Like strikers, great pop bands come in pairs. And according to the conversion tables of pop, two Bands make a Scene, which is then named after the region they come from. Hence The Stone Roses and The Happy Mondays gave rise to Madchester. The Beatles and The Stones were called "The English Invasion" by the Americans (who consider "England" geographically specific enough), and Seattle was started after the success of Nirvana and, erm, Nirvana. Now two bands from North Wales are making waves in the post-Britpop waters of 1997.
In all fairness, the much-feted Welsh scene has not really come to the fruition writers in the British music weeklies would have liked. It's possibly something to do with the lack of a catchy name (Taffrock? Leekpop? They don't really work, do they?) but more likely because the bands concerned are a little too left-field to be massively popular. That shouldn't stop us admiring the hugely enjoyable work of those concerned, though: the quirky Gorky's Zygotic Mynci and the fabulous Super Furry Animals, who have stirred the pond this week with the release of their second album, the fantastic Radiator.
The two bands have a remarkable amount in common, both in cultural and musical terms. Both bands are very young. Both make extensive use of the Welsh language. Both use a wide range of instruments, often very strange ones (Gorky's even used medieval crumhorns on their Barafundle LP). Both write nah-nah-nah-nah-nah choruses that sound like Hey Jude. And both take their inspiration from Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd, who seem to have taken root in the valleys. Which is how it should be, because a lot of the best British pop is only one step away from Arnold Layne.
The matter in hand, though, is the Super Furry Animals, who are not only slightly odd, but very amusing. They have a penchant for snappy titles, including my favourite, If You Don't Want Me To Destroy You, and some genuinely funny lyrics, which are a rarity in the po-faced world of pop. And even in a year already blessed with many fine records, Radiator stands out among the best. It moves from the languid to the bombastic with consummate ease, and as befits a band that started out as a techno group but then saw the light, they can work out upbeat, groovy songs like The Placid Casual that you can dance to. They also have a great interest in different sounds and how they combine. Demons follows a languid trumpet duet with a banjo solo. But they have much too great an appreciation of harmony to be lost to the rhythmical world, as they show in songs like Down A Different River, which fly with the best of them. And just to show that they have everything, the Super Furry Animals have a clutch of top-notch singles, like the top-20 The International Language Of Screaming, and Herman s Pauline, which repeats a line that sums up the band: "We have ways of making you think . . ."
They are also the only band playing today to glorify the lives of the great physicists. Einstein (whose parents were Herman and Pauline), Isaac Newton and Marie Curie all get the SFA treatment, albeit in the grand irreverent manner ("they called him mcs2], because he raps like no other" is surely the most involved play on words you'll hear this year). Expect an explanation of General Relativity in binary star systems some time in the near future.
I presume they are familiar with Ireland. Singing "I'll meet you at the Muster Station" betrays a certain familiarity with the Holyhead-Dun Laoghaire route, so let's hope that they're back soon for some shows.
Brian Boyd is on leave
