Can you possibly imagine, being no more than a child?To be pulled from your bed, and dragged off to work as you criedAt an age where all you want to do is playNot to be dragged down a coal mine, for a pittance of pay Used in seams so damp, wet and narrowWhere even the pit ponies wouldn’t goCrawling on your hands and knees, harnessed like an animalSoaking with sweat, clothes ripped to shreds. Is this natural? Or left all alone for hours on end, guarding the ventilation doors!Alone, for ten hours or more?In the darkness, silence and gloom, the time seems endlessThe cold, biting into the...

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Sunday morning a day of solitude and creativityAlone but not alone, at home with my privacyI listen to a young woman’s voiceA rich mellifluous voice, in which many will rejoice I sit at my desk, filled with ineffable sadnessTrying to imagine people living in lonelinessPeople in a lonely uninhabited placeWhere you can see the sadness in their face The young woman’s lyrical, melodic tone tells of isolationOf people living in desperationPeople who have to live alone in seclusionSome mentally unstable, in a state of confusion Not seeing another person, since who knows whenWondering if they...

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In 2020 the people of Cwmbwrla came together in the face of an unprecedented health crisis to put smiles on each other’s faced and food on each other’s tables. Neighbours became friends, and together they showed Swansea at its best. We believe their stories are worth telling, and contributors including Brynhyfryd-born Mal Pope, local author David Brayley, MP Carolyn Harris and Councillor Peter Black agree. “ Circling the Square: Cwmbwrla, Coronavirus and Community” tells the stories of individuals, families and groups whose acts of kindness and quiet courage have improved...

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The EP is a flurry of recent work, with reflections on recent situations. 'Take Me With You' dives headfirst into the current feeling and situation. It asks for salvation in a time of threat, uncertainty, division and chaos. The chant of "lockdown, lockdown, lockdown" is an angry cry of frustration amongst a distorted diatribe against powerfully overdriven beats.  “What My Monster Looks Like” haunts with its warning “you’d be out of sight if you knew what my monster looks like” and repeats “never mind” in an all too familiar apathy. Pulsing bass and looped samples...

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For Fans Of:  The Burning Hell; Half Man Half Biscuit; AJJ; The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band Seven years on from its initial release, Cardiff-based Quiet Marauder are set to unleash a contemporary reimagining of their record-baiting, format-stretching debut album MEN. Cut back from its original guise of 111 tracks and nearly five hours, its sister EP, Tiny Men Parts, clocks in at a much more manageable nine songs (and just over 25 minutes). Released at the end of November, Tiny Men Parts is a celebration of Quiet Marauder’s live band over the last few years, stepping away from the...

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She's got Spies  has shared the new video for her track ' All Outta Tears' filmed in Moscow, Russia in 2012, watch/share it below. This lovelorn tune is lifted from her new album 'Isle of Dogs' which is out now. She’s Got Spies’  second album  ‘Isle of Dogs’  refers to an area of London, Laura Nunez’s hometown,  as well as the state of turmoil of the island of Britain. The follow up album to her debut Welsh language album ‘Wedi’, ‘Isle of Dogs’ features songs written over the last decade. She’s Got Spies is the project of Laura Nunez and her cast of collaborators. She spends...

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I listen to and learn from the eulogy for a poet from my village recognised in his death this awaits me or vice versa or verses versus verses  a book is not its cover but a chimera to ward off stereotypification a taxi ride among a cavalcade of red tail lights to where the bokeh is okay I met Billy and his grandson Ryan in the x-ray waiting room his eyes had red circles around them as if he'd spent a lifetime crying he joked he'd been hiding behind a tent  at the siege of Rorke's Drift and that I'd limped with a different leg on leaving not much chance to use the old language here where...

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"Henry Hoffman was walking on main Street and his nose was on fire. This fact apart, he was proceeding quite normally. He smiled genially and nodded as he passed by Michael Maguire." From the moment we read the above intro to Matthew G.Rees' 'Smoke House' we are aware that we are in for a strange journey. Readers of Matthew's debut collection 'Keyhole' will perhaps be better prepared for the bizarre and other worldly tales recounted in these pages. In contrast to 'Keyhole', in which all the stories were set in Wales, the tales in this collection are set in America, Russia,...

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A reading of 'As The Meadow Ends', a short story by Matthew G. Rees, author of 'Keyhole' and 'Smoke House & Other Stories'. Matthew G.Rees is a critically acclaimed Welsh fiction writer and playwright in the fields of folk horror and fantasy. 'Smoke House & Other Stories' is AmeriCymru's Book of the Month for November 2020.  Matthew G. Rees on AmeriCymru Keyhole - An Interview With Welsh Author Matthew G. Rees Keyhole - A Stunning Debut From A Major New Talent Simon Howells Reads 'Dreamcoat', A Short Story By Matthew G. Rees Smoke House &...

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