The Underground of Happiness

Chapter 6 Late April. The first road trip of the year. Low in Vicar Street . I hadn’t seen them since 2012 at a steaming Cyprus Avenue. One of my favourite all time shows. Before that Primavera 2009 at midnight by the Mediterranean. And Nancy Spain’s in 2000 - fragile, weblike. But this was another order of thing altogether. They arrived on stage backlit and played the first half of the new album Hey what. The exultant I can wait. The spitting Days like these. The surging All night. Mimi’s nonchalant devastating la la las. I was emotional. In the summer Mimi’s cancer diagnosis was announced. In the autumn her death. And then this gig took on even more epic proportions. To think she chose to spend some of her last days with us. Nothing short of life changing this band. HEY WHAT by Low

The third and final part of my Best of 2018 round up. Some folk sounds. A few soundtrack cuts. Hint of ambient. A share of dream pop. Great memories of 2018 for me. And again it must be said that it was another wonderful year for music in this neck of the woods. Enjoy. Playlist Jessica Risker – I see you among the stars (Western Vinyl) Jim Ghedi – Sloade Lane (Basin Rock Records) Alasdair Roberts, Amble Skuse & David McGuinness – Babylon (Drag City) Jack Hayter – At Crossness Pumping Station (Gare du Nord) Caroline Says – First song (Western Vinyl) The Saxophones – Aloha (Full Time Hobby) Jennifer Castle – Texas (Paradise of Bachelors) Gabriel Naim Amor – Just before revelation (Vacilando ’68) LOMA – Dark oscillations (Sub Pop) Tenniscoats – Ende (Alien Transistor) Spirit Fest – Anohito (Till the gate) (Alien Transistor) Landless – Caoin (Humble Serpent) Kathryn Joseph – we have been loved by our mothers (Rock Action) Low – Always trying...

I decided to do something a little bit different this year. Instead of a bunch of overtly Christmas tunes (much as I love them) I thought I’d do a more general winter theme. (By the way you can find several Christmas playlists from years past on the site if that’s your thing.) So this is a version of winter music. What’s that says you. Music with a sense of time passing. A sense of coming to the end of something. The year obviously but maybe something else too. Some music references the time of year explicitly either in titles or in lyrics. Or the weather we associate with winter in our northern hemisphere. In other cases it’s something in the arrangement. The spareness maybe conjuring up a bare frozen landscape. Take Laura Cannell’s double recorder for example. Or the massive string drones of Slow Moving Clouds . There is meditation in it. Observation of the world and its effect on our selves. And a certain strangeness at times. The alienation of it...

A new project to mark your cards with on the show this week. Loma is Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater , with Emily Cross & Dan Duczynski of Cross Record . Together they make some wonderful slow moving weighty sounds. A little ambient. A little epic. They would remind you a bit of the great Low , who are in here too, as well as Old Fire with an interesting cover of a Low song. Chloe March is back with a new album which is great news – stunning rarefied synth compositions with layers of her remarkable voice. Plus still not sick of the marvellous 'Semicircle song' from The Go! Team . 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 469 Tues Nov 21 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 ...

A little spiritual music for Easter week... ...ranging from the meditational to the flippant, the playful to the otherworldly, gospel to kosmische. Enjoy. 7 Susanna & The Magical Orchestra – Hallelujah Homer Quincy Smith – I want Jesus to walk with me Edward Williams – Japanese macaques: Warm baths in a snowscape (from the soundtrack of the tv series Life on Earth) Scott Walker – Angels of ashes Cluster – Sowiesoso (So not so so) Silver Apples – Seagreen serenades Bruce Haack – Cherubic hymn The Beach Boys – Transcendental meditation Dirty Projectors & Bjork – On and ever onward Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – The road (from the soundtrack of the film The road) Howe Gelb – Paradise here abouts Gospel Artistics – Lord is it The Velvet Underground – Jesus Dylan Thomas – Do not go gentle into that good night John Cale – Do not go gentle into that good night (live) Nina Simone – I shall be released Richard Osborn – Monastery Alela Diane & Ryan France...

A seasonal collection that hopefully steers clear of cliché. There's still room for nostalgia in the shape of Dylan Thomas who is a master of memoir reshaped into bursting childhood surrealism. And earnest goodwill in the shape of Sufjan Stevens , albeit in bonkers fairytale fashion. In between there's a healthy dose of scepticism - Gruff Rhys ; cautionary tales - Howe Gelb ; and ominous poetry - Patti Smith . The bulk of the set could probably be summed up as the triumph of form over content. Cocteau Twins , shimmering and shoegazing. Low , being Low, marvellous. Darlene Love's wall of sound. Arthur Lyman , Hawaiian sounds brought to bear. And the swooning orchestral soundtrack of Mikael Tariverdiev , just released. Happy Holidays. The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Twitter: UndergroundOfHappy Playlist 427 Tues Dec 13...

Welcome to Part 2 of my Best of 2015 review. If you're a regular listener to the show, you'll know that folk music in all its forms is a staple of the playlists. And that's where we pick up here with another 22 great tunes. And as usual, it's fascinating to watch and hear what other strands make their way in - lounge, orchestral, whatever. Once again enjoy, and see you all on the other side in 2016. ************************************************************************************************ 1. Alela Diane & Ryan Francesconi – Shapeless (from the album Cold moon , Believe Recordings) A glorious winter entry to start, a collaboration between two fascinating artists in their own right. Like many in this list, it takes folk music and stretches it out until it’s transparent. In this case, classical, choral and tribal music are just a few of the ancestors visible behind Francesconi’s riveting fingerpicked guitar and Diane’s wonderfully pure and clea...

The last show of the year and a bit of a mixum gatherum. Some musical highlights of 2015 sprinkled throughout, a few pieces of winter music and a few new releases. The winter music was Lost Idol , a wonderful mix of medieval choral and 21st century beats. And Jóhann Jóhannsson , the soundtrack to his own film End of summer about a trip to the Arctic, a suitably glacial and haunting piece. Best of 2015 included JR Green rollicking away fabulously, Low simmering magnificently, Alela Diane & Ryan Francesconi meditating compellingly, Deerhunter psyching beautifully, Julia Holter well she's just brilliantly daft as a brush. New music from TEEN , new album coming from them in the spring, and Tess Parks , uncompromising psych pop. Two more great cuts from the Creation Records Box Set out on Cherry Red , The Loft & Primal Scream from 1985, great to hear those. More on the Best of 2015 coming on the blog over the next few weeks. The next show is Jan 5th. Happy H...

There’s really no such thing as a bad Low album but Ones and Sixes is on the upside of masterful even by their own high standards. In particular, the centre of the album features a sequence so sublime that it forms a captivating scene within a scene, a kind of mini album of power and grace and beauty in a series of unforgettable duets. It starts with the gospel soul of ‘Spanish translation’, Alan’s lead vocal shadowed by a weightless Mimi but with a thrum of menace in the shape of squalls of feedback like thunder in the red heavens. Mimi takes the lead on ‘Congregation’, an unexpected drum machine two step building a searching tone with pulse bass and layers of floating gospel harmonies. ‘No end’ has Alan up front pleading in a compelling soul belter with ringing guitar octaves. Mimi comes back centre stage for ‘Into you’, an arrestingly intimate song that doesn’t need more than a put-putting bass drum and claves outside of her utterly plausible follow-her-to-the-en...

A few great new things on this week's show. Julia Kent back with another album of searching layered cello instrumentals (interview with her on the blog from 2014, see Interview section to the right). Another track from new album by The Drink , like The Fall same idea as before but completely different. And a few bands in the middle from a new compilation of ORK Records 45s, a label built around CBGBs in New York around the mid 1970s. The Feelies, Richard Hell & The Voidoids, Television , mapping out pop music for the next 30 years. Plus the sweet ambient dream pop drift of Chloe March . Colin Bluntstone's bossa nova, The Zombies' baroque brilliance. And Low with the most sublime husband and wife harmonies. More on these pages. Oct 6 2015 w/ Julia Kent,The Drink,Low,HeCTA, The Zombies,Richard Hell,Television,Feelies++ by The Underground Of Happiness on Mixcloud The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergro...

We lead off with Low and Colleen this week, two artists coming to Cork later this year. 'Just make it stop' is the most glorious, soulful song of the year, while the whole of the Colleen album, The weighing of the heart , is like a treasure trove of found sounds magically coalescing into poetic musical works. There's a review of the album on the blog. More also from The Last Sound and Eat Lights Become Lights , both keeping the motorik pulse alive and well in 2013. There was Oliver Cole sounding just like a 'Little wolf' (wah-ooo), some great scattergun pop from Kiran Leonard , sun-baked folk from Plankton Wat and very endearing blue-eyed soul from Hero & Leander . And Halves , from their sublime new album Boa Howl . We'll have an interview with them on the show next week. June 25 2013 Show w/ Oliver Cole,Halves,The Last Sound,Colleen,Eat Lights Become Lights,Little Bear+ by Theundergroundofhappiness on Mixcloud The Underground of...

Photo: Simone della Fornace www.flickr.com/softblackstar An earlier version of this piece first appeared on WeAreNoise . Among many beautiful moments on the new Low album, there's one song that takes the cake for me. So far I've found it hard to get past this absolute showstopper with Mimi on lead. It's a curious mixture, as always with Low, the beauty of the suspended-state-of-grace vocals with, in this case, a quietly sinister, thrumming guitar and an upright piano way at back of the room. You see I'm close to the edge I'm at the end of my rope The rope is starting to thread I'm trying to keep my hold But when she reaches the refrain and about another five Mimis join in on those seven simple words, it'll be all you can do to keep your composure. If I could just make it stop Breaking my heart Get out of the way The essence of soul. Tell you what, have a bit of the conversation-stopping 'Plastic cup' as we...