The Underground of Happiness

A Trunk Records Special before the summer break for the show, paying tribute to the wonderful, varied catalogue on that esteemed English label. It's associated with cratediggers and record collectors a lot - possibly novelty records too - but really there's plenty of very accessible material in its archive. It manages to accommodate artists operating on the fringes or the shadows alongside household names (although fewer of the latter in fairness). Certainly, there's no snobbery attached, something you sometimes find in collector circles. It's a label quite obviously run by music fans. There's something in it for everyone, the kind of comment that might be taken as derogatory but is the highest compliment in this case. The archive is also the result of curation and the utmost commitment to promoting lost treasures in many cases. I've discovered quite a few of my favourite albums of all time from Trunk. Full playlist and further background info below. And of ...

Sao Paolo to Tokyo, Cork to Perth. There's a new OOIOO album out soon, it's influenced by the sound of Javanese Gamelan music. I decided to build a mini-set around a track from it, with a classic Tropicalia cut from Os Mutantes , the current single from The Altered Hours and a new remix from perth (the band from Perth). The theme of this mini-set? I dunno...pop music infiltrated by psych pop and global folk musics? A new single from Rachael Dadd which is great and Joan Shelley , who tours Ireland this month - what a wonderful pure voice she has. New music from Orcas , a lovely ethereal sound a little bit reminiscient of Talk Talk ; we also had the latter, from the superb Spirit of Eden album. Then, more searching folk music from Arch Garrison , The Monks Kitchen doing Ray Charles, Trans Am doing JAMC. And Joe Meek shooting into outer space. May 13 2014 w/ Os Mutantes,OOIOO,Orcas, Talk Talk, Joe Meek,Arch Garrison,Trans Am,Tune-Yards++ by Theundergroundofhappines...