SOUNDTRACK: GRUFF RHYS-Yr Atal Genhedlaeth (2004).
In 2004. Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys released his first solo album. The sung-entirely-in-Welsh Yr Atal Genhedlaeth. It’s a lo-fi bedroom kind of recording. Mostly catchy as anything, but with some typically weirdo songs as well. Most of the songs are well under three minutes.
I’ve included some notes from Wikipedia (in italics) that offer translation advice.
The album opens with “Yr Atal Genhedlaeth” which is 8 seconds of warping looping nonsense. In Welsh the title means ‘The Stuttering Generation,’ but ‘atalgenhedlu’ is also Welsh for a contraceptive.
“Gwn Mi Wn” is a proper song with Gruff singing over a drum pattern. As the song moves along more looped vocals are added making the song bigger and bigger–almost trance like by the end. Gwn Mi Wn translates as ‘I Know [that] I Know’, but could also mean ‘a gun I know’, a reference to the battle in the song.
“Epynt” is a 2 minute rocking raw song of guitar and synth and some shouted lyrics. It’s oddly catchy. The song is named after a mountain in Mid Wales, but is about money, with the ‘E’ standing for the Euro, and ‘pynt’ sounding similar to the Welsh word for Pound.
“Rhagluniaeth Ysgafn” is a slower, more electronic-sounding song (from the drums and sound effects). Although guitars do move the song along. There’s a kind of scream/laugh effect that’s played here and it gets repeated on other songs. It translated as ‘Light programming’, but ‘lluniaeth ysgafn’ means a light snack. This is also a catchy song that is a total sing along, if you know Welsh.
“Pwdin Ŵy” literally means ‘egg pudding’, or “egg custard’, two love songs. “Pwdin Ŵy 1″ is a swinging song that features some nice layered vocals. It’s upbeat and dancy. “Pwdin Ŵy 2” is very different–it’s a mellow guitar song with a harmonica solo.
“Y Gwybodusion” (‘The Experts’) is a garage rock song with a cheesy synth solo. The addition of a (cool) bass line half way through really fleshes the song out.
“Caerffosiaeth” is literally ‘sewage fortress’. ‘Caer’ is a common part of Welsh place-names used to indicate that there was a castle in the town. It’s an all drum-machine rap full of sound effects. As with all of the other songs he manages to make it really catchy by the end.
“Ambell Waith” (‘Sometimes‘) is a quiet folk song with interesting sound effects floating around. The slight echo on everything makes it feel very full. And the trumpet (!) solo comes as quite a surprise.
The final two songs are much longer than anything else on the disc.
“Ni Yw Y Byd” means ‘We Are The World,‘ but is not a cover. It’s upbeat, four minutes long and feels fuller than the others. It reminds me a bit of the melody of “The Gambler” and is therefore crazy catchy. It’s even easy to singalong to even if you don;t know Welsh. There’s a clapalong section followed by a flute solo.
“Chwarae’n Troi’n Chwerw” means ‘When Play Turns Bitter’ and comes from a Welsh proverb. this song is a Welsh language standard originally written and sung by Caryl Parry-Jones. It’s got a quiet electric guitar playing some lead riffs as he sings in a deeper register. It ends with 30 seconds of quiet banjo playing.
This is a true solo record from Rhys–snippets, excerpts and home recordings. It’s a quiet treat.
[READ: November 17, 2020] “New Poets”
When I started reading this story I was afraid that it was going to be one of those grimy violent stories that doesn’t exactly glorify bad behavior, but kind of revels in it.
The narrator, Monk, is recently sober, but he has had a string of bad luck and has moved in with an old college buddy named Dogman. Dogman has not stopped drinking. Indeed, he drinks a lot. Which is odd because Dogman is an accountant in the Philadelphia office of one of the country’s largest banks. It’s a boring job, so the weekend is for drinking.
They are in a pub (it’s the middle of the day) and Dogman tells Monk that a surprise guest is coming. The guest is Sudimack. Monk is really not happy about that. (more…)
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