The Underground of Happiness

The band is so groovy. Woah oh oh oh... Danceable. Even some sublime Beach Boys moments. A ferocious band. Fierce. And funny. And so fuckin groovy. Best band in Ireland. I met Tadhg at Lankum the following night and he agreed. Maija Sofia also intriguing. Songs about menstrual blood & Saint Sebastian. Theremin. Beautiful bass playing. Solamh on drums. A distinctive voice. Waltzes. A swirl of magical keys. Greater Than Or Equal To The Bonk by The Bonk True Love by Maija Sofia

Photo: Simone Della Fornace www.flickr.com/softblackstar I had the great pleasure of exchanging correspondence recently with Little Annie . As you know, I was a huge fan of her album with Baby Dee last year on Tin Angel Records , State of grace . It had a great dignity about it, some wonderful instrumentation (especially Dee’s fluid piano playing at the core of it) and it brilliantly evoked real life, earthily, through a kind of debauched New York prism. That moniker “Little” is no word of a lie by the way, she really is very dainty and looks like a puff of wind might blow her over. I know this because I was lucky enough to see her play live as well in Cork at the Southern Gothic Festival earlier in May, with Baby Dee and backed by a double bass player and violinist. In fact, she was carrying a walking stick that evening as a result of a leg injury, she told us. I wrote a review of that gig for WeAreNoise , here it is – http://wearenoise.com/index.php/2013/05/souther...

Peter Broderick has a track record of speaking directly to his fans, literally - in the past he has recorded his answers to fan questions and uploaded the audio to his website, a particularly lovely personal touch. You get a gist of this kind of personal attention too in this interview I did with him when he played at the Crane Lane Theatre in Cork in 2009. http://theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com/2011/06/peter-broderick-interview.html His new "vocal" album is just out on Bella Union (as opposed to his many soundtrack and instrumental/collaborative projects). It's called http://www.itstartshear.com . That's right, it's a web address. Why? Rather than me explaining, let me hand you over to the man himself. How do you feel about music downloading? It is a common question addressed to musicians and one that I have been asked several times in interviews. My response has always been that it doesn't bother me. It is unavoidable. And in the best case s...

Great to see Thread Pulls again over the weekend, playing on Friday at the Crane Lane Theatre in Cork . They make some racket for just two fellas and a (small) bit of machinery. One of the highlights of the gig was this, from their New thoughts album that came out last year on Osaka . I'm not sure about the choice of venue, although it was quite amusing watching what the Crane Lane weekend "regulars" made of sparse rock 'n roll, stripped to the bone. Not as entertaining as the gig itself, mind you. I spoke to them when they played in Cork last year, you can check out that interview here . Also on the double bill were fellow Dubliners Twinkranes , a band I hadn't seen before. They brought drums and organ, with electronics, and were pretty impressive in a driving, krautrock kind of way. We like a bit of motorik, in fairness. You'll get an idea from this. And have a look at their eye-catching hanging backdrop here.

The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Playlist 182 Tues June 28th 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/3371091017/UOH_Podcast_June_28_2011.mp3 Playlist Future Islands - Before the bridge ( playing Plan B, London, July 9 ) Thread Pulls - Weight ( playing Crane Lane Theatre, Cork, July 1 ) Cian Nugent - Sixes & sevens (excerpt 2) ( playing Triskel Christchurch, Cork, July 22, w/ Ryan Francesconi ) Patrick Kelleher & his Cold Dead Hands - Too many harsh words ( playing The Grand Social, Dublin, July 15, album launch ) The Reich Effect Festival, Cork, July 27-31 Ensemble Avantgarde - Pendulum Music I ( Steve Reich Public Interview, Cork Opera House, July 27 ) Efterklang - Illuminant ( playing Savoy Theatre, ...

In the ongoing project to transfer all the content from the old website ( www.myspace.com/theundergroundofhappiness ) over here, here's the Peter Broderick interview from May 2009, which we recorded before he played at Crane Lane Theatre in Cork that night. ...in which Peter talks about some of his musical influences, including Arvo Part and Max Richter, how he hooked up with Efterklang and Bella Union and about his hometown of Portland, Oregon. Here's one of the best songs from the then current album Home (Bella Union), which Peter played that night - (I love that, "music and acted by Peter Broderick"!) After the interview, as we came back into the venue, Peter grabbed a CD from the merchandise stand and handed it to me. "I'd be interested to know what you think of this," he said. It was called Music for Falling from Trees , a soundtrack to a dance piece which Peter was commissioned to write by Adrienne Hart of the Erased Tapes label. As I...

The interview with Texan gentleman Josh T. Pearson is available to download in full now ( 37 mins approx .) here: featuring talk of... ... church music, discovering rock 'n roll, U2's Sunday Bloody Sunday, alternate guitar tunings, the World Beard Championships, reading his own reviews, the emotional effort of recording Last of the country gentlemen and more... The interview was recorded a couple of Sundays ago in a quiet corner of the Crane Lane Theatre in Cork , shortly after Josh's gig in the same venue (though not before Josh had shared conversations with most of the audience - he is a man generous with his time and an absorbing conversationalist). He ordered coffee (cream and sugar) and orange juice. I abstained. The gig was compelling and also very enjoyable. Compelling because the songs from his current album shine an uncomfortable and very personal spotlight on himself. It bordered on some kind of psychodrama at times, one side of a confrontational dialog...