The Underground of Happiness

The first instalment of tunes that caught my ear last year. A combination of albums I played a lot and one off tracks that stuck with me. Call them earworms. Enjoy. x Playlist 1. Harmonious Thelonius – Soft opening machine (bureau b) 2. Ghost Power – Asteroid witch (Duophonic Super 45s) 3. Astrel K – Is it it or is it I (Duophonic Super 45s) 4. Albertine Sarges – Hold on (Moshi Moshi) 5. Chalk – Velodrome (Dutch Tilt) 6. Chewy She – Mustard (Chewy She) 7. Donna Thompson – Be with you (PRAH Recordings) 8. Guerilla Toss – Cannibal capitol (Sub Pop) 9. Josephine Foster – Hum menina (Fire Records) 10. Junk Drawer – Tears in Costa (Art For Blind Records) 11. L’Exotighost – Exotique mecanique (Everlasting Records) 12. Rozi Plain – Help (Memphis Industries) 13. Silverbacks – A job worth something (Full Time Hobby) 14. splint – Military procedures (Nice Swan) 15. Sprints – Literary mind (Nice Swan) 16. The Garbage and The Flowers – Eye know who you are (Fire...

Another sublime set of tunes from Craig Fortnam and company which combines folk, kosmische and avant garde classical strands, taking the legacy of former band Cardiacs into fascinating new territory. Woodwind and strings are strong and strident against a hushed motorik rhythm on centrepiece song ‘The British road’, a wonderfully sharp state of the nation analysis of Brexit era Britain – “when will they learn to fight like our men”, “how can I rise if you don’t fall.” These poised swooping strings, along with the cooing woodwind, the signature guitar style of Craig Fortnam – courtly, playful, lithe – buzzing synths and the great pure singing of Craig’s wife Sharon against Craig’s reedier tones provide the core elements throughout. The swoon of ‘Queen of all the day and night’, the cosmic twinkle of the title track, the plain straightforward beauty of ‘Alsace Lorraine’. An inspiring and uplifting set that stirs the heart and brain from one of England’s most consistently...

I gave in to list culture a few years back, so here's my contribution. In fairness, I find looking back over the year a good way of rediscovering musical highlights, refreshing the mucial memory. Plus I've tried to add a bit of depth by describing why these musical moments, albums, songs, phrases, whatever, have stayed with me. This first instalment I'm calling Folk/Roots/Country , as usual a somewhat arbitrary set of tags but broadly representative. Enjoy, the rest of the series will follow over the next couple of weeks or so (in total there will be three or four). 1. Olof Arnalds – Patience (One Little Indian) Another superb album from the Icelandic singer this year, Palme . As with all her work, there’s an endearing quirkiness to the songs but through ingenious arrangements she manages to avoid the stultifying cul de sac which is the home of many of the twee-inclined. This song has her quivering tones (not unlike Bjork in her quieter moments, in terms of p...

An album of folk/classical guitar tunes paired with kosmische-like vintage keys, giving a beautiful, celebratory and sometimes pastoral feel. It follows a long line of like-minded and superb work by main man Craig Fortnam, taking in two earlier Arch Garrison albums, plus three under North Sea Radio Orchestra along with his wife Sharron and a cast of regular collaborators. Here Craig is joined by James Larcombe who is also part of NSRO, the William D Drake band and Stars of Battledress (of whom more later in the month). ‘The oldest road’ and the title track leap out on first listen, giving a sense of the ancient pathways running underneath our 21st century lives – the tunes are sturdy but they also bring a welcome level of whimsy missing from most modern discourse, not to mention modern pop music. Sharron makes an appearance on the utterly lovely duet ‘O sweet tomorrow’, a brilliantly wrong-footing waltz rhythm with intertwining classical guitar lines, chimes and brushed hi...

North Sea Radio Orchestra – I a moon (The Household Mark) What a fantastic album this is, from Craig Fortnam and friends, with a strong core of English folk music and traces of (post) classical, medieval, electronica and even Krautrock in the supporting cast. Opener Morpheus miracle maker has great swooping strings and a vocal reminiscient of Kate Bush ( Hounds of love era) from Sharon Fortnam (there’s even room for a Micheál Ó Súilleabháin style piano + glockenspiel trill). The title track is short, sweet, strange, driven by glockenspiel, laptop and harmonium and reminds me a bit of Montreal math poppers Oen Sujet. Heavy weather starts as a piano waltz sea-shanty but spreads its wings into string and oboe interludes and male-female counterpoint vocals, before a rousing, massed-band, chamber pop finish. Arguably the highpoint of the album, the instrumental Berliner luft carries off a motorik Neu groove on acoustic guitar alongside a bubbling Moog, with a memorable mid-section stand-...

And speaking of William D. Drake , I believe his hands make an appearance in this video (although I could be wrong). That's from the new North Sea Radio Orchestra album, I a moon . In a word, it's fantastic. I'll have a bit more on it at the end of the month. NSRO is Craig Fortnam and friends (that's him on guitar). Craig also released one of my favourite albums of last year under the name Arch Garrison . Here's a few thoughts on that at the time. Arch Garrison - King of the Down (Double 6) Arch Garrison is mainly Craig Fortnam of North Sea Radio Orchestra. This is a gorgeous album of ancient-sounding English folk music, with a few nods to modernity. Song titles like Stone on the pound, Thames Fluvius and Roman Road give a hint of tradition but this never feels clichéd. Great tunes help, as usual, and an irrepressibly upbeat mood. That upbeat mood is something carried over into his other band. NSRO classes itself as a chamber group of sorts. I'm no...

The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Playlist 184 Tues July 12th 2011 11.00am-12.00pm (repeated on Tuesdays 8.30pm) Cork Campus Radio, 98.3FM listen live on the web at www.ucc.ie/ccr *listen back to this show at https://rapidshare.com/files/1037119948/UOH_Podcast_July_12_2011.mp3 Playlist Handsome Furs – Bury me standing EDM – How to fall Elephant - Allured The Leisure Society – You could keep me talking ( playing Latitude Festival, Suffolk, July 14-17 ) Tom Tom Club – Genius of love (Money Mark remix) Brian Eno – Pour it out Mowest Compilation (Light in the Attic Records) Franki Valli & the Four Seasons – You’re a song (that I can’t sing) Syreeta – Black maybe Odyssey – Broken road Ryan Francesconi - Parables ( playing Triskel Christchurch, Cork, July 22, w/ Cian Nugent ) North Sea Radio Orchestra – Berliner luft ( playing St Giles in the Fields, London, July...