The Underground of Happiness

it's the middle of the year...here's the middle of the year review enjoy x Playlist 1. The Notwist – Projectors (Morr Music) 2. Boa Morte – The following on (Gare du Nord Records) 3. Marisa Anderson – Taqsim for guitar (Thrill Jockey) ( playing Boole Library, University College Cork, Sept 10 ) 4. Les Imprimés – Get lost (Big Crown Records) 5. Blumi – Jaguar (Capitane Records) 6. Yael Naim – Solaire (Mouselephant) 7. Micha Acher/Henry & The Ghost Project – Radio Four (Alien Transistor) 8. Rattling Ark – Omos Silverskin (bandcamp) ( playing Boole Library, University College Cork, July 23 ) 9. Magic Tuber Stringband – Where the place becomes forgetting (Thrill Jockey) 10. Season 2 – Abundance of power (Upset The Rhythm) 11. Library Card – Out of context (At Ease) 12. The Telescopes – Revolutionary blues (Tapete Records) 13. Dog Chocolate – Employee (Upset The Rhythm) 14. Bill Wells feat Norman Blake – El El El (Karaoke Kalk) 15. Bill Wells feat Aby...

it's touring season for bands... lots of people playing live in this batch...get out and support if you can enjoy x Playlist 1. Starter Car - Kicking (Tapete Records) 2. Vanishing Twin – Bring me the axe (Fire Records) ( playing Earth, London, Oct 29 ) 3. Boa Morte – The following on (Gare du Nord Records) 4. Marisa Anderson – Sarvi simin (Thrill Jockey) ( playing Boole Library, University College Cork, Sept 10 ) 5. ANIQO – The turn (La Double Vie) 6. Serge Gainsbourg & Jane Birkin – 69 Année Érotique (Warner Chappell) 7. Blumi – Jaguar (Capitane Records) 8. FKJ – Soulmates (AWAL) ( playing Exhibition, London, Oct 29 ) 9. Girls in Hawaii – Eldorado (Capitane Records) ( playing Hootananny, Brixton, London, Oct 20 ) 10. Gwenno – London 1757 (Heavenly) ( playing The Savoy, Cork, July 17 ) 11. Gurry Wurry – Like a landlord (Gurry Wurry) ( playing Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, July 10 ) 12. Tricky feat. Mitch Sanders – I’m yours (False Idols) ( playing Green...

some out there musics in this batch...german electronica, drone rock and the like some in here musics also...whatever you're having yourself enjoy x Playlist 1. The Telescopes – White noise (Tapete Records) 2. The Notwist – Like this river (Alien Transistor) 3. SUEP – In the morning (Memorials of Distinction) 4. Alan & Jan – All one (Faitiche) 5. Sylvain Chauveau – The guitar piece I wrote for Masumi (130701) 6. Anadol & Marie Klock – Magnitude 6.3 (Pingipung) 7. Yael Naim – Inouie (Mouselephant) 8. Yael Naim – Rabbit hole (Mouselephant) 9. Tulpa – Monster of the week (Skep Wax Records) 10. Micha Acher/Henry & the Ghost – Loop D (Alien Transistor) 11. Marisa Anderson – Quodlibet (Thrill Jockey) ( playing University College Cork, Sept 10 ) 12. Magic Tuber Stringband – Where the place becomes forgetting (Thrill Jockey) 13. Craig Fortnam & Laurent Valero – White swan (Dark Companion Records) 14. The Would Be Goods – The back of your bike ...

the dub is the genius alien dub orchestra loads of brass love it x Playlist 1. Donna Regina – Nothing heavy (Karaoke Kalk) 2. Stella & The Dreaming – In another life (bandcamp) ( playing Coughlans, Cork, Sept 26, w/ Ana Palindrome ) 3. Emma Pollock – Prize Hunter (Chemikal Underground) 4. Thee Marloes – I’d be lost (Big Crown Records) 5. Sam Prekop – Light shadow (Thrill Jockey) 6. Kathryn Williams – Tender (One Little Independent) ( playing St Pancras Old Church, London, Oct 24 ) 7. Julie Odell – Orioles eating oranges (Frenchkiss Records) 8. The Cords – Fabulist (Skep Wax) ( playing Mono, Glasgow, Oct 5 ) 9. EERA – I’ll stop when I’m done (Test Card Recordings) 10. The Alien Dub Orchestra – Bike rack (Alien Transistor) 11. AVR – Renaissance (Holywood) ( playing The George, London, Oct 15 ) 12. Mark McCausland – We’ll be just fine (Deltasonic Records) (from the soundtrack of the film The Spin ) 13. Cormac O Caoimh – The heart of the human race (bandca...

some summery tunes for your heatdome go well brian x (pic far out magazine) Playlist 1. Ensemble – Proposal 1 (Fat Cat Records) 2. Emil Friis – For goodbyes (Fat Cat Records) 3. Studio Electrophonique – David and Jayne (Valley of Eyes Records) 4. Heavenly – Portland Town (Skep Wax) 5. The Alien Dub Orchestra – Vine and fig tree (Alien Transistor) 6. Astral Bakers – Vertical life (Sage Records) 7. Ways of Seeing – USA 94 (bandcamp) 8. Lightheaded – The garden (Slumberland/Skep Wax) 9. Jeanines – Coaxed a storm (Slumberland/Skep Wax) 10. The Beach Boys – Feel flow (Brother Records) 11. The Beach Boys – Til I die (Brother Records) 12. Bea Elmy Martin – Born to fly (Indigo Kin) 13. Half Japanese – Step on up (Fire Records) 14. Guerilla Toss – Red flag to angry bull (Sub Pop Records) 15. Cory Hanson – Lou Reed (Drag City) 16. Ty Segall – Buildings (Drag City) 17. Sebastian Reynolds & Myles Cochran feat. Kelly Michaeli – IYCSM (Pindrop) 18. Later Youth...

new music for your january enjoy x Playlist 1. Ex-Void – Down the drain (Tapete Records) 2. Saeko Killy – Dream in dream (bureau b) 3. Clever Bunny – Rolling in the hay (Slowfoot Records) 4. youbet – Deny (Hardly Art Records) 5. SPINNEN – Geister (Alien Transistor) 6. Chalk – Afraid (Nice Swan) ( playing Ulster Sports, Belfast, Apr 10 ) 7. Propaganda – World out of joint (bureau b) 8. Tarwater – Spirit of flux (Morr Music) 9. Adrian Crowley – Brother was a runaway (Valley of Eyes Records) 10. Albertine Sarges – Girl missing (Moshi Moshi) 11. The Burning Hell – Bottle of Chianti, cheese and charcuterie board (BB*Island) 12. Cloth – Polaroid (Rock Action) 13. Deradoorian – Digital gravestone (Fire Records) 14. Echolalia – Blood moon (Full Time Hobby) 15. Elephant – 20k (Excelsior Recordings) 16. Hiro Ama – Everything is going to make sense in the end (Daniel Brandt Remix) (PRAH Recordings) 17. House of All – The good Englishman (Tiny Global Recordings) ( pl...

More tunes from 2023. 20 more of the best. Enjoy. x Playlist 1. The Toads – Nationalsville (Upset The Rhythm) 2. Vanishing Twin – Afternoon X (Fire Records) 3. Me Lost Me – Eye Witness (Upset The Rhythm) 4. I Dreamed I Dream – The Bass (bandcamp) 5. Tandem Felix – There’s a new sheriff in town (bandcamp) 6. Terry – Gold duck (Upset The Rhythm) 7. Immaterial Possession – To the fete (Fire Records) 8. Lael Neale – I am the river (Sub Pop) 9. Death and Vanilla – Looking glass (Fire Records) 10. Trá Pháidín – m’anam go b’ea (bandcamp) 11. Nagasaki Swim – Sleep (Excelsior Recordings) 12. Nighttime – Veil (Ba Da Bing Records) 13. Symbol Soup – Overdressed (Sad Club Records) 14. The Notwist – Exit strategy to myself (Live from Alien Research Center) (Morr Music) 15. Aoife Nessa Frances – Automatic love (Partisan Records) 16. Spencer Cullum feat Erin Rae – Betwixt and between (Full Time Hobby) 17. BMX Bandits – Long forgotten summers (Tapete Records) 18. Holl...

A time of year for lists. Or for remembering. Here's some tunes from 2023. Enjoy. x Playlist 1. Ella Ronen – Truth (BB*Island) 2. Pierre Bastien & Michel Benabila – Stray carrier pigeon (Pingipung) 3. Hochzeitskapelle + Eddie Marcon – Itsuko Manika Watashitachi (Alien Transistor) 4. Gratin Carnival – City of silver and blue (Alien Transistor) 5. Henrik Lindstrand – Tumlare (One Little Independent) 6. Minwhi Lee – Borrowed tongue (Alien Transistor) 7. Sufjan Stevens – Will anybody ever love me (Asthmatic Kitty) 8. Marta del Grandi – Snapdragon (Fire Records) 9. Mitski – Star (Dead Oceans) 10. Rachael Lavelle – Let me unlock your full potential (Rest Energy) 11. Nuria Graham – Fire Mountain, oh sacred ancient fountain (Primavera Labels / New Deal / Verve Forecast & Universal Music Spain) 12. Arborist – Dreaming in another language (Kirkinriola Records) 13. Boa Morte – Hard to know (Gare du Nord) 14. Naima Bock – Lines (Sub Pop/Memorials of Di...

love in a time of chaos enjoy the music x Playlist 1. Hellsongs – Use what u got (Tapete) 2. Laetitia Sadier – Une autre attente (Duophonic Super 45s) 3. The Telescopes – Where do we begin? (Modares Remix) (Tapete) 4. Martin Rev – Dreams (bureau b) 5. Tenderhost – Plod along phenomenon (Tenderhost) 6. Andersens – Fuyu (Alien Transistor) (GLITZERBOX 2 compilation) 7. Brainstory – Nobody but you (Big Crown Records) 8. Dan Cross – Like a river 9. Ella Raphael – See you through (Fire Records) 10. Faux Real – Faux Maux (City Slang) 11. Ghostwoman – Yoko (Full Time Hobby) ( playing Workman’s Cellar, Feb 4 2024 ) 12. Hochzeitskapelle + Tenniscoats – Garden of peace (Alien Transistor) 13. Louis Carnell & Ben Vince – three (Mute) 14. Manu Delago feat Mad About Lemon – Modern people (One Little Independent) 15. Marry Waterson & Adrian Crowley – Undear sphere (One Little Independent) 16. Óisín Leech – October sun (Outside Music - Tremone Records) ( playing Sug...

A mix of some of my favourite instrumental music. There are some vocals involved here, I hear you say, but voices used in an instrumental way, I would say. Non lyrical voices, let's say. What strikes me listening back is the range of emotions in these tunes. Romantic. Melancholy. Reverie. Delirious. Stoic. Noirish. Beauty and strangeness. Electronic. Stringed. Ambient. Gothenburg. Tokyo. Dublin. Down. Philadelphia. Berlin. Tucson. Toronto. Enjoy. x Playlist Ennio Morricone – Come Maddalena (EMI) Moondog – Theme (Columbia) Áine O’Dwyer – For the souls of our fleas (Fort Evil Fruit) Faten Kanaan – Ebla (Fire Records) ( playing Union Chapel, London, Apr 28, w/ Colin Stetson ) Silver Servants – Spailing farrows (Second Language) Pieter Nooten – Lo-fi lullaby (Rocket Girl) Maggie Bjorklund – Flow (Tompkins Square) ( Luke Schneider presents Imaginational Anthem Vol XI: Chrome Universal – A survey of modern pedal steel ) Edward Williams – Japanese m...

Beguling naive pop (or avant pops as they have called it in the past) with brass and reed from the Japanese duo. Piano trumpet and a clarinet take most of the load making gorgeous circling patterns. Saya Ueno’s vocal is the cherry leading the melody where the other instruments follow. Sometimes simple things are the most beautful. And affecting. Track 9 in this playlist

There’s a welcome strain of mad bastard floating around a certain brand of German music lately and a good portion of it seems to emanate from the Alien Transistor label. AMEO are an 18 piece ensemble lead by Daniel Glatzel based in Berlin and this music could really make you want to move there. From the blurb: It arrives gently, with shimmering lights, soft winds, sashaying melodies, and of course, the isotherms and isotheres function just as they should: All of a sudden, lighting strikes amid the concord of instruments, unforeseen energies erupt and upset the rhythmic scenery with elemental force. Making a combined effort to create sheltering patches of harmony within the unfolding drama, leader Daniel Glatzel and his 18-piece “working band” set out to harness album #4...imagine Michel Legrand meeting Maurice Ravel at a Gil Evans gig. To that I would also add the lightness and sparkle of a Joe Hisaishi Studio Ghibli soundtrack. And the joyousness frivolity and el...

And finally (and by coincidence somewhat appropriately for Halloween), another effortlessly cool, fluid and (crucially) groovy chapter in the story of The Notwist . Apart from notwisting, the Acher brothers have had their hands in all kinds of fascinating pies over the years. For the first time, this is a live set, recorded in Leipzig in front of a most appreciative audience and it sounds fantastic. From the opening strains of ’They follow me’ – with its intriguing creeping meditative air – there’s a lovely organic mixture of analogue and digital sounds. It’s like a Notwist mission statement, neatly summed up by the band like this - It’s all about sonic interconnection, about music as entanglement, music as reconciliation. The rather majestic, cinematic (indie) pop and experimental, kraut- infused jazz, the spirit of the enlightenment and baroque playfulness, the traces of modernism and minimal music, dub leanings, hip-hop lessons, and even hints of house music: here ...

Beautiful combination of smooth jazz, krautrock and brass band shapes from Micha Acher (The Notwist) and friends. Within the first two tracks we already have a cool jazz jam, a bowed double bass meditation, a gorgeous vibraphone exercise (all on album opener ‘Arc Trilogy’) and a sprightly/bittersweet brass band workout (‘Morgenstimmung’). The heart and soul of the album for me is the run beginning from the fourth track ‘Sun’, an exquisite accordion, flute and vibes concoction that drifts and lopes all woozy and heat drunk. Next the sublimely morose brass of ‘Lenity’ is a perfect palate cleanser, like a Tom Waits tune in a sharper suit but just as pleasingly dishevelled underneath. The run is crowned by the glorious motorik beackbeat of 'Skeleton dance' with the white line held by a single banjo chord while an irresistible flute and trumpet melody flirts with the verges. The album still has great things in store – the insistent brass, flute and vibes interpla...

You’ll know the name Micha Acher from his bands The Notwist and Tied & Tickled Trio . This Alien Ensemble sees him hook up with some old friends, including a couple of colleagues from The Notwist. There’s nothing electronic here though. The instrumentation consists of double bass, drums, vibraphone, trumpet, saxophone, trombone. It’s the sound of jazz alright but the key is the word ensemble, a wonderfully sympathetic band ambience, miles away from that awful “series of soloists” you sometimes get in the so-called upper reaches of the genre. It’s satisfyingly democratic, everyone working in service to the tune, not just holding a spotlight on the leader. I particularly love the brass and reed build towards the end here, accompanied by a busying flurry of high hat. Tasty, groovy and unassuming – three good things on a plate.

Grower is the word for this. 13 & God - Own your ghost (Alien Transistor) The Acher Brothers (The Notwist/Tied & Tickled Trio) are at it again (they're busy this month), this time part of a kind of supergroup with members of Oakland hip hop group Themselves. Many are the delights contained within; the sleepy tick-tock rhythm of Its own sun , the fantastic anti-anthem Armored scarves , the flute and shaker entree to the stalking hip hop main course of Janu are , the dreamy shoegaze of Old age , the compelling half beat with strings of Death minor . It's a real grower this album, pleasingly adventurous without being self-indulgent. Have a listen here. http://www.anost.net/en/Shop/13-and-God-Own-Your-Ghost.html?listtype=search&searchparam=13%20%26%20God