The Underground of Happiness

A little while back I put together a mix of my favourite singers and vocalists . There were 39 tracks in it but as soon as I finished it I realised there were loads I’d forgotten about. So here’s Part 2 (possibly of an ongoing series). There’s a capella, shoegaze (a genre often highlights and heightens the vocals), stirring soul, sunshine pop, jazz, group singing, solo. It can be hard to distinguish where the great song ends and the great singer starts. Is it the song or the singer? I don’t know but I know what I like. Enjoy. Playlist Nat King Cole – Nature boy (Capitol) Doris Day – Secret love (from the soundtrack of the film Calamity Jane ) Julee Cruise – Falling (from the soundtrack of the film/tv series Twin Peaks ) Susanna & the Magical Orchestra – Hallelujah (Rune Grammafon) Laetitia Sadier – Invitation au silence (Drag City) C Duncan – Silence and air (Fat Cat) Kathryn Joseph – the want (Hits The Fan Records) Jonathan Hering – Hear my p...

A lovely slice of psych with a small p pop from the band lead by David Thayer which draws collaborations from such as Laetitia Sadier (Thayer is also part of the Laetitia Sadier Source Ensemble ), John Herndon of Tortoise and Giorgio Tuma. On this single Caroline Sallee of Caroline Says sings her own lyrics while chorusy guitars cavort analogue synths swoop and field recordings of birds flit in and out. It comes across like a chilled but insistent Sterolab offcut with the bass in particular beautifully high and close and warm in the mix. Sumptuous and slinky.

A couple of Liverpool Psych Fest bands on the show this week, always a great bill there at the end of September. Laetitia Sadier Source Ensemble , making a sublime kosmische noise with handclaps even. The Comet Is Coming , making a startling gripping psychedelic stew. Also Julian Cope in great voice on his new album; Edwyn Collins & Carwyn Ellis singing about a bird, after Bert Jansch ; Valerie June beguiling on an astral plane and playing Cork soon. And the magic of Joe Hisaishi and one of his legendary Studio Ghibli soundtracks, this one from the masterpiece that is Spirited Away . 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 452 Tues June 20 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 g...

We played an extract from the new Kamasi Washington single a few weeks ago. It's an epic freewheeling piece in roughly three movements, featuring choir, orchestra, band, the works. This week, for your pleasure, we have the full wonderful 13 minutes. Around that we had a selection of somewhat like minded gems. Ennio Morricone , also genius employer of vocals in (mostly) instrumentals. Laetitia Sadier Source Ensemble , influenced by Il Maestro for sure, but also dipping into some kind of deep Brazilian kosmimsche. The High Llamas , on tour in Ireland soon which is marvellous news. The Beach Boys , bringing a little baroque to contemplation of the universe and deeply moving. And Yorkston Thorne Khan , with another sublime crossing of western and Indian styles, playful yet still full of feeling. More on these pages. The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappines...

Kamasi Washington has a new EP out, called Harmony and Difference . We heard roughly one movement from the lead track 'Truth', it's about 13 minutes long in all (listen to it all below). It's a wonderful freewheeling affair with choir, orchestra, constantly shifting sands of drums, guitars, xylophones, saxophone of course, and more. Some beautiful BBC Radiophonic Workshop strangeness from Delia Derbyshire & Anthony Newley . Jane Weaver filling our lugs with great propulsions. Laetitia Sadier Source Ensemble with the drifting kosmische/psych pop. And some Appalachian a capella from House and Land , primal and ancient and quite strange in its way. 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 446 Tues May 9 2017 11.00am-12.00pm (repeated on Tuesdays 8.30pm) UCC 98.3FM listen ...

New music from The Laetitia Sadier Source Ensemble which is wonderful news and a joyous uplifting South American sound. Wymond Miles was someone who caught me at the end of the year, a glorious cosmic soul cut. The Nightjar are from Bristol and ostensibly deal in a folk style, although their haunted ambient atnospherics make it a whole lot more interesting than that might sound. Brigid Mae Power plays Quarter Block Party in Cork soon. C Duncan on tour in UK. A marvellous Lift To Experience reissue/remix. And the spellbinding coup de grace from Weyes Blood who is back in Europe this spring. 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 430 Tues Jan 17 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 he...

Alluring dream pop with undertones of kosmische, shoegaze, library music and sublime orchestral soul. Laetitia Sadier brings guest vocals (in fact the absolutely wonderful ‘Release from the centre of the heart’ appeared on her last album Something shines although here the main vocal is sung by Tuma’s fellow Italian Matilde Davoli, who also produces most of the album) which guarantees swooning straightaway. There are also notable cameos from Michael Andrews, Populous and Stephen Kaye. Even apart from all that though, what a gorgeous set of arrangements. ‘Two half moons’, for example, shifts gear midway through from pillows of synths to a glorious string interlude with two step drumbeat. ‘Maude Hope’ brings to mind The High Llamas at their best with banjo/harpsichord arpeggios, a beguiling chord shift and Sadier’s dream of a voice. Around the edges, synth string and guitar melodies flutter and fall. It’s a song you could lie down in all day. There’s a curious and lov...

Ex Stereolab all over this week's show. Tim Gane's new band Cavern of Anti-Matter have a great debut album full of machine drones and kosmische tones. Meanwhile Laetitia Sadier sings guest on the new Giorgio Tuma album, beautiful drifting dream pop under the shadow of Morricone. The Goon Sax are from Brisbane and make lovely off kilter guitar pop very much in the style of early Go Betweens (as it happens the band features Louis Forster , son of ex Go Between Robert). M Ward is back with a new album, another gorgeous excavation of his roots of rock n roll influences - doo wop, country, soul et al. And his old compadres in Giant Sand are touring soon, including Cyprus Avenue in Cork on April 14th (with Jason Lytle too of Grandaddy fame). And some baroque pop - The Zombies, Nick Garrie and The Association , a certain glorious psych edge is never far away. More on the blog. The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroun...

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 ...

And so the final part of this journey back through 2014. I've titled this bunch in favour of the Orchestral/Jazz end of the pop spectrum but there are certainly a few refugees from Dream Pop, Folk, maybe even Soul (and one showtune). Who's counting though. There are also a good number of Electronic pieces in here as promised, but more of minimalist, downtempo and/or industrial leanings. Mood wise, I think this set hangs together pretty well. Whatever, there's a lot of great music in here for sure. Just as a reminder, here are the other three parts of my 2014 Review. http://www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.ie/2014/12/best-of-2014-part-1-folkrootscountry.html http://www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.ie/2014/12/best-of-2014-part-2-soulpopjangleelectr.html http://www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.ie/2015/01/best-of-2014-part-3-psychkrautrockpunkb.html 1. Polar Bear – Two storms (Leaf) A wonderfully spacious late night saxophone ele...

Been enjoying the new Mark Fry album very much lately, reminding me of Bert Jansch a bit with its low acoustic drone and keening string parts. So, good to hear those two together at the start of this week's show. Also, Laetitia Sadier doing lush Philly soul; Ariel Pink doing swoonsome jangle pop; Tennis doing sweet blue-eyed soul. Mid-show, another mini-folk run with the bounce of Rachael Dadd , plaintive tones of Olof Arnalds and spare instrumental piano of Soley . And two FM Cornog songs, one covered by Lambchop from 1998, the other from Cornog's own East River Pipe , from the reissued 1999 album The gasoline age . Songs as good as those are a treasure for humanity. More on these pages. Oct 14 2014 w/ Ariel Pink,Laetitia Sadier,Olof Arnalds,Polar Bear,Lambchop,East River Pipe++ by The Underground Of Happiness on Mixcloud The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/t...

And now for a double whammy of Laetitia-flavoured goodness...as the NME might say. Laetitia Sadier’s third solo album sees her take another short step away from the beat-driven glory of Stereolab, in the direction of something more meditative, you might say taking a cosmic view, although as much as ever there is a distinct social, or even sociological, undercurrent to the music. In fairness, it’s not as if drums (and particularly bass – the second half of ‘Butter side up’ has a driving ‘Lab-ish backbeat over the refrain “we need answers”) play no part on Something shines , but the overriding impression from these songs is of someone taking stock of the world, probing, questioning, rather than making any overt, bold statements. The epitome of this is the middle track, ‘Release from the centre of your heart’, which comes across very much as the centrepiece of the album. It has shades of Stereolab in the vocal layers, but these are outweighed by thoughts of the orchestral ...

A couple of great new things this week from female artists. Laetitia Sadier is back with a new album. It's great, the track we played has an unexpected and beautiful Burt Bacharach flavour. And Jennifer Castle is doing folk with another gorgeous string arrangement. Also, new music from Ariel Pink , always great to hear from that mad genius; Cork band The Vincent(s) being remixed by the guy from The Dandy Warhols; The Asteroid #4 playing Liverpool Psych Fest this w'end; Paul Smith & Peter Brewis with an intoxicating chamber pop piece. Broderick & Barnes "singing on the radio" and Anthony Reynolds making a torch song out of loneliness. More on the blog. Sept 23 2014 w/ Laetitia Sadier,Jennifer Castle,Rachael Dadd,NLF3,Ariel Pink,The Vincent(s),Jim Noir by The Underground Of Happiness on Mixcloud The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergrou...

Delicious, swinging synth pop (of the vintage kind) from the Freaksville boss, with a customarily gorgeous cameo from the ex-Stereolab singer. As I listen, there’s even enough jangle to make you swoon after those hazy, rose-tinted days of the late 80s. Whatever...that pit-pat bassline, that bending keyboard melody...yes is the word, that’s all. Une dernière danse (feat. Laetitia Sadier) by Benjamin Schoos

I finally got around to clubbing Teenage Fanclub and The Scud Mountain Boys together with The New Mendicants , which features Norman Blake and Joe Pernice from those great 1990s bands. Some great new electro singles from Future Islands and Eyedress , plus a memory from Metronomy who play tonight in Dublin. Patterns and Katie Kim both play Cork in the next month or so. Golden Retriever's sublime minimalism, Glenn Gould's transcendant Bach piano. And Benjamin Schoos with Laetitia Sadier (pic) sounding like they're ushering in springtime with a blast of breezy sunshine pop. Mar 11 2014 w/ Future Islands,Metronomy,Benjamin Schoos,Polar Bear,Golden Retriever,Glenn Gould++ by Theundergroundofhappiness on Mixcloud The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Playlist 302 Tues Mar 11 2014 11.00am-12.00pm (repeated on Tuesdays 8.30pm) UCC 9...