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. [1] After a handful of low key cassette releases, the label relocated to Cardiff and became a more serious concern, providing a launch-pad for several popular Welsh artists, including Llwybr Llaethog, Super Furry Animals and Gorky's Zygotic Mynci. The Rough Guide to Wales described Ankst as "one of the most prolific, eclectic and innovative" of the 1990s Welsh music labels. [2]
Between 1988 and 1997, the label put out some 80 releases before splitting in 1997 into two separate companies. Ankst Management (run by Llwyd and Jones and responsible for Melys, Super Furry Animals, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, Los Campesinos!, The Longcut, and, for a time, Cerys Matthews) and Ankstmusik, the label, that Williams ran from his house in Pentraeth on Anglesey, converting the garage into an office and store-room. Ankst remained true to its low-budget not for profit ideals at a time when the ‘Arts’ in Wales fell to corporate control and public funding. [3] In all, the label released over 170 records by a huge assortment of bands and performers, such as Tystion, Ectogram, Zabrinski, Rheinallt H Rowlands, MC Mabon and Wendykurk.
Ankst moved into film making in the 2000s, releasing the Bafta-winning Y Lleill in 2005. [1]
Alun Llwyd also co-managed, with Kevin Tame, the Cardiff-based indie label Turnstile, home of Perfume Genius, Christopher Owens, Gruff Rhys, Cate Le Bon and others. He is now chief executive at PR/distribution label Pyst.
Emyr 'Ankst' Williams died at his home in Pentraeth on 17 January 2023, whilst receiving treatment for cancer. He was 57. [4]
Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band formed in Cardiff in 1993. For the duration of their professional career, the band consisted of Gruff Rhys, Huw Bunford, Guto Pryce, Cian Ciaran, and Dafydd Ieuan. An earlier incarnation of the band featured actor Rhys Ifans on lead vocals. The band are considered to be part of the renaissance of Welsh culture which emerged in the 1990s: other Welsh bands of the time include the Manic Street Preachers, Stereophonics, Catatonia and Gorky's Zygotic Mynci.
Guto Dafydd Pryce is a Welsh musician best known as bass guitar player and songwriter in the band Super Furry Animals. With them he has recorded nine UK Albums Chart Top 25 studio albums, plus numerous singles, EPs, compilations and collaborations. Pryce also records and performs with several other musical acts including his band Gulp. He is part of the era of Welsh music prominence known as Cool Cymru.
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci were a psychedelic folk and alternative rock band which formed in Carmarthen, Wales, in 1991. The group performed music in both Welsh and English, and they had eight Top 75 singles on the UK Singles Chart during their career. They were prominent during the era known as Cool Cymru. The group disbanded in May 2006.
Alan Holmes is a musician, artist and record producer, based in north Wales. Although he began his musical career in the late 1960s in childhood beat group The Insects, he first came to prominence in The Zuggs, followed by A Silly Tree, the latter including Gary Stubbs, later of Cut Tunes with whom Holmes also served. Holmes was responsible for the cult psychedelic band The Pinecones and by the mid-1980s he was a key member of Reinheitsgebot, Third Spain and The Lungs.
Datblygu were a Welsh experimental rock group formed in 1982. They are regarded as a catalyst of the new wave of Welsh rock in the early 1980s.
Ffa Coffi Pawb was a band signed to Welsh music label, Ankst, active from 1986 to 1992.
Mwng is the fourth studio album by Welsh rock band the Super Furry Animals, and the first by the group to have lyrics written entirely in the Welsh language. Mwng was released on 15 May 2000 on the band's own record label, Placid Casual, following the demise of their former label, Creation. The album includes the single "Ysbeidiau Heulog", and reached number 11 on the UK Albums Chart following its release—the first Welsh-language album to reach the top 20. This success led to Mwng being mentioned in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom by Elfyn Llwyd, who described the record as a celebration of a "new wave of confidence in the Welsh nation".
This article is about the particular significance of the year 1997 to Wales and its people.
Euros Childs is a Welsh musician and songwriter, perhaps best known as the frontman for the band Gorky's Zygotic Mynci and—as of January 2019—the keyboardist for Teenage Fanclub. His sister, violinist Megan Childs, was also a member of Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, and their father Lynn played on some Gorky's recordings, most notably on Barafundle. Childs was born in Freshwater East, Pembrokeshire, and was educated at the Welsh-medium school Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Bro Myrddin in Carmarthenshire.
Meic Stevens is a Welsh singer-songwriter. He has been one of the most prominent figures in the Welsh music scene for over five decades, and played a key role in establishing the popular music scene in Wales. He is described by some as "the Welsh Bob Dylan" and has also been compared favorably with musicians such as Syd Barrett. Stevens's songs are mostly sung in his native Welsh language and have a mystical, faintly psychedelic flavour. His work has influenced groups such as Gorky's Zygotic Mynci and Super Furry Animals. He is largely unknown outside Wales.
This article is about the particular significance of the year 1988 to Wales and its people.
Recordiau Anhrefn was a record label established in 1983 by Rhys Mwyn.
Steffan Cravos is a Welsh rap and hip hop musician and artist.
Richard James is a guitarist, bassist and singer-songwriter originally from Carmarthen, Wales. He was a founding member of the band Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, who split up in 2006. He performs and records as a solo artist, and as part of the bands Pen Pastwn and Locus.
Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaf is a Welsh-medium coeducational secondary school in Llandaff North, a district in the north of Cardiff, Wales; it is the largest of its kind in the country. Of the three Welsh-medium secondary schools serving Cardiff, it was the first to be established; the others are Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Plasmawr and Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Bro Edern. As of 2017, 36% of pupils came from Welsh-speaking homes.
Anweledig are a band from Blaenau Ffestiniog, Wales; their style is a mixture of funk, reggae, ska and rock. The band consists of Ceri Cunnington (vocals), Gai Toms (guitar/vocals), Iwan 'Oz' Jones (guitar), Rhys Roberts, Alwyn Evans (drums), Joe Buckley (keyboard), Edwin Humphreys (saxophone), Barri Gwilliam (trumpet) and Arwel Davies (trombone).
Gorwel Owen is a Welsh producer and musician. He has worked with Datblygu, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, Super Furry Animals, Hwyl Nofio, Ffa Coffi Pawb, Gwenno, Steve Eaves, Melys, Bob Delyn a'r Ebillion, Llio Rhydderch and many others. He also co-writes, records and performs with his wife, the poet Fiona Owen; their third album Releasing Birds was released in 2015 via their label Yamoosh!. He is also involved in other music and sound-making activities such as free improvisation, composition and sound installation.
Bwyd Time is the third full album by Gorky's Zygotic Mynci. It was released in 1995 and was the band's last album for Ankst. It features, amongst others, Anthony Saffery from Cornershop, who plays sitar on several tracks.
Zabrinski were an alternative rock band from Carmarthen and Cardiff, Wales. They formed in the late 1990s and released four albums before splitting up in 2007.