THE ALTERNATIVE WALES SOUNDTRACK #30: Red telephone
All-time favourite album:
Dec: Berlin by Lou Reed is up there. There’s so much packed into it, from beautiful melodies to a dark, cinematic evocation of place that really paints a sprawling picture. It’s also one of my favourite albums for drumming - it’s creative in every aspect.
Kieran: I tend to get obsessed with a different album every few weeks so my answer to this would probably change depending on when you asked me. Doolittle by Pixies would always be pretty near the top of my list mind so I’ll say that.
Toby: All Things Must Pass - George Harrison. There’s plenty of contenders but I always feel like I’ve come home when I put this album on. It also inspired me to impulsively buy an old lap steel guitar with Dec a few years ago so I could learn ‘I Live For You’, which is a very nice bonus track.
Favourite Welsh language album:
Dec: Melyn by Adwaith. We’ve been fans of them since first hearing Newid on the radio. The album has a dark and dystopian undertone as well as some really creative, McCartney-esque bass lines.
Kieran: Sbwriel Gwyn by Los Blancos, which came out on Libertino Records a couple of years back.
Toby: Y Dydd Olaf - Gwenno. I saw Gwenno live at Tramshed in Cardiff a couple of years ago and discovered this album afterwards. It’s full of amazing sounds but still within the context of really nice melodies. It feels like a world in itself which is always a great trait in an album.
Favourite record by a Welsh band/artist:
Dec: Journal for Plague Lovers by Manic Street Preachers. I listened to this over and over again when I was travelling between Cardiff and the South Wales valleys numerous times a week to train for Merthyr Town FC, so the sound of it is really tied up with the imagery of the valleys for me. Great melodies and wild, surreal lyrics.
Kieran: Rings Around the World by Super Furry Animals. Probably my favourite Welsh band.
Toby: Paris 1919 - John Cale. I played this album a lot in the vintage shop I used to work at. It’s so melodic, and quite Beach Boys’y at times, maybe a little underrated as an album too.
Favourite new Welsh band/artist:
Dec: - Death Cult Electric have only been around for a year or so and are already masters of derangement and sonic anarchy.
Kieran: Plastic Estate from Cardiff. They’ve just finished recording their debut album which I’m looking forward to hearing.
Toby: Private World. They released their debut album last year - listen if you haven’t already. I’m looking forward to hopefully seeing it played live later this year.
Three dream festival headliners:
Dec: Television, The Beatles, Iggy Pop.
Kieran: I’d pick REM for the Friday night after becoming obsessed with their 1999 Glastonbury performance over lockdown. Then Chemical Brothers for Saturday and Joni Mitchell for the Sunday.
Toby: Bruce Springsteen, The Smiths, Lana Del Rey
An underrated band/artist:
Dec: Sugababes are obviously a massive band but I’m not sure they’re as appreciated for some of their songs as they should be. Freak Like Me and Overload aren’t only great core songs but they’re full of experimental and creative elements that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Radiohead album.
Kieran: Choir Boy are a band who should be a lot bigger than they are. Their debut album ‘Passive with Desire’ is maybe my favourite record of the last 10 years.
Toby: Japanese Breakfast. I really liked her 2017 album but her new album ‘Jubilee’ is even better. Paprika is an amazing song.
A song that reminds you of a particular memory:
Dec: Always Crashing in the Same Car by Bowie. I had ‘Low’ on in my earphones over and over again while drifting in and out of sleep on trains when I was travelling through Europe a few years ago and remember coming round to this song while passing through the Alps in the midst of a sixteen hour journey.
Kieran: Once in a Lifetime by Talking Heads reminds me of Friday nights in Dempseys in Cardiff, as I used to request it every time I was in there. Still haven’t forgiven Gareth Bale for turning that place into a sports bar.
Toby: First Love / Late Spring - Mitski. I was lucky enough to go on a field trip to LA as part of my degree a few years ago. I spent the week listening to Mitski, identifying famous film locations and hoping for a chance encounter with Larry David, neglecting most of my field work; the greatest week.
Go to album when you’re down:
Dec: Past Masters by The Beatles because those early singles are so vibrant and full of urgency; they usually make me excited about life and being in a band; if I’ve ever forgotten why I wanted to be in one in the first place then that collection of songs is a guaranteed reminder. If I really want to bathe in misery though then it’d probably be something like Norman Fucking Rockwell by Lana Del Rey. The Greatest is one of my favourite songs of the last couple of years.
Kieran: Silver Dollar Moment by The Orielles, particularly the song ‘Sunflower Seeds’. Toby once snapped at me in practice cos i played the riff about 30 times in one session and said ‘that’s a great riff’ after each time. On reflection, I was probably being quite annoying. He was fuming.
Toby: Lost in The Dream - The War on Drugs. I went back to this album late last year and played it on loop. I love the sincerity of the lyrics, it captures restlessness and isolation perfectly at times. There’s also great guitar lines all over it.
Go to record to get you worked up:
Dec: Stylo by Gorillaz. Bobby Womack’s vocal on that should always help put some life into your day.
Kieran: RTJ4 by Run the Jewels. Protest music released in the wake of George Floyd’s murder last year, it helped me understand the righteous anger the black community feels at systemic racism, which has been ignored by the wider population for far too long.
Toby: Grandstand - Keith Mansfield. Kieran dug this back out a little while ago and it brought back all this childhood nostalgia. Possibly the greatest tv theme of all time. Immediate energiser.
A lyric that resonates with you:
Dec: ‘I just believe in me, Yoko and Me’ - God by John Lennon.
Kieran: ‘The wound has no direction, everybody needs a home and deserves protection’ - Forgotten Eyes, Big Thief
Toby: “It’s hard to get around the wind” - Alex Turner
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