The Underground of Happiness

Aldous Harding has been a fave of the show for a couple of years. Now she's with 4AD/Flying Nun so expect to hear a lot more from her soon, new music from her starting this week's show. Valerie June is an American singer who manages to combine something of the exotic air of Joanna Newsom with the grit of Lucinda Williams, an alluring mix. More from The Nightjar ,a Bristol band with a great mix of haunting folk, arresting harmonies and field recordings. John Hynes is an Irish singer with a voice you'll immediately love, shades of Father John Misty or Harry Nilsson. Stornoway from a fascinating compilation of songs from Shakespeare's plays and times. And some more Basil Kirchin , some wonderful early 70s English horror film music. More on these pages. The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Twitter: UndergroundOfHappy Playl...

Musical moments and memories from the year gone by. In no particular order. Enjoy. ******************************************************************* 1. North Sea Radio Orchestra – Dronne (The Household Mark) Another sublime set of tunes from Craig Fortnam and company which combines folk, kosmische and avant garde classical strands, taking the legacy of former band Cardiacs into fascinating new territory. Woodwind and strings are strong and strident against a hushed motorik rhythm on centrepiece song ‘The British road’, a wonderfully sharp state of the nation analysis of Brexit era Britain – when will they learn to fight like our men, how can I rise if you don’t fall. These poised swooping strings, along with the cooing woodwind, the signature guitar style of Craig Fortnam – courtly, playful, lithe – buzzing synths and the great pure singing of Craig’s wife Sharon against Craig’s reedier tones provide the core elements throughout. Essential food for the ears, th...

Another stream of great new music this week. The 2nd Melt Yourself Down album is just out, another marvellous set of space jazz funk. Another track from the Dieterich & Barnes album (pic), delirious improv instrumentals. Holy Fuck back with some great punk funk. Orchestra of Spheres with tricky shapeshifting psych grooves. A couple of lovely looped tropical cuts from Aries and Maria Usbeck . The 2nd Kevin Murphy album, superior wracked songwriting. And The Moles , new music from them for the first time in years, beautiful bittersweet jangle pop. More on these pages as always. The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Twitter: UndergroundOfHappy Playlist 401 Tues May 10 2016 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://goo.gl/2S966D Playl...

Doo Wop? That'd be M Ward , mining the essentials of rock n roll again beautifully. Ray Cathode , that's the late George Martin with friends from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop (what a fascinating meeting of the mainstream and the experimental that was), space lounge let's call it. New Aldous Harding , oh be still my heart, sounds like a slight departure for her, vocally especially, but still sounds great. Teho Teardo & Blixa Bargeld , making brooding compelling chamber sounds, wonderful. And it finishes with a class of a father and son act, The Goon Sax followed by The Go Betweens . More on the blog. The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Twitter: UndergroundOfHappy Playlist 396 Tues Apr 5 2016 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...

We started this week with something wonderful from the new Tandem Felix EP, a Dublin band probing the space between Sufjan Stevens & Lambchop. Aldous Harding , also wondrous and touring Europe soon. Noveller is one woman Sarah Lipstate with an electric guitar making epic soundscapes. And some classic Ryuichi Sakamoto is always welcome. It's blubbery Burberry baby, big bottom swing big bottom, how much is the fish does the fish have chips - take your pick, a Stump refrain is the best refrain. Death & Vanilla play an intriguing brand of psych pop, Bjork in intense hyperballad mode and Kathryn Williams with something great based on the work of Sylvia Plath. Plus Robert Pollard x 2, any time's a good time for a double dose. More on these pages. Apr 21 2015 w/ Tandem Felix,Aldous HArding,Noveller,Ryuichi Sakamoto,Death & Vanilla,Bork,Stump++ by The Underground Of Happiness on Mixcloud The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every c...

This debut album by a young woman from Christchurch in New Zealand (or possibly nearby Lyttleton, depending on your reading of the bio) came out towards the end of last year and is one of the releases of 2014 without any doubt in my mind. In fact, I’d go so far as to say this album will be up there for best of the decade come 2019. http://www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.ie/2014/12/best-of-2014-part-1-folkrootscountry.html And talk about setting the bar high from the word go. The opening song ‘Stop your tears’ is one of those spellbinding musical moments, so memorable you might remember where you were and what you were doing when you first heard it. It has a slightly gothic, debauched feel to it - ”I keep the pills inside an urn”, “Baudelaire in the afternoon” – in among the haunting, ghostly atmosphere of some of the most memorable backing vocals ever committed to tape. ‘Hunter’ follows and lifts the tone, a hearty strummed singalong with rousing fiddle, sounding ...

Happy New Year all. First off, a bit of a glitch at the start of this wk's show so apologies, we lost a few minutes of Aldous Harding , plus my intro (which is no loss). Check the full audio for that song down the page or better yet buy her awesome s/t album. A selection of Best of 2014 tracks dominated proceedings - aswell as Aldous, we had Benjamin Schoos, Jennifer Castle, Paul Smith & Peter Brewis, Silver Apples . Check the blog (down the right hand side under posts) for a full review of 2014 in 4 parts (4th part to be added this week). Also new music from Wildbirds & Peacedrums (a bonus track from the Rhythm sessions), Katelyn Aurelia Smith (more beautiful & minimalist analogue synths), Elephant Micah (plangent folk songs) and the great new single from Astronauts (hushed psych pop). In this brand new year of love and death, let's face the music and dance. More on these pages. Jan 6 2015 w/ Best of 2014 Aldous Harding,Silver Apples,W&P,The Drink...

I gave in to list culture a few years back, so here's my contribution. In fairness, I find looking back over the year a good way of rediscovering musical highlights, refreshing the mucial memory. Plus I've tried to add a bit of depth by describing why these musical moments, albums, songs, phrases, whatever, have stayed with me. This first instalment I'm calling Folk/Roots/Country , as usual a somewhat arbitrary set of tags but broadly representative. Enjoy, the rest of the series will follow over the next couple of weeks or so (in total there will be three or four). 1. Olof Arnalds – Patience (One Little Indian) Another superb album from the Icelandic singer this year, Palme . As with all her work, there’s an endearing quirkiness to the songs but through ingenious arrangements she manages to avoid the stultifying cul de sac which is the home of many of the twee-inclined. This song has her quivering tones (not unlike Bjork in her quieter moments, in terms of p...

A couple of blinding folk records I've been enjoying in the past week or so. Aldous Harding is a young woman from Christchurch in New Zealand who sings ghostly, gripping folk songs, murder ballads and such, using not much more than an acoustic guitar and her unique voice. She may be young but the songs have an ancient quality. Stunning. Also great is the new Elephant Micah , plangent tales of the world at large feat. forests, 4-legged creatures and the unmistakeable backing vocals of Will Oldham . A couple of token Christmas tunes, but a little off the beam. Gruff Rhys imagining Christmas post apocalypse, a la Cormac McCarthy but as heard through T-Rex, sort of. And Tex Ritter , combining western swing with some social sensibility, a surprisingly apt combination it turns out. Some furious Krautrock from Faust and also their Austrian friends Villalog . New Alasdair Roberts , glorious, some old This is the Kit , who play Ireland this week, lovely trancelike folk. And t...