The Underground of Happiness

First show back after the August holiday and we’re working through a bit of a backlog but that can be good. Russian soundtrack maestro Mikael Tariverdiev , a great melancholic string swoon. Colleen , a beautiful Moog-based kosmische. Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra , wonderful quixotic orchestral shapes. Ariel Pink , glorious lovelorn jangle pop. And The Clientele , adding brass to a sunset Byrdsian sound quite brilliantly. More on these pages. The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Twitter: UndergroundOfHappy Playlist 458 Tues Sept 5 2017 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 goo.gl/tt2fiQ Playlist Colleen – November Lali Puna - Two windows Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra – Vula ( playing Musikbrauerei, Berlin, Oct 14 ) Diagnos -...

Some odd things this week. Odd can be beautiful. Ariel Pink & Weyes Blood joining forces for something epic and strange. Half Japanese with legendary force for good Jad Fair sounding in great voice. Stephen EvEns coming on like a Cardiacs outtake, excellent. New music from Goldfrapp , not so much odd as just brilliant. And not odd at all, exactly as you'd expect, glorgeous songwriting from Mark Eitzel , who is on tour in Europe soon. More on these pages. The Underground of Happiness i>uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Twitter: UndergroundOfHappy Playlist 432 Tues Jan 31 2017 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 goo.gl/o0SptT Playlist C Duncan – Nothing more ( playing Cyprus Avenue, Cork, May 4 ) Mark Eitzel – The last ten years ( playing Cypru...

And so Part 2 of this end of year series. There seems to have been less up tempo electronic music on my radar this year, hence a few crop up in this mostly-guitar set. (There are some ambient and other electronic cuts to come in the final part of the round-up.) Let's not get hung up on that. Enjoy. 1. Future Islands – Seasons (Waiting on you) (4AD) With all due respect to Hozier (who owed a lot in turn to the work of Feel Good Lost, plus maybe ‘Take me to church’ was more of a 2013 thing in any case?) and Kim Kardashian’s buttocks, here was the true thing that broke the internet this year. It showed the power to light up the world of sheer chutzpah – a short, barrel-chested man who can sing his heart out all night and dances like he doesn’t give a fuck who’s watching. On paper those are not the most promising ingredients, perhaps, but Sam Herring turns them into gold, when combined with the thrumming, soaring melodies of Will Cashion and Gerrit Welmers. Funnily enough,...

More gloriously poignant/vaguely unsettling jangle pop from the pink-haired one. He may have dropped the Haunted Graffiti but the killer 80s-inflected tunes keep coming. In among the irresistible chiming guitars, the massed banks of synths over a heartfelt “baby” and the superb touch of a girl’s gently pleading message on his voicemail, I find myself returning again and again to the genius staccato of the chorus bassline. It seems to tap out a morse code of hope and love from Ariel to the world. And apart from that being exactly what the world needs now, it is such a beautiful thing. *As is his wont, the video is likely to take the poignant edge off the tune for you, opting instead to creep you the fuck out.

Managed to squeeze a few extra tunes in this week - they just happened to be shorter I think. More Laetitia Sadier from her beautiful new album Silencio; Peter Broderick beatboxing; Pollens doing some intriguing vocal work; two Cork artists, Cormac O'Caoimh & The Great Balloon Race , both playing the NOISE Weekender at the end of September; Lower Dens & Beach House , both also playing Cork in the next couple of months; Ariel Pink followed by Donnie & Joe Emerson , with the song covered on the new Ariel Pink album; more Wussy and the now Mercury Prize nominated Field Music . Who'll pay the bills? That could be the new Irish national anthem... The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Playlist 235 Tues Sept 18 2012 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...

The first show back after the "summer" recess was yesterday and it featured some great new music from Mumblin' Deaf Ro, Laetitia Sadier, Sone Institute, Ariel Pink, Efterklang and Peter Broderick (check around the blog for more info on those albums). We also had a couple of stunning oldies from Cocteau Twins ( 4AD released a retrospective compilation of their career earlier this year, spanning and titled 1982-1990 ) and Lee Hazlewood duetting with actress Ann Margret from a great lost classic of an album, The cowboy and the lady (1969). It was re-released in 2000 on Smells Like Records , the label run by Steve Shelley from Sonic Youth, which is when I picked it up. I'm calling it cowboy lounge, and that's one lounge I wouldn't mind lounging in. The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Playlist 233 Tues Sept 4 2012 11.00am-12.00pm (repea...

I was catching up on some of the 4AD sessions and came across this fantastic footage of Ariel Pink and friends. If nothing else, check out Menopause Man , from last year's great album Before today , for a sublime mixture of math-rock and 10cc-ness. I must say I also like the drummer's shirt - it's kinda hairy. To match his bear growls.

So the Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona has been and gone for another year. I didn't make it this year, sadly for me. But I was not missed as about 40,000 other people made up for my absence, and except for some bar hiccups (to do with a new swipe payment system that crashed) it seems like most of them had a pretty great time. (You can find way more detail about this year's festival on Jim Carroll's blog here .) Just to cheer myself up, here's a couple of samplers of the action from two bands that would have been high on my list, and who both made a big impact at the festival by all accounts. Courtesy of genkisparkle Courtesy of MrLiranya She really makes some racket for just one person, doesn't she?

Don't you just love Swedish bands? On their third album but a new name to me, The Horror The Horror (or THTH as I'm already calling them) seem to distil the spirit of the 1980's. The blurb mentions Style Council and Prefab Sprout, but the absolutely knockout Believe in magic comes across more like Van Halen to me, without the Eddie van Halen guitar solo. Which means a better version, in my book. It's on repeat at my house and is nestling up close to Ariel Pink's Round and round for company. Get into it. The Horror The Horror - Believe in Magic by Tapete Records Equally ace is Wilderness , their new single (and title track of their album, on German label Tapete Records ). It has an irresistible "ooh-ooh-ooh" chorus, among other great things. The video features a man dressed as a dancing chicken but is oddly romantic.