The Underground of Happiness

There’s a wonderful weight to this music. Could be the weight of longing. Or regret. Or desire. Maybe even fear. But the air is thick with it. It is Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater with Emily Cross and Dan Duszynski of Cross Record . It is the kind of song that could haunt your waking hours.

A mixture this week of a few Christmas tunes, a few more Best of 2013 picks plus a few new tunes. (Watch out for dedicated podcasts on the Best of 2013 review as well as a Christmas theme over the next few weeks.) Seasonal - Dean & Britta , lush dream pop channelling Lee Hazlewood; Cocteau Twins making flippant sound like a headrush; and Lost Idol bringing medieval choral sounds and dubstep brilliantly into contact with each other. Best of 2013 - Dott singing classic Brill Building style songs within garage pop; Shearwater w/ Sharon van Etten , ineffably gorgeous; Jeffrey Lewis making one of the best statements of the year in the form of a question - What Would Pussy Riot Do? And a couple of new songs. Howe Gelb with Bonnie Prince Billy , sounding like Leonard Cohen doing 1950's country. And Frankie Rose making pillow-soft synth pop from the New Order songbook. More on these pages. Dec 3 2013 show w/ Dott,September Girls,Jeffrey Lewis,Shearwater,Dean & ...