| In my head, Datblygu are putting out records at a rate of knots, but it’s been five years since Porwr Trallod, so what do I know. Time gets slower over forty-odd years, maybe.
For the uninitiated, Datblygu are something of a legend in Welsh-language music, and not enough of a legend in British music. By a lot of estimations they’re something like the originators of singing in Welsh and not being crap. By my estimation they’re one of this septic isle’s finest bands. It’s really easy to compare them to The Fall, and also wrong. While there’s always been a kind of ramshackle, lop-sidedness to Datblygu, they’ve never been amateurish. The Fall always circled around being a weird garage band, but Datblygu have soaked in a bunch of stuff — not least with Dave Datblygu‘s collaborations with early ’90s acid types Tŷ Gwydr or hip-hop / ish / etc types Llwbyr Llaethog. Datblygu’s music has always been … non-denominational. I’m not entirely sure how many albums they’ve done, because I’d probably count some of the cassettes, but not everyone does. Let’s say there’s been a few. Early doors they’re clearly something of a bedroom indie (ish) proposition — some drum machines, plenty of clatter, always a sense of having more imagination than budget.By the time we get to Cwm Gwagle (Google translate says “Void Valley”, if you trust that) there’s this odd sense that Datblygu are the most confident I’ve heard them. Which maybe means that these tunes are Datblygu at their most spare, but also a sight more diverse in sound than their more recent stuff. There’s an acapella number (“1,2,3 Dim Byd” — “1,2,3 Nothing”), a number that feels more like a soundscape and a story than a “song” specifically (“Nid Pen i’r Avon” — “Not A Head For The Avon”), a gorgeously morbid piano number of Brelian tenor (“Y Coleg Abnormal” — “The Abnormal College”), and kind of gully disco stomper over ketamine (“Cymryd y Cyfan” — “Take It All). Possibly one of the hardest things to get right on record is a lightness of touch, humour and generosity, without falling into obsequious twee. That might seem mealy, but what I mean is that when Patblygu intones “the genital lunacy” (in English) on “Ffon Bagal Dyffryn Cwnin” (the translation says “Rabbit Valley Bagal Stick”) with a voice that’s something like a children’s radio presenter taking the piss, it’s just brilliant. I have a suspicion that there’s some smart punning going on with that title (there’s long been a tradition of punning on English / Welsh, such as “Pyst” — “Post”, pronounced “pissed”), but it could just as easily be nonsense.Which is unfair — all the gogs I know say that the thing with Datblygu is their lyrics, typically by Dave Datblygu. But I’m necessarily reviewing this from the perspective of someone who’s yet to learn Welsh. I might be reviewing half the band but, like, I really like what they do. There’s something magic about only picking up the odd bit, or having the odd place name peak through (“Nos Da Ceredigion”). I’d say among the diversity there’s a few revisits, re-opening of old ideas – Okay, ie with Patblygu’s vocal sounding like the early tapes, “A i Z” like a slower rendering of the acid drummed “Dim Deddf Dim Eiddo”. Actually, A i Z made me realise that possibly the most interesting thing about krautrock was never all the kosmiche bollocks, but the mundanity of repetition. Dave’s lyrics kind of dissolve into spluttering at times, and again some discernible-to-me bits jump out (“fuck / fuck your hip-hop / shop slop”)But seriously now, “Y Coleg Abnormal” and “Cymryd y Cyfan” are absolutely two of Datblygu’s finest songs, which is no mean feat after forty years. Most of us non-gogs first heard Datblygu through John Peel, and through the Wyau / Pyst / Libertino compilation. What that compilation did was collect a few years of work into one place — so you could hear the transition from bedroom songs with ambitious ideas to actually having some gear and a band to play them. What Cwm Gwagle does is pretty similar — maybe this is five years’ work, maybe it’s a hazy weekend, but there’s this real sense that what Datblygu “sound like” is several bands at once, and all of them fucking banging.I think it was Gruff Rhys who said that they were not just Wales’s best band and it’s entirely right. An imperative part of British musical heritage, and doubtless unimpressed with such grandiose bandstanding on my part. Buy buy buy. |
Yn fy mhen mae Datblygu yn rhyddhau ac albwm bron pob wythnos, ond ma’di bod yn 5 mlynedd ers Porwr Trallod, felly beth ydw i’n ei wybod. Efallai fod amser yn arafu dros 40 mlynedd.
I’r rhai sydd ddim gwybod, mae Datblygu yn ddipyn o eicon cerddoriaeth Gymraeg, ac nid yw’n cal ei weld fel ddigon o eicon o cerddoriaeth Brydeinig. Yn barn rhei maen nhw’n rhywbeth fel y band cyntaf i canu yn Gymraeg a pheidio â bod yn crap. Yn fy barn i, maen nhw’n un o fandiau gorau’r ynys septig hon. Mae’n hawdd iawn eu cymharu â’r Fall, a hefyd yn anghywir. Mae yna fath o ramshackle, lop-ochr i Ddatblygu, ond nid ydyn nhw erioed wedi bod yn amatur. Roedd y Fall ohyd yn cylchu o gwmpas i fod yn fand garej ond mae Datblygu wedi socian mewn gymaint o dylanwadau- yn weddig trw chydweithrediadau Dave Datblygu â mathau asid o’r 90au, Tŷ Gwydr neu fathau hip-hop/ish Llwbyr Llaethog. Mae cerddoriaeth Datblygu wedi bod erioed … anenwadol. Dwi ddim yn hollol siŵr faint o albymau maen nhw wedi’u recordio oherwydd mae’n debyg y byddwn i’n cyfrif rhai o’r casetiau ond nid yw pawb yn gwneud hynny. Gadewch i ni ddweud fod yna mwy na ychydig. Yn y dechra maen nhw’n amlwg yn rhywbeth o ‘indie ystafell wely’ — peiriannau drwm, digon o clatter, ac yr ymdeimlad o fod yna mwy o ddychymyg na gyllideb.Erbyn i ni gyrraedd Cwm Gwagle (mae Google translate yn iawn) mae yna ymdeimlad rhyfedd fod Datblygu yn yr mwyaf hyderus rydw i wedi’u clywed nw. Sydd efallai’n golygu fod yr caneuon hyn yn Datblygu ar eu mwyaf sbâr, ond hefyd yn olygfa sy’n fwy amrywiol o ran sain na’u pethau mwy diweddar. Mae yna rhif acapella (“1,2,3 Dim Byd”), sy’n teimlo’n debycach i lunwedd a stori na ‘chân’. Yn benodol (“Nid Pen i’r Avon” — mwysair sydd ar gollar yr awdur gwreiddiol), rhif piano morbid hyfryd o denor Brelian (“Y Coleg Abnormal”), a math o stomper disgo rhigol dros cetamin (“Cymryd y Cyfan’’, “a nice pun on wales taking the lot”). O bosib un o’r pethau anoddaf i’w cael’n iawn yw ysgafnder cyffwrdd, hiwmor a haelioni, heb syrthio i drydariad. Efallai y bydd hynny’n ymddangos yn feiddgar ond yr hyn yr wyf yn ei olygu yw pan fydd Patblygu yn mewnosod “the genital lunacy” [yn Saesneg] ar (“Ffon Bagal Dyffryn Cwnin” — nonsens) gyda llais sy’n rhywbeth fel cyflwynydd radio plant yn cymryd y piss, mae’n wych. Mae gen i amheuaeth bod rhywfaint o mwysair yn digwydd gyda’r teitl hwnnw (mae traddodiad o mwysair ar y Saesneg / Cymraeg ers amser maith, fel “Pyst”, wedi’i ynganu “pissed”) ond gallai fod yr un mor hawdd yn nonsens.Mae’r gogs dwi’n eu nabod yn dweud mai’r peth gyda Datblygu yw eu geiriau {gwir}, yn nodweddiadol gan Dave Datblygu. Ond rydw i o reidrwydd yn adolygu hyn o safbwynt rhywun sydd eto i ddysgu Cymraeg. Efallai fy mod i’n adolygu hanner y band ond, fel, rydw i wir yn hoffi be maen nhw’n ei wneud. Mae yna rywbeth hud ynglŷn â deall ychydio o eiriau neu gael enw lle (“Nos Da Ceredigion”). Byddwn i’n dweud ymhlith yr amrywiaeth mae yna ychydig o ailymweliadau, ailagor hen syniadau – Igyda lleis Patblygu yn swnio fel y tapiau cynnar, “A i Z” fel rendro arafach o’r asid drymiedig “Dim Deddf Dim Eiddo”. A dweud y gwir, gwnaeth A i Z i mi sylweddoli nad y peth mwyaf diddorol o bosib am krautrock oedd yr holl kosmiche, ond yr natur gyffredin o ailadrodd. Mae geiriau Dave yn toddi i sblasio ar brydiau, ac unwaith eto mae rhai darnau canfyddadwy i mi yn neidio allan (“fuck / fuck your hip-hop / shop slop”) Ond o ddifrif nawr, mae “Y Coleg Abnormal” and “Cymryd y Cyfan” yn ddwy o ganeuon gorau Datblygu, sydd drawiadol ar ôl 40 mlynedd. Clywodd y mwyafrif o sais Datblygu trwy John Peel, a trwy gasgliad Wyau / Pyst / Libertino. Yr hyn a wnaeth y crynhoad hwnnw oedd casglu ychydig flynyddoedd o waith i un lle — er mwyn i chi glywed y newid o ganeuon ystafell wely gyda syniadau uchelgeisiol i gael rhywfaint o offerynnau a band i’w chwarae nw. Mae’r hyn y mae Cwm Gwagle yn ei wneud yn eithaf tebyg — efallai mai 5 mlynedd o waith yw hwn, efallai ei fod yn benwythnos niwlog, ond mae’r ymdeimlad fod Datblygu yn “swnio fel” sawl band ar unwaith, a phob un ohonyn nhw’n ffycin gwych.Rwy’n credu mai Gruff Rhys a ddywedodd nad nhw oedd band gorau Cymru yn unig ac mae’n hollol iawn. Rhan hanfodol o dreftadaeth gerddorol Prydain. Prynwch Prynwch Prynwch. |
-Geiriau/Words: Kev Nickells-
-Cyfieithiad/Translation: Tomos Evans-
