Going with something different this month.\u00a0 You might have noticed that our once-bountiful preview section has undergone a change, with our pick of upcoming gigs now highlighted within the gig guide.\u00a0 As a result, I\u2019ve opted to leave aside the usual 2000-word screed in favour of some pass notes on the month\u2019s selected highlights.\u00a0 It\u2019s by no means definitive, but there\u2019s a lot on innit.\u00a0 Read on\u2026<\/p>\n
EARTH \/ MOUNT EERIE \/ \u00d4 PAON, Arnolfini, 3rd<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n Another ATP preview show, with both the headliners and Phil Elverum\u2019s dizzyingly prolific Mount Eerie joining Mangum\u2019s cavalcade of whimsy.\u00a0 Earth\u2019s steady refinement and versatility has seen their trademark treacle-slow drone-doom broaden to include blues and country influences; Dylan Carlson\u2019s abiding love of traditional folk forms also rings clear in their recent work, still anchored in funeral-paced metal but brighter, triumphant.\u00a0 Last year\u2019s Cardiff show was a treat, and the Arnolfini should suit their poise and sense of space to a tee.\u00a0 Live, Mount Eerie has captured the mordant folk of Elverum\u2019s full-band records, but could just as equally reflect the claustrophobic lo-fi dank of his black metal-influenced Wind\u2019s Poem<\/em>.\u00a0 His wife and labelmate Genevieve Castree, aka \u00d4 Paon, sets Godspeed drone and looping to gripping French-language folk.<\/p>\n TRUCKERS OF HUSK \/ GALLOPS \/ KUTOSIS, Globe, 3rd<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n As a celebration of the rude health of party-starting Welsh guitar music in 2012, this blinding triple-header \u2013 recorded for broadcast on Selector Radio \u2013 is pretty hard to argue with.\u00a0 With a few months\u2019 perspective, Truckers\u2019 triumphant Accelerated Learning<\/em> seems less like a summation of their work and more like a jumping-off point, a hint at what they could move on to do.\u00a0 Still plenty of noodly math-rock dexterity, but the greater prominence of vocals and broader instrumental palette make the latest stage of their evolution the most exciting yet.\u00a0 Kutosis, likewise, issued a debut album full of bruising dynamics and pacy, confident, hook-filled songwriting.\u00a0 Gallops\u2019 quantum jump isn\u2019t far off; their debts to Battles are way less overt than before, and their shows at Swn 2011 showed mouth-watering potential for future greatness.<\/p>\n NATURAL SNOW BUILDINGS \/ MARS TO STAY \/ SNEAKY EARNEST, Buffalo, 6th\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Textbook out-there fare from the splendid Rusty Trombone Of God dudes, and great to see Swn co-promoting stuff like this amid the big-name gigs and more prosaic singer-songwriters on their schedule.\u00a0 Burgundian duo NSB trade in epic, drone-heavy experimental folk and bruised psychedelic workouts.\u00a0 Mars To Stay, named after the Buzz Aldrin-initiated campaign for permanent settlement by Mars missions, tease around the fringes of Galaxie 500 or Disco Inferno-style dreampop, while Sneaky Earnest is Dan ex-Fredrick Stanley Star\u2019s outlet for Fahey\/Rose style raga and longform guitar workouts.\u00a0 The wiggiest and most vital event in Cardiff this month.<\/p>\n REIGNS \/ DEEJ DHARIWAL, Croft, 8th<\/sup><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n Reigns\u2019 concept is simple and brilliantly executed.\u00a0 2002\u2019s We Lowered A Microphone Into The Ground<\/em> introduced two men, Operative A and Operative B, carrying out sound experiments in rural locations in the West of England and documenting the disturbing phenomena therein with dry wit and an instinctive grasp of classic depictions of unsettling English disquiet \u2013 bottomless holes, submerged villages, freak weather conditions.\u00a0 Ghostly, otherworldly drone, twinkling pastoral chime, clammy acoustic laments and spoken word interludes map together on their four albums to date and should make for a nicely immersive live experience.\u00a0 Thought Forms guitarist Deej Dhariwal, a busy man this month, supports.<\/p>\n A HAWK AND A HACKSAW, Chapter Arts Centre, 8th<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n Whatever the reasons for the postponement to March of the Jeff Mangum-curated ATP, Cardiff reaps unexpected benefits here.\u00a0 Sergei Parajanov\u2019s 1964 Ukrainian epic Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors<\/em>, a tale of love, loss and folkloric mysticism high in the Carpathians, earned its director a governmental blacklisting.\u00a0 Globalist Balkan folk duo A Hawk And A Hacksaw\u2019s live score, performed alongside the film at Chapter on the eve of ATP, should be the perfect accompaniment; the romance, reverence and kinetic swirl of their past Green Man and Point shows make this unmissable.<\/p>\n SOULS OF MISCHIEF, Moon Club, 10th<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n TALIB KWELI, Polynesia, 22nd<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n Recent collaborators and current tourmates, these two play Cardiff club dates separately and reaffirm the still rude health of live hip-hop in South Wales.\u00a0 SOM\u2019s star burned bright if not long in the early 90s; the Oakland crew\u2019s 93\u2019til Infinity<\/em> holds up today with the best of contemporaries like ATCQ or the Pharcyde, experimental, funky and fun.\u00a0 Kweli, meanwhile, maintains a consistency and scholarly quality that may never have hit the peaks of \u2018conscious\u2019 peers Common or Mos Def but also avoided their ego-driven pitfalls; a sure bet, a classicist MC sans pareil.\u00a0 These are two tiny venues, by standards; the Moon Club will be a sweaty mass, and as for \u2018Ibiza-style superclub\u2019 Polynesia (occupying the old Hard Rock Caf\u00e9 building), who knows.\u00a0 Get in early.<\/p>\n TURKSIB scored by BRONNT INDUSTRIES KAPITAL, Watershed Theatre and Chapter Arts Centre, 17th<\/sup> and 18th<\/sup>
\n<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n