Am Byth

Welsh psych-folk. Welsh lyrics, male vox. Mostly lush, happy, melodic and noisy. Musical allusions to The Velvet Underground, Luna, The Beach Boys, Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians. Band existed 1986-1993, gave rise to Super Furry Animals. One member of FCP briefly joined Gorki’s Zygotic Mynci. Rather primitive -- songcraft and production-wise -- relative to SFA... not necessarily better for it. This is a motley collection of tracks with sources ranging from MiniDisc to flexi-disc... few from master tapes (most were lost). The Welsh band name means “Everybody’s Coffee Beans” but is phonetically identical (in Welsh) to “Everybody fuck off.” No FCCs (‘cause it’s in Welsh, duh.) Start with 8, 10, 16 (#16 includes a second track; I’m recommending the first of the two).

1. Noisy, melodic psych/garage... about “Valium yum-yum.” Starts with snare, then guitar squeal. Ends with sliding chord.
2. Bouncy, hippie psych/folk with harmony vocals. Starts with full band. Slow fade.
3. Melancholy ballad with fake strings and fake glockenspiel. Sounds quite a lot like early Velvet Underground... in Welsh... and therefore sounds quite a lot like early Luna, in Welsh. Starts with one guitar strum. Ends with “na na na” and synth fade.
4. Noisy, melodic pop/dance. In Welsh. Nice call & response between vocals and lead guitar. Starts with full band. Fades.
5. Beach Boys/bubblegum psych, I guess. Did I mention that the lyrics are in Welsh? The harmony vocals and the melodic turns sound like the Dandy Warhols, or vice-versa given the era of this recording. Starts with full band. Ends with tom-tom hits.
6. More Beach Boys allusions. Maybe the Jesus And Mary Chain pretending to be The Beach Boys for a children’s record? In Welsh? Starts with full band. Slow fade.
7. Noisy start becomes a swaying ballad with prominent tambourine... more noise later. Chorus builds and builds and builds... gaining horns and piano before fade.
==> 8. Very lush and hypnotic. Very reminiscent of Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians doing their Beatles and Bryds impressions (but Welsh). Starts with snare. Mid-slow. Noisy guitar fade.
9. Super lo-fi. 42 secs long. Sort of like Third Uncle played in an oil drum under a big pile of blankets. Welsh mumbling. Ends abruptly.
==> 10. Happy, lush Britpop. Very musical song structure... much closer to SFA than most of the tracks here. Starts with three tom-tom hits. Fades.
11. Another striking foreshadowing of SFA: high energy psych pop. Minimal and cool. Starts with squealing guitar. Slow fade.
12. Very sing-songy & repetitive electropop. Fun, but arrangement falls way short of, say, Stereo Total. Dubbed from vinyl or flexi. Starts with snare, then full band. Ends with fade, then guitar feedback squeal.
13. Rockin’ mix of psych/bubblegum and noise rock. Starts with guitar fade-up. Fades.
14. Psych/pop ballad with nice, noisy guitars and cool stereo ping-ponging. Sing-songy chorus. Starts with snare, then full band. Slow fade.
15. Fast & rockin’... with slightly off-key, smoky, Welsh vocals. Great feedback guitar that doesn’t quite figure out where it’s going. Starts with snare (well, drum machine snare program). Quick fade.
==> 16. Includes hidden track. Dark & brooding & powerful, with contrasting melodic guitar break. FIRST SONG IN THIS TRACK ENDS AT –7:22 with slow fade. Second track starts at -2:16. Hidden track is toy synth noodling, but starts with guitar noise.
17. Unlisted bonus track. Bouncy and whimsical psych/noise rocker.