WRAPPING UP 2010 WITH RACE HORSES

As we wind down the year, I've asked some of the bands who made an impression on me in 2010 to share their thoughts on this year as part of the countdown to me posting my Top Ten Albums of 2010. Kicking us off is Race Horses who I saw live at the Brudenell in February supporting Fanfarlo and then at Green Man in August. They are a thrilling live band (watch their recent full concert from Amsterdam here) but even more impressive is the album they released this year.

Even a previous band life as Radio Luxembourg doesn’t explain how Race Horses managed to deliver a debut album as impressively fully-formed and joyously ambitious as “Goodbye Falkenburg”. Arriving in February this year on Fantastic Plastic, the album is a superior off-kilter psyche-pop gallop from the Cardiff-by-way-of- Aberystwyth four-piece of Meilyr Jones (vocals and bass), Dylan Hughes (keyboards, synths, guitar and vocal) Alun Gaffey (guitar and vocals) and Gwion Llewelyn (drums and vocals).

“Race Horses take the Gorky’s influence and run miles with it, showboating through psychedelia, sea shanties, folk, post-rock, electronica and pop to create a captivating debut full of songs that have been repeatedly bent out of shape. Singer Meilyr Jones has a Beatles haircut and that band’s way with melody... and it’s the melodies that hold the album’s fragmented segments together, the melodies that stick in the mind, and the melodies that make Race Horses a real pleasure to listen to”. BBC Review

Here the band's singer and bass-player Meilyr Jones looks back on 2010.

What I will remember most about 2010 is...
Playing our debut festivals with Race Horses especially Latitude, Green Man [watch 'Pony' + 'Grangetown 02920'] and Bestival. Also playing shows in Europe for the first time. Good times! And of course the release of our debut album "Goodbye Falkenburg"

What should be forgotten about 2010?
Coventry - I hope we never have to play there again.

The best gig we played was...
9.11.10 La fleché D'or, Paris ... We played great and had an amazing
response, and we were all quite excited to be in Paris also!

The best gig I saw was...
Massive Attack at the Big Chill Festival and Flaming Lips at Bestival

A record from 2010 that will be still be played in 10 years time?
Ours hopefully! And Villagers "Becoming a Jackal", "The Suburbs" by Arcade Fire and Girls "Broken Dreams Club EP"



Overlooked in 2010?
I don't know but the stuff I'm digging at the moment are - Twin Sister 'All Around and Away We Go', the new Foals single, Jim Jones Revue 'Shoot First', Grinderman - 'Worm Tamer', Gruff Rhys 'Shark Ridden Water'. None of these are overlooked I just wanted to get it out there that I like them. I don't know what it is about this November but there are some GREAT tunes out there! A month ago I thought all modern music was shite!

And what can we look forward to in 2011 from Race Horses?
Angular, stripped-down, futuristic white-boy-funk, with space-age production and hints of Quincy Jones.

Race Horses Goodbye Falkenburg [BUY]