Happy New January! This post is dedicated to a new podcast you NEED to be listening to. This is the Welsh Music Podcast, hosted by James Cuff (We Are Cardiff fans may remember James for helping out on the We Are Cardiff documentary that we made a few years back) and Neil Collins, both avid music fans.

They set the podcast up in 2019 to celebrate Welsh music and culture, past and present, and the people who helped shape it.

Here’s more about them: “From Anhrefn to Zabrinski we’ll cover it all, including obscure, emerging and established artists, across the Welsh and English language spectrum.

“Each episode will feature a music obsessive guest who has, in some way, helped shape Welsh music and culture. They’ll be talking about their careers and giving an in-depth analysis of their favourite Welsh album.”

Their most recent episode of the podcast features me! (Helia Phoenix, helllooooo). I chat about various things on my musical journey through life in Cardiff, including Catapult Records, Kruger Magazine, Lady Gaga, club nights in Cardiff through the 1990s and 2000s. SO much to chat about. Thanks so much to the Welsh Music Podcast for inviting me on, it was such a lovely chance to reminisce and celebrate!

My nomination for best Welsh album of all time is High Contrast‘s True Colours. I don’t think the electronic scene in Wales gets anywhere near enough coverage or kudos for how diverse and wonderful it is, so this is my attempt to correct that. Also if you think about global impact, Lincoln (High Contrast) is a producer who is leading his field. He worked on the music for the Olympics opening ceremony, he’s a Grammy nominee. This will date this piece, but check the High Contrast Spotify profile and you’ll see his top 10 tracks have had 47 MILLION LISTENS. That’s big time.

Anyway, that’s today. Back to True Colours. It’s a wonderful album, and I mention in the podcast that I did a pre-interview with Lincoln to refresh my memory. We ended up chatting for nearly an hour and there was a lot of interesting stuff in that, so look forward to a post about that in the future.

Listen below:

Here’s the beef:

We talk to music journalist and Cardiff Music Board member Lalovely Phoenix about DJing, working on Kruger Magazine and writing Lady Gaga’s biography.

She also chose the Grammy-nominated High Contrast’s debut as her favourite Welsh album.

Earlier episodes of the podcast so far feature discussions with Dave Owens, Patrick Jones, Huw Stephens, John Rostron, Matt Durbridge, Keri Collins, and they’ve got a lot more guests to come (more about Welsh Music Podcast guests).

Two other Welsh electronic artists I wanted to give a special shout out to:

• Eädyth
• Ritual Cloak

LINKS TO MORE STUFF:

Follow the Welsh Music Podcast…

• Welsh Music Podcast website
• Welsh Music Podcast Twitter
• Welsh Music Podcast Instagram
• Welsh Music Podcast Facebook

LINKS TO EVEN MORE STUFF:

• The Emporium Nightclub: a Cardiff institution
• Watch the We Are Cardiff Documentary film that James Cuff helped with
• Read our interview with Dave Owens
• Read our interview with Bethan Elfyn
• Follow Mike Williams (Kruger / NME / Sight and Sound)
• Follow Joe Howden (Kruger / Dark Arts of Digital / Silver Circle Distillery)
• Follow Leon West (Secondson / SFDB)
• RIP Kruger Magazine
• RIP Catapult Records
• I mention the Secret DJ book – I recommend it and it’s a very interesting read …

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