[Note: Bangers and Mash is a column about Brit-pop by Big Diction's arch-nemesis, and chief Welsh corespondent, Dan Cwikla. He also writes a short column in the Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogery- chwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch Gazette. -Ed.]

It’s the best album you’ll ever listen to! Well, maybe not. Still, Super Furry Animals’ disc MWNG (Welsh: MANE) is certainly the best Welsh language album you’ll ever listen to. Written and performed in the native tongue of the Cardiff quintet, as expected, the 2000 release throws a bit of everything at its audience. Ranging from lounging ballads to accordion heavy pop, MWNG is both completely delightful and, for most of the world, completely unintelligible.

Emerging from the burgeoning Welsh music scene of the early 1990’s which produced Manic Street Preachers and Catatonia among others, the Furries had consistently offered their fans a unique blend of electronica and pyschedelia served with a heaping dose of pop rock sensibilities. After achieving early success with Alan McGee’s legendary label Creation Records with increasingly experimental offerings, MWNG marked a sudden return to the basics, showcasing the group’s songwriting skills rather than their outward thinking.

Despite a noticeable cohesiveness, the album is in fact something of a deliberate collection. Bassist Guto Pryce said of MWNG, “We had some Welsh songs when we did Guerrilla but we thought it would be better if we put them all together instead of a token Welsh song here and there, on a b-side and maybe one or two on an album. We thought it would be nice to put them all together.”

Recommended Tracks:

“Ymaelodi Â’r Ymylon” (”Banished to the Periphery”), “Dacw Hi” (”There She Is”), “Pan Ddaw’r Wawr” (”When Dawn Breaks”)

Super Furry Animals - Ymaelodi ‘R Ymylon