Keith Goldhanger has been listening to the long list of acts appearing at the Cardiff Sŵn Festival this October. The annual multi-venue music event held over three days is now an important inclusion in our diaries and it often provides names and music many of us will soon fall in love with.
Our feet are back on the starting blocks and preparations have already begun for this year’s Sŵn Festival.
Held in Cardiff, this annual event has introduced some of us to an impressive list of bands over the past few years who have since turned up at larger events and festivals throughout the year to become some of our favourite acts. Nadine Shah at the Moon Club (the upstairs version), Dry Cleaning at Fuel, The Murder Capital at Clwb Ifor Bach, Holy Fuck at O’Neills, Suuns, Plastic Mermaids, Snayx, Squid, Dream Wife, We Were Promised Jetpacks….so many amazing shows we’ve seen over the years. There’ll be some bands we can’t remember anymore alas, and this year we expect this event will provide the same.
Deadletter and Fat Dog for example who appeared in front of us for the first time at Sŵn have become regular participants on our favourite radio shows recently. They currently have debut albums available and are currently performing in front of large audiences around the UK. Sŵn Festival also manages to include numerous acts so many have told us about that we’ve not all had the time previously to check out and there’s often the odd surprise waiting for us when we are least expecting it of course.
This year’s event to be held between Thursday 17th October and Saturday 19th October features over a hundred acts that will be spread over eight of the city’s venues and the line up yet is yet again another eclectic selection of new up and coming acts alongside a few names many of us are pleased to get the chance to see for the first time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videoseries
Radiohead’s Philip Selway will no doubt be a popular show to witness, as will Idlewide’s Roddy Womble who has yet another album ready for our ears this year. Hamish Hawk who’s third album (reviewed here) will be someone to look forward to seeing for anyone who is yet to cross paths with this singer songwriter. Alongside the pop, (Hannah Diamond Cosmorat), Dance (Das Koolies, Art School Girlfriend, Porij, Alias) and dreamy laid back soundscapes (Lanterns on the Lake, Circe, Brick Nasty, Alias -again) we’ll have the noisy and politically charged sound of Lambrini Girls and The None who already seem to be ruffling a few feathers since the recent release of their EP Matter (here).
Local bands we already know about such as Blue Amber were a joy to watch back at this festival in 2021, the superb Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard will always be on our list of bands to see again and Das Koolies will be attempting to meddle with our minds with their electronic dance performed by members of the hugely popular Super Furry Animals.
Bands we can’t learn anything about in the ten minutes allocated time like Knives and Alien Chicks have their cards marked already and bands it’s believed we have been seen before such as Cosmorat, Blue Bendy and Human Interest (Bedfords’ Ceremony Festival back in June) may get another look.
Then there’s Crows and The Wave Pictures we haven’t seen for a while., Borough Council, The Itch and recently crowned Mercury prize winners English Teacher who never disappoint will be present. Where did we see The New Eaves before or Automotion? Will some of us finally get to see Hamish Hawk? Will we come home full of regret that we still cannot be in two places at the same time ? – Well yes in regards to the latter question but that’s only a small criticism we’ll always come away from Sŵn festival with.
Cardiff’s the place to be during these three days.
Tickets for the event are available on the festivals own web site here
It’s not too late to join us – listen to the participating bands in the YouTube playlist above
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Words by Keith Goldhanger. More writing by Keith on Louder Than War can be found at his author’s archive. You can also find Keith on Facebook and Twitter (@HIDEOUSWHEELINV).
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