The Underground of Happiness

Musical moments and memories from the year gone by. In no particular order. Enjoy. ******************************************************************* 1. North Sea Radio Orchestra – Dronne (The Household Mark) 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. Essential food for the ears, th...

I was a huge fan of Jherek Bischoff’s first album (http://theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.ie/2012/07/jherek-bischoff-composed-leaf-label.html) which featured a host of great vocal cameos from David Byrne, Caetano Veloso, Zac Pennington, Carla Bozulich and more. His second album is an instrumental affair but it packs tons of drama into the orchestral arrangements without use of words. Key thing to know – the album recordings were begun in a giant underground water tank (now empty) located at Fort Worden, an old army base in Washington state. Bischoff took himself and computer with a couple of friends down into the depths for some initial improvising and recording. The intriguing thing from this exercise is that the sounds produced informed or even directed the overall album. The length of the reverb decay in the “cistern” – 45 seconds supposedly – forced the arrangements to be slower, more measured. As he says, “I found it so interesting how much the space itself seemed to tel...

Robert Forster is back in Europe this week. His new single is a first (I'm fairly sure) for him, a breezy samba duet with his wife Karin. Robert Rotifer can do breezy too, jazz folk is more his bag, 'Calais' is an unsettling account of passing through the notorious Jungle in northern France. Cate Le Bon has a brilliant new album out, wonky via psych via surreal pastoral. A Dyjecinski has a fantastic voice, in the country soul region of things, check his album too. The first taste of Jherek Bischoff's new album sounds great, orchestral majesty. Clint Mansell channelling Bernard Herrmann a little from the s'track of High Rise . New music from The Moles and Piper's Son , great alt guitar pop. 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 403 Tues May 24 2016 11.00am-12.0...

I think the trick with chamber pop is to introduce enough acid elements to balance the sweetness, like lemon juice in a tart. There’s plenty of swooning on Composed (the bending string arrangements alone would break your heart at several different times), but it’s offset by some gothic lyricism and an intriguing minor-key undertow to make an intriguing, moving whole. I should fess up, I’m a sucker for chamber pop. We can agree that Van Dyke Parks was the chief pioneer in this area – the man is one of my heroes – and the whiff of VDP floats around this album like a warm embrace, in its showtune interludes, beautifully subtle keyshifts and full use of every orchestral voice. Actually, “chamber” is a moot point – you could say orchestral – but I’d stick with the word on the basis of the winning personal and intimate atmosphere all through. The guest vocal turns will attract most of the headlines – David Byrne, Caetano Veloso, Dawn McCarthy, Mirah Zeitlyn, Zac Pennington, SoKo ,...

We've already mentioned Jherek Bischoff's wonderful new album, Composed , on Leaf this side of the Atlantic ( Brassland in the U.S.). A new video has just seen the light of day for the track Young and lovely , which features guest vocals from Zac Pennington (of Parenthetical Girls) and Soko . The tune is a brilliant, head-spinning combination of fast-paced sections with swooning string flourishes, and brass band style waltzes. Here's a little background on the video from the director. "The video for YOUNG and LOVELY is a retelling of the Roman myth of Aurora... more or less. It's also a collaboration with our Melbourne family -- the friends Jherek and I made while recording in Australia during the Spring of 2012. We shot in the Royal Botanical Gardens of Melbourne, and in an amazingly wonderful and beautifully weird penthouse (generously lent by David Walsh of the MONA Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania)." - Michael McQuilken, director

There are several reasons to love Jherek Bischoff's new album, Composed . Firstly, it's on The Leaf Label , who are on a particularly hot streak this year, following two stunning releases already from Matthew Bourne and AU . Secondly, it features guest contributions from David Byrne, Caetano Veloso, Nels Cline, Carla Bozulich, Zac Pennington and Soko , among others, all of which are sparkling and vibrant. But thirdly, and most importantly for me, it occupies the musical area known as chamber pop . You know we love a bit of chamber pop around here. This is a swooping, fluttering, brilliantly orchestrated album of tunes which recalls Van Dyke Parks at his best. I'm not going to say any more for now because I'm still digesting its multi-faceted gorgeousness, but there'll be loads more on the radio show from this in the near future.