The Underground of Happiness

My favourite tunes of 2019.* Sounds like another great year. Enjoy. *A few snuck in from other years on the basis that they happened for me in 2019. So as well as the year of Twen, Purple Mountains, Vanishing Twin, Paul & The Tall Trees... The year of Bright Phoebus . The year of Steve McQueen (acoustic) . The year of Loch na hEala . Playlist Vanishing Twin – Magician’s success (Fire Records) POZI – Engaged (Prah Recordings) Weyes Blood – Everyday (Sub Pop) Hiss Golden Messenger – My wing (Merge) Charles Rumback & Ryley Walker – Half joking (Thrill Jockey) Twen – Holy river (Frenchkiss Records) Paul & The Tall Trees – Then we’ll wave (So long) (Big Crown Records) Rozi Plain – Trouble (Memphis Industries) Fixity – Becoming an earthworm (Penske Recordings) C Duncan – Reverie (Fat Cat Records) Sarah Louise – Late night healing choir (Thrill Jockey) Bedouine – Tall man (Caroline) Paperface – Little monsters (Daydream Records) Purple Mou...

Tunes. To take stock. Hibernate. Consolidate. Elucidate. Funny old world. Stick with the noise. Enjoy. Playlist Slow Moving Clouds – Karelian (from the soundtrack of Loch na hEala/Swan Lake ) Owen Tromans – A dialogue (Sacred Geometry) Gene Clark – No other (Remaster, 4AD) Aoife Nessa Frances – Here in the dark (Basin Rock) Skinshape – I didn’t know (Big Crown Records) Charles Rumback & Ryley Walker – Half joking (Thrill Jockey) OTTO – Roter teppich (Bureau B) Hochzeitskapelle – Sonido Amazonico (Gutfeeling Records/Broken Silence) Lal & Mike Waterson – Red wine promises (Domino) Bananagun – Out of reach (Full Time Hobby) Holy Hive feat Shannon Wise – Golden crown (Big Crown Records) Keeley Forsyth – Debris (The Leaf Label) Craven Faults – Deipkier (The Leaf Label) Caribou – Home (Merge) Percolator – Freshin (Penske Recordings) Rothko – The day before the day after your death (Trace Recordings) Rachael Dadd – Arrows (Memphis Industrie...

New releases from this latest period in time. Spirals and drones. A capella and instrumentals. Walls of sound and cries for help. A piece of aural history. Enjoy the magic. Playlist Hiss Golden Messenger – I need a teacher (Merge Records) Moonchy & Tobias – Atmosfere (Hidden Shoal/Tiny Room) Murray Lightburn – To the top (Dangerbird) ALA.NI – Sha la la (ALA.NI) Alasdair Roberts – Common clay (Drag City) Boa Morte – Ships passing (Gare du Nord) Brainstory – Mnemophobia (Big Crown records) Clairo – Impossible (Caroline) Comet Gain – The institute debased (Tapete) Dana Gavanski – Catch (Full Time Hobby) Fenella – Bright curse (Fire Records) Hater – It’s a mess (Fire Records) Hochzeitskapelle – Anohito (Gutfeeling Records/Broken Silence) Joanne & Sonny – Journey (Tompkins Square) Kiwi Jr – Salary man (Mint Records) Mermaidens – Millenia (Flying Nun) Spindle Ensemble - Okemah Sundown Rachael Dadd – Cut my roots (Memphis Industries) Sean O’Hagan fea...

Keep the pop gems coming in this wet steamy summer. Playlist Mambo Noir Trio – Matador (Oona Records) Laurence Pike – Dance of the earth (The Leaf Label) Kingo Dia Ntotila – Mutwashi (Fancy Cat Remix) (Pussyfoot Records) Purple Mountains – Margaritas at the mall (Drag City) Bananagun – Do yeah (Full Time Hobby) Corey King – Fertility filter (Def Pressé) Cross Record – The fly (Ba Da Bing) Alasdair Roberts – The evernew tongue (Drag City) Drahla – Pyramid Estate (Captured Tracks) Gruff Rhys – Pang (Rough Trade) Hochzeitskapelle – Sonido Amazonico (Gutfeeling Records/Broken Silence) Manu Louis – Internet (Igloo Records) Mermaidens – I might disappear (Flying Nun) Sarathy Korwar – Bol (The Leaf Label) Band of Holy Joy – Electric pilgrims Terry – Spud (Upset The Rhythm) Twen – Damsel (Frenchkiss Records) Cabogato – Drive on dust (Hidden Shoal) Solo Collective – By the tower, at nightfall (Nonostar Records) Dubi Dolczek – Tangerine Moon (Stolen Body Re...

Playlist Sufjan Stevens – Love yourself (Asthmatic Kitty) Aldous Harding – Fixture picture (4AD) Pozi – Engaged (Prah Recordings) Jane Weaver – Slow motion (LITSS variation) (Fire Records) Stereo Total – Einfach (Tapete) Apparat – Caronte (Mute) Holy Hive feat. Mary Lattimore – Oh I miss her so (Big Crown Records) Laurence Pike – Taught by spirits (The Leaf Label) Polypores – Third level (Front & Follow) Lewsberg – Chances Vanishing Twin – Magician’s success (Fire Records) The Catenary Wires – Dream town (Tapete) Lee Hazlewood with Nina Lizell – Leather and lace (Light in the Attic) Purple Mountains – All my happiness is gone (Drag City) Sam Evian – Cherry tree (Saddle Creek) RaleghLong – Dukes of Stratosphear (Gare du Nord) Rozi Plain – Swing shut (Memphis Industries) Prefab Sprout – I trawl the megahertz (excerpt) (Sony) Prefab Sprout – Appetite (acoustic) (Columbia) The Go Betweens – Core of a flame (Beggars Banquet) Red Channel – Crazy diamonds (Upset...

There's a few tunes there now like... Playlist Fixity – Becoming an earthworm (Penske Recordings) Spill Gold – Dali (Meduse MagiQ) Laurence Pike – Drum chant (The Leaf Label) Pozi – Watching you suffer (Prah Recordings) Drahla – Stimulus for living (Captured Tracks) Pill Fangs – Pain inside (Sunstone Records) The Pinheads – Feel it now (Stolen Body Records) Mdou Moctar – Ilana (Sahel Sounds) Death & Vanilla – A flaw in the iris (Fire Records) Rozi Plain – Conditions (Memphis Industries) Lali Puna – Being water (Morr Music) Vanishing Twin – KRK (At home in strange places) (Fire Records) Von Spar feat. Laetitia Sadier – Extend the song (Bureau B) Wand – Scarecrow (Drag City) Samsara – Yellow fangs (Tiny Room/Hidden Shoal) The Proper Ornaments – Please release me (Tapete) Dana Gavanski – One by one (Full Time Hobby) Bobby Oroza – Your love is too cold (Big Crown Roecords) Hiss Golden Messenger – Everybody needs somebody (Merge) Nilufer Yanya – Tears (Ato...

New music in the ether in this new year.* (*A couple of exceptions, The Shacks who I just learned of lately, released last year, and a few others from end of 2018.) Music from Oslo, Cork, Berlin, Glasgow, Brooklyn, Brisbane, North Carolina, Athens, Rotterdam, Dublin, Niger, Bavaria, Bilbao, Tucson and more in here. Enjoy. ********************* Playlist Lali Puna – Being water (Morr Music) Coldharbourstores – Disenchantment (Enraptured Records) Deerhunter – Plains (4AD) C Duncan – Impossible (Fat Cat) Tim Presley’s White Fence – I can dream you (Drag City) Cosmic Range – Breathing water (Idee Fixe Records) Sarah Louise – Rime (Thrill Jockey) The Telescopes – Don’t place your happiness in the hands of another (Tapete) The Last Sound – Cyclical pang (Fort Evil Fruit) Julia Kent – Crepusculo (The Leaf Label) Rozi Plain – Symmetrical (Memphis Industries) North Sea Radio Orchestra – The flower (Bandcamp) Shana Cleveland – Face of the sun (Hardly Art Records)...