The Underground of Happiness

We all need shorts now, eh? Now that the weather has turned in the western hemisphere. Twin Shadow – Five seconds (4AD, from the album Confess ) Another winning slice of electro-pop from George Lewis Jnr, making a certain part of the 1980’s relevant again. The part that was mined by early Tears for Fears or Talk Talk, a little bit. Great rhythm guitar work under the synth melody and a vocal full of conviction and emotion are sure to make this a hit with all intelligent dancefloors.

Speaking of Bon Iver, Ryan Olsen and Channy Leanagh are regulars from the Justin Vernon coterie. This second track from their upcoming Give you the Ghost album features the same signature auto-tuned vocals, but used in a way so different to Cher as to render the comparison redundant. Unlike the previous Lay your cards out , there’s a driving synth pulse here, and even behind the filter, Leanagh’s delivery manages to be intriguingly laconic and unsettling at the same time. Wonderful stuff.

Tom Krell’s new material with an album on the way in the autumn. Lush, slowed down, slightly warped RnB, with celestial Bon Iver-esque banks of vocals. Haunting and very, very lovely.

*Thank you to my UCC 98.3FM colleague Jim Morrish for pointing me in the direction of this. From the endlessly nurturing source that is the wonderful LITA , another hidden pop gem unearthed from a time when punk and disco were going head to head. I’ve seen the phrase “bedroom pop jam” used in connection with this and it’s a good starting point. Two brothers in rural Oregon, funded by their farming father, producing the sweetest blue-eyed soul. You can see why Ariel Pink would be into it.

The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Playlist 223 Tues May 29 2012 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 https://rapidshare.com/files/3332427073/The_Underground_Of_Happiness_May_29_2012.m4a Playlist Last Days of 1984 - Wavelife (playing The Pavilion, Cork, June 16, w/ REID) Mmoths - Heart (radio edit) Polica - Dark star How To Dress Well - Ocean floor for everything volcano! - Child star Donnie & Joe Emerson - Baby Twin Shadow - Five seconds Todd Tobias - Half animal Myles Manley - Easy to love Beach House - Lazuli Clare & the Reasons - The lake Our Krypton Son - Plutonium Father Jonh Misty - Nancy from now on *next week's show will feature music from AU, Katie Kim, Low, Elisa Luu & Markus Mehr, among others e-mail the show on radio@ucc....

The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Playlist 222 Tues May 22 2012 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 https://rapidshare.com/files/2912417333/The_Underground_Of_Happiness_May_22_2012.m4a Playlist Hidden Highways - Come wander with me (playing Half Moon Theatre, Cork, Aug 11, w/ Peter Delaney) Doug Tielli - Deer Naim Amor - Creole Jherek Bischoff feat. Zac Pennington & Soko - Young and lovely Seb Rochford & Jehst - Seven nine Zulu (Hello Skinny remix) (Days & Nights at the Takeaway 4) The Lord - Eruption of 106 (Collision/Detection v3) Papa M - Arundel (Crane Lane Theatre, Cork, May 26; Workman's Club, Dublin, May 27) Wizards of Time - Little's jingle Sophia Knapp - Glasses high The Bad Plus - Beryl loves to dance (playing Tris...

We've already mentioned Jherek Bischoff's wonderful new album, Composed , on Leaf this side of the Atlantic ( Brassland in the U.S.). A new video has just seen the light of day for the track Young and lovely , which features guest vocals from Zac Pennington (of Parenthetical Girls) and Soko . The tune is a brilliant, head-spinning combination of fast-paced sections with swooning string flourishes, and brass band style waltzes. Here's a little background on the video from the director. "The video for YOUNG and LOVELY is a retelling of the Roman myth of Aurora... more or less. It's also a collaboration with our Melbourne family -- the friends Jherek and I made while recording in Australia during the Spring of 2012. We shot in the Royal Botanical Gardens of Melbourne, and in an amazingly wonderful and beautifully weird penthouse (generously lent by David Walsh of the MONA Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania)." - Michael McQuilken, director

One of our favourite labels, the Perth-based Hidden Shoal , is 6 years old this month. I'm not sure if the term 'boutique' applies, but there's certainly a care and attention to detail about everything they do that is very satisfying. And as if to take this approach to a new level, label manager Cam Merton has post-produced and edited the new video for Inventors by Kramies . That's the centrepiece of Kramies' recent EP The European (full name Kramies Windt, he's Dutch originally, but domiciled in the US for some time), from which we featured several tracks on the show when it came out, and which was produced by regular Guided By Voices collaborator Todd Tobias - more about him later in the month. Inventors is a lovely, leisurely slice of dream-pop, blissed out and shimmering. Happy Birthday Hidden Shoal, keep doing what you're doing.

The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Playlist 221 Tues May 15 2012 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 https://rapidshare.com/files/3658032182/The_Underground_Of_Happiness_May_15_2012.m4a Playlist Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat - The copper top ( playing Bowerbird, Triskel Christchurch, June 30 ) Kathryn Williams - Circle round a tree (edit) M Ward - Clean slate Naim Amor - Creole THEESatisfaction - QueenS ( playing The Pavilion, Cork, June 7 ) Justice - On'n'on ( playing The Marquee, Cork, June 7 ) Polica - Dark star Laura Sheeran - Forever love ( playing Whelan's, Dublin, May 19 ) Slow Place Like Home - Shady Jane Transcendentalists Tour Hauschka - Cube Dustin O'Halloran - Opus 28 ( Transcendentalists Tour feat. Hauschka, Johann Johan...

There are several reasons to love Jherek Bischoff's new album, Composed . Firstly, it's on The Leaf Label , who are on a particularly hot streak this year, following two stunning releases already from Matthew Bourne and AU . Secondly, it features guest contributions from David Byrne, Caetano Veloso, Nels Cline, Carla Bozulich, Zac Pennington and Soko , among others, all of which are sparkling and vibrant. But thirdly, and most importantly for me, it occupies the musical area known as chamber pop . You know we love a bit of chamber pop around here. This is a swooping, fluttering, brilliantly orchestrated album of tunes which recalls Van Dyke Parks at his best. I'm not going to say any more for now because I'm still digesting its multi-faceted gorgeousness, but there'll be loads more on the radio show from this in the near future.

The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Playlist 220 Tues May 8 2012 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 https://rapidshare.com/files/4060231527/The_Underground_Of_Happiness_May_8_2012.m4a Playlist Jherek Bischoff feat. David Byrne - Eyes Van Dyke Parks - G-man Hoover ( playing Barbican Theatre, London, June 23, w/ Britten Sinfonia, Ed Droste & Robin Pecknold ) Fenster - Fantasy II The Chap - Better place Alexander Tucker - A dried seahorse ( playing Triskel Christchurch, Cork, May 12, w/ James Blackshaw ) Hidden Highways - Come wander with me Peaking Lights - Lo Hi ( playing Forbidden Fruit Festival, June 3 ) Julia Holter - Fur Felix ( playing Forbidden Fruit Festival, June 4 ) Lower Dens - Brains ( playing Forbidden Fruit Festival, Jun...

The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Playlist 219 Tues May 1 2012 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 https://rapidshare.com/files/366844177/The_Underground_Of_Happiness_May_1_2012.m4a Playlist The Spook of the Thirteenth Lock - The Tarantella Mairi Morrison & Alasdair Roberts - Never wed an old man Naim Amor - Creole M Ward - Pure joy Lee Hazlewood & Nancy Sinatra - Down from Dover Hidden Highways - Come wander with me Hiss Golden Messenger - Blue country mystic ( playing Kilkenny Roots Festival, May 4-7 ) Wes Willenbring - The worst part of you is the best thing you have The Cornshed Sisters - Dance at my wedding Toro y Moi - Dead portion Saint Yorda - Deep water ( playing The Pavilion, Cork, May 5, w/ Tieranniesaur ) Clare & the...