The Underground of Happiness

The 2nd instalment of my Best of 2018 review.

In no particular order although I wouldn't argue if you forced me to pick Kacey Johansing (pictured) as my album of the year.

3rd part to follow soon.

Enjoy.

Playlist
Kacy & Clayton – The light of day (New West Records)
Hiss Golden Messenger – Rock holy (Merge)
Jess Williamson – I see the white (Mexican Summer)
Kacey Johansing – Do you want me (Night Bloom Records/Melodic)
Get Well Soon – Martyrs (City Slang)
Lake Ruth – Julia’s call (Feral Child)
Those Unfortunates – John Cronin is unwell
Hater – I wish I gave you more time because I love you (Fire)
Tanukichan – Perfect (Company Records)
The Sea & Cake – I should care (Thrill Jockey)
Crayola Lectern – Rescue mission (Onomatopoeia)
BOYTOY – Mary Anne (Stolen Body Records)
La Luz – Cicada (Hardly Art)
The Chills – Bad sugar (Fire)
Comet Gain – If not tomorrow (Tapete)
Damien Jurado – Allocate (Secretly Canadian)
Daniel Knox feat. Nina Nastasia – The p…

The first instalment of my favourite music of 2018.

Categories are a bit arbitrary as always.

Parts 2 and 3 to follow.

Enjoy.

Playlist
Django Django – In your beat (Because Music)
De Lux – 875 dollars (Innovative Leisure)
Tune-Yards – Heart attack (4AD)
Kamasi Washington – The Space Traveller’s Lullaby (Young Turks)
Todd Tobias & Combo Qasam – Do the Massabu (Tiny Room/Hidden Shoal)
Khruangbin – Maria tambien (Dead Oceans)
Richard Swift – Broken finger blues (Secretly Canadian)
Terry – The whip (Upset The Rhythm)
Gulp – Claudia (E.L.K Records)
Blue Orchids – Get Bramah (Tiny Global Productions)
Michael Nau & The Mighty Thread – When (Full Time Hobby)
Jessica Pratt – This time around (Mexican Summer)
Steve Gunn – New moon (Matador)
Soccer 96 – Harmonious Monk (Slowfoot Records)
Orchestra of Spheres – Koudede (Fire)
Nightports w/ Matthew Bourne – Exit (Leaf)
Camera – Super 8 (Bureau B)
Snapped Ankles – Drink and glide (Leaf)
Szun Waves – Constellat…

I decided to do something a little bit different this year.

Instead of a bunch of overtly Christmas tunes (much as I love them) I thought I’d do a more general winter theme.

(By the way you can find several Christmas playlists from years past on the site if that’s your thing.)

So this is a version of winter music.

What’s that says you.

Music with a sense of time passing. A sense of coming to the end of something. The year obviously but maybe something else too.

Some music references the time of year explicitly either in titles or in lyrics.

Or the weather we associate with winter in our northern hemisphere.

In other cases it’s something in the arrangement. The spareness maybe conjuring up a bare frozen landscape. Take Laura Cannell’s double recorder for example. Or the massive string drones of Slow Moving Clouds.

There is meditation in it. Observation of the world and its effect on our selves.

And a certain strangeness at times. The alienation of it.

…

A little while back I put together a mix of my favourite singers and vocalists.

There were 39 tracks in it but as soon as I finished it I realised there were loads I’d forgotten about.

So here’s Part 2 (possibly of an ongoing series).

There’s a capella, shoegaze (a genre often highlights and heightens the vocals), stirring soul, sunshine pop, jazz, group singing, solo.

It can be hard to distinguish where the great song ends and the great singer starts.

Is it the song or the singer?

I don’t know but I know what I like.

Enjoy.



Playlist
Nat King Cole – Nature boy (Capitol)
Doris Day – Secret love (from the soundtrack of the film Calamity Jane)
Julee Cruise – Falling (from the soundtrack of the film/tv series Twin Peaks)
Susanna & the Magical Orchestra – Hallelujah (Rune Grammafon)
Laetitia Sadier – Invitation au silence (Drag City)
C Duncan – Silence and air (Fat Cat)
Kathryn Joseph – the want (Hits The Fan Records)
Jonathan Hering – Hear my prayer (Brawl)
MJ …

A selection of miscellaneous favourites from UOH Towers lately.

It so happens they tend around the psych/kosmische/dream pop axis for the most part.

Also a bit of jazz and instrumental, a children's tv soundtrack (Bagpuss) and a concept piece about WWI survivors (Thankful Villages), for good measure.

All new releases.

Enjoy.



Playlist
Todd Tobias & Chloe March – Lillavva (Hidden Shoal)
Darren Hayman – Bigby (Thankful Villages Vol 3, Belka Records in association with The Arts Council and Caught By The River)
Yann Tiersen – Tempelhof (Mute)
The Magic Lantern – Darling day (Hectic Eclectic Records)
Peace Signs – Satellite Hitori (Gare du Nord)
Camera – Super 8 (Bureau B)
Lewsberg – The smile
Methyl Ethel – Scream whole (4AD)
O Emperor – Effort (Big Skin Records)
Hilma Nikolaisen – Only me (Fysisk Format)
Snapped Ankles – Drink and glide (The Leaf Label)
Orchestra of Spheres – Chimes (Fire Records)
Harmony Rockets – Atropos (Tompkins Square)
Sone Institute – Justice …

*Dedicated to LK who loves autumn*

Autumn. Fall.

I’ve been threatening to do one of these for a while.
What are autumn songs? What is autumn music?
There are the ones that reference autumn explicitly.
Leaves. Wind. Rain. Colours. Sun lower in the sky. Those unforgettable moons.

But beyond that there’s the metaphor of time passing.
A certain mood.
The beginning of the end of something.
That can still be beautiful.

Lots of music taps into this well for its atmosphere.
A certain meditative quality might be in it.
A contemplation of something.
Maybe nostalgia.
Often a minor key. Or at least bittersweet.

(Possibly related – many of the tracks here feature woodwind. Flutes. Clarinets. Double recorder.
The force of breath? There’s even the sighing of an accordion. And a harmonica.)
There might even be spirits involved. Souls. Halloween. Contact with another world.
Or like birds taking off for warmer climates some kind of migration.
Transformation.
Death or decay.


Enjoy…