The Underground of Happiness

RF solo. With acoustic guitar. And many bottles of water. Older. Less hair. But still with some moves. Well cut suit. And the pout is intact. When I was growing up I had four brothers. David (Bowie). Lou (Reed). David (Byrne). And Tom (Verlaine). A fine set of siblings. Surfing magazines. With the crowd singing the da-das. The crowd singing along to every song. Let me imagine you. His most streamed song. The announcement of the guitar solo. The sublime melody of Dive for your memory that would cut you in two. We may not see him live again. We will never see his like again. The Candle And The Flame by Robert Forster Songs to Play by Robert Forster

Hot pants. Crack band. Once again. All in white. White dungarees on the drummer. White vest on the guitarist. White beret on the bass player. White shorts on the keyboard player. Eurovision fever. She whipped off her skirt like Buck’s Fizz. Hot pants underneath. Sparkly. She was a generous performer, M said. Welcoming. Accessible. These words also. The unbeatable melodies. The belter of a voice. The laugh out loud moments. The band dancing off the stage to a disco soundtrack after the encore. Cowboy hats everywhere. Distinctly good vibes. She should and will be huge. * Junior Brother played support. A legend in his own right. And also came out on stage with CMAT . Great chemistry between those two and I look forward to their future Late Late Show appearance together.

I was brought along on a free by A. Never a particular fan. But I learned something tonight. Pete was bloated in a Waterford GAA jersey under a suit jacket. Immediately cool. The trademark pork pie hat. Up the Déise. Acoustic guitar. There ensued crowd singalongs. 3 or 400 millenials singing the words. With feeling. They were tunes with stamina. And soul. Good on ya Pete.

Punk funk are the words. Wonderful sparse drum beats with offbeat clicks and rimshot. Sympathetic creative bass playing. Songs like Asking for it. Bored of men. Period sex. Nice guys. State of the nation monologues. Looking like they belong up there but still having a laugh in the process. Plus a very cool comment about the (excellent) support band I Dreamed I Dream . 9 years ago when we started a band like that wouldn’t have existed Attachment Styles by M(h)aol Why Say A Lot? by I Dreamed I Dream

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 27 Sinéad O’Brien in Cyprus Avenue was a proper event. As in a sense of occasion. Anticipation. All indications were that the Limerick woman is a true performer. All indications would be right. Her fascinating debut album Time bend and break the bower sounds great in the flesh. Insistent vocal poetry backed with sharp guitar work and thrilling post punk beats. Some might say she’s not a singer. More of an intoner. I might not disagree but really the point for me is when lyrics are of this quality and intrigue, and matched with sounds this sympathetic, it’s all good. In fairness it took me a little while to connect with her sound and it won’t be to everyone’s taste. What we can all agree on is that she is a compelling presence onstage, prowling around her own private catwalk, sounding a bit like PJ Harvey possessed by Gertrude Stein (that can only be a good thing). The songs all sound fantastic. Holy country. Like culture. There are good things coming. All s...

Chapter 23 On to October. Junior Brother . Cyprus Avenue . He was born in the Bons apparently. Joined onstage by the dream team. Dan Walsh on drums and other things. Phil Christie of The Bonk on keys. To add to JB and regular accomplice Tony on mandolin. Furious rock and roll folk music. Spadgie folk. Free jazz folk. Odd and proud of it. Also deeply heartfelt and dare I say emotional music. They played songs from the just released second album The Great Irish Famine. Which is wonderful. No country for young men with the glorious singalong line, can’t tell the goons from the guards. Daly’s Well a kind of math rock Tortoise trad beast. The laugh out loud but somehow also poignant Life’s new haircut. With this band they elevate already very good songs to the Richard Dawson stratosphere. A theatre of music and character with nothing but compelling storylines. Accept no knock offs. Only the fuckin brilliant real thing. Incidentally Fixity were on support. Dan...

Chapter 21 September is The Magnetic Fields . About 300 people in Cyprus Avenue . Singing the actual songs. It was news to me that Cork contained this many ardent Stephin Merritt fans. Pleasant surprise for sure. A series of perfect pop songs. None more perfect or beautiful than The book of love. Most songwriters might happily retire having written that masterpiece. Something particularly moving about the mixture of dripping sarcasm and heartfelt yearning in the songs. Ageless melodies. Showtunes in a way. I loved this gig.

Chapter 15 A couple of weeks break to recharge and back in the saddle mid July for Arab Strap . I wore a good shirt. The band wore shorts. They sounded great and were decidedly not phoning it in. Or dining out on former glories. Plus Aidan Moffat is still a wonderful lyricist and singer. Yes I’m going to say singer. Deliverer of songs. As Days Get Dark by Arab Strap

Chapter 11 Later that night Leagues had HTRK in Cyprus Avenue . That’s Hate Rock. An Australian duo who come on like a half asleep Cocteau Twins. In case you’re wondering that’s a beautiful thing. Fuzzy. Narcotic. Full of soul and heart. Wonderful show. Beforehand Elaine Malone played as Mantua . I liked her EP from a few years ago. Jazz inflected indie guitar songs. Tonight she performed a volte face that would make Dylan going electric seem like a minor tweak. She emerged onto a dark stage. Sat down cross legged. Played harmonium. Chanted ancient melodies. I say chanted but don’t get the wrong idea. Elaine’s a fine singer. Just she wasn’t so much singing here as channelling. To fantastic effect. With neverending drones. It was very impressive, the music and the new (to me at least) direction. Rhinestones by HTRK MANTUA by MANTUA

Chapter 9 June was not quiet. On the bank holiday A and myself ended up at an REM tribute band in Cyprus Avenue . They were called Stipe . It seemed like a good idea at the time. It still seems like a good idea. The singer sounded the bulb off the bould Michael. The set was drawn from Act 2 of the back catalogue. Man on the moon was outrageously good. I shed a tear for Vic Chesnutt. Poor Vic. Orange Crush. Yes boi. We drank. We sang along. We laughed at the idea of it all. We are agents of the free.

Chapter 8 Tombstome (check Twitter) was back in the game in May. That was good for the soul in itself. Percolator were back and sounding fine in Cyprus Avenue . I think they’re strongest in their motorik grooves (see Crab Suupernova) but that’s a taste thing. There was immense good feeling around the merch stand. The whole room really. It felt like we were all learning how to be out together again. Sestra LP by Percolator

Chapter 7 May was relatively quiet. Public Service Broadcasting in Cyprus Avenue . Another unused ticket from a friend. I have such good friends. This was an awesome show. A couple of points of note. I had no idea they were so popular. The gig was stuffed. Second. My early listens to the first PSB album had not revealed the wonderfully stoic motorik pulse at the heart of the music. The band wore white. Suits for all. Later they unleashed a brass section. Again. Awesome. Bright Magic by PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING

Chapter 5 Next was Protomartyr . Also Cyprus Avenue . On Kev’s recommendation. A man with good taste. No sign of any North Cork cousins this time. A band from Detroit. Home of MC5 and The Stooges. Protomartyr are a fine and honourable addition to this legacy. Plenty of mature gents in the house nodding vigorously. But don’t let that put you off. They are literate. Compelling. And superb musicians. My favourite part of the night was learning – from Kev – that the singer met the rest of the band when they all worked as doormen at a club in Detroit. He's about 50. They’re all in their 30s I'm guessing. The opposite of a pick up band. The antidote to Mark E Smith Recruitment 101. Kelley Deal was also there on keys and guitar. She seemed delighted with life.

Chapter 4 April started well. Silverbacks in Cyprus Avenue . They’re a Dublin band with a lovely deadpan demeanour. Dublin and deadpan were not words that used to feature in the same sentence when I were a lad. Their demeanour is also decidedly post punk, in a Television and Pavement kind of way. Fantastic spiralling dual guitar lines and matter of fact vocals. A crowd of their cousins came from North Cork and occupied the centre midfield. So said the singer. Wonderful indie guitar songs. Including the peerless Dunkirk. Small crowd apart from the cousins but the band still looked like they were having a ball. Dublin but in no way entitled. Very endearing and worth your time any time. A word for Skinner on support. Also Dublin. Very young. Possibly underage. 25 minutes of grunge and 5 minutes of punk funk. If they can amplify the funk they’re on to something. Fad by Silverbacks The Slump by Skinner

Chapter 2 CMAT . A sold out Cyprus Avenue in March. What a singer. A heartfelt joyous evening where grown men melted. No more Virgos. I wanna be a cowboy baby. Glorious soulful songs. Like First Aid Kit with a better sense of humour. Plus Miss Thompson came out for the encore with a banjo. On her own. With a banjo. On a stool. What a star. Also, crack band. Every Bottle (Is My Boyfriend) by CMAT I Wanna Be A Cowboy, Baby! by CMAT No More Virgos by CMAT

I sat down for a chat with Howe Gelb a few weeks ago. What a pleasure that was for me. He’s a wonderful speaker, a raconteur, you could sit down and listen to him all night. The warm engaging quality you find in his music is all there in person too. He was in town as part of the Giant Sand Farewell Tour which stopped off at Cyprus Avenue in Cork on April 14th. It was a beautiful day, the evening sunny so we sat on the street outside The Oliver Plunkett Bar just across the way from the venue. That's the strains of their regular Thursday night trad session you can hear cranking up in the background. The Farewell Tour was, I gather, a decision not to take to traipsing around the world much anymore (Howe turns 60 soon), although he hasn’t ruled out festival appearances, beginning with a few in Europe this summer. And to coincide, Fire Records are releasing a slew of his back catalogue over the next while, Sun Set , starting with six Giant Sand albums from across the deca...

We love a bit of Field Music around here. So imagine how happy we were to hear the news about the new Field Music album, due out in February 2012. It'll be called Plumb , and will be released on Memphis Industries . Here's the stream and download. Field Music - (I Keep Thinking About) A New Thing by memphisindustries It sounds very much like a continuation of where (Measure) left off, which is to say, great. And it seems timely to upload the interview with the Brewis brothers, Peter and David, from September 2010, when they played in Cork shortly after that year's Electric Picnic Festival . It features... ...Stratocasters vs Gibson SG's, a village in County Durham called Noplace, Sunderland's shipbuilding past, The Beatles' Happiness is a warm gun , the predictability of pop song structures, Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds , teenage pub gigs, singing like Joe Cocker, and more... Field Music Interview by underground of happiness My other n...