The Underground of Happiness

It's Serge Gasinsbourg's 27th anniversary this month. Time to mark the occasion although no excuse is needed. The ageless 'Bonnie & Clyde' with Brigitte Bardot and a lovely late years version of 'La Javanaise' by Jane Birkin . A beautful hushed Yo La Tengo number sung by Georgia. Breezy jazz pop from the top drawer from The Sea & Cake . And lush power pop from Mr Ben Montero of Melbourne via Athens. 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 483 Tues Mar 27 2018 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/FsG4qg Playlist Serge Gainsbourg & Brigitte Bardot – Bonnie & Clyde Jane Birkin – La javanaise Katie Von Schleicher – Glad to be here (...

******************************************************************************************************** Bedouine – Back to you (from the album Bedouine , Spacebomb) Another wonderful nugget recorded at Matthew E. White’s Spacebomb hub in Richmond Virginia. The origin though is the voice and songs of Azniv Korkejian born in Syria to Armenian parents but resident in the US for some years. Her voice is an intoxicating thing. Hushed. Softly spoken. Insistent. Containing something of a Carole King about it. Or even a Karen Carpenter maybe. Another time anyway. When there was strength in subtlety and soul was in the nuance as much as the decibels. And the dream of an arrangement behind the perfect match. Gently enervating brass and woodwind. Uplifting top note strings. Beautiful pitter patter bass. A genius falsetto backing vocal that catches me every time. She also has a way with a lyric Ms Korkejian. California city parks They talk in excl...

The spirit of GBV and Pavement is alive and well on this Melbourne 4-piece’s excellent second album. Satisfying not as simple as they sound guitars make hay with gorgeous go ahead drumming. In general the feel is of the joy of the bandroom. But let’s also point out the superior songwriting and nagging tunes at the heart of gems like ‘Chancer’ and ‘Cruiser’. It’s a beautiful thing. Good by The Stevens

This week’s show has a lot of great music. At least four of my favourite tunes of the year (you know the ones if you're here regularly). But really this week come for the pop genius of The Go! Team ...brass band handclaps xylophones joyous teenage guest singers. Then stay for the rest. 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 465 Tues Oct 24 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/HajPmV Playlist The Go! Team – The semicircle song ( playing Electric Ballroom, London, Feb 15 ) Hater – Blushing ( playing Rough Trade East, London, Nov 29 ) This is the Kit – By my demon eye ( playing Cyprus Ave, Cork, Jan 16 ) Montero – Vibrations ( playing Vicar Street, Dublin Nov 22, w ...

Meet Ben Montero of Melbourne who is currently shacking up in Athens and by all appearances (from the music video anyway) having a whale of a time on the Mediterranean. This storming tune has shades of Connan Mockasin and Tame Impala although imagined through MOR/soft rock rather than filthy funk or psych rock. A quick perusal of his Facbook confirms the suspicion that this is the music of someone quite happy to proclaim love for the likes of Fleetwood Mac and REO Speedwagon. Which in itself is a beautiful thing. There’s also the small matter of a song which begins with a chorus especially one as good as this. A lost art in pop music. The sound of genius in the making I feel.

Some very tasty underground sounds on the show this week. Japanese band Tenniscoats are back with the latest part of their epic Music Exists series – all three albums are now releasing on vinyl – gorgeous naïve folk melodies meet outsider pop. The estimable Front & Follow label are 10 years old and are celebrating with a compilation of their most excellent roster, Lessons . We heard Andy Nice , sumptuous cello lines, and Sone Institute , a gorgeous drifting mixture of loops, samples, spoken word and field recordings. From her own new album, but also featured on Lessons , Laura Cannell with another bracing blast of pre modern overbowed violin. Speaking of outsider pop, although it could make a play for the major leagues, is Montero – exceedingly catchy psych pop/soft rock. And This is the Kit , just confirmed for Cork show in January. More on these pages. The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blo...

We had a good deal of instrumental music in this week, another 2 hour stint. David Pajo is reportedly releasing new music soon, great to hear something from his 1999 masterpiece Live from a Shark Cage . Some great soundtrack pieces from Mary Lattimore & Jeff Zeigler and also Nick Cave & Warren Ellis . Fixity with dark and enigmatic improv work. Elias Krantz with wonderful propulsive rhythms. And as near instrumental as makes no difference from Syrinx , great kosmische feel. Plenty of people touring - TAU at Liverpool Psych Fest , The Goon Sax in the UK, Rats on Rafts in Ireland, Pascal Pinon, C Duncan, The Lemon Twigs . 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 415 Tues Sept 20 2016 11.00am-12.00pm (repeated on Tuesdays 8.30pm) UCC 98.3FM listen live on the web at www.ucc.i...

The highpoint from a debut album of very endearing indie pop guitar tunes from this teenage Brisbane trio. A pummelling floor tom drum. A circling acoustic guitar line. A defiantly chugging bass. Which all adds up to no nonsense. But the vocal demurs. It’s a love song of sorts. But it dwells on feeling inferior to other suitors. It’s all refreshingly uncertain and hangdogish. Making a tangy contrast with the music. *In fact, this gender twisting continues on the snappy single from the album 'Boyfriend'. If I had a boyfriend / I'd treat him so right / and we could break your heart / so you see how I feel / I need a boyfriend / or just anything real It would remind you of another Brisbane band, The Go Betweens, and in fact one of this band is the son of Robert Forster. You know you’re getting old when the sons of the bands you love are forming bands. As long as they’re keeping up the family business we can all grow old without a care.

Beaches are five women from Melbourne who mine a tasty brand of psych rock with a permeating drone. The pick of their second album is this long distance kraut trip which features Michael Rother of NEU! on drums for added authenticity. I love the way the welter of guitars to begin dissolves into a stew of blurry harmonies. Resilient, there's a word.