The Underground of Happiness

The last show of the year is a playlist of 15 of my favourite tracks from 2013. You'll find more info on the songs around the blog. I will also be posting some other podcasts rounding up the rest of my favourite music of the year over the next few weeks - there's quite a bit. The next show is on Jan 7th. Happy Holidays. Dec 10 2013 show - 2013 Review w/ Low,O Emperor,K-X-P,Circus Devils,V.O.,Bill Callahan,Cat Dowling++ by Theundergroundofhappiness on Mixcloud The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Playlist 292 – 2013 Review Tues Dec 10 2013 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 http://i.mixcloud.com/CFKuxK Playlist Nancy Elizabeth – The last battle Amor de Dias – Voice in the rose Liam Singer – Unhand me (You horrid thing) April March ...

Richie Tyndall Photography I had the great pleasure of seeing Cat Dowling play live in Cork the other week, as part of the excellent Coughlan's Festival lineup. As you know, her debut album The Believer is one of my favourite things this year . It was great to hear those songs in the flesh (about seven of them anyway). Here's what I wrote about the gig for WeAreNoise . http://wearenoise.com/index.php/2013/10/coughlans-1st-birthday-live-music-festival-cork-sept-26-29-2013/ Cat Dowling arrived onstage (joined by collaborator Gerry Horan ) on Sunday evening with no fanfare and set about charming the pants off the seated audience with both her demeanour and a set of beguiling tunes from her wonderful debut album The Believer . In this kind of living room, we were given a lesson in soul. And for that purpose, the songs sounded even better whittled down to the bare bones, which were provided mostly by Horan. Namely, straight ahead piano chords and some great Gre...

The centrepiece of this week's show was a segment of the interview with Liam Singer . We also had two tracks from his wonderful album Arc Iris (review on the blog here and full interview audio to follow soon). I saw Cat Dowling play last weekend, she was superb, and her new single 'Somebody else' is just out. Plus another strong Irish female release in the shape of the fourth album from Ann Scott . Cool new music from Connan Mockasin , bit of a Prince feeling off that; new album this month from Dublin's Crayonsmith ; some great kraut-surf vibes from La Femme ; Cork's Elastic Sleep play the HWCH13 Festival in Dublin this week (so does Cat Dowling actually); The Unusual History of Ether , keeping a place for jazz in pop music, like that a lot. And another Hidden Shoal gem, the new single from (The) Caseworker . More as always on these pages. Oct 1 2013 show w/ Ann Scott, Elastic Sleep, Connan Mockasin, Liam Singer Interview,Crayonsmith++ by The...

Another album I've been playing plenty on the show for the last couple of months is the debut from Cat Dowling . It's a beautifully subtle piece of work that bears repeated listening as they say. This was my review for WeAreNoise . http://wearenoise.com/index.php/2013/06/cat-dowling-the-believer-can-do-records/ This is Cat Dowling’s debut solo album, having been involved with Alphastates for two previous long players. Her voice hints at blues, gospel, roots, with a hushed tone and a warm, lived-in tenor. There are no histrionics, little vibrato, just a matter-of-factness to the delivery which is very refreshing. With connotations like that, it’s no wonder she signed an international publishing deal recently. The arrangements, though, are the key to this record I think - any record really. (The production, which is also impressive, is credited to Dowling with Gerry Horan and Karl Odlum; we might assume that the arrangement duties were similarly shared.) The album...