The Underground of Happiness

Otherworldly sounds. Medieval. Baroque. But modern. Filtered vocals. Pillowy synths. Flutters of saxophone and clarinet. Pitter patter drums. And the voice. With fascinating diction. Giving every word a strangeness/newness. With yearning. And feeling. Along with that. A remarkable poise on stage. A presence. Self-assurance. All in all. Intriguing and wonderful. Big Dreams by Rachael Lavelle

Ana Palindrome . My second time seeing this 3 piece. Violin sometimes guitar. Bass. (Note – Hofner. Hello Paul McCartney.) Moog and friends. Two badass women out front. Starting to love the development of badass Irish women ruling the stages lately. Brushed violin initially. Playing with the texture not the melody. Something about it would remind you of John Cale on viola. New York John Cale. Slides. Scrapes. Drones. Woman on bass avoiding root notes. Harmonics. Note flutters. Man on Moog in charge of beats and swells. To carry on the New York theme. Distinct bang of no wave from the songs. Of anything goes. Of dance music and ballads. Rock n roll or jazz. Club or concert hall. Pop and experimental. Chanted Meredith Monk vocals. If they were in New York no doubt already record deal and art branding. Treasure this under the radar shit. Danb emosewa gnikcuf is a palindrome of fucking awesome band. Tandem Felix are superior country rock with excellent...

More Quarter . Asked and given. In The Nest which is the outdoor section of Coughlans and I could hear the tunes on the way down High Street in the afternoon. Belfast 4-piece. Pleasingly stoner vibe. Major Pavement buzz. Twin guitar attack/glorious jangle. Also featuring nice organ when it decided to work. Some psych wig out action. Sublime. Plus the singer has a lovely falsetto. Occasionally. I already loved Tears in Costa. Hearing it live made my day. Thanks for coming south folks. Listening Face played first. Dan Breen and friends. Dan is one of the best singers I know. Like, a belter. They made an excellent noise. Plus they enjoyed themselves. As did all of us. Thanks Quarter. The Dust Has Come To Stay by Junk Drawer

Three nights running. Dan Walsh was back in the game following his marathon Year of the Dan in 2022. This time a solo Fixity . No drums this time. One man and his flute. With drum machine. Samples. A mixing desk. Effects. He also sang. It was wonderful drifty kosmische and what’s more you could dance to it. Dan the headtheball had another show later. The Tan Jackets in Coughlans . He played bass in that one and sang primal rock n roll. Grand for a Saturday. FIXITY by Dan Walsh

The next night John Douglas was in Cork. Coughlans . The man with a string of classics behind him with the Trashcan Sinatras . The sleeping policeman. Weightlifting. The neighbour’s place. So many. These he played. I felt like I could die happy after hearing Weightlifting again. In that room. The weight of the melody. Started the gig with Walk on by in tribute to Burt Bacharach. Classy touch. He also found space for a Prefab Sprout number. We let the stars go. Impeccable taste. I spoke to him after and mentioned Victoria Station 1999. The I HATE MUSIC t-shirt. He had a chuckle. What his songs mean to me. His band. There was a gravity about him. But holy fuck the songs. Weightlifting by Trashcan Sinatras

For those of you who prefer the long read format, here are all 30 chapters plus bonus in one piece...enjoy x I'm going to post out some thoughts on live shows I was at this year. I'll put them out between now and the end of the year. It's a bit of an experiment because, unlike whenever I've written live reviews^ before, this time (for the most part) I was writing at a remove of many months. These were not thoughts I put down at the time of the gig. So these are thoughts dependent on memory - I suppose all thoughts are but with these ones longer term memory - in that whatever I've written consists of impressions that have stayed with me over time. I like the idea of forcing myself to depend on memory this way. It might create a different kind of review. Less detail probably, but heavier on general currents, patterns, trends. Shorter (good says you). Plus it would presumably incorporate more of an overview of all the shows together. Because, whether these arti...

Chapter 30 Part 2 of my Quiet Lights appointments. Back to Coughlans for Aoife Nessa Frances . She played here in February 2020 with a band headed by Cian Nugent. Tonight Aoife is very much in charge on guitar – mostly fingerpicked – and keys. The band is drums, second keys with a side of clarinet and a giant pedal harp centre stage. And it is actually the woman on harp who steals the show. Méabh McKenna is the name I learn later. Sitting underneath this towering slab of wood and steel, she lets loose waves of string glissandi, pulling at the instrument, imploring it nearly, and living every second of the music through her face, frowning, grimacing, raising her leg for extra traction. The effort. And the joy. She is a sight to behold. The songs sound wonderful. Crescendos of mellotron clarinet and big body Epiphone. The sublime Emptiness follows. The yearning Way to say goodbye with that perfect hazy vocal on top. The outstanding stalking groove of Only child. A kind of ...

chapter 29 the bonk seems to be a band in coughlans for the quiet lights festival and i had to go to this one cos they were supposed to play in july but it got cancelled last minute probably covid you know yourself gutted like they didn’t bring the bass drum but it turned out they had all the other drums – stuck at the back was hard to see it was stuffed naturally and there was a drum machine for sure which is a departure from the last time i saw them and these were filthy beats now as if it was techno slowed down right down while the jazz stew cooked up around them – dirty beats alright yes they were five with phil of course and the brother on drums then dan walsh not surprisingly involved on sax and clarinet and piccolo flute i think it might have been sure he even pulled out a harmonica at one point and the two other lads on guitar and trumpet ripping it up i don’t know their names but fuckit they’re good african jazz influences and of course american jazz somebody t...

Chapter 28 The Tan Jackets Mark 2. Coughlans . It has to be done. Some familiar sounds. Kinks. Small Faces. Monks. Ivor Cutler. Some new. The Seeds. And an almighty throbbing eviscerating beast take on White light white heat. All it was short was the Exploding Plastic Inevitable. Holy fuck. These guys.

Chapter 26 Trick Mist was my next October appointment and Tombstome’s second outing of the year. This being Gavin Murray of these parts. Time was when a singer songwriter would appear with a guitar, voice and some carefully calculated backstories. Trick Mist had guitar (electric) but also a control pad, drum pads, keys and a banjo, making a particularly intriguing sound field. The new album The hedge maze and the spade showcases plenty of these. Standout from the gig might be the beautiful Boring bread which features what could be a sample of a bread slicer with assorted other looped ornamentation and Murray’s handsome heartfelt croon topping it off. The album (according to bandcamp) focuses on Murray’s close relationship to his recently deceased grandmother and lyrics have the intimate feel of diary snapshots. Well worth checking. Support in Coughlans was by Howlbux . The duo of Elaine Howley and Irene Buckley . The two women sat at a table, somewhat like lab t...

Chapter 22 Now. The Tan Jackets . Ostensibly a garage rock covers band. Made up of the aforementioned Messrs Walsh and Sherlock . Along with Cathal from The Altered Hours and Solamh Kelly on drums. But really Garage Rock Covers Band does not come close to conveying how awesome they are. I mean the set choices. Small Faces. MC5. Two fantastic Kinks tracks. Monks. Wipeout. Ghost Riders in the Sky. 13th Floor Elevators for fuck sake. All played with an intensity that evokes nothing but the first psychedelic wave which was itself an attempt to resurrect 50s rock n roll’s primal force. Dan Walsh on bass – including playing the jug part in You’re gonna miss me. He even brought out the sax for a couple. Highlight. Stepping Stone. Coughlans was fucking shaking. AWEsome rock n roll band.

Chapter 19 Back to Coughlans for Fixity two nights later. Yes. Dan Walsh again. This time with friends. Two guitars. Bass. Drums. Sax. Storming twisting shapes. Rock and roll jazz. The closest we have to Tortoise. Exhilarating. Support band His Father’s Voice from Limerick are worth a mention. Shoegazey electro pop with songs that stick. Two things. The frontwoman announces from the stage that Dan Walsh is just as much a legend in Limerick as in Cork. Cue solemn nodding of heads. Second thing. That Dan invites a pop band of young guns to Cork to play. A touch of class. FIXITY 7 by Fixity In the Shade by His Father's Voice

Chapter 17 Early August. Coughlans . The Shaker Hymn launching their third album The Last Concorde . Fine songs and accomplished arrangements. It all goes up a level though when Caoilian Sherlock pulls out his wonderful garage rock growl. Like on Hunter & the Headman for example from their first album. Given the pandemic and documented health struggles, they seemed over the moon to just be playing and the room gave it back to them in kind. The Last Concorde Album by The Shaker Hymn

Standing room only in the back of Coughlan’s Thursday. James Yorkston wearing a cap. Jon Thorne in bare feet. Suhail Khan with a ponytail. A joyous occasion even if plenty of sorrowful songs. Some things that happened. The furious blues conjured with an acoustic guitar a double bass and a sarangi. The sarangi a blur of fingers and a keening yearning tone to it you sometimes get from a steel guitar or some other times from a fiddle. Suhail’s feet tucked under him with the sarangi in his lap perched on a table covered with a rug. James’ cheeky way with a wisecrack. (“Thanks to Christy Moore for playing support earlier. And Paul Brady.”) Jon’s laconic way with a wisecrack. (“Remember when The Beatles were so high that they let Ringo sing” as he took the guitar off James to sing.) Suhail’s earnest boyish quality. James’ mischievous boyish quality. Jon’s stand up routine. “I first met Suhail on the set of a Star Trek movie. The Wrath of Khan.” Su...