The Underground of Happiness

*Dedicated to LK who loves autumn* Autumn. Fall. I’ve been threatening to do one of these for a while. What are autumn songs? What is autumn music? There are the ones that reference autumn explicitly. Leaves. Wind. Rain. Colours. Sun lower in the sky. Those unforgettable moons. But beyond that there’s the metaphor of time passing. A certain mood. The beginning of the end of something. That can still be beautiful. Lots of music taps into this well for its atmosphere. A certain meditative quality might be in it. A contemplation of something. Maybe nostalgia. Often a minor key. Or at least bittersweet. (Possibly related – many of the tracks here feature woodwind. Flutes. Clarinets. Double recorder. The force of breath? There’s even the sighing of an accordion. And a harmonica.) There might even be spirits involved. Souls. Halloween. Contact with another world. Or like birds taking off for warmer climates some kind of migration. Transformation. Death or decay...

The human voice. Singers. Vocalists. Solo. In groups. Harmonies. Dissonance. A capella. Sotto voce. Screeches. Swoops. Croons. Devotional. An attack. A glide. A growl. A swoon. A yearning. Jazz. Blues. Folk. Pop. Psych. Electro. Classical. Doo Wop. Whatever. Sometimes the simple effect of massed voices. Sometimes singing just for the joy of it. Sometimes a voice not technically great but still with something great about it. Intonations are involved too. Maybe not even words. A voice below the brain. Giving breath to feelings. Backing vocals. Sometimes so crucial and innovative they are the true heart of a song. Backing vocals that don’t deserve to be called backing. Some of my favourite singers and vocal arrangements and performances. Enjoy. ************************************************** Playlist Cocteau Twins – Cherry coloured funk (4AD) Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares – Pilentzee Pee (4AD) Julianna Barwick – The magic place (Asthmat...

An instrumental mix for this summer/autumn crossover (sum/tumn). Some of my favourite soundtrack cuts in here. Also a few notable new releases. Some on the experimental end. Plenty of drones. Enjoy. Playlist William Tyler – I’m gonna live forever (If it kills me) (Merge Records) Glenn Jones – From Frederick to Fredericksburg (Thrill Jockey) Richard Osborn – Streets of Laredo, A Pastorale (Tompkins Square) Spindle Ensemble – Moonbow (Adderwell Music) Sebastian Reynolds – Mahajanaka (Remix by Emseatee) ( www.sebastianreynolds.co.uk ) Bernard Herrmann – Scene d’amour (from the soundtrack of the film Vertigo , Varese Sarabande) Moondog – Theme (Columbia) Soccer 96 – Button basher (Slowfoot Records) Infinite Music – Magenta ( Infinite Music: A Tribute to La Monte Young , Fire Records) Jodie Lowther – Dream of the Melting Plane ( The Blow Vol 4 , Front & Follow) Eat Lights, Become Lights – Modular Living (Rocket Girl) Tangerine Dream – Teetering scales (from ...

A playlist for Spring. Things growing. There is sun but in this part of the world it's still weak. A cooling sun (with thanks to Jessica Risker , see below). Enjoy. Playlist 487 – May 2018: A cooling sun Modern Studies – Young sun (Fire Records) ( playing The Lexington, London, May 28 ) Nightports w/ Matthew Bourne – Exit (The Leaf Label) ( Matthew Bourne playing Leeds Jazz Festival, July 22 ) Jack Hayter – The mulberry tree at Abbey Wood (Gare du Nord) Sebastian Reynolds – Mahajanaka (Remix by Emseatee) Laurence Pike – Cloud and wires (The Leaf Label) Alasdair Roberts, David McGuinness, Amble Skuse – Long a-growing (Drag City) ( Alasdair Roberts, playing Campfire Club, London, Sept 14 ) Spindle Ensemble – Panic amongst the dragonflies (Adderwell Music) ( playing The Wardrobe Theatre, Bristol, May 20 ) Moondog – Voices of spring (CBS/BGO Records) Death & Vanilla – Free Design Kung-Fu (live, The Tenant) (Fire Records) Ennio Morricone with the Czech Nat...

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 ...

Britta Phillips (of Luna and Dean & Britta fame) is releasing her debut album in April. There's a Pledge campaign running for all kinds of rewards and extras, get into that. The first track from the album is a beautiful treatment of an Evie Sands song from 1968. I got to see Ennio Morricone live the other night. 'The Ecstasy of Gold' was in the set. Tears, people, tears. Gorgeous new music from Giorgio Tuma feat. the voice of Laetitia Sadier , new album on the way. Tortoise , twisting jazz rock; Little Scream , impassioned white soul; Eska , beautiful cosmic soul. And Field Music , getting twitchy and progressive on their new album. More on these pages. The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Twitter: UndergroundOfHappy Playlist 389 Tues Feb 16 2016 11.00am-12.00pm (repeated on Tuesdays 8.30pm) UCC 98.3FM listen live on ...

Another clutch of people playing these parts son and a raft of new music. Richard Hawley , bringing his A-grade folk/soul/whatever to Cork Opera House this month along with Marry Waterson & David A Jaycock , sparkling folk songs Tindersticks , back with more white soul orchestrations of the highest order Shearwater , epic protest music. Also Emma Pollock with lovely twisting chamber pop Nadia Reid , sweet fuzzy alt country Iggy Pop , reciting Walt Whitman over Tarwater & Alva Noto , gripping Cardinal , a cult classic w strings and trumpet fanfare. And Il Maestro Ennio Morricone bringing his 100+ piece group to Dublin this week. More on these pages as always. The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Twitter: UndergroundOfHappy Playlist 388 Tues Feb 9 2016 11.00am-12.00pm (repeated on Tuesdays 8.30pm) UCC 98.3FM listen live on the web at...

Lots of orchestral influences on the show this week, it goes like that sometimes. Jon DeRosa , with the brilliant drone-and-strings of Snow coffin ; the great brass fanfare of Seti The First (playing Cork and Dublin this week - here's an interview I did with Kevin from the band for WeAreNoise , where he explains the title and thinking behind Victory Motel ); previously unreleased film music from Sylvain Chauveau ; more film music with signature and sublime vocals from Ennio Morricone ; and either side of the master, two current artists certainly influenced by him - Laetitia Sadier and Get Well Soon . There's also two lovely pieces of "modern" English folk music, from North Sea Radio Orchestra and The Singing Loins ; some beautiful, fuzzy dream pop from Dublin's September Girls ; Nils Frahm and Jens Lekman (both playing Cork's Half Moon Theatre soon). And B. Fleischmann (pictured), with a track from a wonderfully laconic album called I'm not ready fo...

The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Playlist 232 Tues July 31 2012 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 http://i.mixcloud.com/CBcG4Z Playlist - Trumpets Edward Williams - Life on Earth begins in the sun's energy (from the tv show Life on Earth , 1979) Esquivel - Softly, as in a morning sunrise (1960) Calexico - Minas de Cobre (for better metal) (1998) Screamin' Jay Hawkins - I put a spell on you (1956) The Crystals - Da doo ron ron (1963) Curtis Mayfield - Miss Black America (1970) Robert Preston & Ensemble - Ya got trouble/76 Trombones (from the soundtrack of the film The Music Man , 1962) Gene Pitney - 24 hours from Tulsa (1963) Sone Institute - On tree hill Kalyandji & Anandji - Sad theme from Dharmatma (from the soundtrack of the film Dh...

A few years ago, I came to a conclusion. I decided that the world was divided into two types of people. Not doctors and nurses, as Brendan Behan (quoting the English painter Constable , I think it was) once famously told Eamonn Andrews in an early Irish tv interview. The two types of people I'm talking about are those who love Ennio Morricone and those who don't. I decided that anyone who didn't appreciate the music of this man was a philistine, could not be trusted and could not be my friend. This radical division of humanity was brought on by immersing myself in More Mondo Morricone , a compilation brought out by the German Colosseum label in 1996. The subtitle on the album gives you key information about the content - " more mindblowing film themes by Ennio Morricone from Italian cult movies ". (If ever a product description perfectly matched the contents, that is it.) This was the second in the Mondo Morricone series . There's a great review of the...

The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.myspace.com/theundergroundofhappiness Tues Jan 18th 2010 11.00am-12.00pm http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/profile.php?id=100000831467458 Playlist 159 (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 http://rapidshare.com/files/443235404/UOH_Podcast_Jan_18_2011.mp3 Playlist   Ben Butler & Mousepad feat. The Niallist - Infinite capacity (for love)   Galaxie 500 - Fourth of July (live) ( Dean Wareham plays Galaxie 500 at The Workmans Club, Dublin, Feb 11 ) Metronomy - She wants  ( playing Academy 2, Liverpool, Jan 22 ) Junip - Rope and summit  ( playing Cyprus Avenue, Cork, Feb 5 ) The Go! Team - Buy nothing day  ( playing Liquid Room, Edinburgh, Feb 4, w/ The Phoenix Foundation ) Rue Royale - Halfway blind Bobby Garrett - I can't get away ( Munster Soul Northern Soul Night, The Pavilion,...