Tuesday, October 16, 2018

Prize fighters

The nominees for this year's Welsh Music Prize were announced yesterday, with a couple of prominent names among them. While I haven't yet listened to Gruff Rhys' Babelsberg, there will (or at least should) be some wearied rolling of the eyeballs at the fact that the Manics' Resistance Is Futile has made the shortlist - despite aiming high, it's only sporadically satisfying.

Far more deserving of the judges' consideration are Boy Azooga's 1, 2, Kung Fu and Le Kov by Gwenno, who I'll hopefully be seeing here in the Welsh capital on Wednesday, to kick off the Swn Festival. Like Rhys, she's a former winner, having scooped the award in 2015 for Y Dydd Olaf. I certainly wouldn't bet against her repeating that feat.

Other notable nominees are Rhodri Brooks & Eugene Capper, who I unexpectedly saw playing over the road at the Lansdowne pub at one of their summer beer festivals, and Seazoo, whose album was brought to my attention earlier this year by one of the Prize's founders, Jon Rostron.

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