Llwybr Llaethog (Welsh for Milky Way, although the Milky Way has several names in Welsh folklore) are an experimental

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province, Argentina). Historically, it h ...

band that effectively mix such varied musical genres as rap, dub,

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

, hip hop, and

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

in their music.

Background

Founded in London in 1985 by John Griffiths and Kevs Ford, the two teens had spent the 1970s growing up in

Blaenau Ffestiniog Blaenau Ffestiniog is a town in Gwynedd, Wales. Once a slate mining centre in historic Merionethshire, it now relies much on tourists, drawn for instance to the Ffestiniog Railway and Llechwedd Slate Caverns. It reached a population of 12,000 ...

's decaying industrial surroundings. The two were heavily influenced by reggae and the punk scenes that were sweeping the UK. After several years touring northern Europe with punk/ska band The Managing Directors, the turning point came in 1984 when John Griffiths was on vacation in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and was impressed by a group of youths he saw at the Roxy nightclub

breakdancing Breakdancing, also called breaking or b-boying/b-girling, is an athletic style of street dance originating from the African American and Puerto Rican communities in the United States. While diverse in the amount of variation available in t ...

, and the sounds of DJ Red Alert. After returning to Wales, Griffiths fixed on the idea of marrying hip hop and left wing politics with his 3rd language, Welsh. Llwybr Llaethog's debut release was an EP for the Welsh record label

Anhrefn Records Recordiau Anhrefn (Welsh for Anhrefn Records) was a record label established in 1983 by Rhys Mwyn. Based in the small mid-Wales village of Llanfair Caereinion, before Rhys and his brother Sion Sebon moved to Bangor, North Wales, the record lab ...

in 1986, titled ''Dull Di Drais'', which combined Llwybr Llaethog's leftist political messages with what would become the band's trademark sound of turntable scratching, audio sampling, hip-hop, and cut-and-paste production. The band were also heavily promoted by British radio DJ

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

Discography

Singles

*Dull Di-Drais ''7"'' –

(1986) *Tour De France ''7"'' –

(1987) *Pam? ''12"'' – Pinpoint Records (1988) *Ni Fydd Y Chwyldro... ''7"'' –

Ankst Ankst was a Welsh independent record label formed in 1988 at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth by Alun Llwyd, Gruffudd Jones and Emyr Glyn Williams. After a handful of low key cassette releases, the label relocated to Cardiff and became a ...

(1992) *Soccer MC ''12"'' –

(1996) *Mera Desh ''7"'' –

(1997) *

Llanrwst Llanrwst ('church or parish of Saint Grwst'; ) is a market town and community on the A470 road and the River Conwy, in Conwy County Borough, Wales, and the historic county of Denbighshire. It developed round the wool trade and became known als ...

(a version of

Y Cyrff (1983–1991; The Bodies) was a Welsh language indie band in the 1980s, initially formed at the Ysgol Dyffryn Conwy secondary school in Llanrwst, Conwy. The original line-up consisted of Barry Cawley (bass), Emyr Davies (vocals), Dylan Hugh ...

's song "Cymru, Lloegr a

") –

Fitamin Un Steffan Cravos (born 1975, in Cardiff) is a Welsh rap and hip hop musician and artist. As "DJ Lambchop", Cravos is known for his "rub and scratch" turntablist style. He is also the founding member of Tystion, a Welsh hip hop band. He was bri ...

(2001)

Albums

*Da! –

Side Effects In medicine, a side effect is an effect, whether therapeutic or adverse, that is secondary to the one intended; although the term is predominantly employed to describe adverse effects, it can also apply to beneficial, but unintended, consequenc ...

(1988) *Be? – Pinpoint Records (1990) *LL.LL v T.G. MC DRE –

(1991) *Mewn Dyb (In Dub) –

ROIR ROIR (pronounced "roar"), or Reachout International Records, is a New York City-based independent record label founded in 1979 by Neil Cooper. Background ROIR was founded the same year that the Sony Walkman launched, and initially, the label ex ...

(1991) *Mad –

(1996) *Drilacila-(Croeso'99) –

(1999) *Hip Dub Reggae Hop –

(2000) *Stwff – Neud Nid Deud (2001) *Anomie-Ville – Crai (2002) *Mega Tidy – Rasal (2005) *Chwaneg – Neud Nid Deud (2009) *Curiad Cariad – Neud Nid Deud (2011) *Dub Cymraeg – Neud Nid Deud (2013) *I'r Dim – Neud Nid Deud (2014)

References

Llwybr Llaethog biography from BBC Wales
{{DEFAULTSORT:Llwybr Llaethog Welsh hip hop groups Welsh-language bands People from Blaenau Ffestiniog