The Underground of Happiness

The Moles have a new album out next month, which is great news, and even better it sounds really good. You'll find a song from it in this wk's show. Lawrence Arabia new album, more great sunshine pop with an edge. Stephen Steinbrink sits well with that, smooth AM sounds with an undercurrent of unease. Astronauts , another example of hushed but devastating songs. Elias Krantz makes lovely groovy minimalist instrumentals, jazz rock you might say. Marielle V Jakobsons makes wonderful long form drone sounds with violins and guitars. And Melt Yourself Down , space rock jams for the ages. 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 411 Tues July 19 2016 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...

A second album from Dan Carney (and friends) full of his signature hushed motorik, that wonderful combination of soft but insistent backbeats and sotto voce vocals. Things to expect - -the beautiful kosmische drift of ‘Civil Engineer’ and ‘Recondition’. -the twinkling psych folk edge to ‘You can turn it off’ and ‘Hider’. -the great brooding atmosphere of ‘A break in the code, a cork in the stream’ helped by a bass rumble, droning woodwind and wonderfully tense mandolin-style guitar strumming. -the impassioned vocal of ‘Breakout’. -the whirring menace of ‘Skeleton’ while it sparkles and shifts gloriously. -the lovely sturdy organic feel to the instruments, typically warm picked acoustic guitars, warbling organs and middy snare beats. Another triumph of subtly insinuating, slightly melancholy yet ultimately strangely joyous pop music.

More or less all new music on the show this week, plenty of it in the air this weather. We Show Up On Radar , a kind of bedroom pop Flaming Lips, winsome gorgeous tunes with a bite. A Dyjecinski , a guy from British Columbia in Canada who sings like he has the weight on him, a country lounge strain out of Lambchop or Boa Morte, brilliant. Astronauts , you know, masterful hushed motorik. Man of Moon , new tune, krautrock garage boon, over too soon. And Jaako Eino Kalevi , a 2015 gem, sublime bedroom soul from Finland. Get into it. More on the blog. The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Twitter: UndergroundOfHappy Playlist 395 Tues Mar 29 2016 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 https://goo.gl/BfEbHm Playlist Virginia Wing - Rhonda ( playin...

Part 3 of this epic poem, and I hope your year's been good so far. We're at a faster clip (tempo basically) for this section, there's something about these songs that shows some kind of urgency, people in a hurry, on some kind of mission maybe. And it strikes me that few things in life are more exciting to me than pop music with progressive tendencies. What exactly this means we can debate but wrapping a pop tune around a literary/unexpected/twisted lyric or conceptual idea raises the genre to a higher artform. Or building a classic rock guitar riff then undercutting it with a kosmische synth. Or steeping a song in jazz influences only to strap a motorik backbeat onto it. Or...well you get the gist. Enjoy. ************************************************************************************************ 1. Ezra Furman – Restless year (from the album Perpetual motion people , Bella Union) Fantastic opening gambit from the lipsticked one’s current albu...

Special extended 2 hour show this week, including in the first hour... Girl Band who play in Cork next month Patrick Freeman who is running a fundit campaign for the release of his debut album Susan James from her gorgeous new album, with sumptuous arrangements by Sean O'Hagan The Chills , something old something new, both glorious Tom Furse of The Horrors with a solo EP on Lo Recordings , very exotica. And the 2nd hour of this week's show with such gems as... Laura Cannell evoking the ancient and natural world Spires That In The Sunset Rise with a bracing minimalism (flutes and horns), playing Gulpd in Cork in Sept De Lux channelling Talking Heads C Duncan dreaming the sweetest dream pop dreams Blank Realm kicking out the psych jams, they play Dublin this month. More on these pages. Sept 8 2015 Hr 1 w/ Tom Furse,Susan James,High Llamas,Patrick Freeman,Kathryn Joseph,Girl Band++ by The Underground Of Happiness on Mixcloud Sept 8 2015 Hr 2 ...

This came out a couple of months ago. The first new music in a few years from a band I am very fond of, from the upcoming new album of "political rock songs". On paper their music doesn’t always sound promising, taking as it does elements of Frank Zappa, Deerhoof and krautrock – not natural bedfellows you might say. This tune features an angular post-punk rhythm – the kind fans of the bad will be familiar with – combined with a shapeshifting melody. Where before satire has been employed to undercut the grandiose claims of artists (‘We work in bars’), here vocals are dispensed with altogether so that the humour has a more abstract feel. Well there are vocals, just not words. One voice uses a daydreaming “ba-dee-n-da-da” motif as the main line. The second is something between a forced cough and an exclamation of disgust, not a million miles from a Harry Enfield or even Kenny Everett character tic. The two (on the face of it unrelated) vocal lines are looped and spl...

Another album that got lost in the summer recess and backlog but well worth waiting around for. A return from Dan Carney (ex Dark Captain ) and an album which beautifully carries on the thread of spooked folk and krautrock beats from his former band. Opener ‘Skydive’ immediately sets out the beguliing combination of hushed vocals, sombre drums and plucked acoustic guitars, later joined by some mournful, long-bowed cello. It’s low-key but positively haunting. ‘Everything’s a system, everything’s a sign’ next adds some droning clarinet to create a great reedy undertow. ‘Vampires’ then changes the tone brilliantly with buzzing electric guitar power chords and percussive scrapes against a jerky breakbeat. The nervous energy of the arrangement perfectly captures the vague disquiet of the lyric. ‘Spanish archer’ employs a mid-range tug of E-bow against a chorus of “ba-ba-bas” which just can’t be denied. And the album keeps these high standards. Wherever you turn, thrum...

Today is the 25th anniversary of the death of Cork post-punk legend Finbarr Donnelly (there's a special tribute event at The Pavilion to mark the date). We had to have some Five Go Down To The Sea to mark it in our own way - 'There's a fish on top of Shandon (swears he's Elvis)' still sounds remarkable today. Remember Dark Captain ? Meet Astronauts , that's Dan Carney's new group, sounding quite in keeping and just as great as before, cellos and beats and drones. Nice to hear it with the folk swing of Arch Garrison and the spooky cultish mood of Paul Giovanni's Wicker Man film music. Trans Am, The Elwins, Matmos and more, check them all on these pages. June 17 2014 w/ Death in the Sickroom,FGDTTS,Arch Garrison,Wicker Man s'track,Trans Am,The Elwins++ by Conor O'Toole on Mixcloud The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhapp...

Superior, writhing synth funk with enough room for a flavour of high-octane jazz fusion. Slinky key lines. Claves. Guitar shredding. Shut up and shake those hips.

We played some new music from Claire Boucher , aka Grimes , from Montreal on the show the other week. Genesis is her first release under the 4AD umbrella (and what an ample, pleasant, accommodating umbrella it is), ahead of a new album Visions later in the year. Her album on Lo Recordings , Halfaxa , made quite an impression around here last year (check the Best of 2011 Review here ), and the new song is in a similar vein of murky electronica with jittery beats and ethereal, layered vocals - intriguing and fairly uncategorisable really. There's some video for the track from Yours Truly below. She plays a whole host of European dates in the summer, including at the Primavera Festival in Barcelona, Field Day in London and Forbidden Fruit in Dublin . Yourstru.ly presents: Grimes "Genesis" from Yours Truly on Vimeo .

The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Playlist 186 Tues July 26th 2011 11.00am-12.00pm (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 https://rapidshare.com/files/3436609654/UOH_Podcast_July_26_2011.mp3 Playlist Metronomy - Everything goes my way ( playing Royal Albert Hall, London, Oct 3 ) Joan As Police Woman - Chemmie ( playing Electric Picnic Festival, Stradbally, Sept 2-4 ) Patrick Cleandenim - Crazy in the night Josh Ottum - Green in the sun Luke Temple - More than muscle Cloud Control - Gold canary ( playing The Academy, Dublin, Oct 7 ) Franki Valli & the Four Seasons - The night ( Munster Soul, Northern Soul Clubnight, The Phoenix, Cork, Aug 20 ) The Feelies - Should be gone Grimes - Favriel ( playing Whelan's, Dublin, Aug 3 ) Thomas Truax - A gold star for...

Just to double up a little bit, I'm posting a few of the March monthly picks in their own right. This is one record (CD in fact) on heavy rotation around at UOH HQ lately. Check it out. Grimes - Halfaxa (Lo Recordings) Meet Claire Boucher from Montreal, who has produced a fascinating, impossible-to-pigeonhole album. The constant features are haunting vocals - layered, filtered, and antique sounding, calling to mind Liz Frasier or Kate Bush in places - and sparse drum machine+synth backing. The overall effect is of a wide-ranging and completely "other" soundworld. From the de-constructed R 'n B ballad Heartbeats , to the ghostly-lament-masquerading-as-dance-pop of sagrad , the deliriously shoegazey Devon , and the ukulele stomp of Favriel . Be prepared for a trip. An album to treasure. Grimes performs at Gorilla Vs Bear / Mexican Summer party, SXSW '11 from BlearyEyedBrooklyn.com on Vimeo . Playing Whelan's Upstairs, Dublin, May 15th