The Underground of Happiness

There's a lot of soul music going around this weather. I suppose there always is, just my ears are picking it up lately. Enjoy. x Playlist 1. Sufjan Stevens – So you are tired (Asthmatic Kitty) 2. Craig Fortnam – Shepherd of the lawn (Believer’s Roast) 3. Carrtoons feat Rae Khalil – Grace (Wichita Recordings) 4. Thee Marloes – Logika (Big Crown Records) 5. Ella Ronen – Truth (BB*Island) 6. Duvet – Girlcow (Fear of Missing Out) 7. Naked Lungs – River (Down) (Naked Lungs) ( playing Shacklewell Arms, London, Oct 3 ) 8. Beak> – Wulfstan (bandcamp) 9. Nation of Language – Too much, enough ([PIAS]) ( playing New Century, Manchester, Oct 4 ) 10. Supalung – Wreck my body (KiAn Records) ( playing Brighton Folk Rooms, Nov 15 ) 11. The Umlauts – Dance and go (PRAH Recordings) ( playing Lost Map x PRAH Halloween All Dayer, Platform, Glasgow, Oct 28 ) 12. Spirit Fest – Lost and found (Morr Music) 13. Galya Bisengalieva – Balapan (One Little Independent) ( playing I...

aka Massive Summer Backlog Mix Lots of cello going around at the moment. Not sure why. But always welcome. Enjoy. x Playlist 1. Decisive Pink – Destiny (Fire Records) 2. Bruce Haack – Cherubic hymn (Columbia) 3. CV Vision – Die frommen wanderer (bureau b) 4. Mera Bhai feat Stealing Sheep – Evil butter (Morning Raga Recordings) 5. Air Waves – Star earring (Planningtorock’s Planning to Star Version) (Fire Records) ( playing The Shacklewell Arms, London, June 19 ) 6. Modern Cosmology – Le train ne passera pas (Duophonic UHF Disk) 7. The Chills – Party in my heart (Fire Records) 8. The Chills – Double summer (Fire Records) ( playing Whelan’s, Dublin, June 22 ) 9. Caoilian Sherlock – Push the oil away (bandcamp) ( playing The Green Room, Cork Opera House, July 1 ) 10. MD Pallavi & Andi Otto – Flute boy (Pingipung) 11. Eden Ahbez – Eden’s Island (Trunk Records) 12. Minwhi Lee – Borrowed tongue (Morr Music) 13. The Saxophones – Boy crazy (Full Time Hobby) 14....

Part 1 of a 2 Part series. Songs that stuck with me through 2021. I hope something sticks with you. Enjoy. x Playlist Herbert feat Verushka – Fantasy (Accidental) Vanishing Twin – Big moonlight (ookii gekkou) (Fire Records) Marina Allen – Oh, Louise (Fire Records) Nation of Language – Across that fine line (PIAS) Virginia Wing – …Out for something (Fire Records) Shannon Lay – Rare to wake (Sub Pop) Shuko feat Lee Fields & Nia Wyn – Nothing’s gonna change (For the Love of It Recordings) The Magic Lantern – Bound for glory (Hectic Eclectic Records) Vanessa Anne Redd – By the time (Sharp Attack Records) Craig Fortnam – Ark (Onomatopoeia Records) David Lance Callahan – Born of the Welfare State (Tiny Global Productions) Robert Sotelo – Dear Resident (Upset The Rhythm) Saroos feat Ronald Lippok – Tin & glass (Alien Transistor) Dntel – The lilac and the apple (Morr Music/Les Albums Claus) Sparks feat Simon Helberg – So may we start (from the soundt...

One of the first "new" bands to catch my ear this year is Lord Huron . You'll probably have come across their single 'Time to run', from an EP of the same name. Lord Huron - Time To Run from Lord Huron on Vimeo . I like it, it's good, but there's another song on that EP that got me a bit distracted. It has some glorious South African style guitar work and, of all things, a two-step backbeat. It also has a top layer of beautiful Fleet Foxalike vocal harmonies. The whole effect is a little bit like Paul Simon's Graceland transplanted to the US west coast. I'll be interested to hear if they can sustain it over a whole album, but for now, they're getting me through January very nicely.

We love a bit of AOR around the UOH cabin. And that's exactly what you have in the voice of The Jezabels' lead singer, the wonderfully named Hayley Mary . The Sydney four piece's new single came out in the last week and it sounds a little bit like Arcade Fire fronted by Belinda Carlisle . That's a good thing, in case you're wondering. It's a thumping tune with an irresistible chorus. The video features horses and shotguns and allsorts (as well as a mightily impressive crew list - there's even a Tech Assistant). If they have more tunes like that, they should be quite a thing. See if you agree with me on the Belinda Carlisle thing. They also put together some video footage of their time at Electric Picnic last weekend in Stradbally , their first appearance in Ireland, which seems to have been well received. There's mention of Sinéad O'Connor and triangles in the same sentence. Appropriately, there's also a snatch of Arcade Fire's EP ...

English folk music with an unexpected twist, in the shape of sensitive oompah-style trumpet and saxophone accompaniment. And a singing voice featuring a great bruised vibrato (without going over the top, there's something of Billie Holiday about it). Wonderfully wistful taster for upcoming debut album. I like the tapping feet in that. *The single comes with the added pleasure of an authentically hissy version of the Andrews Sisters classic Bei mir bist du schoen (a Yiddish tune originally), with lovely muted sax wailing in tow.

Title track from the Oklahoma band's upcoming second album. Has a slow-building, epic quality which will be well familiar to fans of The National . Circling, Reichian piano figures and beautiful, ghostly backing vocals are just some of the joys of it. An anthem for people not comfortable with anthems. *Previous single For 12 is also available to download for free here. For 12 (like this page to download) by Other Lives The astronaut-adrift-in-a-post-nuclear-desert themed video for which is here. Love that string arrangement - it makes me think of telegraph wires. Other Lives play both the Green Man and End of the Road Festivals in the UK this summer

We had a couple of excerpts on this week's show of a recent interview with Neville Skelly , the Liverpool singer-songwriter, whose debut album Poet & the dreamer is out now through Setanta/PIAS . It was a very interesting conversation, taking in Neville's early big band and song stylist influences (courtesy of his father and uncle), how crooning is not a dirty word, how he hooked up with near-neighbours The Coral who introduced him to Dion Dimucci (of Dion & the Belmonts fame), earning his chops on open-mic slots, and more. Listen to the full interview here. Particularly interesting I thought was Neville's mention of the invention of the microphone, as the catalyst for the style of what he called "lyrical singing". The phrase was new to me but he explained it as a more intimate or soft-spoken singing technique. Up until that time, singers with backing bands would have had to belt out their vocals to be heard, or depend on the consideration/skill of t...

The Middle East - Jesus came to my birthday party (PIAS, single) This great swinging folk-rock tune has a distinct flavour of Sparklehorse at his laconic best. From the album I want that you are always happy . Roshi feat. Pars Radio - To bio (Rif Mountain, from the Mehregan EP) Prepare to be enchanted and transported by Welsh-born-of-Iranian-descent Roshi Nasehi on vocals and electronic backing by Graham Dids (Pere Ubu). The title translates from Farsi as " Come to me beloved " and the mood has an appropriate emotional heft to it, with deft, minimal soundscapes adding colour. A voice capable of making a name for Iranian folk music. Larsen - Annie's rap (Tin Angel Records, from the album Cool cruel mouth ) A monotonous ringing guitar, an ominous bass tone, a freestyle drum pattern, then a female monologue recounts a strangely gripping tale of getting an early drink in midtown Manhattan. She meets a man in a bar who offers to buy her a drink, to which she repli...

Whatever the weather is doing in Éire (which is probably what Queen Elizabeth called Ireland as a child), you know it's summer when tunes like the new Pains single are unleashed. As predicted here last month. (The video has a kind of High Fidelity meets School of Rock vibe - suggests it should have starred Jack Black...). The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Heart in your heartbreak (Fortuna Pop/PIAS, from the album Belong ) Perfect slice of sunshine, shoegaze pop (sungaze anyone?), from the New Yorkers' second album. The soundtrack of your summer, if you're lucky.