The Underground of Happiness

New music in the ether in this new year.* (*A couple of exceptions, The Shacks who I just learned of lately, released last year, and a few others from end of 2018.) Music from Oslo, Cork, Berlin, Glasgow, Brooklyn, Brisbane, North Carolina, Athens, Rotterdam, Dublin, Niger, Bavaria, Bilbao, Tucson and more in here. Enjoy. ********************* Playlist Lali Puna – Being water (Morr Music) Coldharbourstores – Disenchantment (Enraptured Records) Deerhunter – Plains (4AD) C Duncan – Impossible (Fat Cat) Tim Presley’s White Fence – I can dream you (Drag City) Cosmic Range – Breathing water (Idee Fixe Records) Sarah Louise – Rime (Thrill Jockey) The Telescopes – Don’t place your happiness in the hands of another (Tapete) The Last Sound – Cyclical pang (Fort Evil Fruit) Julia Kent – Crepusculo (The Leaf Label) Rozi Plain – Symmetrical (Memphis Industries) North Sea Radio Orchestra – The flower (Bandcamp) Shana Cleveland – Face of the sun (Hardly Art Records)...

Every week the radio show is a series of mixes, usually a sequence of mini-mixes, 3 or 4 song runs put together to fill an hour. Every now and again though, a bunch of music comes together on my radar, drawn from albums sent to me as well as my own listening habits. Over the last few months I’ve noticed an amount of striking and powerful instrumental music coming together in this orbit I call The Underground of Happiness . All of this has received an airing on the show at some point, but given that I only have 1 hour per week to play with live on air, I thought it would be good to give some of this music an extra platform. Firstly, as you would expect, these are all instrumental pieces, which is to say they don’t contain vocals (although Polar Bear flirt with humming at one stage in ‘No more goodbyes’). In fact, most of these artists are what you would call either exclusively or largely instrumental artists. The cellist Julia Kent for example, exploring the outer reaches of her inst...

That time of year again when we take stock. It's good to take stock, be thankful for what you have, mourn what you miss, make plans for the future, rekindle memories. Musical memories are obviously pretty specific, conjuring up a place, a time, the people you were with, or maybe just how the music made you feel. It can even seem like music transports us back to a more innocent time. Last January really does seem like a long time ago and some of this list dates back that far. Musical memories are always personal and often completely private. This list is the first part of a four-part (probably) series. I'm a bit of a hoarder so lists tend to be long. But everything here is treasured by me. I'm calling it Kosmische/Instrumental/Soundtrack/Jazz/Dance . As usual, tags are somewhat arbitrary but let's go with those. And the tunes are in no particular order. I'm aiming for the second part of the review sometime between Christmas and New Year's if you're a di...

I had the great pleasure to meet Julia Kent last month, having been a fan of her solo work for a few years. She was in Cork (and Dublin the following day) to play her first ever Irish show. Unfortunately, this occasion was marked by her cello being waylaid at the airport in Paris. Luckily the resourceful people at Fractured Air and Plugd (who co-promoted the Cork show) were able to locate a replacement instrument in Cork (her own cello was re-routed to Dublin and she got it back the next day). When I arrived at the venue, Julia was getting acquainted with this unfamiliar cello and understandably a little bit put off by the turn of events. Despite the hitch, she was very gracious with her time and we spoke in the Triskel Arts Centre foyer as the sizeable crowd gathered for the show. One of the most interesting things about the chat for me was her description of her classical music studies as "traumatic...super competitive", something she fled from to New York. There, ...

The centrepiece of this week's show was some clips from the interview with Julia Kent . I spoke to her when she played in Cork last month at Triskel Arts Centre, she's a really interesting character. There are two clips - by the way apologies for the background noise, you might need headphones to appreciate properly. The full interview (14 mins or so) will be here to stream soon. New music also from Diane Cluck (she plays Belfast, Cork & Dublin this w'end) - beautiful, eerie, spectral folk music - Sabina and her world of wonders, Benjamin Schoos with Laetitia Sadier swinging brilliantly. And the brilliant synth-inflected folk tones of Arch Garrison , another in a long line of great work from Craig Fortnam . More on these pages. Apr 1 2014 w/ Sabina,Benjamin Schoos,Diane Cluck,Arch Garrison,Elastic Sleep & Julia Kent I'view++ by Theundergroundofhappiness on Mixcloud The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theu...

For the 300th edition of the show I invited Eddie Kiely of Cork's FIFA Records into studio to talk about the label, how it was set up, and to play some music from their upcoming releases by The Vincent(s) and Elastic Sleep . We also chatted about Eddie's own musical influences and tastes from early Smiths and MBV , to current faves Dissolutes , Land Lovers , The Careers and Girl Band . Eddie has been involved in the music business for about 20 years, having been associated with Cork's "first wave" of label signings in the 1990s as manager of Emperor of Ice Cream (The Emperors). FIFA have had notable releases in the last year by The Frank & Walters and The Would Bes. Feb 25 2014 show w/ special guest Eddie Kiely of FIFA Records, playing tunes and talking about label by Theundergroundofhappiness on Mixcloud The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergro...

Great news last week of a Cork gig for Julia Kent (pictured) in March (also Dublin). We took a track each from her last two albums, Character and Green and grey , each quite different but equally great. O Emperor are deservedly up for the Choice Irish album of the year, although no excuse needed to hear 'Holy fool'. Band of Clouds also play a rare gig in Cork in March - 'Cats cuts' is a great slice of fuzzy dream pop and both bands were in the Best of 2013 round up on the blog lately (so were My Pilot actually). Some brilliant Spaghetti Western cuts from Bruno Nicolai and Alessandro Alessandroni (thanks for the nod PMcD) either side of some more recent soundtrack work from John Parish . A couple of "archive" classics from Bjork's Medulla album and XTC's Apple Venus Vol 1 . (Can less then 15 years old be considered archive?) And Ezra Furman taking a page from The Modern Lovers' book, thrillingly. More on these pages as alway...

We started this week with two sublime instrumentals. First Julia Kent , from her wonderful album Character (there’s a full review on the blog), built around solo cello; then William Tyler (pic), bracing, chiming solo guitar. Beautiful. New tunes also from Karl Bartos , ex-Kraftwerk, Olof Arnalds , Mount Moriah and Masters in France . And some great prog pop from V.O. , produced by John McEntire, which is as good a steer as you need. Also repeats for the sublime Nancy Elizabeth and the wonderfully playful psych pop of April March & Aquaserge . And Amor de Dias, Chin of Britain . Plus a glorious oldie from Fuxa . As ever, more on those around these pages. Mar 12 2013 Show w/ Julia Kent, William Tyler, Nancy Elizabeth, Masters in France, VO, Olof Arnalds+ by Theundergroundofhappiness on Mixcloud The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Playlist 257 Tues Mar 1...

I was a huge fan of the last Julia Kent album, Green and grey , with its light, airy, almost pastoral, atmosphere, built around often unconventional cello parts looped and layered ingeniously. This, her third album, is very different, full of rich, dense textures. The sombre mood makes for quite a stark contrast with its predecessor, and although field recordings and a range of cello sounds play a part, that mood comes courtesy of long, fully-bowed deep notes at the core, with melodies strung over mainly minor keys. There’s a depth of emotion again though, which is a tribute to Kent’s sense of adventure with the instrument. ‘Transportation’ has a powerful swing and pull to it, upper register pizzicato and slapped bow parts playing around the edges of a lower main theme. ‘Flicker’ has a particular European soundtrack feel, layers of intertwining phrases combining to convey a wealth of personality, while struck piano strings (a motif that recurs throughout the album to great effect) e...

Julia Kent released a beautiful album a couple of years ago, Green and grey on Tin Angel Records , which was the first time I came across her. Now she's switched to Leaf and her new album Character comes out in March. She's a solo cellist and that's essentially what her music consists of, layers of cello parts laid over each other. The last album featured field recordings as well for added (beautiful) texture, but from an initial listen to the new one, it seems to focus more on melody. I'll have more on the album once I've listened through properly but for now you can get a track from it for free, Tourbillon . It's got several swinging cello parts intertwined, with a tugging minor key melody on top and it builds brilliantly with a great air of purpose. Character by Julia Kent

As a companion piece to Little Annie & Baby Dee, try this, another type of New York lounge album, with loss and longing also at its heart. This one, though, draws on rock (post punk, drone - he used to front the drone rock band Aarktica ) rather than cabaret for its core sound. DeRosa has an irresistible croon which, allied with his lyrical observations of New York life (he also works as a bartender in the city), and the beautiful orchestral arrangements, all makes for a very visual effect. There’s also a cover of a Blue Nile song, and Julia Kent on cello is part of the musical cast, if you need any further persuading. Snow coffin is my favourite from the album (you can hear it below) - it's a beguiling mixture of insistent strummed bass and sweeping strings.

Julia Kent - Green and grey (Tin Angel Records) This second album by the Canadian (she used to be part of the Antony and the Jonsons touring band) might sound a bit off-putting on paper - solo cello, layered, with field recordings. Don't be put off, it's one of the most beautiful instrumental collections you'll hear in a while. For example, the cinematic poise of Pleiades . Or the gorgeous thrum of Acquario 's opening bars with background lapping water, followed by the romantic sweep of several entwined cello parts. The majestic Overlook makes me think of tragic French films. Simply, it's beautiful, beautiful music. Highly recommended. Interview from 2009: Playing Primavera Sound Festival, Barcelona, May 26-28

So we've had our summer here in Ireland, in the shape of an Easter heatwave. Normal service has been resumed now in the shape of rain (sometimes wholehearted downpours, sometimes a cheeky drizzle, just for variety). More great music to listen to (indoors) this month, with chamber pop particularly to the fore. But you'll also find orchestral, psychedelic, garage-rock and IDM flourishes, among others, below. What's a pop music tag between friends anyway. All albums, unless otherwise noted. The Doomed Bird of Providence - Will ever pray (Front & Follow) It's quite unusual to find an album that is the result of, in effect, a research project. What a bonus when the music has a mysterious and compelling quality (although we partly guessed as much based on the band's fine eponymous EP of last year). The research in question, by singer Mark Kluzek, focuses on early Australian history and reveals harrowing tales of death and delinquency in the inhospitable tropics an...