Adolygiadau: Reviews



Fit! 014 - TYSTION "M.O.M.Y.F.G"


"Spittin’ straight out of Wales’ blossoming hip-hop scene with a vinyl only release, Tystion drop their follow up to last years “Y Meistri” EP. Consisting of 5 mixes of the title track (including a radio version and an accapella) plus a short bonus cut, MCs Sleifar and Chef blast out rhymes in their native Welsh. According to the accompanying press release lyrically the title track is a fictional tale of planting incendiary devices in an anti Welsh-language club. I’ll have to take their word for that, but what I do know is that Tystion certainly have skills and it shows, whichever language they use. Of the 5 versions on offer, the main mix is my favourate, with it’s upbeat 70’s car chase vibe, good gritty vocal performance, some nice edgy scratching and driving (sorry no pun intended) piano/synth line borrowed from The Two Ronnies TV show would you believe. The following remix is a darker affair built around a heavily reverbed piano line and restrained beats and for me doesn’t work as well. I also really liked the appropriately named bonus track ‘Epilogue’; a moody affair complete with plucked strings, military drums and spoken delivery. Criminally short though. This is a strong release from Tystion that I hope will introduce their very individual style to a much wider audience." ukhh.com


Fit! 013 - TRAWSFYNYDD LO-FI LIBERATION FRONT "Llofrudd Digidol"


"The idea to use a 3-minutes-credit-card-CD for this digital murder is absolutely great. The two tracks seem to come from a very angry mutant home computer. They're super-short, super-violent and super-effective." Empty

"...Fitamin Un's most radical act... released as a two-trac credit card-sized CD that fits snugly into your player, the two mixes here - Anthrax Mics and Trawsfynydd Chainsaw Massacre Mics - shred pure bursts of noise into seemingly random explosions of maximum-tempo beats. Terrifying stuff." Honk!

Fit! 012 - TYSTION "Y Meistri"


"Back in the fold and militantly holding their corner in the name of the red dragon are Tystion. Hot headed and breathing fire in the faces of the cold hearted, their sound is uncompromising but never unfocused. With four powerhouse cuts they lay it down in their mother tounge. That's Welsh to you. Furious breakbeats and sharp verses cascade about the ear with the abandon of sparks down a South Wales steel works." Knowledge

"...Dyma enghraifft wych arall o hip hop Gymraeg ar ei orau. Yn wir, mae'r traciau yma lawn cystal - os nad yn well - na'r hyn a geir gan rai o brif artistiaid hip hop Prydain ac America ... mae Y Meistri yn siwr o ddatblygu i fod yn glasur o EP Gymraeg. "Gang Bangor, BBC Radio Cymru

"...ember-bright hip-hop tracks from this interesting Welsh outfit who rap almost entirely in their native language. Their evidently politicized testaments are played out over iron-shod basslines, looped beats, guitars and myriad instrumental samples" Vital Weekly [Holland]


"An entrancingly chaotic EP which takes Squarepusher-style breaks and some of the madness of Llwybr Llaethog's excursions into dub, and then overlays the cheerful, hectic mess with rough drum machine, energetic scratching and great rap-style vocals that, gratifyingly, are at least 90% Welsh and at least 100% raw. 'Y Meistri' itself leaps into life, grabbing the listener by the scruff of the neck as twin rhymers MC Sleifar and Chef hurl themselves into the fray with gay abandon. If anything, though, second song 'Yr Anwybodus' is even more full on, with grinding guitars grappling with each other underneath their lyrical duelling. 'Brad A Sarhad' is a little less cluttered, with rumbling bass, sirens and other effects taking up the slack, while 'Dama Blanca' is an opportunity to wander in the direction of funk, and is definitely the most street-sounding song ever to mention hanging out at the local unemployment office. Oh, and the bass sample at the end is a ringer for Grandmaster Flash's 'White Lines'.Although Tystion are lazily billed by the grown-up press as 'Welsh hip-hop', those two adjectives only give you a tiny part of the story. Proper comparisons should be not to UK or even other European rappers, but to the effortless seguing of musical styles of their countrymen and kindred spirits Llwybr Llaethog and perhaps the energy of yr typical hardcore bands (remember NYHC in the early 90s ?) People seize on bands like Super Furry Animals as if they held a monopoly on eclecticism, when in fact half their songs sound like the Beatles, albeit frayed around the edges. We can't help feeling that this is much more the real deal. Straight outta Cardiff, then, and all the better for it. Millwall run from Tystion." In Love With These Times, In Spite Of These Times


"an excellent new single" John Peel



Fit! 011 - PEP LE PEW "Y Mwyafrif"


"Mae neges PLP yn uniongyrchol a gwleidyddol... Bob hyn a hyn fe ddaw yna record sy'n gwneud i rywun ailystyried pwrpas bywyd. Mae 'Y Mwyafrif' yn un o'r rhain." Golwg

"Poised beats and twisty rawk guitar vaguely recalling The Arsonists or Mos Def in its blending of light and shade, without sounding *that* much like either of them. You're going to love it" Honk

"Os am brawf o’r safon eithriadol o uchel sydd i gerddoriaeth Gymraeg ar hyn o bryd, mynnwch gopi o sengl gyntaf Pep Le Pew" Gang Bangor, BBC Radio Cymru

"Slinking panther style into the consciousness, this malevolent debut from a Gwynydd hip-hop crew warrants a cautious glance over the shoulder before even the intro has wrapped. Smooth horns with high gloss hooks try to reassure but rapid-fire vocals trample all hope of safety. An impressive arrival. 4/5" Big Issue

"Straight outta Porthmadog, their vocal style is a language in it's own; catchy, intruiging and makes them one of the hottest groups in Wales right now." Session In Wales, Radio One



Fit! 010 - V/A "Continuous Sound Labordy Swn Cont..."


"Welsh weirdness from household names like Llwybr Llaethog (whose new album, by the way, is bloody great) as well as lesser known talents like Bomboombomb, whose music-as-Chinese-water-tortue tune, 'Diablo Makes Me Want To Go Blah', is a particular standout. In general, somewhat stranger than anything currently coming out of Japan or Germany's backwaters, and a music for all connoisseurs of odd. 4/5" Musik

"This diverse collective say they’ve set out to blur the boundaries of music and art, reinterpreting the meaning of noise and sound. In this aim they’ve totally succeeded, trashing anyone’s preconceived ideas of what defines music. At times disturbing, a soundtrack to a very confused night, there really is no liking this EP; it’s either love or hate... As an experiment in sonic expression, with a refusal to play instruments, this will either ignite your passion or make you want to smash your stereo." Welsh Bands Weekly

"Most people, on finding themselves in a deep hole of their own making would stop digging. Not Fitamin Un, they've thrown away the spade and brought in a JCB. Previous releases have pandered to the popular conception of music, at the margins anyway, but this 5-tracker resists even token attempts at conformity. The players (or anti-players) are BomBoomBomb, Trwsfynydd Lo-Fi Liberation Front, SJ Omega, Llwyr Llaethog and Dave Handford. Their aim is to "push back sonic boundaries and challenge all expectations." In pursuit of this end, BBB reprise a cut from their demo tape based almost entirely on the word "Blah," Dave Handford strikes rocks together repeatedly, SJ Omega and TLLF offer up engaging rough-hewn drones and Ll-Ll do something impossible to describe in words. Beautiful noise, though." Robots And Electonic Brains


Fit! 009 - LLWYBR LLAETHOG   v   Y CYRFF "Llanrwst"



"If you like thumping basslines and some in-tune football chanting, you'll love this.Like the jewel of the Conwy Valley itself (Llanrwst), the song slips firmly into your affections. Imagine a combination of Underworld meeting an uptempo "Out Of Time" REM and you'll have this single sussed. And it's brief enough not to outstay it's welcome." Record Collector

"Llwybr Llaethog - one of the most pioneering and interesting acts in british electronic music, criminally unrecognised by the media at large... this retains the catchiness of the original, with the added bonus of some well-crafted beats over the top." Welsh Bands Weekly

"Mae Llwybr Llaethog wedi rhoi chwistrelliad o adrenalin i'r glasur... wedi trawsnewid y gan i fod yn rhywbeth fydd yn llenwi lloriau dawns ar hyd a lled y wlad." Golwg

"...an ADF-style punk/dub makeover. The result is fast, furious and funky." Buzz



Fit!007 - TRAWSFYNYDD LO-FI LIBERATION FRONT "Croeso I'r Canolfan Ymwelwyr"


"...avant-garde music that pushes back the frontiers of what we perceive as music... if this is the future, hand me my time machine" Planet Magazine

"...cross-fertilisation of noise, industrial, ambient, techno, breakbeat, glitch and politics... could you imagine Dylan [Thomas] putting lyrics over the sound of a cement mixer eating an electricity pylon?" Robots And Electronic Brains

"...a futuristic sounding record... very inique and after scrutinizing piles of whiny emotionless crap void of any thought or obvious intelligence, this record really does give out hope. Neis. 4/6" Black Velvet Magazine

"Probably one of the most amazing releases and recent discoveries to grave Digital Artifact's Independent State section, Welsh Sound jockey SJ Geiger presents his maddening debut album Croeso I'r Canolfan Ymwelwyr (welcome to the visitor's center) under his prominent recording name Trawsfynydd Lo-Fi Liberation Front. Intricately designed with limited gear and no samplers, a massive feat in and of itself, TLLF plays with an array of formats from lo-fi minimalism to twisted breakbeat and post-apocalyptic, neo-hardcore drum & bass. Deeply underground and experimental in format, SJ Geiger mixes minimal yet aggressive breaks, assembly line percussion clatter, static-edged sine waves, and off-world energy pulses into an explosive, volatile blend signifying an avant-digitized revolution. TLLF's innovativeedge and perspective on soundcraft imagery could easily be associated to Scanner's Robin Rimbaud, however SJ Geiger implements the unorthodox technique of producing sounds without the virtual capacity of samplers." Digital Artifact[USA]

"Y CD gore i ddod allan o Gymru eleni" Radio D