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The Arts

RISING BEAT: DJ WILSON NOIR IS TAKING THE SOUTH WALES DANCE MUSIC SCENE BY STORM

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Catch Wilson Noir at Castle Arcade on 16 and 17th October 1-3.30pm

CARDIFF, WALES — You can hear the history in the beat, but the energy is brand new. Wilson Noir isn’t just an emerging talent; he’s the direct, dynamic inheritor of South Wales club culture, and he’s lighting up dancefloors across the region.

Blending family legacy with a fresh underground edge, Wilson Noir is bringing new energy to the South Wales DJ scene — bridging the golden era of Catapult Records with the forward-thinking sounds that define his dancefloors today. Emerging from the heart of South Wales’ vibrant underground, Wilson Noir is fast becoming one of the region’s most exciting new DJ talents. Known for his playful, crowd-focused sets, Noir delivers a distinctive blend of vintage rhythms and modern electronic production, bridging old-school UK dance culture with today’s underground energy. Noir’s sound is the definition of New Old Cool — it’s a signature style that’s quickly making him one of the most talked-about names in the scene.

DEEP ROOTS IN THE UNDERGROUND

The store’s infamous in-store sessions became the stuff of local legend, hosting acts like Bonobo, Netsky, LTJ Bukem, Blame, Vibes, Nic Fanciulli, Drop Music, and High Contrast — who famously worked there and was discovered by Hospital Records in the basement. Known for its expert curation, Catapult helped shape the identity of Welsh club culture and nurtured countless local talents. Though its doors closed in 2014, its influence still echoes through South Wales’ dancefloors — celebrated in reunion events, online communities, and in the next generation of DJs like Wilson Noir, who carries forward that same DIY ethos, crate-digger curiosity, and commitment to keeping the dancefloor alive.

FULL CIRCLE: ARCADE RESIDENCY

Building on this legacy, this October, Wilson Noir returns to Catapult’s very first home in the Castle Arcade with a two-day residency for the City of Arcades Project, as part of the Cardiff Music City Festival. The festival — a two-week celebration of Cardiff’s thriving music scene — fills venues, clubs, and hidden corners with gigs, talks, installations, and pop-up performances. Designed to champion both international names and emerging local talent, it blends performance, education, and innovation to strengthen Cardiff’s live music ecosystem.

In collaboration, the City of Arcades Project shines a spotlight on the city’s Victorian and Edwardian arcades — once shopping streets, now cultural landmarks filled with independent shops, cafés, and creative spaces.

For Wilson Noir, performing within the Castle Arcade, where Catapult Records first took root, is a full-circle moment — a chance to bring his signature sound to the very heart of Cardiff’s musical heritage. The residency aligns perfectly with the festival’s spirit: connecting past and present, heritage and innovation, while celebrating the enduring energy that continues to drive South Wales’ electronic music scene.

Wilson Noir said:

“Growing up around Catapult Records, I could feel how music brought people together. Every set I play is about capturing that energy and creating something new on the dancefloor. To play in the Castle Arcade—where it all began—is surreal.”

Ruth Cayford, Head of Creative Industries and Culture Development at Cardiff Council, added:

“Wilson Noir embodies the spirit of Cardiff’s evolving music scene. His deep-rooted connection to the city’s musical heritage, combined with his innovative approach, makes him a perfect fit for this year’s festival. We’re thrilled to see the next generation, supported by groups like Sound Progression, taking the lead.”

SUPPORTING THE SCENE

Noir’s journey is championed by Valé, the popular South Wales streetwear label, a partnership that underscores the connection between local music, fashion, and creative culture. As a member of Sound Progression, Cardiff’s youth music development organisation supported by the Ed Sheeran Foundation, Noir is an integral part of the next generation — shaping Cardiff’s electronic music scene with bold creativity and unstoppable energy.

Catch Wilson Noir at Castle Arcade on 16 and 17th October 1-3.30pm
For more information about Cardiff Music City Festival, go to cardiffmusiccity.wales

The Arts

We Are Cardiff recommends: Through the Night

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A hoy hoy friends. Today’s post is one I’ve been wanting to write for aaages, about a newsletter I signed up to a while ago that’s brought me much joy, as it covers ‘weirdo music’ in and around Cardiff. It’s called Through The Night and writer/curator Xavier was kind enough to spare me some time and some words on it. If weirdo music is your thing (and there’s all sorts of great stuff on there, so it really should be) please do sign up for Through the Night.

So, ready? Here we go!

WAC: Hello. Please introduce yourself.

I’m Xavier, from Cardiff. Since moving back in 2014 I’ve been putting on and playing shows here, initially as part of the Hotel de Marl collective, and now under the Sgarab Tapes moniker. I used to be a freelance music writer but am thrilled to say those days are behind me

WAC: You’ve been writing the Through the Night (TTN) newsletter for a while now. What inspired you to start it up?

Just before lockdown I felt we were seeing an especially fruitful time for weirdo music in Cardiff, culminating in a sell-out show in Tiny Rebel for Special Interest, a New Orleans-based outfit who play a sort of mutant no-wave dance-punk. Wild shit, largely the work of Luke Penny from Cardiff punks Cankicker. Happily, the pandemic failed to take the wind out of things, and so in Jan 2022 I threw together some listings in an effort to signpost things. There was once an outfit called ‘The Joy Collective’ who, along with putting on a tonne of leftfield stuff in Cardiff, ran a vital blog that did a similar thing, and I’m picking up where they left off.

I know that ‘Weirdo music’ is a pretty unhelpful catch-all, and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t basically boil down to stuff I like, including projects I’m involved in. But fundamentally, this is a free, artist-led newsletter with no allegiances, least of all to pissant music monocultures of the sort which Cardiff Council loves to flaunt, if not actually support (see the presumably defunct ‘Music City’ project, for example), and which commercial venues are required to continuously indulge. Basically, TTN is dedicated inches for noise and drone, ambience and electronics, industrial, improv and weird jazz, anything that runs the risk of failing to draw an audience. At the same time I’m also open to including artists that are perhaps more easily pigeon-holed on paper, but in practice push boundaries, musical or otherwise, and that’s why I’ll still include certain punk & hardcore, weird metal, or club music. Ultimately I want to help anyone taking a chance, including the DIY promoters and venues; Lesson Number 1, Subvert Power Control, Paradise Garden, and on the performing arts side of things there’s TactileBOSCH.

I should point out another thing I don’t owe any loyalty to, which is publishing deadlines: in theory it’s once a month, but this doesn’t always happen since right now I am retraining as something with far, far more social utility than music-writing. Along with Cardiff I also do my best to cover similar stuff in Newport (home of Le Pub and more recently The Cab, which has quickly established itself as a righteous DIY space for punk and hardcore) and Swansea, (which is frequently the site of the excellent NAWR Music, led by the incredible Rhodri Davies, an improvising harpist from Aberystwyth), but am always concerned I might be omitting the real gear in these locations and am always keen to hear from punters on the ground

WAC: You also run a record label called sgarab tapes. Can you tell us a bit about that, and your own music production?

‘Label’ is a bit grand, for now it’s just a cassette and digital imprint for music I’ve made, on my own and with other people, but this year there will be some releases from artists whose music excites me and hopefully a Cardiff-focused compilation. Some people have asked about the logo, it’s the Summoner from the Canterbury Tales, whose job was to bring people before the church to answer for their crimes and face punishment, which is sort of what it’s like coming to our gigs

Of course, it’s a stupid time to be doing any of this; venue closures and rising costs make things like rehearsing, equipment, touring and getting people out of the house a struggle. Strangely though, it feels like things have never been better in Cardiff for adventurous sounds, at least in my time. Personally I think this is largely thanks to SHIFT, a performance space buried deep in the remains of the Capitol Centre which many, many hands have helped transform into a vital hub of experimentation, cultural solidarity and, I stress, real, actual fun. It’s been a riot, and I’ll be gutted when someone somewhere decides it’s got to go (presumably when the council finally decides to demolish the centre and replace it with unaffordable flats). A lot of highlights there over the last two years (Tara Clerkin Trio, Elvin Brandhi and Yeah You, Lo Egin, Viridian Ensemble) but a recent one that I think underlines what it’s all about was a residency by the Dutch performer Svartvit, who I suppose you could describe as an extreme noise artist. He’s also an extremely nice guy who, as part of the residency, ran a free, open workshop in which he described the processes by which he makes music, which embrace things like chance and situation, and by no means rely on expensive tech. Two of us ended up using what we learned to perform as an improv duo on the final night of his residency. I loved the name of the workshop, which was ‘democratising and de-quantising sound’, which I think is what it’s all about for me (de-quantising is a fancy way of saying working outside of traditional parameters or guidelines)

As for my own music, I perform solo as Beauty Parlour, which I normally describe as an extended exercise in world-building that looks to capture the ‘air of calamity’ I think hangs over South Wales a lot of the time. The music itself takes a few forms, from flooded ambience to manic, industrowave stuff that you can sort of dance to. I also play alto sax and sampler / synth in a band called ‘The Panama Papers’, which began as a hopelessly convoluted in-joke and has since expanded into a jazz-not-jazz-electronics outfit

WAC: Who are your favourite local musicians / artists that you’ve featured? Anyone you’d like to pick out for us to listen to?

I’ve mentioned Cankicker (goth-adjacent dirge-punk from Splott, really looking forward to their second LP which should be out this year) and Rhodri Davies (awe-inspiring improvising harpist, also plays in Hen Ogledd; last time I saw him he was supporting my favourite band of all time The Ex at Clwb Ifor Bach, and the performance was him simply going hell for leather on a smaller harp until all but two or three of the strings had snapped, it was special). A few more from across Wales who I’ve featured these past couple of years are Ardal Bicnic (duo of Rosey Brown and Heledd C Evans, no music online but whose shows have featured everything from scorching violin and clarinet loops to mic’d-up gelatine desserts), Sachasom (deranged, Machynlleth-based beatmaker; what if J Dilla had been made to watch S4C?), Ordeal By Roses (South Wales’s premier power electronics act, ‘And Darkness…’ is my favourite) Somatic Responses (prolific modular synth and electronics producer), and Ash Cooke (improvising guitarist from North Wales, currently putting on some very interesting stuff in Aberystwyth)

WAC: Any hopes / dreams / ambitions for your work for 2024?

Only that I can find the time to carry on doing this stuff. If the newsletter actually helps anyone, that’s mission accomplished. There are a couple of Sgarab releases available now:

T PERSON – THE SUN / THE THROAT (listen to the preview / order here)

MEGZBOW AND VINEGAR TOM – FIELD MULCH (preview / order here)

WAC: Finally, where can people find / follow you?

You can follow Through The Night here. Head to the Sgarab Tapes Bandcamp to check out our releases. Sgarab is also on insta somewhere. My first release is still my favourite, originally it came out on the excellent Bristol label Ceramics.

Big thanks to Xavier for sparing me his time. Go check out Through The Night and follow, follow, FOLLOOWWWWW!

Much love

WAC x