The Underground of Happiness

Another one from a few months back that hasn't made it here yet. Merrill Garbus seems to find currents in the pop ether that nobody else has noticed. So here's the perfectly boisterous and catching first single from the current album Nikki Nack . It's a clapping song, which I suppose some people might take as a negative. It isn't. As well as percussive flesh, there's also more lovely, slinky basslines from Nate Brenner, assorted electronic whipcracks and a series of overlapping, gloriously soulful vocals. The topic is water politics in California. But Tune-Yards have wrapped it in a tune so uplifting and vibrant, you won't be able to stop yourself from signing the petition. A reason to sing x Protest music + Irresistible tune = Top class pop music *Check the equally wonderful 'Hey life', which features more knock-out, elastic poly rhythms. In particular, pay attention to the genius Merrill brings to bear on the vocal layers after the...

Tantalising follow-up EP to last year’s tasty Love this giant album from this pair, who trot out at the Electric Picnic Festival in Ireland this weekend. You might find a hint of Bjork’s Dancer in the Dark soundtrack in the austere, awe-inspiring brass tones and mechanical percussion (by John Congleton) of lead track ‘Cissus’. Although that’s the EP highpoint on track one, there are still enough bonkers flights of fancy and musical nuggets on the rest to blow the opposition out of the water. Including a couple of live tracks from their touring over the last year (one Talking Heads number ‘Road to nowhere’, one St Vincent , the marvellous ‘Marrow’) and a couple of remixes. Whatever this pair get up to, they can do no wrong in my book.

We love a bit of Field Music around here. So imagine how happy we were to hear the news about the new Field Music album, due out in February 2012. It'll be called Plumb , and will be released on Memphis Industries . Here's the stream and download. Field Music - (I Keep Thinking About) A New Thing by memphisindustries It sounds very much like a continuation of where (Measure) left off, which is to say, great. And it seems timely to upload the interview with the Brewis brothers, Peter and David, from September 2010, when they played in Cork shortly after that year's Electric Picnic Festival . It features... ...Stratocasters vs Gibson SG's, a village in County Durham called Noplace, Sunderland's shipbuilding past, The Beatles' Happiness is a warm gun , the predictability of pop song structures, Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds , teenage pub gigs, singing like Joe Cocker, and more... Field Music Interview by underground of happiness My other n...

We love a bit of AOR around the UOH cabin. And that's exactly what you have in the voice of The Jezabels' lead singer, the wonderfully named Hayley Mary . The Sydney four piece's new single came out in the last week and it sounds a little bit like Arcade Fire fronted by Belinda Carlisle . That's a good thing, in case you're wondering. It's a thumping tune with an irresistible chorus. The video features horses and shotguns and allsorts (as well as a mightily impressive crew list - there's even a Tech Assistant). If they have more tunes like that, they should be quite a thing. See if you agree with me on the Belinda Carlisle thing. They also put together some video footage of their time at Electric Picnic last weekend in Stradbally , their first appearance in Ireland, which seems to have been well received. There's mention of Sinéad O'Connor and triangles in the same sentence. Appropriately, there's also a snatch of Arcade Fire's EP ...

I remember a time, just about 6 years ago (bear with me on this, it won't take long). It was the Electric Picnic Festival in September 2005. I was attending largely because of one band, Arcade Fire , whose first album Funeral had spent most of that year on repeat at my house, and whose uplifting anthems (or are they anti-anthems) I was very much looking forward to seeing and hearing in the flesh. Of course, I wasn't alone. In fact, at least 5,000 other people had exactly the same idea as me and crammed into the large tent for one of the most anticipated Irish gigs of recent times. Now, I'm not a great one for crowds, in the sense of feeling at one with that many other people in a confined space. I'm a bit too cynical, maybe. I'm happy to share the moment with a few close friends, but beyond that... However as the band came on stage and played through Rebellion (Lies), Wake up, Neighbourhood #2 (Laika) et al, I felt myself surfing a genuine wave of emotion, a wave ...