The Underground of Happiness

A spellbinding a capella lament from four young women based between Belfast and Dublin. Ghostly trails of natural reverb hang from long wordless vocal drones. It is traditional but there’s a strong element of avant garde about the treatment. Dissonance. Bent notes. Every audible breath put to use. Medieval sacred choral music comes to mind. Folk music of unknown provenance is invoked. Bulgarian female choirs maybe. The sigh of existence. Bleaching Bones by Landless

A playlist from the first half of 2017. Some were reissued this year. One is an extract from a longer piece. Most will be familiar if you're a regular listener. Part 2 of this selection comes up next week. Say hello to Laetitia and friends. Enjoy. The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Twitter: UndergroundOfHappy Playlist 456 Tues July 18 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/73FkiB Playlist The Comet Is Coming – March of the rising sun ( playing Liverpool Psych Fest, Sept 23 ) Snapped Ankles – Jonny Guitar calling Gosta Berlin Percolator – Crab Supernova Golden Retriever – Pelagic tremor Matthew Bourne – Isotach The Roger Webb Sound – Moon bird (English Weather compilation) Kamasi Washington – Truth (extract) G...

A second album of thrilling instrumentals from the Dublin-based duo of Kevin Murphy and Thomas Haugh , whose first album Melting cavalry still stands as one of the best instrumental albums of this century (at least). The main instruments are ostensibly cello and percussion but even at that not used in ways you might expect. The cello in particular is brought into unusual territory with bends, slaps and scrapes combining brilliantly with longer bowed notes to make a fascinating sonic landscape. ‘Pig iron prophet’ starts with a furious double time backbeat over staccato effects while trumpet and bass drones build the intrigue. There’s the wonderful widescreen cinematic atmosphere of ‘Kingdom of crooked mirrors’, an orchestra of zithers and strings played out over a marching drumbeat. The swooning chamber pop of ‘Century flowers’ and ‘Glass soldiers parade’. The noirish hum of ‘A mechanical Turk’, the genius deployment of high hats and cello harmonics during ‘In the Va...

Delicious mixture of the propulsion of Stereolab and the textures and crunch of My Bloody Valentine from this Dublin band’s debut album. There are many things to love about the album – the sense of adventure, the absorption in ideas for their own sake (an improv spirit maybe), the embrace at the same time of pop melodies, the sheer breadth of sounds generated throughout the album – but I think my favourite is that great quality in any band or album, not trying too hard. I can think of ten other bands who might have taken a rough draft of these songs and turned them into bombast, beating you over the head with the ideas and in the process murdering any beauty. Percolator have that wonderful thing, restraint, so instead they stick with the ideas, the raw elements and see them through, not just as means to an end but as diamonds in themselves. In this I would put them next to labelmates The Altered Hours . A band with vision and in it for the long haul. Plus with obvious ...

A quick mention for one of my favourite Irish bands of the last five years. Dublin’s The Last Sound which is organised mainly around the activities of one man Barry Murphy. Coruscate (the 7th album by my count) came out just before Christmas and is another particularly dreamy outpost of industrial pop. A gorgeous kosmische drift in among the clangs and propulsive motorik rhythms. A step on from 2013’s brilliant Rainbow Xplode (review here - there seems to have been another album in between which I missed). Again there’s a kind of wide eyed innocence at play – some might call it psychedelic. Bursts of filtered guitars and synths swaying in and out of focus around relentless backbeats. ‘Song of praise’ and ‘Found a rainbow’ are early standouts both full of thrumming bass. Dancefloor classics basically although maybe a more discerning than most kind of dancefloor. The vocals especially get hold. There’s something poignant about them swamped in a murky wash shoegaze styl...

So, me and Ennio on Valentine’s Day (for which a huge thanks to my wife, a most magnanimous gesture on her part, you might even say a bromantic one). I’m in general wary about film music taken out of context but those doubts are suspended when it comes to Il Maestro. He didn’t just compose the music, after all, he also arranged and orchestrated all the parts in most cases, plus here he is conducting the whole shebang as well. And it really was something to witness the power of about 130 souls on stage (the size of the audience at many greast gigs I've seen) harnessed in this way - two Hungarian choirs, 75 strong, the balance made up of the superb Czech National Symphony Orchestra. Maybe not the full scope of his work was on show (the programme was light on the dreamier end of his back catalogue, and sadly absent were the sumptuous psychedelic wig outs) but a fair spread was presented, from the lyrical or romantic (Tornatore) to the strident galloping rhythms of those ...

A Dubliner with a great line in Nilsson-esque songwriting (there’s a lot of that going around this month) and winning melodies. One of the most appealing things about this album is the lyrics, full of sincerity but thankfully without that dreaded earnestness and just as thankfully without any tiresome obliqueness. An opening line of “I get up in the morning, try to feel some sense of worth” could be a recipe for disaster in other hands. Here on the title track it’s paired with a lovely sprightly arrangement of upbeat acoustic guitar, twinkling piano and chirping strings for a genuinely touching effect. By the time he gets to “every song’s a souvenir for somebody to take”, if you’re anything like me you’ll be totally won over. He follows up with the wonderful ‘Things we have in common’, another lyric of self-doubt pulled up by its bootstraps by swirling strings and a chugging bassline. Plus self-doubt is all well and good but it’s given great dimension with songwriting (and an...

New single from the Dublin band showing another intriguing string to their bow. This one leaves previous shoegaze tendencies to one side (apart from a brief interlude midway through) going instead for a strand of post punk fed through a Stereolab filter. The former you can hear in the great strident bass work, uncompromising drumbeat and insistent 2-chord structure. The latter in the second half playout with the love of a gorgeous melody and irresistible overlapping da-da-da vocal by Aoife. 2m39s. This band can go long, they can go short, shallow or deep, noisy or quiet. Whichever way they go, they go with beautiful envelope-pushing pop music. You’re gonna love them long time. Black Window by Princess

Debut single from Dublin 4-piece and it’s an absolute belter. The appearance of a 12-string electric alone makes it something of an event but apart from that there’s plenty more goodness in here. The tune itself is a blistering jangle pop gem, channelling equal parts Johnny Marr and Paisley Underground. There’s also a belligerence and bite to it that’s quite delicious. Check these lines – You’re a lost cause, you’re mindless and fickle Ignore your sister, she’s twisted and bitter Leave her alone with the babysitter . It’s most winsome and very clever but not at the expense of memorable hooks. It’s all enough to make you pine for the days when bands like Microdisney and Aztec Camera ruled the airwaves. It would certainly tend to restore your faith in guitar pop.

Another really fine Irish album just out is by Dublin band Halves . Boa Howl is their second studio album and you could say it's an orchestral pop collection, although the hooks are deliciously subtle and underplayed. And the production is a beautiful re-creation on tape of a vintage recording - that's one way of reading it anyway - although with distinctly modern updates. There's something admirable too about the fact that the band specifically sought out the Svenska Grammofon Studio in Gothenberg on the basis of its possession of a Neve desk. I reviewed the album for WeAreNoise , original link here. http://wearenoise.com/index.php/2013/07/halves-boa-howl-hate-is-the-enemy/ This is the second studio album from Halves (in between they also produced a live album recorded at The Unitarian Church in Dublin) and for it they decamped to Svenska Grammofon Studios in Gothenberg in order to avail of the facilties there, most notably the famed Neve desk. The resulting...

The new album from Dublin's The Last Sound comes out this week, we started the show with their knockout single from a couple of years ago taken from it, followed by more great drones from Date Palms . The new O Emperor album comes out soon too, it's very interesting, more from that over the next few weeks. More tasty Irish music in the shape of Cat Dowling, Floor Staff, Enemies & Sundernix . The Collision/Detection Box Set is out in June, from that wonderful series we heard Hong Kong in the 60s and Sone Institute . And something of a double play for Michael Rother , first drumming with Melbourne's Beaches (pictured), then in his own right with a NEU! classic from 1975. Somehow, motorik is sunny music. June 4 2013 Show w/ O Emperor,Beaches,NEU!,Date Palms,The Last Sound,Cat Dowling,Olof Arnalds++ by Theundergroundofhappiness on Mixcloud The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.co...

Very fine Irish albums don't come along all that often (although more often these days, perhaps because there simply are more of them released), so I tend to sit up and take notice when one as conceptually coherent, brilliantly produced and downright catchy as Wake up to the waves comes along. Here's a review I wrote of the album for Cork zine WeAreNoise , original link http://wearenoise.com/index.php/2012/05/last-days-of-1984-wake-up-to-the-waves-osaka/ . Last Days of 1984 are a duo from Dublin – Darren Moloney and Brian Rice – who make blissed-out dance music, using swirling, whooshing synths to create a giddy tropical house rush. You could make comparisons with the percussive offbeats of Tanlines , the euphoric tropicalia of El Guincho , or, at a push, Animal Collective (the latter particularly in the beautifully treated back-of-the-room harmonies). The beaches of Ibiza are never far from the mind on this album, but it’s nothing like a one-dimensional piece of work. ...

Remember when The Flaming Lips released one of the great pop records of the 1990's (any decade?), The soft bulletin . That was the album that introduced the name of Dave Fridmann to the world, for it was he who recorded it at the then new Tarbox Road Studio . That wild drum sound rocked my world that year. But also the melodies and keyboards used as knock-off orchestras. Backing vocals taking the place of guitar parts. It was a monumental sound and it was all over the radio. Seeing the band play at The Olympia Theatre in Dublin later that year, on tour with Cornelius , was something like a religious experience for me. That was the time when Wayne Coyne used the puppet nun and fake blood as stage props. You can relive the whole thing now courtesy of a Pitchfork documentary, featuring all the principals speaking about the background to and recording of the album. Have a listen to Part 2 here, soundtracked by the majestic What is the light .

In a break with tradition, I've decided to put up an interview without broadcasting an excerpt on the show first. So here's Crystal Stilts speaking to me before they played in Dublin , just over a week ago. The soundcheck was running late when I arrived at the venue (just as well as I was running late myself) – I learned that the band had missed their flight from London earlier in the day. I occupied myself downstairs with a beer and the crossword, while taking note of what passes for hipster in Dublin - it seems to be all about the manicured beards. Presently, the excellently moustached (but far from manicured) keyboard player Kyle found me at the bar and we repaired to the band’s dressing room, which was festooned with fake trophy antlers and period furniture. Kyle fell asleep, citing jet lag, but the rest of the band contributed fully to a discussion of… …the cultural landscape of South Florida (where Brad & JB grew up - it's dominated by beaches and techno, app...

If you’re of a certain age, you’ll remember Jubilee Allstars , a Dublin band from around the turn of the last century who had some great, downbeat alt country tunes and flirted with (major) record label success. Barry McCormack was the singer and main writer in that band and went on to record and perform solo when the Allstars split. (I remember meeting Barry about ten years ago in Nancy Spain’s – that used to be a live music venue in Cork, kids – supporting The Pernice Brothers; he was a regular visitor to the city on such support slots around that time). This is his fourth solo album but his first to be recorded with a full backing band. I’m sorry to say I’ve heard none of the other three, but I’m glad this one found me. The first thing to mention is the lyric sheet, because this is an album you should read as well as hear. The lyrics are printed in full, they are lengthy and they read like a series of dirty realist short stories or prose poems. On first glance, the songs seem to...

Spooky little goth-electro (maybe post-wave?) number from Dublin artist. Featuring a killer Top 40 chorus with banks of shoegazey male and female vocals, undercutting the isolation of the lyric. Another fascinating release on this excellent label. Single launch at The Joinery Gallery, Dublin, May 21, with Thread Pulls and Legion of Two The Last Sound - Only the Lonely know the Glow is Failing by osakaRecords The Last Sound: Only the Lonely Know the Glow is Failing from Osaka Records on Vimeo .

Great to hear some new music from Tune-Yards the other week, a track called bizness , ahead of her new album, whokill , due out in April. You can listen here: http://tune-yards.com/ Here's what I thought of it: Tune Yards - bizness (4AD, from the upcoming album whokill ) Picking up where Merrill Garbus left off with her wonderful debut Bird Brains but with a less ramshackle feel (recorded in a studio as opposed to on a dictaphone). Fantastic, gymnastic vocal loops get things going, before a west African-style groove of staccato bass and a matrix of guitars locks in, with a bank of horns as the cherry on the cake. Wonderful foretaste of her upcoming new album. And a live date in Whelan's in Dublin has been announced for June 17th (she's also part of the mouthwatering bill of the Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona at the end of May), the first visit to this country in almost 18 months (tickets here - http://www.whelanslive.com/  ). Here's what I thought of...

My favourite track from New thoughts , Thread Pulls' excellent debut album from last year, gets the Jacques Cousteau treatment. Here's what I thought about the album when it came out in September 2010. Thread Pulls - New thoughts (Osaka Records) The last thing I see myself as is a cheerleader for the "Irish music industry" (TM). However, this feels like an important Irish rock album at the beginning of a new decade. The fact that this Dublin band consists of nothing but a bass player and a drummer (with a few electronics worked in) compounds the feeling of a new template. Thread Pulls have taken out cymbals, synths and guitars, all the better to highlight the power of drum and bass. Why is this album important? Because it's full of catchy tunes with a powerful punch that you can dance to (my own favourite, and one of the songs of the year, is Weight , with its floppily insistent post punk rhythm interspersed with drum flurries and a sweetly melodic, almost ...