Emily's Albums A to Z

Listened: Thursday January 20

Super Furry Animals come from the same 90s Welsh origins as Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci and can even be explained in a similar terms (“psychedelic, experimental, sometimes involving Welsh-language lyrics”) but the two bands sound almost nothing alike.

Where GZM can be very folkie and druggie, SFA are in general much more like a less posh, Welsh Blur on their straighter songs. There are some samples, a psychedelic undercurrent to their music, and a few tripped out tracks that sound more like Gorillaz or The Flaming Lips, but they’re in general a rock band who could succeed in the charts. I love GZM, but even in their later, tighter years, I wouldn’t say they could ever be broadly popular.

I’m also impressed that on this 2 disc version of the album, I never get bored. All 20 tracks keep me engaged and I never want to skip ahead. That’s hard to do!

Along with Desmond Dekkar and Gorillaz, SFA remind me very much of my trip to England and Wales. Juxtaposed With U was in heavy rotation on Radio 1 at the time, so it always takes me back.