydreamer

(Gwynedd)
Undegpedwar

YOUNG MARBLE GIANTS (Cardiff)
Credit In The Straight World

(Monmouth / Aberystwyth)
Vogue

(Pembrokeshire)
I Loves You But You Makes Me All Crazeed

(Cardiff)
So Fresh

(Cardiff)
Gelly (Lleuad Ii)

(Cardiff)
Holly (tidal Barrage Remix)

(Bangor)
Who Would Have Thought...

FUTURE OF THE LEFT (Cardiff)
I Am The Least Of Your Problems

(Cardiff)
Chlorophyll

(Newport)
We Keep On Partying

(Anglesey)
Unknown Passing

(Llanfair P.G.)
The Fool

LOS CAMPESINOS (Cardiff)
Kindle A Flame In Her Heart

(Salford)
Olive Oil

(Benllech)
Lisa Lan

(Cardiff)
Bubblegum

(Cardiff)
Is He Really Coming Home?

HELEN LOVE (Swansea)
I Love Indie Pop

(Camarthen)
Y Ferch Nadolig

(Bangor)
Cold Song

GORKY'S ZYGOTIC MYNCI (Pembrokeshire)
Freckles

(Pembrokeshire)
Stop And Call

(Gwynedd)
Saith

(Bangor)
Two Bad

MEIC STEVENS (Solva)
Noson Oer Nadolig

(Bangor)
All Behind The Witchtower

(Glasgow)
Mexican Grand Prix

FRANK ZAPPA & THE MOTHERS (Zappaworld)
Montana

(Cardiff)
Bones Of A Tiny Bird

(Portland)
Condor Avenue

(Cardiff)
Tawelu (session Track)

(Featuring elements of: Blaktrix's No Drama, Friends Electric's Golden Blood, H. Hawkline's Carreg, Koreless's Up & Down, Mechanical Owl's Make It Last, Melys' When You Put Leonard Cohen On and Soft-Hearted Scientists' Spider Skin.)

Super Furry Animals' Gruff Rhys has joined an indie supergroup to raise money for education and employment projects in Brazil, Africa and the UK.

Rhys has joined The Bottletop Band, which also features Carl Barât of The Libertines, Matt Helders of Arctic Monkeys and Drew McConnell of Babyshambles.

Their début single, Fall Of Rome, was released online this weekend, and an album, Dream Service, follows in April. The single is available for download from the band's .

Alongside the four main players, The Bottletop Band also features guest musicians including Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly, VV Brown, Sam Sparro, Fink, Reverend And The Makers, Eliza Doolittle, Tim Burgess of The Charlatans and Brazilian musicians.

Feel free to comment! If you want to have your say, on this or any other ´óÏó´«Ã½ blog, you will need to sign in to your ´óÏó´«Ã½ iD account. If you don't have a ´óÏó´«Ã½ iD account, you can - it'll allow you to contribute to a range of ´óÏó´«Ã½ sites and services using a single login.

Need some assistance? , or get some .

2010 has been a year mixing great success with tragedy, with a great album from Marina And The Diamonds to the death of Stuart Cable. Here we cover the year month-by-month. Let us know what you remember from 2010.

January

Lostprophets' The Betrayed

January saw the release of Lostprophets' fourth album, The Betrayed. It was their first to be released completely independently. We loved it, with all its big pop hooks, menacing atmosphere and a sterling production job by the band's bassist, Stuart Richardson.
Read our track-by-track guide.

February

Marina And The Diamonds' Family Jewels

Marina And The Diamonds delivered her much-anticipated début album, The Family Jewels, in February. It lived up to expectations, with some superb pop gems delivered in an inventive, leftfield fashion and great charm.
Read our track-by-track guide.

March

John Sicolo

One of the Welsh music scene's larger-than-life characters died in March. John Sicolo, owner of the TJ's venue in Newport was missed by many and his legacy was much-praised.
Read our obituary.

April

In April, ex-Guns N' Roses manager Alan Niven, a highly-respected big player in the international music industry, declared that an unknown guitarist from Abercarn was the best in the world. Chris Buck of The Tom Hollister Trio was that man.
Watch Buck play.

May

Radio 1 came to Bangor in May for the Big Weekend. 480,000 people registered for tickets to see a line-up that included Florence And The Machine, Dizzee Rascal, Pendulum, Rihanna, Lostprophets, Paramore, Justin Bieber, 30 Seconds To Mars, Kids In Glass Houses and The Joy Formidable.
Visit the official Big Weekend website.

June

Stuart Cable

June was over-shadowed by the tragic death of Stuart Cable. Many stars of the UK music scene paid tribute to the drummer and radio presenter with a big personality. But many more tributes came in from members of the public. It was astonishing and moving to see how much the frizzy-headed rock animal meant to so many.
Read our obituary.

July

In the world of social media, the ability to share great finds means sometimes a hit comes out of nowhere, even scooping appearances on the news. Newport (Ymerodraeth State Of Mind) was widely criticised, but it got over two and a half million hits on YouTube before being taken down.
Read about the track.

August

Beset by problems over the years, Bryn Terfel's Faenol Festival was cancelled in August. Poor ticket sales for the multi-genre music festival near Bangor were blamed. Terfel said it was "dreadfully disappointing".
Read about the story.

September

Manic Street Preachers' Postcards From A Young Man

September saw the release of Manic Street Preachers' 10th studio album, Postcards From A Young Man. James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire and Sean Moore had made an album of radio-friendly tracks that aimed for "mass communication".
Read our track-by-track guide.

October

Growing year-by-year, the ³§Åµ²Ô Festival swamped Cardiff in great gigs during October. Adam Walton wrote three epic review pieces for us.
Read Adam's review of day one.
Read Adam's review of day two.
Read Adam's review of day three.

November

Duffy's Endlessly

Duffy's second album, Endlessly, was released last month. As the follow-up to one of the best-selling albums of the last five years, pressure was on the Nefyn singer.
Read ´óÏó´«Ã½ Music's review.
Read what the papers said about the album.

What are your memories of this year in Welsh music? Feel free to comment! If you want to have your say, on this or any other ´óÏó´«Ã½ blog, you will need to sign in to your ´óÏó´«Ã½ iD account. If you don't have a ´óÏó´«Ã½ iD account, you can - it'll allow you to contribute to a range of ´óÏó´«Ã½ sites and services using a single login.

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Katherine Jenkins has been speaking about her upcoming appearance in the Christmas special of Doctor Who.

Katherine Jenkins appears on Doctor Who this Christmas

Speaking to ´óÏó´«Ã½ Breakfast she explained that after landing a plum role in A Christmas Carol, she was unable to even tell her mother about it.

: "I'd been asked to do things in the past and hadn't done them, but when I got the call to do Doctor Who it really excited me.

"It's such an iconic show and one we all watch as family. I wasn't sure I could do it but after reading for the part, I got a call on my 30th birthday to say I'd got it. It was the best birthday present I could have asked for.

"I had the most amazing time. I must admit I was very nervous and I felt out of my comfort zone because I hadn't done any acting before. However, when I arrived on set the whole team was so welcoming and supportive. They made me feel like I could do it.

"It certainly felt very Christmassy when we were filming it in July."

Like , Euros Childs, the former singer of Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, is releasing his new solo album as a free download, inviting donations as well as the option to buy a physical copy.

Euros Childs' Face Dripping

Face Dripping was released this week and is available as a conventional CD or as a download through Euros' website, .

Tracklisting:

• Face Dripping
• Lady Gravy
• Gastric Drainage
• Do More Fun Stuff
• Slow-J
• Onion Horse
• Wasp Moon Bounce
• Adult Explorer #1
• Carkingcar
• Adult Explorer #2
• Telip
• King Penguin
• Stop And Call

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This week's show features a four-song session from one of my favourite bands of all time, Soft Hearted Scientists. Over the course of the last 8 years they've bewitched thousands with glittering wonders from the folkish grottos of their minds. This session is a darker Grimm affair than previous recordings, and all the more excellent for it.

Huw Williams mines the recently remastered and repackaged Badfinger back catalogue.

Lara Catrin translates something brimful of tears from Cowbois Rhos Botwnnog.

Ben Hayes shows his love for obscure Depeche Mode instrumentals.

And there is (a lot of) music. From Future of the Left (hometown gig in Cardiff this coming Thursday 9 December - still a handful of tickets left) to Crash Disco, The Pooh Sticks to Th' Mole. Some brilliant, brilliant sounds.

Demos high in sonic ace to: themysterytour@gmail.com

Have an excellent music filled week,

And stay warm!

Thank you/diolch,

Adam

(Cardiff)
Arming Eritrea

(Bangor)
Two Bad

(Anglesey)
Warmth Of The World

(Cardiff)
Dark Departments (session Version)

(Aberystwyth)
Green Green Grass

(Cardiff)
No Drama Featuring Ralph Rip Shit

(Cardiff label)
Shocky Guy Go

(London)
The Hungry Intruder

(Caerleon)
Natural Light

(Cardiff label)
Strange Hypnosis

(Bangor)
Up And Down

(Neath)
Golden Blood

(Cardiff)
Trempanation

(New York)
The Year Before The Year 2000

(Cardiff)
Spider Skin (session Track)

(Bethel)
Mad Hatter

MELYS (Betws-Y-Coed)
When You Put Leonard Cohen On

(Bangor)
Dod Dy Llaw

(Bridgend)
Growing Old

(Swansea)
Underrated

(Swansea)
World Turning On

(Swansea)
Think About The Good Times

(Cardiff)
I Am The Least Of Your Problems

(Cardiff)
Carreg

(Japan)
Drop

(Camarthen/Caerleon)
Off Beat

(Caernarfon)
Please You

(Llanberis)
Mindlapse

(Newport)
Mental

(Newport)
Hard Times

(Cardiff)
Soul Fresh

(Cardiff)
Will Not Remain

(Cardiff)
I'm Ready When You Are (session)

(Mold)
Make It Last

(Swansea)
Disappear Here (erock Radio Edit)

(Ann Arbor)
I Wanna Be Your Dog

JOHN CALE (Garnant)
Child's Christmas In Wales

(Benllech)
Cerdyn Nadolig

(Ewloe)
Too Many Miracles (Tim & Sam Remix)

(Caernarfon)
Creuaduriaid Byw

(Llyn Peninsula)
Hughes/Hughes/Hughes

(Cardiff)
Seasick Sid & The Giant Squid

(Essex)
Further Excerpts From My Secret Garden

(Cardiff)
Christmas Day

This is perfect. Throughout the history of , their career has been a litany of near-disaster, scraps, implosions, injury, insult, chaos, threat, lunacy and drunkenness. It's entirely appropriate that this very last ever, one-off reunion show, three years after their split, encapsulates their very essence in one shambolic whole.

Midasuno's Scott Andrews (photo: )

Faces from the past decade of Welsh rock music litter the hundreds-strong crowd in the Millennium Music Hall to witness the original line-up blast through a 90 minute set of songs that is culled from all their incarnations.

When they first came on the scene, as fresh-faced, polite young Merthyr boys, it was their music which did the damage: all big riffs and massive sound, topped by Scott Andrews' caterwauling vocals. It was At The Drive-In rhythms and Black Sabbath heaviness, in thrall to Muse and The Wildhearts in a starkly original package that got them press coverage but little else.

As they matured, into their final incarnation, the power came less from the precision of their live playing than from the growing menace (albeit mostly comedic) from their increasingly bedraggled, sartorially-adventurous frontman. Like a Welsh Russell Brand without the benefit of the Priory - or, let's face it, the sex appeal - Andrews rocked heroin chic but with vodka taking the place of smack. The band seemed perpetually on the verge of duffing each other up or inviting the whole crowd outside for a dust-up.

Tonight, then, Midasuno - back with maths teaching guitarist Steve Hopkins to add some academic flavour to this most strange of brews - could go either way. Is it going to be a professional blast through giant riffs and the monster rhythms of drummer Matt Riste? Or is it going to end with injuries to band or audience? There was never any middle ground with them: even their disasters were spectacular.

Traditional opener Start The Riot is dispatched with passion and a decent enough crowd reaction, but the sound in here is muddy and ill-balanced, all drums and bass. The crunch of the dual guitars is lost. So far, so Midasuno. But when bassist Gavin Jessop launches his broken four-string across the stage (courtesy of a fan's chucked beer glass) and prowls, looking like he'd like to introduce the culprit to the finer points of Fender's build quality, things are poised. Andrews just laughs.

Support band Reaper In Sicily provide a replacement bass, and suddenly there's a frisson of excitement. During Samuel L a circle pit springs up that has sensible folk running for the sides. Ancient tracks The Art Of Fear and Lacerate/Break are dispatched to old-school fans' bellowed approval and there's a proper crowd-singalong for Don't Drive (Faster Than Your Angel Can Fly).

Other newer tracks such as Sister Temptation and A Machine: The Rhythm Thief are chunky beasts, but their crispness is somewhat lost in the fug of booze and compromised sound. Thankfully their warped melodies are still discernible.

If Midasuno were a new band, playing unfamiliar songs to a sceptical audience, this set would be dismissed - crazed, wayward playing with a swampy sound isn't going to win any hearts; but this isn't any other gig. As they launch broadsides from the stage, against anyone and everyone, including themselves, it's like they're inside their own coffins, nailing the lids down, gleefully complicit in their own demise.

But, appropriately, it's a triumphant demise. A final singalong to Tear's rallying, innuendo-laden refrain brings proceedings to a close, and the foursome take a bow. Slightly the worse for wear, but having pulled it off, somehow. It's been the final word, and the final word was obscene.

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Feeder's frontman Grant Nicholas joined Bethan Elfyn on her Radio Wales show last weekend.

Grant Nicholas and Bethan Elfyn

In a wide-ranging interview, the Newport veteran of the UK rock scene talked about his band's career and the five songs from his personal playlist. They were:

• The Beatles - Strawberry Fields Forever
• Black Sabbath - Warpigs
• Led Zeppelin - Kashmir
• The Pixies - Where Is My Mind?
• Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit

Listen to the full interview:

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It's been a treat of a weekend for fans of Manic Street Preachers as they blitzkrieged mainstream television in an effort to publicise their single Some Kind Of Nothingness, released today.

As blogged about last week, the whole band appeared on Strictly Come Dancing. You can see the programme for the next few days here. The Manics appear 20 minutes and 30 seconds in.

Nicky Wire also appeared on Something For The Weekend presented by Tim Lovejoy and Louise Redknapp. He talked about their career, James' laryngitis and how doing Strictly Come Dancing fitted their ethos, from 47 minutes in.

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The beauty of the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 1 show, since the start, has been its natural support of brand new music. It might not be famous, it might not be on a major label, but even at its rawest, if it sounds good, and there's a gem of a song there, then we'd play it - which is exactly what happened with Texas Radio Band.

Texas Radio Band in 2002

I was a fan of their self-recorded demo long before hosting ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 1, so when we started the show, they were first on the list for a session. To find out what they thought of their sessions for Radio 1, I spoke to Rhodri 'Tony' Davies from Texas Radio Band.

Beth: What do you remember about the Radio 1 Wales sessions you recorded?

Rhodri: Radio 1 Wales picked us up just after we'd started recording - we'd been doing some bedroom recordings at a friend's house and then you sent us to Rockfield studios.

We were blown away by the history and had a great time trying to make the best of the facilities. It was quite incredible for us at the time. I remember driving round Monmouth looking for the place and being really chuffed when we found the studio.

Everything there was new to us - the size of the mixing desk, the live room, the living quarters - it was unbelievable. We tried to make the most of the set-up, but luckily our inexperience was well managed by producer George. I think we put four tracks down - Hess, The Father And The Son, Rollin' Mollin' and Maybe Baby.

A while later, we were invited to do another session - this time in Lostprophets' studio in an industrial estate near Caerphilly with Richard Jackson. The facilities were more modest, but they probably suited us a bit better. We recorded one of my favourite TRB songs there - a tongue in cheek riff orientated rock song called Dementia, as well as Lemon Entry and Already Knew.

Beth: What did that support mean to the band?

Rhodri: At the time it was great that someone was showing an interest in the band. We'd met you and Huw a few times and for them to have the confidence in us to put us on a platform like that in turn gave us confidence which helped us pen together the first album Baccta' Crackin'. And of course it probably helped us get our first national airplay by the big man John Peel, RIP.

Beth: What's your fondest memory of the Texas Radio Band days?

Rhodri: My fondest memory of TRB days was being a group of wide-eyed youngsters traveling around Wales visiting studios and venues for the first time and learning the trade of being in a band. Not that we're seasoned professionals now, but there was a certain excitement about doing it all for the first time when everything was fresh.

Another highlight for me was playing to a rammed Clwb Ifor Bach with a prime time slot at the first ³§Åµ²Ô festival - again thanks to Huw! I like to think of that set as a cornerstone for ³§Åµ²Ô festival and the Cardiff music scene.

Beth: Can people still get hold of your music?

Rhodri: All of our back catalogue is available in mp3 format on - like the music, the website is a bit old but still works. There's also some CD copies of the second album Gavin for sale on there and maybe some bright orange t-shirts. We never got proper online distribution, so I don't think we're on iTunes and Spotify (although maybe it's worth checking every now and then) - it's kind of in the band's character that we're backward in going forward.

Beth: What does the future hold for Texas Radio Band?

Rhodri: The future is jumbled for TRB - we have recorded a finished album - it's called Bluescreen but so far it's totally unreleased; not even on Kimberley Records. It was recorded at Ariel studios in Brechfa and we are all really chuffed with the songs and the sounds but we're indecisive as to how to get it out there; there's always next year. At the moment, if you want to hear it, the best bet is to get in touch with the band on and we'll burn and post you a CD-R. Currently it's geographically difficult to get us all in one place for any length of time so rehearsal is difficult - but we all still write and record stuff amongst ourselves.

Listen to Texas Radio Band performing Hess, recorded at Rockfield studios in March 2000, after we'd heard their very first demo.

The band (Matthew Williams, Rhydian 'Squids' Jones, Alex Dingley, Rhodri Davies, Gruff Ifan and Brychan Englandwere) all went to school in Llansteffan near Carmarthen. They released Baccta Crackin in 2004 and Gavin in 2008.

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There's just one week to go to tell us about your favourite Welsh album of 2010. We're asking for your suggestions until midnight next Monday (13 December).

We've had hundreds of emails, tweets and comments so far. You can let us know your thoughts as a comment below, email wales.music@bbc.co.uk or tweet us via .

Among the artists suggested so far have been: Lostprophets, The Storys, The Automatic, Straight Lines, Bullet For My Valentine, Manic Street Preachers, The Arteries, El Goodo, The Last Republic, Rob Thompson and Kids In Glass Houses.

Do you have a favourite? Make sure you let us know.

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As 2010 comes to a close, and the end of another decade it seems a good time to re-visit some of my favourite sessions from bands who made quite a mark on the show back in the day. So many have sadly come and gone in the time that I've been broadcasting, but these pieces of music seem timeless, and just as fresh as they sounded back at the beginning of 2000.

Zabrinski live at Maes B

In this blog I've interviewed Matthew Durbridge from Zabrinski, touring buddies with Super Furry Animals and a favourite of the Session In Wales, about how he felt about these recordings of his band recorded live on Maes B at the National Eisteddfod in Denbigh in 2001.Beth: What do you remember about the various Radio 1 Wales sessions you recorded?

Matt: I remember everything about the Radio 1 sessions. A favourite was recording in Rockfield - I was only 17 years old, I think! - and the producer was Tim from Spiritualized; mega chuffed! I remember being shown around the piano played by Freddie Mercury - cool! Then we were off to play table tennis. Also cool. We were so chuffed the radio show and the producers gave us a chance to have a session, and to produce it as we wanted too.

Beth: What did the support mean to the band?

Matt: It was invaluable. I remember you telling me in an eisteddfod in 1999 that there was a new programme being launched - Session in the Nations - and I had no idea at the time how important it would be to every Welsh band big or small over the next decade. We wouldn't have done half the things we did without the show.

Beth: What's your fondest memory of the Zabrinksi days?

Matt: Probably laughter, being able to travel with your best friends and being on a musical journey where we genuinely didn't know where we were going, and also playing with bands that we loved, lots that we didn't also but they were just as fun.

Beth: Can people still get hold of your music?

Matt: I think people can easily get hold of our music, as with nearly any band in the world now whether you have a record deal or not is irrelevant. We can simply type a band's name into Google and listen to them instantly. As for CDs, no I don't think people can get hold of our music!

Beth: Looking to the future - any projects on the go?

Matt: At the moment I am creating new sounds and tunes with Gareth from Zabrinski, and to be fair most of Zabrinski are on it. We have about 30 songs which aren't finished yet but when they are by the year 2018 they will sound amazing. If there is an increase in energy between us they may be completed earlier.

Listen to Mishi Brei from Zabrinski, recorded in session live at the National Eisteddfod in Denbigh in 2001:

Zanbrinski were Matthew Durbridge, Iwan Morgan, Gareth Richardson, Rhun Lenny and Owain Jones. Originally from Carmarthen, they released four albums: Screen Memories (2000), Yeti (2001), Koala Ko-ordination (2002) and Ill Gotten Game (2005).

They split up in 2007 after playing their last gig at Gwyl Macs but have recently started working together again though currently have no plans for releases. Some Zabrinski videos are still available on their page.

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As I prepare for a big move away from the Radio One Wales show, I'm taking the opportunity to dig out some archive sessions from the last decade of welsh music and give them another spin.

Its been amazing looking back at photos and listening to these recordings again - they've reminded me of how much we've achieved with the show, how we've been in the thick of everything that happened musically in Wales and how much the show has supported new musicians and bands. And what an amazing decade of Welsh music it's been too.

Last week on Radio 1 Andy Falkous from Mclusky and Future Of The Left joined me on Radio One to talk about a special gig we did in 2000, at the launch of One Live in Cardiff.

Mclusky in 2000

Below is a transcript of the interview, broadcast on 25 November 2010.

The interview begins as I explain to Andy that we've dug out a Mclusky session from 2000 for the radio, as it was a very special moment for the band. They opened the gig, followed by Helen Love and headliners Mo-ho-bish-o-pi, but really Mclusky stole the show.

Andy: It was a landmark moment for us. We played the opening song and it was on the back of that session that we got signed, because Jason from heard that recording. [We got signed] not on the basis of the perfectly good album that we'd already put out, that didn't make so much as a splash.

Beth: It was one of those gigs that surprised many - the opening gig of One Live in Cardiff, a Radio One event across the City. The city kicked into life, and Clwb Ifor Bach: the place was packed.

Andy: There must've been around 500 people. It was an incredible gig. It was around October 2000, we'd never played to more than a hundred people ever, so it was our first show that was a sense of an event. Even though you should play the same to every gig, you do get taken in by a sense of event. It took 15 minutes just to get through the crowd.

Mclusky: Rice Is Nice

Mclusky: Whoyouknow

And after hearing the tracks:

Andy: Those young men have no regard for song structure. I haven't heard that for about eight years; its like looking at a picture of your younger self with a crazy haircut and tie dye t-shirt.

Beth: What are your memories of Mclusky, and the key moments?

Andy: I treasure all of it. The parts when we played with bands... like I remember one show, we were playing with The Liars in London, and the show was opened by The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. It was their first performance in the UK. We were driving along the M4, and Matt had a panic attack, so Jon took over the driving. Then I think he thought it was a game, and he had a panic attack, so we were sat in Membury service station. Then 'Veg', who was driving Liars at the time, came from the garage all the way, picked us up, we got there five minutes before we were due on, threw our stuff on stage and had a great show.

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I imagined a concise list of 10 songs to cover the whole of 2010. Who was I kidding? Even reducing the first half of the year to 40 songs involved choices that will have me screaming in my sleep. So, the only reason this is so long is because 2010 was a very good year. In fact, coupled with the experiences of Wales Music Day, our outside broadcast at Hendre Hall, Yr Wythnos Fach, The Big Weekend, ³§Åµ²Ô and numerous field trips to venues all over Wales, this has probably been my favourite year ever.

I wish I could have made this list shorter. It would have saved me a lot of work, trust me! So, to kick off this four part look at my favourite tracks of 2010, here are the sounds that blew me away in the first part of the year - 1 January to 31 May, arranged alphabetically according to 'iTunes convention' (i.e. David Wrench is a 'D', not a 'W'). This blog covers A - M. Please check some of this music out. Most of it is made on shoestrings so short they wouldn't even tie together. A massive, heartfelt thank you to the amazing musical talent this country produces, year in year out. I'm not worthy. Truly.

- Wash Where The Needle Has Gone
The Mountaineers were signed to Mute Records in the early years of this millennium. Their debut album, Messy Century, is great testament to their sense of sonic adventure. But that project slipped just as they reached base camp below the summit. The music industry had frozen in panic, too slow to react to new technologies and means of production or distribution. The Mountaineers got dropped before they got anywhere near fulfilling their potential, as Alex Mountaineer's subsequent yearning, orchestral recordings demonstrate. There is great 'yearn' here, tubas, strings and the luminous talents of the Penyffordd Oriental Folk Orchestra. At least that's who it sounds like.

- Wilmington
They say this song is about a cat. I don't believe a word of it. I can't describe what it is that moves me to tears about this song. Well, I can - partly. It makes me feel less alone. And it makes me feel less alone to a minor key tune that'd bust even the most misanthropic heart.

- Heavy Metal Uncle
The best band I saw in 2010. This is DC Gates' paean to iron on patches and bad denim / worse hair. LCD Soundsystem's Losing My Edge fronted by Saxondale. A hardcore Fall. No, this is much better than asinine comparison could convey. Ridiculously good.

- Bwcomashi (Tokin4wa remix)
Insistent and rather excellent ambient house, steeped in the spirit of comedown sunsets at Thai beach parties. Although I suspect the beach would have been closer to Porthmadog than anything on Alex Garland's gap year itinerary. But it's amazing what the imagination can do. One of the best remixes of 2010.

- Dig Way Down
Great slabs of tuney guitar cooked up for mortal minds by an assuming god with a love for Grandaddy, Weezer, Supergrass and the pantheon of first-generation bands who influenced them. But influences are moot, originality an easy-to-ignore albino hippopotamus, when the tunes are this good.

- GTFO
This is the sound of sequencers thrumming with ecstatic joy. Irresistible, full throttle, chip-tune house music. Nothing made me happier this year. Or made me feel older. Which is an excellent thing. More music to age me, please.

- Only Dancing
Good dubstep mutates the tropes and motifs of the form according to the sickness of each progenitor's imagination. No one's sicker than Curtamos. Claustrophobically dark but playful, with a fondness for unusual toys and noises. Which sounds like a personal ad for Marilyn Manson, but is - in fact - my hamfisted attempt at describing this Cardiff producer's excellent work.

/ BLACK SHEEP - A Radical Song
A truly radical recording. A song of folkish insurrection reimagined in dark fuzz, chanted vocals, mellotron and glockenspiel. Unique and fascinating.

- Blak Shooz
Great, minimal breaks and 808 squiggles from Holyhead's Prince of binary sounds. This is hypnotic to the max, but my favourite piece of Dez's work this year because of its simplicity. However I recommend - highly - everything in this man's extensive back catalogue.

- I Saw Her Today
Somewhere betwixt and between The Turtles and Love, but forty years later and a few thousand miles to the right, El Goodo perfected their spaghetti psychedelia with this track from their Coyote album. It managed to get its way onto Radio Wales' daytime playlist as well. True crossover! And great mariachi horns.

- 1983!
No idea what's going on here, sorry. Sounds like Julie Christie's 'Demon Seed' transmogrified to Damir Bojanic's collection of retro music boxes and plug-ins. If you tried to count the bewildering tide of of ideas barely contained by this piece, you'd go insane. Thousand Yard Ear guaranteed!

GORILLAZ featuring DE LA SOUL & - Superfast Jellyfish
For that chorus. Gruff weaves his unique magic. Great pop music needn't have the mark of Cowell on it.

- Standing on the Surface
You can hear bruised experience in every note of this remarkable recording: the experience that moves a band to record so nakedly; the experience that imbues the words of the chorus with such heart-rending gravitas; the experience that brings the Hammond in gradually throughout the song until it becomes a brilliant sunrise of tremulous hope just before the end. Youth is the engine of great popular music (cf. Crash Disco) but we should never, ever forego the wisdom of experience. As vital as anything I've heard in any year.

- Lockstep
Warm-hearted, downbeat breaks - embellished by washes of guitar, slide bass and marimba - that would sound perfect on Ninja Tune. Worth losing yourself in.

- Popinjay
I love this band. Every element thrums with me. Ritzy's fiercely whispered vocals, the great space in their recordings, the new constellations of off kilter melodies they've revealed, and the sheer rush their music evokes. A brilliant band. Proof formidable that the strange chemistry catalysed by wood, string, skin and larynx hasn't been exhausted yet.

- St. Martin
I wish I could remember who had recommended this to me because it was one of the greatest gifts I was given this year. Whoever you were, thank you, and so sorry my name blindness and general ignorance mean that I have forgotten you. This song is outstanding. Katell's voice is the antithesis of drama school vibrato, feigned emotion and aspirant Autotune. This is so unadorned, so clear and moving, it recalls early Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Bob Dylan's 'Sara' (for its brave sadness) and someone else whose name I've forgotten. You can hear Katell clear against the cacophony of rush, scramble and fakery outside. Honest to goodness, quiet genius.

- There Are Listed Buildings
OK, I know - technically - this came out as a single last year - but the album, Romance Is Boring, was a real highlight of the dank days before spring 2010, and this is the standout (non-swearing) track. No space / hyperactive / urging you to dance your heartstrings off / motormouthed, literate aceness.

- Camera Obscura
It shouldn't come as any surprise that interesting music is (generally) made by people who have no interest in being famous or acclaimed. They make music because they have to. The Lowland Hundred are such artists. They weave field recordings, music concrete and moments of modernist dissonance, into aching, piano-led songs of great beauty. Their Under Cambrian Sky album blurs folklore, history, geography, philosophy and photography with a multitude of musical influences: Robert Wyatt and Talk Talk being the two I recognise. But, to their great credit, the intellectuality of the album is very much secondary to its significant musical achievements. Unique and excellent.

- Greyhounds
I think that only the actual members of Masters in France and We/Are/Animal know who is in which band. It's of no matter when both groups' respective singles provided the soundtrack to the summer's Welsh festivals. (We'll get to We/Are/Animal in due course). This is unashamed, guitar-fired indie rock, but there's much that makes it stand out from the morass. That shaky chord in the intro, the frantic fuzzy strumming and rolling, skittery rhythms. And there's a conviction, here, from Ed's vocal that sucks you in. Big, loud and exciting, as things should be on occasion.

- Maaad Tight (featuring Sonny Jim & Skamma)
This reads like a who's who of the finest MCs from south Wales. And the track is a great reflection of the rhyming and production talent on show. A queasy jazz sample underpins this piece of old school breakbeat excellence. Mud's trademark surreal, but hard hitting, rhymes are complimented by jaw-dropping spots from SonnyJim and Skamma. Bodes excellently for next year's Sledgehammer Kisses LP.

(1 January - 31 May, N-Z coming soon!)

A few years back, I was advising each band or artist I spoke to to have a presence.

It was a one-stop shop - a depository - for biography, pictures, tour dates and, most importantly, streamed mp3s. It was an 's dream: not having to root through mounds of badly-written letters and CDRs, he could simply trawl Myspace and listen to those 'tipped' acts who were getting all the attention.

Now, it looks like the service is in danger of being sold on or folded, unwanted and unloved by its parents, , who bought the service five years ago for $580 million. Welsh-based music merchandising service , which also blogs and tweets about the music industry, yesterday published a blog about the possible demise of the service.

"It's odd to think that just a few years ago most people couldn't be serious about making or promoting music without a strategy that had Myspace at its very core. But now the world has very quickly become a different place," said Dizzyjam's .

Myspace's effect was short-lived; it was the first service with a USP that took advantage of the surge in broadband to deliver decent streamed audio and was a short-term godsend for artists. But as with any basic economics, the more of something there is, the less valuable it becomes; so once Myspace had every third-rate Oasis covers band on it, with the same web presence as top-level signed artists, its USP had become almost useless, and far from unique.

Commenting on the Dizzyjam blog post, academic says, "Myspace is struggling as a social network, in part, because of Facebook... - but people decided quite some time ago that social networking was not what Myspace was for anyway. It was for bands. And Myspace has every band on the planet, give or take."

So in 2010, what would I advise artists? Not to put much effort into Myspace, that's for sure. Instead, there are a range of services such as , and , not to mention , that provide a more rounded delivery system of assets that can be manipulated depending on the needs of the artist. Harnessing the opportunities of the web can be a challenge in 2010 but it can deliver a nice package of material.

However, having had a couple of 'golden years' in which artists could stand out a little (see The Arctic Monkeys as the classic example), we're now back to a situation in which we have returned to an old-fashioned necessity to promote in a far more proactive way.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose: 'The more things change, the more they stay the same' as Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr said. Things haven't haven't changed materially since 15 years ago. If you want to be signed, you still have to differentiate yourself, put yourself to the top of the pile, get those A&R men interested. Use the web to bolster your PR, embrace Facebook, Twitter and so on, but it's no substitute for that terrible mixture of hard work and good luck that every decent artist relies upon.

What do you think? Feel free to comment! If you want to have your say, on this or any other ´óÏó´«Ã½ blog, you will need to sign in to your ´óÏó´«Ã½ iD account. If you don't have a ´óÏó´«Ã½ iD account, you can - it'll allow you to contribute to a range of ´óÏó´«Ã½ sites and services using a single login.

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I wonder if the Llwydcoed Brass Band will tour the village on Christmas morning this year. I really hope they do. Elaine and I have been living here for 18 years and members of the band have always appeared at the gate at some time on the Blessed morning. Up until last year that is.

They failed to make it in 2009 - not enough volunteers, the band committee said. It was a great pity because it's such a wonderful interlude. Funnily enough, the church Christmas songsters didn't make it last year either.

It was all part of the festive season. The ad-hoc choir, quickly gathered-together church members, doing a tour of an evening, singing in the road, then adding a carol inside the house when they're invited in for mulled wine or a whisky and mince pie. Then, on Christmas morning, the unmistakeable sound of the local brass band taking us out to the gate to enjoy their good cheer in exchange for a contribution in the box for band funds and refreshments. They were all greatly missed last year.

A magical moment occurred two or three years ago. We heard the band approaching and as they stopped at our gate to start a new carol. As they hit the first note, snowflakes began to fall. It was a Hollywood moment, though no film director could have planned it better.

Tuba players (photo: Charlotte Griffin, Ty Cerdd)

I've got a lot of time for brass bands. Their performances on stage can be rousing, colourful, inspiring and, on occasions very animated and theatrical. They have working class roots and they nurture youth. Any youngster showing interest is hugely encouraged and allowed to borrow an instrument until circumstances allow one to be purchased.

I've spoken to members of many bands very often. The subject of musical snobbery is often discussed, the orchestra being at one 'posh' social level, the brass or silver band at another cloth-cap level altogether.Thankfully, things are so much better now with a blurring of the attainment, acceptance and musical excellence.

I've learnt a lot too. Brass bands are divided into divisions and competition allows them to attain promotion. In many ways, they are like soccer teams and the bands in the lower division suffer from the temptations of transfer for their better players. A good player gets invited to join a band in a higher division and the band they leave are stuck in a lower division because some of their quality and expertise has gone.

The Cynon Valley has been rich in banding. The Cwmaman Band was in the Premier Division, but loss of sponsorship, especially after the big benefactor, Tower Colliery, closed, hit them very hard indeed. Llwydcoed Band continue to carry the banner, so good luck to them. I'm visited often by committee members in search of contributions and raffle prizes and I'm pleased to support them. Continued success to them all.

Wales has many great brass bands. I could mention half a dozen, but it's dangerous ground because I might miss one out. I will mention one though: Cory Band of the Rhondda. Last year I was privileged to compère their 125th anniversary concert in St David's Hall, Cardiff. They were then European champions and, within three weeks, they became world champions. It was a stupendous night, packed to the gunnels with dignitaries and composers, some from the north of England, which is a hot-bed area for banding.

These bands carry the Welsh dragon everywhere and they take Wales to the world at the highest level. They deserve praise and support for honing this cultural field in the way they do.

I'm not a great expert on band music, but I will readily be in their corner if required. I do hope Llwydcoed Band do the annual village tour on Christmas morning. They lift the spirit and, in their playing, they send forth the true Christmas message of goodwill to all.

Roy

Roy Noble is bringing his famous storytelling skills to a computer near you as part of the ´óÏó´«Ã½ First Click Campaign - aimed at encouraging people to take their first steps to getting online. If you know somebody who needs help to get online, call the free ´óÏó´«Ã½ First Click advice line on 08000 150950.

The Western Mail recently published its annual poll, and singers dominate the top 10.

Marina Diamandis

Marina Diamandis is the top-placed singer at number three. She released her début album, The Family Jewels, this year.

Classical-crossover star Katherine Jenkins is at number six.

Katherine Jenkins

Jenkins makes her acting début on the Doctor Who Christmas special this year.

At number seven, there's Charlotte Church.

Charlotte Church

She's come back this year with a new pop record, released on her own label. Listen to her interview with Radio Wales about her new record, Back To Scratch.

The last top-10er is Duffy.

Duffy

Just this week, she has released her second album, Endlessly, the follow-up to the eight million-sellng Rockferry.

Other Welsh singers and musicians in the list are soprano (number 12), Cerys Matthews (15), Lucie Jones (20), Claire Jones (29), Shan Cothi (34), Dame Shirley Bassey (36) and Lisa Jen of 9Bach (41).

Feel free to comment. Do you agree with the choices? Do you even think lists like this should be published? If you want to have your say, on this or any other ´óÏó´«Ã½ blog, you will need to sign in to your ´óÏó´«Ã½ iD account. If you don't have a ´óÏó´«Ã½ iD account, you can - it'll allow you to contribute to a range of ´óÏó´«Ã½ sites and services using a single login.

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It's that time of year again: Cliff Richards' greatest hits, dry turkey and a lump of coal in a sock. Christmas is upon us once more and what better way to celebrate than a nice collection of Christmas tunes?

Three Welsh artists have got Christmas-themed albums out now or this month.

Bryn Terfel - Carols And Christmas Songs

Bryn Terfel's Carols And Christmas Songs

The world's top bass baritone - maybe even the world's top male opera star - has put together a collection of seasonal classics with guests including the late Bing Crosby and Wales' own (and very much still with us) Catrin Finch.

Tracks include O Come, All Ye Faithful, White Christmas, In the Bleak Midwinter and even Mary's Boy Child. A second CD comes with it, featuring Welsh-language Christmas tracks and versions of the classics.

Aled Jones - Aled's Christmas Gift

Aled's Christmas Gift

He's the person probably most associated with Christmas, barring Jesus, some Magi, Joseph, Mary and Father Christmas. His version of the Snowman theme, Walking In The Air, was a top five hit in 1985, and many assume he sang the animation's original (it was Peter Auty, fact fans).

Aled turns his still-angelic voice to traditional songs like Away in A Manger, In The Bleak Midwinter, Silent Night and O Little Town Of Bethlehem. Welsh song Tua Bethlehem Dref also makes an appearance.

It is, however, eerily similar to his 2004 effort, The Christmas Album.

Goldie Lookin' Chain - It's A Goldie Lookin' Christmas: The Fairy Tale Of Newport

It's a Goldie Lookin' Christmas: The Fairy Tale of Newport

This album is, I'd hazard, less likely to appear under granny's tree this Christmas. They might want to get into granny's stocking though.

Featuring the single You'll Never Be Alone On Christmas Day, it features 12 tracks of the usual GLC-style comedy hip hop, released on their own 1983 label. Especially festive is Dubstep Christmas.

Will you be getting into the swing of Saturnalia with any of these albums? Does anyone listen to Christmas albums afterwards? If you want to have your say, on this or any other ´óÏó´«Ã½ blog, you will need to sign in to your ´óÏó´«Ã½ iD account. If you don't have a ´óÏó´«Ã½ iD account, you can - it'll allow you to contribute to a range of ´óÏó´«Ã½ sites and services using a single login.

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The Joy Formidable have announced details of their eagerly-awaited début album.

The Joy Formidable

The Big Roar will be released through Canvasback/Atlantic Records on 24 January 2011.

Tracklisting:

• The Ever Changing Spectrum Of Life
• The Magnifying Glass
• I Don't Want To See You Like This
• Austere
• A Heavy Abacus
• Whirring
• Buoy
Maruyama
• Cradle
• Llaw = Wall
• Chapter 2
• The Greatest Light Is The Greatest Shade

The album is preceded by a single, Austere, on 10 January and is supported by a February headline tour which visits Bournemouth, Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle, Leeds, Sheffield, Cambridge, Leicester and London.

Feel free to comment! If you want to have your say, on this or any other ´óÏó´«Ã½ blog, you will need to sign in to your ´óÏó´«Ã½ iD account. If you don't have a ´óÏó´«Ã½ iD account, you can - it'll allow you to contribute to a range of ´óÏó´«Ã½ sites and services using a single login.

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We've been living the dream in the past few weeks on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Introducing. On the radio we've been playing out live sets from our mini road tour of Wales. We started in Bangor, riffed on to Wrexham and spent six hours in the car driving each other mad on the way to Swansea! As well as the mad sights of the cities, and crazy car games, we took in plenty of new sounds from the mean streets of Wales. Life 'on the road'! Yeah!

You can read all about it on this blog. We've also done a little video to chronicle this wonderful week of live music, and metal mayhem. Ahem, maybe!

Feel free to comment! If you want to have your say, on this or any other ´óÏó´«Ã½ blog, you will need to sign in to your ´óÏó´«Ã½ iD account. If you don't have a ´óÏó´«Ã½ iD account, you can - it'll allow you to contribute to a range of ´óÏó´«Ã½ sites and services using a single login.

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