Meddwl yn Gymraeg

Dwi'n trio meddwl yn Gymraeg

[meddwlyngymraeg]

Some admin (gweinyddiaeth):

About: This blog is a place for me to practise my Welsh. I don't have a lot of people to talk to, but I want to practise playing with words, force myself to think in Welsh and actively form those sentences on my own.

As a result, there is no guarantee they're all correct; I'm a learner! This has been your disclaimer in case you feel like sticking around.

Tags explained (if you're sticking around):

Like I said, I can't guarantee that my sentences are right or grammatical (or make idiomatic sense, for instance). So I will not be tagging any of them with Cymraeg, dysgu Cymraeg, Welsh or learn Welsh as a general rule, except occasionally if I know they're correct.

Tags:

Vocabulary: words and meanings

Sentences: I'm mucking about with new words, idiomatic ways of saying things, and sentence structures that I've learned. If there isn't another tag (a 'source: xyz' tag), then I've just made them up and they may not always be correct.

Idiomatic expressions: I've decided to use a separate tag for things that go beyond just vocabulary and while this does include idiom phrases, it more often refers to those clusters of words that you can't simply translate into English, including prepositions. Rule #1 for learning any language: Do NOT assume the prepositions will map exactly to your language.

In an update to this post, slang (bratiaith) and dialect (tafodiaith) have been added to this tagging system.

Grammar: things that actually pertain to grammar, separate from idiomatic phrases by the way.

'Source: xyz': sentences I've heard, read or seen somewhere that I am writing down here, for practise.

'Source: radio', 'source: podcast', 'source: music': The audio transcriptions. May not always be heard right. I will often tag the source itself (eg. 'BBC Radio Wales') in a separate tag, may or may not link to the audio.

Transcribing: as above. I don't really hear Welsh in everyday life, so transcriptions are usually from radio, podcasts and music.

Elis and John's Welshcapades (an update to this post): It has happened. I listen to Elis James and John Robins on the radio (hello to any fellow PCDs!), and they occasionally discuss Welsh vocabulary because Elis is a Welsh speaker. Where I've uploaded any clips of theirs and transcribed vocabulary and translations, I've used this tag.

Source: text - any text source; reading. I may need more specific tags once I get comfortable and am able to read actual books (even kids books!), but for now all written work is just text.

Source: dictionary - vocabulary or example sentences taken from a dictionary. I usually use the Prifysgol Bangor's Ap Geiriaduron or the Pocket Modern Welsh Dictionary by Gareth King (the bilingual one), which has a lot of example sentences and is fantastic.

Source: Duolingo - yeah, I use the owl. The Welsh course is actually quite good, and the community is awesome. I'm not really posting vocabulary from the course here (there's a course for that!), but I've picked up some cool stuff from learners and speakers in the forums. This tag is for those things.

Resources: language resources and masterposts I've made or reblogged. 99% of these are Welsh related, there's maybe one in general about language learning, and one about a handful of languages that includes Welsh.

Hwyl: the Welsh for fun! It was destined to happen: silly hours are now etched into the foundation stone of this blog. This tag is for some of the sillier, funnier Cymraeg-related things I might post or reblog. (The Welshcapades are tagged 'hwyl' too.)

Admin: you're looking at it now.

I'll update this post if any other admin tags are needed, but any other tags... are likely me rambling :D I like a good ramble.

Note on music: I do post a ton of Welsh music, and often podcasts and radio programs too, but they don't fit the purpose of this blog, which is to think in Welsh, meddwl yn Gymraeg. If you want music recs, send me an ask, or ask for my main! (Should that happen, I will make an ask tag)

Ask: (update) :) this blog isn't a void now :)

Cerddoriaeth: youse asked for music recs :) (I think the tag is actually Cerddoriaeth Cymraeg, which I will one day change because half the posts are tagged ‘Cerddoriaeth Gymraeg’. The others are tagged Gerddoriaeth Cymraeg. Help me)

Welsh Music Wednesday: The people have spoken (through a 100% yes poll)! Every Wednesday, I'm recommending you a new artist from Wales, some that perform in Welsh, others that are bilingual performers or occasionally English-language artists from Wales. Here's a playlist I hope to remember to update often, with the artists featured.

[aeolianblues]

... with the number of press requests I've got recently you'd think I was the one reforming and not Super Furry Animals!

[adlamu]

GET TO KNOW ME MEME: THE RE-DO | 10 favourite bands BAND NUMBER 6: FFA COFFI PAWB

formed. 1986 in bethesda, north wales, uk | language: welsh | genre: post-punk, "madchester", indie rock, alternative rock, neo-psychedelia | disbanded. 1992 members: gruff rhys (vocalist & guitarist), rhodri puw, dewi emlyn, + dafydd ieuan (drummer)

first exposure: through an S4C documentary about them - which basically lays down the lore that they and their label were just welsh new order + factory records minus the haçienda stuff i'm not gonna lie to you, it's very eerie how similar their shit is.

favourite album: clymhalio favourite song(s): hunlle i nunlle, pen yn y gwynt, cwsg cwsg cwsg, allan o'i phen, valium, galw arno ti, mynd i lawr, telyn wedi trwsio, dalec peilon, pendramwngl, mae'n gwneud fy mhen i mewn, ffarout, pelydr secs, + arwynebol melyn. favourite member: gruff rhys favourite lyric(s): "dwi'n hoff o edrych ar yr awyr, i weld os oes 'na unrhywle i ffoi" | "i like to look at the sky, to see if there is anywhere to escape" - allan o'i phen

[meddwlyngymraeg]

Shwmae pawb! Dydd Miwsig Cymru hapus! Today is a day that has been celebrated as Dydd Miwsig Cymru, or Welsh language music day, first started by the radio broadcaster and DJ Huw Stephens in 2013 to celebrate Welsh music.

It’s grown into an almost festival over time, and I thought I’d mark the day with a playlist of recommendations. A while ago, I was running a series calling Welsh Music Wednesdays, where I wrote about one new/rising Welsh, often Welsh language artist every Wednesday. These are not established artists, and so can absolutely do with your love and support! While I haven’t been able to research and write a new post every week in a little while, I did have a much longer playlist planned out for what I’d post each week. I would love to get back to it soon.

However, in the meanwhile, here is the playlist. It’s got many more songs than are in the tag, but if you’re looking for the posts, check out the Welsh Music Wednesday tag on this blog.

Give this playlist a spin, discover some cool new Welsh artists, happy Dydd Miwsig Cymru!

[meddwlyngymraeg]

Welsh Music Wednesday

Shwmae pawb! Dwi wedi dod nôl i ddangos i chi mwy artistiadd Cymraeg/Cymreig, I'm back to recommend you more Welsh artists I think you need to be hearing!

This one's a band I adore, they're an indie rock four-piece from Swansea called Bandicoot. Led by singer and guitarist Rhys Underdown, Bandicoot wrote and performed bilingually in English and Welsh for about five years around 2017-2022, when they released their debut album Black After Dark (still one of my favourite albums of 2022). They had a certain rock n roll swagger, and they'd rhyme a line of English with the next line in Welsh, which was really compelling to me when I first started listening to them, because there were very few bands doing that at the time!

The single that hooked me in was a 2021 release called O Nefoedd! (O Heavens!) You can find it on their Bandcamp page, it's on the album as well. Here's another single if you insist on a YouTube link, called Fuzzy.

Soon after their album came out, the band announced on Instagram that they had to cancel all their upcoming shows unexpectedly, and we never heard from them again. At this point, I'd assume they have split up as Bandicoot. I do know that Rhys Underdown is performing solo (under the moniker Underdown) and has just released an EP called On the Town. If anyone else knows what the rest of the band is up to musically, I'd like to know. Bandicoot (in MY heart at least) are missed!

[meddwlyngymraeg]

Welsh Music Wednesday

Shwmae pawb! I'm back with another Welsh music Wedneday, just an excuse to tell you all about musicians I like from Wales, and good god there are a lot of them.

This week, I've got the Cardiff funk-jazz-hip hop collective Afro Cluster! They released their debut album The Reach in 2021, and say it is an album about life and community.

“As with most honest music, this is an album about life. More than taking a village to raise someone, we become not just the sum of our experiences, but the outcomes of our reactions to them. In our expanding and shrinking world, the speed and number of interactions with people is increasing exponentially.” They go on to talk about how we can learn from every interaction, pleasant or not.

They've been making music for over a decade now, and released their latest single ‘On The Up’ in 2023.

I'm taking us back to an early EP from 2016 called ‘We Don Land’, but as a live performance at Glastonbury that year!

Support them independently by buying their music on Bandcamp if you like/are able to!

[meddwlyngymraeg]

Welsh Music Wednesday

Dod nôl am wythnos newydd! Shwmae folks, glad you've been liking the Welsh music Wednesday recommendations so far, I've got one of Wales and especially Welsh language music's brightest stars as a spotlit artist for today!

Adwaith are an indie rock trio from Caermarthen in South Wales, made of three school friends Gwenllian Anthony, Hollie Singer (who is, aptly, one of the two singers in the band) and Heledd Owen.

They started out as more of a punk band, writing songs with a feminist punk rock angle, talking about their lives as girls in town (Lipstick Coch is a great song to check out from the time). They wrote as they spoke, a deliberate choice to be more conversational and not feel afraid to make mistakes in their Welsh, as language learners and feel more confident. And Adwaith have every reason to be confident: they are one of the most exciting bands to come out of Wales, and lately they have only been going from strength to strength.

Winning the Welsh Music Prize for their debut album, 2018's Melyn, Adwaith began expanding their sound into more indie and post punk on their second album Bato Mato, inspired by a trip taken by the band to get to a show, on the Trans Siberian Express train. They won the Welsh Music Prize again for that album, and to date that makes them the only artist ever to have won the prize twice!

It also took them beyond the usual boundaries of minority language music: Adwaith played the BBC Introducing stage at Glastonbury, and were even picked up for a session by the iconic radio station KEXP when they were at the ESNS showcase festival in the Netherlands in 2022.

They've released their third album this February called Solas, and once again Adwaith have taken a bold step. Solas is an all-Welsh language double album, and the band continues to grow sonically: they lean into darker synths, write about life and the world around them, find pockets of joy in the darkness, and just generally have written an album that should be lauded.

Anyway, Adwaith are extremely cool. Here's Solas on Bandcamp, if you like them, go buy their album and support them independently if you can. (Alternately if you're just in the area, they are on Libertino Records.)

I've linked the first song ‘Planed’ (‘Planet’), because it's quite Depeche Mode to my ears.

[meddwlyngymraeg]

Welsh Music Wednesday

Shwmae pawb! I'm back with some another week of Welsh music recommendations for you. This week, we're listening to Welsh language reggae.

Morgan Elwy is a roots rock, dub and reggae artist from the hills of West Clwyd in North Wales. He describes his work as conscious lyrics rooted deep in peace and positive vibes with memorable melodies and wholesome harmonies. His album from 2024 is called Dub Yn Y Pub (Dub in the Pub), which paints an excellent picture to my mind! Here's the introduction to the album, the opening track Rubadub Cymraeg.

Support him by buying his music on Bandcamp if you like. He's also got the lyrics to his songs on Bandcamp. Linking another song I like, Y Rhythm.

(Past Welsh Music Wednesday recommendations in the tag, wrth gwrs! :) )

[meddwlyngymraeg]

Welsh Music Wednesday

Helo pawb, wythnos newydd, so Welsh Music Wednesday rec newydd!

This week, I'm introducing you to the synth pop duo Siula, whose name if I'm not mistaken, is pronounced 'Sheila' if you read it in Welsh.

Siula is the project of Cardiff musician Iqra Malik, who usually performs under the name Artshawty solo. She teamed up with producer Llion Robertson for her first Welsh language project, and it's electro-dreampop goodness. They released their first single Ischia back in 2023 and haven't looked back since.

Here they are, performing their song Golau Gwir on Lŵp.

Their latest single, Fallen Angel is a subtle banger. Check it out on their Bandcamp and support them independently if you like!

[meddwlyngymraeg]

Welsh Music Wednesday

Helô pawb, 'chi'n iawn? Hanging in there? I've got some great music to help tide you over if not. Back with another Welsh music Wednesday, and this week it's all about the harmonies: I'm featuring Ynys!

Dylan Hughes is a keyboardist, guitarist, musician and songwriter from Aberystwyth, and has previously been in bands like the psychedelic indie rockers Race Horses, going as far back as 2009. (They were kinda folky too, they had a harpist!) After the band split, Dylan was living in Cardiff for a spell and wasn't really outwardly involved with music for the decade, but there were ideas accumulating in his mind, little melodies and such. He never thought he would release them, until friends (and former Race Horses) started encouraging him to put it down on record.

That's where Dylan's (good) problem began: he never wrote these songs with the intention of a band playing them, and so to record them, he needed a band. Friends stepped in, and a few former band members pitched in, and so Ynys was born. Dylan began realising in hindsight that a lot of his lyrics seemed to be about adjusting to the city in Cardiff, longing for Aberystwyth his hometown and the seaside.

Ynys' debut album Ynys (2021) is a psychedelic, delightful indie rock record, in turns brooding and delightfully poppy, with lush strings, melodies and harmonies, drawing from some of Dylan's own favourite albums and artists (the song Caneuon specifically refers to listening to the song Gegin Nos, from Gorky's Zygotic Mynci 1994 album Tatay). Here's album opener Môr Du (Black Sea), performed on Lŵp.

The follow up album, recorded during lockdown when Dylan was home in Aberystwyth, is one of the catchiest indie pop albums of last year. Dosbarth Nos (Night Class) is a must-listen album.

Ces i gyfle i gyfweld Dylan cyn yr albwn yn rhyddau'r llynedd. Guy hyfryd I've gotta say! A cherddor ardderchog. Anyway, if you like their music, check out their Bandcamp and support them independently. Dylan's particular about making sure their lyric booklets and Bandcamp have their lyrics and an artistically satisfactory English translation, as transliteration hardly ever really conveys exactly what the original lyrics do. So a good recommendation for my fellow dyswyr too.

[meddwlyngymraeg]

Welsh Music Wednesday

Helo pawb, this week I want to introduce to you one of the coolest rock duos I've met, the Welsh hard rock band Alffa!

Alffa are a guitar-and-drums duo from Llanrug in North Wales. They've been playing together since their school days in 2015, Dion Jones as their singer and guitarist, and Sion Land on the drums. These boys get LOUD and are a really impressive live duo (which I can say because I had the pleasure of seeing them in a dim-lit pub at a showcase festival last year, far away from Wales, where the crowd was hooked to their every word as they played songs in a language most of the audience did not speak, but could not ignore their electrifying energy).

Alffa became the first musical artist to have a song in the Welsh language that crossed 1 million streams on Spotify back in 2018, when their single Gwenwyn (Poison) got picked up by the curators of a large rock playlist on Spotify. Many called it just another indication of how healthy the Welsh-language music scene was at the time, and it has showed no signs of slowing down— certainly, neither have Alffa.

They released their debut album, Rhyddid o'r Cysgodion Gwenwynig (Freedom from the Poisonous Shadows) the following year in 2019, and it has one of my favourite Alffa songs on it, ‘Babi Mam’, a song about men's mental health, that they released with guest vocals by Iwan Fôn, singer from the band Kim Hon (a future feature on the Welsh music Wednesday series for sure). There is a glorious taped performance of it from 2019's Maes B when Alffa played the Eisteddfod and Iwan joined them on vocals.

I don't have a Bandcamp page to link you for them unfortunately, but if you're into physicals, they are on Recordiau Côsh, and in lieu of a stream I will just embed a second track, this from their lovely second album that came out last year called O'r Lludw (From the Ashes), with just the duo of Dion and Sion, called ‘Breathe Free’. A bit of an intense rock-disco track! (Personally, ‘Darnau Mân’ is one of my favourite songs on the album, so listen to that too).

[meddwlyngymraeg]

Welsh Music Wednesday

Shwmae pawb, gobeithio mae'r wythnos wedi mynd yn iawn i chi gyd? Dwi wedi dod â cherddoriaeth o artist cŵl arall i chi heddiw, so strap in!

Aleighcia Scott is a reggae musician and singer from Cardiff. She's written music in English and Welsh, releasing her first EP Forever In Love in 2018, and following it up with her debut album Windrush Baby in 2023, which went to #1 in the iTunes Reggae chart. (It's still a thing! iTunes downloads are where you buy the digital single, they still count for the charts, though of course the prominent method of listening now is streaming. They are categorised by country and genre, and in the UK are still compiled and recognised by the Official Charts Company, who make the weekly charts for different categories across music sales, streams and downloads in the UK.)

Aleighcia Scott's first Welsh release was in 2020, covering Dafydd Iwan's iconic protest folk song Yma O Hyd (when subsequently went on to become adopted by the Wales FA and has been sung at many Wales football matches). This version also topped the iTunes charts when it came out, but since then Aleighcia, who is also a coach on the Welsh version of 'The Voice, Y Llais, furthered her Welsh-learning journey with the help of fellow coach Yws Gwynydd (also a musician you should check out, who I will probably feature on a future Wednesday).

She released her first original song in Welsh, ‘Dod o'r Galon’ (‘Coming from the Heart’) in April, and it became the first Welsh language song to top the iTunes Reggae charts— a big moment for both Welsh music, and reggae!

You can buy her EP and album on her Bandcamp page below.

[meddwlyngymraeg]

Welsh Music Wednesday

Shwmae pawb, mae hi wedi bod munud! Dwi'n dod nôl i gyflwyn band da arall i chi gyd, all things back to usual now :) I had queued up like 3 months' worth of Welsh music Wednesdays in May and forgot to fill the queue back up. So here I am again!

This week, I've got you a North Wales alternative rock band from Caernarfon called Kim Hon, who released their first single Twti Ffrwti back in 2019. But members of the band have been around the music scenes in Caernarfon for much longer. Singer Iwan Fôn started a band in 2015 called Y Reu, who were incredibly versatile as musicians: their songs drew on everything from glitzy hard rock with riffs to more psychedelic and lush sounds, and even some dance influences. I might do a separate WMW on them, but until then I'd love to bundle them in here as a bonus band for you to check out if you want more than the 1 band a week you bargained for. (Besides, I missed a few weeks, so let me make it up to you!)

You might also remember Lloyd Steele (from the second-ever week of WMW), who was/is the guitarist in Y Reu. You might also remember singer Iwan from the song he collaborated with Alffa on, the raw, raucous, intense punk scorcher about men's mental health, Babi Mam.

While Kim Hon's music is more psychedelic and indie, there are punk traces in their rebellion, as you can hear on one of their breakout 2023 songs 'Mr. English', railing against holiday homes bought up by English residents in Welsh towns fuelling a housing crisis and pricing out the residents. It doesn't have a music video, but I can link a performance they did for a gig series called Gigs Tŷ Nain (Gigs at Grandma's House).

They released their self-titled debut album in 2024 and have been releasing a few great new singles this year, that have seen them being interviewed on primetime BBC Radio 6 Music shows. The latest single, 'Tangnefedd' ('Peace') is a slice of delightful summertime indie, replete with psychedelic guitars.

The band have said about their new direction on what will presumably eventually be their second album, “The message at the heart of this song is simple. Life can be tough, cruel at times but those hard moments shape you. If they don’t succeed at breaking you, they eventually will build you. Bit by bit. Nothing truly good ever comes easy.

“Sometimes life drags you through the mud, but if you keep going, if you push through the pain with perseverance you’ll come out stronger. Because in the search for peace and calm (Tangnefedd) you often have to suffer first, to survive, and to grow.”

“This single and our last single ‘Ar Chw Fi Si’ have been explorations into the world of self-production, with the ambition of honing our craft ready for the process of making our second album in-house, which we hope to begin recording in the coming months.”

They're also at the Eisteddfodd this week on 9 August, for any folks headed that way!

I'll also link a song by Y Reu for those that want to dive into the back catalogue.

Wela chi gyd wythnos nesa!

[meddwlyngymraeg]

Welsh Music Wednesday

Shwmae pawb, mae dydd Mawrth yn dod a fel clockwork dwi'n dychwelydd i ddangos band super cool i chi. For this week's Welsh Music Wednesday, I'd like to introduce you to the super cool rock band HMS Morris!

From Carmarthenshire they're a four piece rock band who have been going for over 10 years now! They released their first singles in late 2014, and over the years, their sound has evolved from being indie rock with a touch of expansive prog/psychedelia, into more of the realm of true art rock. Vocalist Heledd Watkins comes from a theatrical background, and the band have always included a touch of that in their music: check out Morbid Mind from their 2018 second album, Inspirational Talks.

HMS Morris incorporate the experimental into everything they do: from the minute they turn up on stage or you see them in a music video, they're challenging themselves to express themselves creatively and differently: you may see them in bright colours, in silky, amorphous robes straight out of the drama department's supplies cupboard, sometimes even in matching shiny, futuristic silver jackets, as they did at SXSW in Austin, Texas when they played the showcase in 2018.

HMS Morris are a bilingual band, and their latest album from 2023, Dollar Lizard Money Zombie is a must-listen. The band say most of the songs were written about human connection, and the album was nominated for the 2024 Welsh Music Prize, where HMS Morris performed as well. The album is in part post punk, there are some delightful cheeky pop choruses on there (‘Balls To The Wall’), some heavier rock instrumentations and chugged guitars (‘Bach + Dwl’), some swaggering rock n roll. Worth checking out.

And to get a taste of the live vibe, here's a live session they performed.

Find them on Bandcamp, I'm linking the album below.

[meddwlyngymraeg]

Welsh Music Wednesday

Shwmae pawb, gobeithio bod eich wedi bod yn wych! Wythnos hyn, hoffwn i gyflwyno rywbeth wahanol i chi. This week, I am bringing you a musician doing something very different from the traditional songwriting we know.

Today's featured artist is Ren Gill, a songwriter, musician, poet, visual artist and storyteller from Anglesey in North Wales who has received widespread acclaim for his intense portraits of life, visceral music videos and worldbuilding in his music.

Ren was born in Bangor, grew up in the village of Dwyran on Ynys Môn, and moved to Brighton when he was 19, where he is still based. He began his career busking on the streets as a teenager, where he was spotted by a Sony Music representative and offered to record a debut album. But Ren's path to a career was not so straightforward. Around the time of his recording, Ren became severely ill and eventually had to walk away from music and returned to his mum's house, where he ended up bedridden for a year with sickness. After a few years of trying various treatments with limited success, of pain, exhaustion and feeling hopelessness, he was eventually diagnosed with Lyme disease in 2015, and a chance stem-cell treatment eventually saw Ren's condition improve enough that he was finally able to leave the house, even write and record music, and he released his debut album, Freckled Angels in 2016, bringing back the old recordings he was working on a decade ago, and new songs.

The next few years too he was in and out of treatment, writing all the while and busking with his band, The Big Push. Eventually, he decided to address his health issues and everything that came along with it in his music: his autoimmune condition, episodes of psychosis, anxiety, mental health issues, chronic illness and the invisibility that comes with it, feeling hope and despair, on a December 2022 song called ‘Hi Ren’. This was the beginning of a new chapter in Ren's life.

The song took on a life of its own and resonated with many other people who felt seen for the first time and heard their stories told in Ren's music. The music video, self released on his YouTube, garnered millions of views in the space of a month.

From there, Ren's fanbase grew, even as his illness kept him from playing shows as regularly as most other bands. In 2023, he geared up to release his second album Sick Boi, a collection of songs somewhere between hip hop, rap, rock, folk, musical theatre and just bardic poetry, thematically talking about chronic illness, mental health and also capitalism, the music industry, injustice and society. He released the stunning music video for the song ‘Money Games Part 3’ a day before the album came out.

Against all odds, the album went to #1 on the UK charts (the guy is independent! No label! And he was ill, so he wasn't able to do live shows or appearances to promote the album. He was also up against some heavyweights: releases by Drake, Troye Sivan and a new album by the much-loved Rick Astley, who later said he loved Ren's work). The video won several music video awards too.

Ren's been quiet through last year, away in Canada for more treatment, but he's slowly been returning with new music that will end up on a third album. The latest is an intriguing storyline bringing together old characters, a tale of police brutality, mental health and an allegory in Vincent Van Gogh that I'd recommend experiencing in video form on his YouTube. I'm linking the Sickboi album on Bandcamp for you all. He is fully independent, so his entire career is funded by his Bandcamp and Patreon, which I think more artists should do!

He's a bachgen Ynys Môn, mae fe'n gallu siarad Cymraeg. The opening song on Sick Boi, ‘Seven Sins’ (linked above) opens with an intro in Welsh.

Bonus:

video credit: ren.is.my.zen on tiktok.

[Part of a series I'm doing on Welsh music I've been enjoying recently. If you're new here and looking for more, they're in the relevant tag below. Croeso i'r blog!]

[meddwlyngymraeg]

Welsh Music Wednesday

Helo pawb, mae'n dydd Mawrth, so mae recs cerddoriaeth i chi gyda fi. I have a been recommending a cool Welsh artist that I've been enjoying for the last few weeks, and today I've got the Welsh band Chroma for you.

CHROMA as they stylise their name, are a Welsh alt rock trio from Pontypridd. They've been going since about 2015-16, and over the years as their songwriting has evolved, they have become a heavier, more flourished rock band, finally releasing their debut album Ask For Angela in 2023 on Alcopop! Records (for my money, one of the coolest indie labels in the UK for the bands on their roster. They're based in London, so not specifically a Welsh label or anything, I just think they have some cool artists if you're into alternative music).

The album title refers to a campaign started in the UK where a person could go up to a bartender or shopkeep and 'ask for Angela' as a codeword that did not feel safe. It was also started in a number of grocery stores in Toronto, Canada in 2024.

The album, a culmination of about 7 years of work, touched upon themes of feminism, pro-trans and queer songs, women supporting each other, on life as a young adult, dealing with mental health issues, relationships and much more. There's a song on it, ‘Bombs Away’, that Katie Hall said was just her tribute to My Chemical Romance in wanting to make a breakup song where you could just let go.

It's a fantastic album, it was rightly shortlisted for the Welsh Music Prize last year where CHROMA briefly performed, and they were chosen by Foo Fighters to open for them at Old Trafford in Manchester (and had a shock receiving that phone call— I was chatting to a similar young and impressive band that got the sudden call from the Foos in Montreal, and they thought they were being scammed at first!)

Anyway. CHROMA did a live session for Lŵp a couple of years ago at Focus Wales that's really worth a watch, I want to single out a song but they're all so good (okay fine ‘Tair Ferch Doeth’). The whole session is 15 minutes, and worth every minute.

But if there's one just song you hear from the album, I recommend ‘Woman To Woman’, the song about feminist infighting and backing other women, this is from a studio session CHROMA did. It's so powerful, and it's insane that they don't have a guitarist. They're just vocals, bass and drums. And Katie Hall's vocals on this version are really good.

Their debut album is on Bandcamp on Alcopop's page, so if you'd like to buy the album, check them out here:

[meddwlyngymraeg]

Happy Dydd Miwsig Cymru! Listen to some cool Welsh music today

[aeolianblues]

woah mama they're putting me on TV

[aeolianblues]

Girl you are Joking