The Underground of Happiness

Another fantastic slice of psych folk boogie from the Parisian resident et sa bande a famille. Certain trademark elements are all in place. Lethally infectious melodies. Baggy dancefloor friendly grooves. A progressive bent but endearingly lightly held. Most of all a glorious horn section adding an extra burst of energy and maybe it’s just me but throwing a nod in the direction of ska on this track perhaps giving a teasing hint at fruitful avenues of exploration for TITK in the future. A wonderful group to have in the world.

Part 2 of this list, out of four in total, the others to follow in January. There will be another Best of Mix also over the next week, stay tuned to Mixcloud. ********************************************************************* 1. Trashcan Sinatras – Let me inside (Or let me out) A monumental year for fans of this treasured Scottish band. A new crowdfunded album, the wonderful Wild pendulum , possibly their best ever work, and tours in America and Europe. And having seen them play live in November, the big insight (other than the obvious genius on show) was the sheer soulfulness of the songs. So yeah, top notch tunes and buckets of soul. I’ll take that any year. http://theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.ie/2016/11/trashcan-sinatras-workmans-club-dublin.html Track 14 in this playlist 2. Britta Phillips – One fine summer morning (from the album Luck or magic, Double Feature) Another artist I saw play live in 2016. In these thoughts from last June, I was zoning...

First show back and a few new albums which came in during the summer break. Robert Forster's 1st solo album in 7 years is a beautiful slow burn of Blonde on Blonde -ish folk moves and faux memoir. Blank Realm , also from Brisbane, are a powerful psych rock beast taking in elements of No Wave on this the opening track from their new album Illegals in heaven . Seminal jangle pop Marxists McCarthy are getting a reissue on Optic Nerve . This is the Kit play Sounds from a Safe Harbour festival in Cork this month. Sublime soul crooning from August Wells . And The Chap being extremely Chappish once again, setting the internet on fire with their electric sound of desire (that excellent line is a quote from the song 'Guitar Messiah'). More on these pages as always. Sept 1 2015 w/ Robert Forster,Blank Realm,Television,August Wells,The Chap,McCarthy,Ergo Phizmiz++ by The Underground Of Happiness on Mixcloud The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music o...

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...

We've already mentioned Jherek Bischoff's wonderful new album, Composed , on Leaf this side of the Atlantic ( Brassland in the U.S.). A new video has just seen the light of day for the track Young and lovely , which features guest vocals from Zac Pennington (of Parenthetical Girls) and Soko . The tune is a brilliant, head-spinning combination of fast-paced sections with swooning string flourishes, and brass band style waltzes. Here's a little background on the video from the director. "The video for YOUNG and LOVELY is a retelling of the Roman myth of Aurora... more or less. It's also a collaboration with our Melbourne family -- the friends Jherek and I made while recording in Australia during the Spring of 2012. We shot in the Royal Botanical Gardens of Melbourne, and in an amazingly wonderful and beautifully weird penthouse (generously lent by David Walsh of the MONA Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania)." - Michael McQuilken, director