The Underground of Happiness

A round up of my favourite music released in 2020. Despite everything, it seems like a marvellous year for recorded sound. Enjoy and stay well. x Playlist Sleeper & Snake – Shoot through (Upset The Rhythm) Louis Philippe & The Night Mail – Rio Grande (Tapete) Emily Barker – Sonogram (bandcamp) Arch Garrison – The more I know (Believers Roast) Bill Callahan & Bonnie Prince Billy feat. Sean O’Hagan – Wish you were gay (Drag City) Skinshape feat. D’alma – Sua alma (Big Crown Records) Caribou – Home (Merge Records/City Slang) The Hamrahlid Choir – Cosmogony (One Little Independent) Keeley Forsyth – Large oak (The Leaf Label) Nadia Reid – Get the devil out of me (Spacebomb) Bert Jansch – Crimson moon (Earth, reissue) Tame Impala – Is it true (Caroline) Rats on Rafts – Tokyo Music Experience (Fire) Mikael Tariverdiev – Prelude from My younger brother (Earth) (from the soundtrack of the film My younger ...

autumn give a little bit it'll do you good x Playlist The Notwist feat. Saya – Ship (Morr Music/Alien Transistor) Normil Hawaiians – In the stone (Upset The Rhythm) Sam Prekop – Comma (Thrill Jockey) Bert Jansch – Crimson moon (Earth, reissue) Tame Impala – Tomorrow’s dust (Caroline) Lizette & Quevin – Talk to me (Big Crown Records) B-Fax – Therefore (Disco-Ordination) El Michels Affair feat. Piya Malik – Dhuaan (Big Crown Records) El Michels Affair feat.Shannon Wise – Sha na na (Big Crown Records) Gabriel Olafs – Bára (Hugar Rework) (One Little Independent) Global Charming – Charming (Subroutine Records) Half Japanese – Wondrous wonder (Fire) Holy Sons – Lady of the hour (Thrill Jockey) Jens Kuross – Golden Septembers Josephine Foster – The wheel of fortune (Fire) Lee Fields & The Expressions – Two timer (Big Crown Records) M Ward – For heavens sake (Anti) Naked Roommate – Mad love (Upset The Rhythm) Mera Bhai – Manana groove (Moshi Mosh...

The third and final part of my Best of 2018 round up. Some folk sounds. A few soundtrack cuts. Hint of ambient. A share of dream pop. Great memories of 2018 for me. And again it must be said that it was another wonderful year for music in this neck of the woods. Enjoy. Playlist Jessica Risker – I see you among the stars (Western Vinyl) Jim Ghedi – Sloade Lane (Basin Rock Records) Alasdair Roberts, Amble Skuse & David McGuinness – Babylon (Drag City) Jack Hayter – At Crossness Pumping Station (Gare du Nord) Caroline Says – First song (Western Vinyl) The Saxophones – Aloha (Full Time Hobby) Jennifer Castle – Texas (Paradise of Bachelors) Gabriel Naim Amor – Just before revelation (Vacilando ’68) LOMA – Dark oscillations (Sub Pop) Tenniscoats – Ende (Alien Transistor) Spirit Fest – Anohito (Till the gate) (Alien Transistor) Landless – Caoin (Humble Serpent) Kathryn Joseph – we have been loved by our mothers (Rock Action) Low – Always trying...

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 ...

An instrumental mix for this summer/autumn crossover (sum/tumn). Some of my favourite soundtrack cuts in here. Also a few notable new releases. Some on the experimental end. Plenty of drones. Enjoy. Playlist William Tyler – I’m gonna live forever (If it kills me) (Merge Records) Glenn Jones – From Frederick to Fredericksburg (Thrill Jockey) Richard Osborn – Streets of Laredo, A Pastorale (Tompkins Square) Spindle Ensemble – Moonbow (Adderwell Music) Sebastian Reynolds – Mahajanaka (Remix by Emseatee) ( www.sebastianreynolds.co.uk ) Bernard Herrmann – Scene d’amour (from the soundtrack of the film Vertigo , Varese Sarabande) Moondog – Theme (Columbia) Soccer 96 – Button basher (Slowfoot Records) Infinite Music – Magenta ( Infinite Music: A Tribute to La Monte Young , Fire Records) Jodie Lowther – Dream of the Melting Plane ( The Blow Vol 4 , Front & Follow) Eat Lights, Become Lights – Modular Living (Rocket Girl) Tangerine Dream – Teetering scales (from ...

******************************************************************************************************** Bill MacKay & Ryley Walker – Spider Beetlebee (Drag City) Beautiful album of bright and bracing guitar instrumentals from this Chicago duo collaboration. The range of styles spanned over the course of just half an hour is a clue to the open mindedness and sense of adventure of both musicians. There’s a real sense of the shared joy in playing about the whole piece. A gorgeous miniature body of work and in many ways perfect music for this time of year. SpiderBeetleBee by Bill MacKay & Ryley Walker Laura Cannell – Lines of copper gold (Brawl Records) Bracing is also a word to describe this blast of overbowed fiddle from Laura Cannell of East Anglia recorded in a semi ruined church from her current album Hunter Huntress Hawker . Call it early music. Improvised. Experimental. It is primal and it is stirring. It feels essential. HUNTER HUN...

Another great service to humanity by Earth Recordings in reissuing this... ... another sublime soundtrack from the Russian master. Jazz and orchestral influences. Piano. Flute. Harpsichord. Vibraphone. Strings. Brushed drums. Absolute bliss in a minor key. https://tariverdiev.bandcamp.com/

Last year Earth Recordings did a great thing. They released a retrospective of the film soundtrack work of Mikael Tariverdiev , a Russian composer who might have been to that country what Michel Legrand is to France. He was prolific in the 1960s and 1970s, a time when not much of Russian culture passed through the iron curtain to this side of the continent. That album was an absolute treasure and you can read more here . This new release is another sublime collection from a 1975 film, sweeping orchestral passages brushing up against plaintiff Russian folk songs. My favourite moments are the sublimely soporific feel to the orchestral jazz theme of ‘Snow over Leningrad’ and its companion/variation ‘Melody’, where the strings come out from under the shadow of the vibraphone magnificently. Another album to treasure from a treasure of a label. The Irony Of Fate – Original Score by Tariverdiev

A class of an electronic 1st half to the show this week, brought on by a couple of new releases - Noveller , back with a new album, more delicious ambient guitar washes Phantom Horse , a Hamburg duo, keeping bleeping minimalist German kosmische alive SlowPlaceLikeHome , lovely drifting ambient electronica from Donegal, of all places. Around which was added - Some classic Cluster from 1974 Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith , one of the best albums of 2015 for me, beautiful kosmische tones Groundbreaking wigged out Moog boogie from Bruce Haack 1970 Seminal psychtronica from Silver Apples 1968 Moondog making gorgeous canons a child would appreciate. Great film music in the 2nd half from - Mikael Tariverdiev , Russian, not heard in the West before (by many anyway), revived by Stephen Coates via Earth Recordings Martial Solal , from A bout de souffle , jazz in the service of the Nouvelle Vague. Plus Steve Warner , another great Earth reissue, lush piano, sumptuous vocals. More ...