On This Day 25/08/2007 Kate Nash

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On this day, 25 August 2007, singer,songwriter and actress Kate Nash played Cardiff Calling, based in Bute Park in the city centre.

Nash embarked on a musical career in 2005, when she started recording after falling down the stairs and breaking her foot, which left her homebound.

She started performing live, holding her first shows in pubs, at open mic nights, and an anti-folk festival in Brighton.

After several gigs, she uploaded her music to MySpace where she secured a manager and found exposure thanks to support from Lily Allen.

Her debut single, featuring songs "Caroline's a Victim" and "Birds", was recorded and produced in Iceland by Valgeir Sigurðsson, and released through Moshi Moshi Records in February 2007.

Nash's biggest musical influences include Hole, citing their 1994 record Live Through This as her favourite album. She is also influenced by riot grrrl group Bikini Kill, crediting lead vocalist Kathleen Hanna as her idol.

Nash is also a fan of Arctic Monkeys. She appeared alongside the band in the documentary Evidently... John Cooper Clarke where she discussed the influence of John Cooper Clarke's poetry upon her lyrics, singling out the song "Foundations" in particular.

Kate has also cited M.I.A. as inspiration, claiming she was her favourite artist in 2014.[85][86] Some of her earlier influences include Buzzcocks, Celine Dion, the Spice Girls, Nirvana, Mis-Teeq, the Beatles, Pink, Blink-182, and Sum 41.

Beginning in the Girl Talk album era, Kate started to incorporate elements of punk rock and grunge into her work as well as 1990s-inspired visuals, notably in the music videos "She Rules" and "Trash". She is also known for retaining her thick London accent when she sings and makes no attempt to sing in an American accent.

Her music was used as part of an exhibition at the British Library which traced the history of Cockney English. The exhibition, which ran from November 2010 to April 2011, used Nash's music to demonstrate today's younger urban mode of Cockney English.

On This Day 25/08/2007 The Streets

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On this day, 25 August 2007, The Streets headlined the Cardiff Calling Festival. Also featured on the day were Welsh bands Super Furry Animals and The Automatic,

The Streets had recently released their third studio album, The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living, In the UK it debuted the album chart at number one.

It is the shortest The Streets album released so far, with a running time of just 37 minutes and 12 seconds. The Mitchell Brothers and Ted Mayhem, two of Skinner's protégés, make guest appearances on the album.

Best known for the music project The Streets, leader Mike Skinner has also released music as a solo artist, as part of The D.O.T. with frequent collaborator Rob Harvey, and under the pseudonym The Darker the Shadow the Brighter the Light.

Skinner was born in Barnet, but grew up in West Heath, Birmingham. He started playing with keyboards at the age of five. When he was seven years old he began experiencing symptoms of epilepsy, which worsened in his early teens.

He began writing hip hop and garage music in his home in West Heath and later built a sound booth in his bedroom, using a cupboard and a mattress. He describes his background as "Barratt class: suburban estates, not poor but not much money about, really boring".

At age 19, Skinner moved to Australia with his girlfriend; the relationship quickly ended, but Skinner stayed in Australia for a year. Upon his return to the United Kingdom, Skinner moved to south London.

He sent a demo tape of an early version of what would become the song "Has It Come to This?" to a record shop run by A&R Nick Worthington.

The song was released as a single in 2001, through Locked On Records.

On this day 27/07/1997 Super Furry Animals, The Fall

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On this day, 27 July 1997, Welsh alternative rockers Super Furry Animals and Northern post-punk greats The Fall played Cardiff’s Cooper’s Field.

Super Furry Animals were just about to release Radiator, the band’s second studio album. It was released in August 1997 by Creation Records, and later the same year in the United States under Flydaddy Records. It peaked at number eight on the UK Albums Chart.

Singer Gruff Rhys has described Radiator as "more interesting" than the band's debut Fuzzy Logic with the group taking advantage of producer Gorwel Owen's "Atari computers, and banks of old vintage synths" to create an album which was "musically ... much more adventurous".

In 2000 Q magazine placed Radiator at number 73 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. Stylus Magazine named Radiator in a list of ten essential albums released by Creation Records in a 2003 article about the label.

In a 2017 list of the 50 Best Britpop Albums, Pitchfork placed Radiator at number 39.[17] In 2013, NME ranked it at number 92 in its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Manc greats The Fall were about to release Levitate, their 19th Album on Artful Records. Levitate became the last album to feature two long-time Fall members, drummer Karl Burns and bass player Steve Hanley (whose playing was once described by Smith as the defining element of the group's music).

Levitate was recorded amidst a difficult period for the group, described by personnel turmoil and financial troubles due to a VAT bill incurred in the 1980s and early 1990s for nearly £200,000.

Simon Wolstencroft left after a disagreement about the recording of 'Everybody But Myself'; also having received financial advice about the group's VAT bill, he resigned from being a co-director of The Fall business.