I remember the days when I'd turn up for the show with a box full of CD's I hadn't listened to, and then try and plough through a three hour programme on a wing, a prayer, and an unholy tide of self-aggrandising bullshit.

Not anymore, though.

Something happened -- I'm still not sure what -- and I got a reality check.

I lost a bit of my bravado, or maybe I just started listening to what it was that I was broadcasting.

When I realised that I was wincing with embarrassment and having to turn the show off, or speed through my own bits, I realised that I'd become the kind of self-important egotist that I detest in other broadcasters.

So, the last 18 months -- and, in particular, the last 5 months -- has seen a much more content-rich show. The music is still very much the star, but I'm trying to tell some of the stories behind the sounds... and trying to look at some of the aspects [parts] of Welsh music that don't get much in the way of media exposure.

And in telling those stories, I hope that the passionate and authoritative people that I'm lucky enough to talk to inspire those who are listening to tap into, or experiment with, their own creativity.

It's punk in its purest form.

I think it's become a really interesting show.

God, I hope you do, too.

So, this week's last minute flight of fancy was to look at electronic music in Wales.

I don't, even, have a handy definition of 'electronic' music.

I suppose it means music made mostly by electronic circuitry, as opposed to acoustic, or analogue, sources.

Wales has a great recent history of fascinating, cutting edge electronic music.

Almost the entire output of Machine Records, for example, is brave, conceptual, exploratory and fascinating.

Geraint Ffrancon's High Quality Recordings label has also consistently pushed, pulled, filtered and enveloped Welsh music in new and interesting directions.

There are Mank's incredibly atmospheric compositions; bravecaptain's eloquent, musical odysseys; Evils' playful floor-fillers, and real chip bending creativity from Plyci, Cyrion, Lifting Gear Engineer and a long list of others I'm too tired to remember at this late hour.

Actually, I shouldn't have used the phrase 'chip bending' because that is a genre unto itself. We'll get to 'chip bending' in a little while.

One of my favourite releases this year is Acid Casuals' 'Alto Due Pugnali E Mezzo' EP. It's constantly fascinating, restless techno that revels in unexpected twists and breakdowns, brimful of compulsive sounds and shuddering beats.

It's why I found myself knocking on the door of Pete Acid Casual's house in Llanfairfechan early this afternoon.

I won't tell the story of what got said here because that's part of what you'll hear on Sunday night's show, suffice to say that I learnt more about techno, and some of the fascinating ways of making contemporary music, in Pete's home studio in 15 minutes than I'd managed to accrue in the last 5 years. And he was wonderfully open and keen to demystify this sometimes opaque music-making process.

And he made a fine cup of tea.

My next call was Bethesda. Acid Casuals use computers and software to make uber contemporary, polished techno that glistens with fidelity as much as it does with boundless imagination.

But there is another underground of Welsh electronic musicians in NW Wales.

Warm Data send me avant garde and esoteric electronica that very much explores and redraws the boundaries between sound and music. I'm not familiar with the correct classifications, or the relevant comparisons or influences, but I'd imagine that Glass, Stockhausen, maybe some Eno, and a welter of unknown [to me] people who make field recordings would be the most obvious reference points here.

Warm Data represents a group of electronic musicians based in North Wales whose names are still pretty unknown even within the rarefied circles of other electronic musicians in North Wales.

Lungwah, Des Roberts, Chuch, David Wager...

The releases arrive with a certain regularity in my inbox, but I still know very little about the people involved, or their motivations.



I went to Bethesda to meet ConcreteDog [a.k.a. Joe] to learn more about his intriguing use and abuse of technology in his music-making.

Joe took me into a back room filled with bric-a-brac, most of it rescued from car boot sales, charity shops and bin bags. His domain is 'chip bending', taking retro toys and musical instruments, and hotwiring the music chips within them with variable resistors, solder, dip switches and the like. The back room table was filled with half-familiar oddments that looked part Mad Max, part Heath Robinson, part Jawa, part Wal-E. These toy synths and kids computers had been altered almost beyond recognition. Joe is Frankenstein without the manic cackle. He lets his genetically modified instruments do the cackling for him.

Forgive my ignorance, but I didn't know anything like this was happening.

Joe's enthusiasm for his instruments and the music that they made was utterly inspirational -- as you will hear on Sunday night's show.

Plus, he made a damn fine cup of [filter] coffee, too.

And he had a very friendly dog.

My last stop was Pentraeth on Anglesey.

Ann Matthews is a regular voice on the programme and a very well-recognised voice in the Welsh underground. As a member of Fflaps and Ectogram, she has been in two bands synonymous with challenging, uncompromising leftfield music.

For her new, solo album, [relatively] new technology has given Ann the freedom to eschew the band, for a short while, so that she can harness and weave some captivating and singular music that is entirely her own.

I haven't heard it, yet, which is why I'm light on description. I have a test pressing of the album here in front of me, but my daughter is long asleep and I've lost my bloody headphones.

Whatever is contained within those grooves represents another approach to harnessing technology to music-making.

By the way, Ann made me an immense mug of the strongest coffee I've ever had that wasn't Greek or Turkish.

It was that strong I broke out into a sweat and thought I'd have to run back to Chester.

I think their friendly dog probably wishes I had, seeing as I managed to tread my big bovver boots onto it twice in the space of a few seconds.

I also got to see Ankstmusik HQ.

That was awe inspiring. So awe inspiring I probably looked non-plussed. After that coffee, I just couldn't take it all in. This is the spiritual home of the best Welsh music that's ever been made. My Mecca.

Thank you to everyone who was so hospitable to me.

I hope the final show does them all justice and shines a home-wired LED onto all of these fascinating aspects of music creation.

The show on Sunday should also feature contributions from Black Serpent Choir [Martin Carr, la]; Little Eris; Gallops [in session]; Underpass & Mudmowth; Decimals; Lifting Gear Engineer... if you don't think this will be your bag, please give it a go and approach with an open mind.

You never know what you might be inspired what to do. Back to the top of the page...