Are grants enough to keep the city’s music scene afloat? New indie mag City Sounds steps in to celebrate all things independent Cardiff
City Sounds’s Chloe Allen and Oliver Cuenca interviewed Chroma at one of Cardiff’s independent music venues, Gwdihw
PYST (Post in Welsh) is one year old.
It’s a government-funded initiative for Welsh-language musicians and describes itself as a “digital distribution and label promotion service.”
Gorwelion Horizons has been running for slightly longer.
The initiative, created in 2014 by BBC Cymru Wales and the Arts Council Wales aims to help Welsh artists.
Its Launchpad scheme is a £50,000 biannual fund for up-and-coming Welsh artists and the pot is split between 25 artists for marketing or equipment.
Gorwelion is also in association with Festival No. 6, which takes place in the village of Portmeirion in Snowdonia, as seen in famous 1960s programme ‘The Prisoner’.
They have also previously run exposure-based schemes putting Welsh artists on bigger platforms.
Past bands that have worked with the scheme have included Chroma and Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard.
A new Cardiff music magazine is filling in the gaps between PYST and Gorwelion.
Alt.Cardiff would like to introduce City Sounds and its inaugural edition, launching 11 December 2018.
City Sounds is a punchy new quarterly covering Cardiff’s blooming indie rock scene, put together by five members of the Alt.Cardiff team.
City Sounds is a platform for both the established and the rising artist.
It is for the independent venues that should be recognised and it is for all things ‘scene’.
The magazine is for readers who ‘live the scene’, as the publication’s mission statement puts it, and sheds light on all the components of Cardiff’s growing scene
City Sounds journalist Oliver Cuenca explained to us: “We want to give Cardiff’s indie music scene the attention it deserves, and give them in-depth, exciting and exclusive content on the music and clubs they love.”
The magazine’s first issue features an exclusive interview with trio Chroma, the group behind the tracks ‘Girls Talk’ and ‘Claddu 2016.’
Lead singer Katie Hall, 22, said: “I think the Welsh music scene is stronger than it’s ever been.”
City Sounds is drawing attention to that strength and where, in some areas, it is absent.
The publication also discusses the unreliable funding in the arts and particularly in the Cardiff-based music venues.
To read more, including a talk with Rhondda-based music photographer Elijah Thomas about his favourite upcoming Welsh bands, see below.
Eli getting into the mix with Boy Azooga at another Cardiff-based venue, Clwb Ifor Bach
A warm welcome from Alt.Cardiff to City Sounds
Check out the official launch video