Heart of Cardiff

DIFF Radio

From The Heart of Cardiff comes something fresh! DIFF Radio's first long form series brings you conversations with artists from around the UK specialising in underground or electronic music. The series aims to uncover artists who produce great music and are either pushing to blow up or quietly contributing to the culture. Tune in to the with host, Matt - founder of DIFF Radio - every week for new conversations and let use know who you want to hear from. You can listen to DIFF Radio anytime at diffradio.com

Episodes

  1. Oct 28

    Frey: the bedroom demo that hit a million streams | Electronic, DnB, Jungle | Heart of Cardiff Ep. 5

    Frey is 21 and from Plymouth. At 17 she was posting demos made on a laptop in her bedroom, hoping nobody from school would find the account. One of those songs has since passed a million streams. She grew up in a musical house. Her dad was in a rock band, piano lessons started young, and she was writing her own songs all the way through secondary school. At 16 she chose a production course over sixth form and began putting fifteen-second snippets online, with nobody telling her to. Producers in London noticed. She was 17, didn't know what a session was, and asked her dad to get on the phone with them first. Her first track came out that November. Her first ever show was the BBC Introducing stage at Boardmasters, at 18, less than a year into performing. She spent it pacing the green room, certain she was going to be sick, then went out and did it. It still arrives five minutes before she walks on. Game Boy started as a verse and a pre-chorus, about a minute long, written to pad out a set when she didn't have enough songs. She thought it was too weird and too experimental and left it alone for a year. Then she posted it as filler content between releases and it went. The second verse was written on receipt paper behind the bar at the pub she worked in. She found jungle at 14 through PinkPantheress and Nia Archives. The jazz underneath came from Jamiroquai and Dillinja. The energy came from her dad's records, and she draws the line herself: drum & bass and heavy metal share a tempo and a temperament. "It's fringe, it's rebellious." What Game Boy taught her was to trust her own ear. She'd been certain it sat too far outside what she was doing at the time. "It's easy to pigeonhole yourself." She's sat on more music now than she has ever had. Kenny is out. Bristol first, then London. FOLLOW FREY Spotify Instagram TikTok YouTube SoundCloud DIFF Radio YouTube Instagram TikTok Spotify Mixcloud Website #diffradio #heartofcardiff

    Frey: the bedroom demo that hit a million streams | Electronic, DnB, Jungle | Heart of Cardiff Ep. 5

About

From The Heart of Cardiff comes something fresh! DIFF Radio's first long form series brings you conversations with artists from around the UK specialising in underground or electronic music. The series aims to uncover artists who produce great music and are either pushing to blow up or quietly contributing to the culture. Tune in to the with host, Matt - founder of DIFF Radio - every week for new conversations and let use know who you want to hear from. You can listen to DIFF Radio anytime at diffradio.com