A God-awful Small Affair

The TV quiz show Pointless had a long spell of offering the specialist round of 'Welsh Bands', which, quite rightly, thanks to the likes of the Stereophonics and the largely insufferable arseholes Manic Street Preachers (granted, they have good music, but Nicky Wire is Music Prick #1), went avoided for a long time. Although Super Furry Animals, Feeder and the occasional Catatonia pop song have done a little to reestablish Welsh rock music's image, it's only really gone to shit again thanks to that Lostprophets paedo bloke. In 2011, however, the Joy Formidable stepped forward and gave their home country a band both listenable and interesting. The Big Roar - their debut - although occasionally too eccentric for their own good, proved extremely appealing and energetic rock music was still being produced in the UK without the constant forcing of it down one's throat from the NME and their bloodlust for bitchy, tedious Oasis tributes. Yet, still, the band remain re...

#30 - "Mirrorwriting", Jamie Woon Fuck James Blake. This was the interesting post-dubstep solo album of early 2011. #29 - "The Big Roar", The Joy Formidable It was just a refreshing surprise to see that Wales actually has good acts. Name me another one. Go on. #28 - "21", Adele The statistics speak for themselves. A few dud tracks but at its best it was painfully and resonantly emotional. #27 - "Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds", Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds I know I worshipped the pants off of it in my review but an enduring love for the top 25 has put this in a surprisingly low position. #26 - "Submarine OST", Alex Turner The only soundtrack placing on my list, Submarine was a small but sweet collection of lovely songs culminating in the excellent Piledriver Waltz (which the full band sadly destroyed) #25 - "Anna Calvi", Anna Calvi It must have been quite frustrating for a breakthrough artist so noticeably si...

Just to test the water: WELSH INDIE ROCKERS. AN 8-MINUTE OPENING TRACK. To the rest of you still reading, thank you. Because whilst these might scare off a few, the Joy Formidable are worth your (however brief) attention. They tick a lot of positive boxes too - female vocalist, Bloc Party-style rock-euphoria sounds, stadium filling anthems. They've been compared to Arcade Fire and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. They had a free iTunes single of the week spot and landed in at #39 in the album chart. It's a slow but exciting debut, for sure. Ambitious monolith opener 'The Everchanging Spectrum of a Lie' is tense, epic, brusque kickoff with a frenzied crescendo almost leaving them with the need to start anew, somewhat reminiscent of Snow Patrol's "Open Your Eyes" calibre. It's coincidentally followed with 'The Magnifying Glass' and an intro of riotous laughter. Um. Well the music that follows is fast, bold and would please virtually any festival-goer ever. T...