The Underground of Happiness

Entrancing beat-driven minimalist instrumental from the Swedish artist. Thrilling shades of dancefloor Tortoise, a hint of Battles, a brilliantly conducted extended jazz groove. There are saxophones, thudding drums, insinuating melodies, juicy interlocking analogue synth grooves. Yum yum. Track 3 in this playlist

More new material from Wildbirds & Peacedrums this week - their wonderful new album is available to stream on Spotify and bandcamp now. And a new band (on me) with a Halloween reference from San Francisco, Cool Ghouls , playing sprightly psych rock which I like very much. Also a new album from Elisa Luu , great to hear from her again, and sounding just as beautiful and strange as ever. Silver Servants with Anna Bronsted on vocals, and that gauzy dream pop that I hear as a kind of companion sound. Benjamin Schoos is back too, new album soon but here's the single feat. April March on duetting vocals - swoonsome is the word. Grasscut covering Robert Wyatt gorgeously. And East River Pipe being many shades of wonderful. More on these pages as always. Oct 28 2014 w/ Cool Ghouls,W&P,Little Tornados,Benjamin Schoos,East RIver Pipe,Elisa Luu++ by The Underground Of Happiness on Mixcloud The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed ...

Centrepiece and crowning glory from the Swedish duo’s wonderful third album. Ominous bass drum thuds set the bleak urban scene, industrial rattles fill the middle ground, a lonely piano line front and centre. Then the orchestra cruises in with a melody of stately melancholy, carrying the sense of human toil and ambition under attack from an indistinct tumult of external sources. It’s becoming a bit of a cliché these days to describe a piece of music as being widescreen or cinematic, but this one has a genuine emotional sweep to it. It’s all over before you want it to be, leaving you bereft just like the protagonists of the narrative. (It's also free to download on their bandcamp page here.) Until Silence by Roll The Dice *Check also the air raid sirens, clattering backbeat and stabbing strings of ‘Perpetual motion’ for a later chapter in RTD’s compelling narrative. Until Silence by Roll The Dice

Pop music is simple enough when you know how to put it all together. Here Is Your Temple are a Swedish group with an English singer. The song opens with a soft, insistent bass drum and a circling guitar pattern. Then, a synth masquerading as an air raid siren signals the first uplift. The first of many, as a chorus appears that just keeps on giving. Like a Fleetwood Mac Rumours chorus, pitter patter bass and epic, stadium synth melodies. You’ll be out of breath by the end and putting the thing on repeat. Perfect, perfect pop music.

Last year's In dust album by Roll the Dice was one of my highlights of the year, a great slow burning, rolling machine of a beast, but somehow warm and engaging at the same time. Now, the Swedish duo have enlisted Stefan Betke , better known as the influential Berlin electronic artist Pole , to perform some remixes from the album. Hard to say these days where an original begins and a re-do kicks in. In this case, it's as if the original pieces are in glitchy telephone contact with the updates, from a distant space colony of the future, while bass bins pound through the floor from downstairs. Ghostly dub, you might say, catchy and intriguing you might also say, and the effect is to make you hear the originals with a whole new perspective. Here's the beef. artist: ROLL THE DICE meets POLE title: In Dubs label: The Leaf Label formats: Limited edition 12” silver and black vinyl EP (DOCK 59 / UPC 843190055968) Digital (DOCK 59E / UPC 843190055999) release date: Mond...

This is a kind of concept album about life in the modern metropolis, with a soundtrack of machines at work, from the Swedish duo made up of Malcolm Pardon and Peder Mannerfelt . It’s one of the most evocative and strangely groovy collections you’ll come across. Favouring analogue synths over digital, they’ve managed to capture the rhythmic, repetitive, grinding, but also messy, untidy, unpredictable character of urban life. Or, if you prefer, they’ve made an intriguingly semi-pop series of electronic instrumentals, that also manage to have some jazz improv and Krautrock in them. The elements range from the buzz of static to broad, sweeping synths and dubby bass pads, stop-start industrial clanks and the swoop, suck and throb of circuitry in general (one track is actually called The suck ), all combining in a sort of machine swing dance class of the (near) future. However, one of the most appealing features of the album is its terrific, busy, spidery piano riffs (used to particularl...

We've mentioned Swedish duo Roll the Dice more than once recently, and now they've released the first track from their upcoming new album ( In dust on The Leaf Label , Sept 12). It's an instrumental tune, Calling all workers , and features intoxicating layers of field recordings (the clarion call of a ringing bell), busy bass grooves and stately piano and vintage synth. It really is brilliant. The accompanying film by Frode Fjerdingstad uses an unexpectedly rural/seaside setting, but a close-up on the relentless industry of ants in the undergrowth recalls the "workers" of the title. Roll The Dice - Calling All Workers from Roll The Dice on Vimeo . And you can download it for free here. I haven't heard the whole album yet but on the basis of this it could be something. Calling All Workers by Roll the Dice

The Leaf Label , that wonderful English independent (Efterklang, Oh No Ono, Murcof, Colleen etc.), announced a new signing earlier in the year, the Stockholm duo Roll the Dice , who are Malcolm Pardon and Peder Mannerfelt. Their first album for Leaf, second in all, comes out next month, it's called In dust . As a teaser/trailer for the album, there's a fascinating piece of film made by Frode Fjerdingstad . You can watch below - it's like some futuristic Sergio Leone western, shot by Nic Roeg, with a script by Cormac McCarthy and a foreboding soundtrack of electronic rumbles and whines. Roll The Dice - In Dust from Roll The Dice on Vimeo . So far, I've just heard a couple of bits and pieces from the album, including its last track See you Monday . That's a fantastic blend of Steve Reich -like piano repetitions and Kratfwerk -style kosmische, with a great fuzzy, pulsing synth heartbeat. You'll have to wait another while to hear it, but the band have put toge...