Playlist 291 - Dec 3 2013

A mixture this week of a few Christmas tunes, a few more Best of 2013 picks plus a few new tunes. (Watch out for dedicated podcasts on the Best of 2013 review as well as a Christmas theme over the next few weeks.)

Seasonal - Dean & Britta, lush dream pop channelling Lee Hazlewood; Cocteau Twins making flippant sound like a headrush; and Lost Idol bringing medieval choral sounds and dubstep brilliantly into contact with each other.

Best of 2013 - Dott singing classic Brill Building style songs within garage pop; Shearwater w/ Sharon van Etten, ineffably gorgeous; Jeffrey Lewis making one of the best statements of the year in the form of a question - What Would Pussy Riot Do?

And a couple of new songs. Howe Gelb with Bonnie Prince Billy, sounding like Leonard Cohen doing 1950's country. And Frankie Rose making pillow-soft synth pop from the New Order songbook.

More on these pages.

Dec 3 2013 show w/ Dott,September Girls,Jeffrey Lewis,Shearwater,Dean & Britta,Frankie Rose++ by Theundergroundofhappiness on Mixcloud

The Underground of Happiness
uplifting pop music of every creed

www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com
www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness

Playlist 291
Tues Dec 3 2013
11.00am-12.00pm
(repeated on Tuesdays 8.30pm)
UCC 98.3FM
listen live on the web at www.ucc.ie/983fm
*listen back to this show here
http://i.mixcloud.com/CFCrbX

Playlist
Lost Idol – Molten snow
Dean & Britta – He’s coming home
Jeffrey Lewis & The Rain – WWPRD
Shearwater & Sharon van Etten – A wake for the minotaur
Tin Charm – Live your days in dreams
My Pilot – The last big party
September Girls – Heartbeats
Dott – Cherry blossom
Frankie Rose – Cliffs as high
The Doomed Bird of Providence – Ships they come and go (playing Squeeze Café, Leigh on Sea, Dec 20)
Howe Gelb feat. Bonnie Prince Billy – Vortexas
Garret Baker & The Random Nouns – The desultory streets (playing Whelan’s Upstairs, Dublin, Dec 4)
Bernard Cribbins – Gossip calypso (Trunk Records)
Cocteau Twins – Frosty the snowman

*next week's show is the last of the year and features more favourites from 2013, including The Last Sound, V.O., Amor de Dias and Liam Singer, among others

e-mail the show on radio@ucc.ie
or text +353 (0)86-7839800
please mark messages “uoh”

Conor O'Toole,
c/o UCC 98.3FM,
Áras na Mac Léinn,
Student Centre,
University College Cork,
Cork,
Ireland.

SlowPlaceLikeHome - Interview & Cork Show

I had the pleasure a few weeks ago of seeing SlowPlaceLikeHome play live, when they appeared at the TDC space of Triskel Arts Centre in Cork as part of a kind of fringe to Cork Film Festival. They've only played a handful of times live but you'd think they'd been at it for years, such was the confidence and poise of the sound.

I also interviewed Keith Mannion (the main brains behind SPLH) in advance of that gig for WeAreNoise, to ask him about the upcoming debut album, Romola, his recording process and some other stuff. It was particularly interesting to hear his thoughts on how sounds take shape and suggest themselves into something enduring. Here's an excerpt.

http://wearenoise.com/index.php/2013/11/slowplacelikehome-qa/

After your three EP’s last year, Coastal hubs for chivalry, Post-hoc and There go the lights again, will the album consist of new material?

Totally new material. I think I have gone through a dozen different drafts of the new album at this stage and up until I pass it on for mastering, it’s quite possible I’ll keep scratching at it.

Over the course of those three EP’s, you covered a broad range of sound. Can you talk me through how the sound developed from your point of view?

At the beginning of all this SPLH stuff, I just wanted to have some fun messing with noise I liked and trying to produce some modicum of interesting patterns. With some new methods for songwriting, it has slowly developed into something very new to me.



And can we expect a radical departure in terms of sound for the album?

Perhaps not radical but definitely different. For one thing, there are a lot more vocals employed throughout the songs. For good or for bad (I’ll let the listener be the judge), these new ventures required voice.

What are Coastal hubs for chivalry by the way?

I live in the forest. On my strolls, I had a Mexican stand-off with a badger a few times. Ask him!



Can you tell me about your recording set up? How do recordings generally take shape?

They don’t take shape, as much as they just appear, like finding an old penny. Some play in the head, as middle of the road rubbish and some like a Frank Zappa track played in reverse. It takes a bit of sorting.

If a tune could be performed on one of those dreadful current television feiseanna (you know the ones!), I bin it very quickly!

Basically, I make sounds from some pretty awful equipment and play with it like the proverbial cat and a ball of wool. My surroundings are very conducive to my noodling. Part of the charm.

As someone who makes instrumental music, do you think certain types of sounds are more conducive to creating tone or atmosphere?

I reckon the element of surprise usually wins over most of the time. I mish-mash different instruments, very badly, to see if they will cohabit a chorus or a bridge. Not that a song necessarily requires a certain structure but I’m either enlightened or disgusted with my efforts.

Of course if you set about making a piece of music in order to create a distinct mood, you at least best be brave. No point in trying to be a poor man’s Mike Oldfield, or a Boards of Canada bastardization.

Major Lazer feat Ezra Koenig – Jessica (Because)

I’m not a huge reggae head but this is just the most luscious reggae jam with perfect, smart and yearning falsetto vocals from Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig.

Yes.

Dan Haywood – Dapple (Southern Bird)

A completely captivating album of English folk songs recorded outdoors in Lancashire with backing of birdsong. Mr Haywood is apparently also an ornithologist so this background bleed was no accident but part of his plan, as he relates here.

Given that Dapple could be set in the 18th century, I was keen for there to be no motor vehicle noise, just in case the listener might prefer to imagine it that way. So the locations had to be out of the way, and some of the sessions started as early as 4am to beat the sound of the Abbeystead gamekeepers’ Land Rovers and Bowland farmers’ tractors. Days on which the breeze might gust above 5mph were avoided, which was good for reducing wind noise and for a preponderance of midges.

Top notch stuff, eh? His singing voice is somewhere between Vic Chesnutt and Latka Gravas; this may not be to everyone's taste but wrapped around these pastoral-historical story songs, I dig it in a major way.

Playlist 290 - Nov 26 2013

Let's start by mentioning something glorious in the middle of the show, Band of Clouds (pictured), and the opening song from their new album Appear to float. Great to hear from them again.

Another beautiful Daniel Johnston cover from Adrian Crowley & James Yorkston upcoming album; some Lee Hazlewood deep + soulful country lounge; and a Go Betweens classic from 1982, 'Dusty in here' sounds as good today.

Some bonkers funk from Connan Mockasin, some bonkers folk from Dan Haywood (with birdsong) and the sublime piano meditations of Angele David-Guillou.

Plus Dublin band Tin Charm, bringing plenty of charm, melody and heart to some fuzzy Dinosaur Jr-esque guitar rock.

Nov 26 2013 show w/ Go Betweens,Connan Mockasin,Band of Clouds,Angele David-Guillou,Jacques Caramac+ by Theundergroundofhappiness on Mixcloud

The Underground of Happiness
uplifting pop music of every creed

www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com
www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness

Playlist 290
Tues Nov 26 2013
11.00am-12.00pm
(repeated on Tuesdays 8.30pm)
UCC 98.3FM
listen live on the web at www.ucc.ie/983fm
*listen back to this show here
http://i.mixcloud.com/CEvWPI

Playlist
Lee Hazlewood – Come on home to me
Adrian Crowley & James Yorkston – True love will find you in the end
The Go Betweens – Dusty in here
Piper’s Son – FIngers from the future
Julia Holter – Horns surrounding me
Connan Mockasin – I’m the man, that will find you
Dan Haywood – I’ve got heaven at my door
Chantal Acda – Lost
Angele David-Guillou – Ubari sand sea
Tin Charm – Live your days in dreams (playing The Odessa Club, Dublin, Nov 28)
Band of Clouds – Cats cuts
perth – Drank and kites and tomorrow
Jacques Caramac - Snowballs
The Monks Kitchen – Don’t lie awake
Clas Tuuth – I amped
Dragon Noir – Black dragon (radio edit)

*next week's show features music from September Girls & Frankie Rose, as well as a couple of Christmas tunes and a couple of favourites from 2013, among others

e-mail the show on radio@ucc.ie
or text +353 (0)86-7839800
please mark messages “uoh” Conor O'Toole,
c/o UCC 98.3FM,
Áras na Mac Léinn,
Student Centre,
University College Cork,
Cork,
Ireland.

Playlist 289 - Nov 19 2013

Another bumper crop of Irish music on the show this week.

New music from Adrian Crowley with James Yorkston, September Girls, Elastic Sleep, My Pilot and Benny Smiles. Folk to shoegaze and many points in between.

A bit of Moondog - every day should have some - and a great song from the new Dean Wareham EP, so good to hear from him again.

I've been enjoying the new Piper's Son album very much lately, find more on it on the blog. Beautiful ambient piano work (if that's not a misnomer) from Richard J Birkin.

And some dub to finish. Georges Vert taking us into deep space, Bill Callahan more of a funk variety, speaking of fertile dirt, lovemaking and other essential things.

More on these pages.

Nov 19 2013 w/ Moondog,Adrian Crowley & James Yorkston,Elastic Sleep,Dean Wareham,Bill Callahan++ by Theundergroundofhappiness on Mixcloud

The Underground of Happiness
uplifting pop music of every creed

www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com
www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness

Playlist 289
Tues Nov 19 2013
11.00am-12.00pm
(repeated on Tuesdays 8.30pm)
UCC 98.3FM
listen live on the web at www.ucc.ie/983fm
*listen back to this show here
http://i.mixcloud.com/CEnTnI

Playlist
Moondog – Coffee beans
Adrian Crowley & James Yorkston – Walking the cow (Adrian Crowley playing Triskel Christchurch, Cork, Nov 22, w/ we/or/me & Ronan’s Feats of Strength)
My Pilot - Descendants (playing Sweeney’s, Dublin, Nov 29, w/ The Crytearions & This Other Kingdom)
Dean Wareham – The longest bridges in the world
Satelliti – Esprit de corps (playing The Macbeth, London, Nov 20)
Richard J Birkin - Accretions
Elastic Sleep – You only live twice (playing The Pavilion, Cork, Nov 23)
The Would Be’s – Could be the weather
Benny Smiles feat. Sorca Lou – Somehow yours do
September Girls – Heartbeats
Piper’s Son – Hiding in the cinema
Georges Vert – Pegasus Dub
Bill Callahan - Spring (playing The Olympia, Dublin, Feb 2 2014)

*next week's show features music from Lee Hazlewood, Connan Mockasin & Band of Clouds among others

e-mail the show on radio@ucc.ie
or text +353 (0)86-7839800
please mark messages “uoh”

Conor O'Toole,
c/o UCC 98.3FM,
Áras na Mac Léinn,
Student Centre,
University College Cork,
Cork,
Ireland.

Piper’s Son – The roar from behind (Vacilando ’68)

What a lovely album this is, from Londoner Thom Driver with friends, lying somewhere between the wry social observations of Darren Hayman and the outsider introspections of Syd Barrett. So, very English you might think except that lyrically these songs are painfully direct, in a fairly unEnglish way.

Draw me things you’d love to see
and I can fill the colours in
then we’ll smudge the lines
and feel them running up and down our spines

from ‘Please don’t go backwards’ or this from ‘Fingers from the future’ –

I saw your hand-me-down in the fireplace
after mother left for town
are you strangled by your emotions
do you wish you had the key.

The latter proceeds luminously at funeral pace and with its skeleton guitar lines brings to mind a little bit that poignant Go Betweens classic ‘Cold and dusty in here’.

I’ve already played ‘Mining’ on the show, an inspired mixture of ska, calypso trumpet and cartoon soundtracks, which bemoans the psychological hazards of (western world) city living.

‘Bad boomerang’ has another glorious combination, this time steel drum and trumpet, above a winning two-step beat. You may find you prefer the gorgeous guitar melody on ‘Doctor at the door’, which works its magic amid cavorting samples. Or the uplifting guitar riff on ‘Hiding at the cinema’ which manages to conjure a post-New Romantic sound, before casting it off again in favour of attractively downbeat social realism.

Quixotic and authentic pop songs, tender and heartfelt. Wonky pop yes, although with plenty of classic pop leanings. At times, I even thought of Prefab Sprout, if Paddy McAloon was less into Jimmy Webb and more into...I don’t know, something that came after punk anyway.

A regular at the monthly Scaledown event in London, Piper’s Son is highly recommended.