The Underground of Happiness

himeji to los angeles. glasgow to berlin. belfast to nashville. enjoy. x Playlist 1. Oh No Noh – Dog years (Teleskop) 2. Bella Wakame – Shades of Nambei (Umor-Rex) 3. Echolalia – Little bird (Full Time Hobby) 4. Geckos – Lo Hice (Org Music/PIAPTK Recordings) 5. Junk Drawer – Nids Niteca (Pizza Pizza Records) 6. Keeley Forsyth & Matthew Bourne – Talk to me (Fat Cat Records) 7. Pierre Bastien & Michel Banabila – Closing time: The party is over (Pingipung) 8. Quinie – Macaphee turn the cattle (Upset The Rhythm) 9. Albertine Sarges – Stand near your fire (Moshi Moshi) 10. Deradoorian – Digital gravestone (Fire Records) 11. Le Volume Courbe – Two love (Duophonic Super 45s) 12. Sam Prekop – Light shadow (Thrill Jockey) 13. Water Machine – River (Fat Cat Records) 14. Damian O’Neill – Inside out (Tompkins Square) (Imaginational Anthem XIV) 15. Me Lost Me – A souvenir (Upset The Rhythm) 16. Lael Neale – Tell me how to be here (Sub Pop Records) 17. Eddie M...

the search for new sounds does not have to be a treadmill enjoy x Playlist 1. CV Vision – R.T.B. (Bureau B) 2. Prolapse – The fall of cashline (Tapete Records) 3. claire rousay – somewhat burdensome (Thrill Jockey) 4. The Saxophones – Too big for California (Full Time Hobby) 5. Joasihno – Characo orb. (Alien Transistor) 6. Anushka Chkheidze + Robert Lippok – Rainbow road (Morr Music) 7. Kathryn Williams – Goodbye to summer (One Little Independent) ( playing The Folk House, Bristol, Oct 31 ) 8. Cian Nugent – I am asleep and do not wake me (Tompkins Square) (Imaginational Anthem XIV) 9. Ailbhe Reddy – Align (Don Giovanni Records) 10. Stereolab – Aerial Troubles (Duophonic/Warp) ( playing Cyprus Avenue, Cork, Feb 19 ) 11. Linda Smith – So long ago (Upset The Rhythm) 12. Cardiacs – Downup (The Alphabet Business Concern) 13. Me Lost Me – Ancient summer (Upset The Rhythm) 14. Chantal Acda – Hit the verge (Starman Records) 15. Clock DVA – Consent (Mute) 16. EERA...

middle of the year but not middle of the road a compilation of my favourite tunes of the year so far enjoy people x Playlist 1. Pierre Bastien & Michel Banabila – Closing time: The party is over (Pingipung) 2. Men I Trust – Heavenly flow (bandcamp) 3. Stereolab – Melodie is a wound (Duophonic/Warp) 4. Water Machine – River (Fat Cat Records) 5. Bella Wakame – Shades of Nambei (Umor-Rex) 6. Lightheaded – Same drop (Slumberland Records/Skep Wax) 7. Elaine Howley – Hold me in a new way (Modern Love) 8. Lael Neale – Tell me how to be here (Sub Pop Records) 9. Cloth – Pink silence (Rock Action) 10. Albertine Sarges – Stand near your fire (Moshi Moshi) 11. M(h)aol – Pursuit (Tulle) 12. The Chills – Dolphins (Fire Records) 13. Keeley Forsyth & Matthew Bourne – Talk to me (Fat Cat Records) 14. Echolalia – Little bird (Full Time Hobby) 15. Oh No Noh – Dog years (Teleskop) 16. Adrian Crowley – Brother was a runaway (Valley of Eyes Records) 17. Derya Yildi...

some summery tunes for your heatdome go well brian x (pic far out magazine) Playlist 1. Ensemble – Proposal 1 (Fat Cat Records) 2. Emil Friis – For goodbyes (Fat Cat Records) 3. Studio Electrophonique – David and Jayne (Valley of Eyes Records) 4. Heavenly – Portland Town (Skep Wax) 5. The Alien Dub Orchestra – Vine and fig tree (Alien Transistor) 6. Astral Bakers – Vertical life (Sage Records) 7. Ways of Seeing – USA 94 (bandcamp) 8. Lightheaded – The garden (Slumberland/Skep Wax) 9. Jeanines – Coaxed a storm (Slumberland/Skep Wax) 10. The Beach Boys – Feel flow (Brother Records) 11. The Beach Boys – Til I die (Brother Records) 12. Bea Elmy Martin – Born to fly (Indigo Kin) 13. Half Japanese – Step on up (Fire Records) 14. Guerilla Toss – Red flag to angry bull (Sub Pop Records) 15. Cory Hanson – Lou Reed (Drag City) 16. Ty Segall – Buildings (Drag City) 17. Sebastian Reynolds & Myles Cochran feat. Kelly Michaeli – IYCSM (Pindrop) 18. Later Youth...

a spring for your step enjoy x Playlist 1. Robert Forster – Strawberries (Tapete Records) ( playing National Concert Hall, Dublin, Oct 15 ) 2. Louis Philippe & The Night Mail – Pictures of Anna (Tapete Records) 3. The Saxophones – Burning with desire (Full Time Hobby) 4. Cormac O Caoimh – The little things (bandcamp) ( playing Coughlans, Cork, Aug 24 ) 5. Lael Neale – Tell me how to be here (Sub Pop Records) ( playing The Workman’s Cellar, May 10 ) 6. Preen – I know (Small Matter Records) ( playing Jacaranda Basement, Liverpool, May 5 ) 7. Tropical Fuck Storm – Goon show (Fire Records) ( playing Manchester Psych Festival, Aug 30 ) 8. The Fun Years – Auto show day of the dead (Keplar) 9. Saeko Killy – Next time (bureau b) 10. HAAi – Can’t stand to lose (Mute) ( playing Primavera Sound, Ports, June 15 ) 11. Oh No Noh – Dog years (Teleskop) ( playing Madame Claude, Berlin, Apr 11 ) 12. The Burning Hell – Luna FM (BB*Island) ( playing De Nieuwe Anita, Amsterda...

tripping through sheffield, surabaya, los angeles, navan, fermanagh, helsinki, cork, copenhagen & montreal in this batch enjoy x Playlist 1. Minwhi Lee – Mirror therapy for phantom pain (Alien Transistor) 2. Ella Raphael – Tangled love (Fire Records) 3. Yosa Peit – Shelly (Fire Records) 4. Naima Bock – Takes one (Sub Pop Records/Memorials of Distinction) 5. Bobby Oroza – Goddess (Big Crown Records) 6. David Murphy – An Draigheann (Rollercoaster Records) 7. Hiro Ama feat. Keeley Forsyth – Billowing (PRAH Recordings) 8. Golden Bug feat. The Liminanas & Vega Voga – Hi No Tori (La Belle) 9. Jessica Pratt – Life is (City Slang) 10. Matthew Bourne – The mirror and its fragments (The Leaf Label) 11. Róis – Caoine (bandcamp) 12. William D Drake – The flickering shade (Zebedog Records) 13. Myriam Gendron – Long way home (Thrill Jockey & Feeding Tube) 14. Oisin Leech – Colour of the rain (Outside Music/Tremone Records) 15. Mary Lattimore & Walt McClem...

More tunes from 2023. 20 more of the best. Enjoy. x Playlist 1. The Toads – Nationalsville (Upset The Rhythm) 2. Vanishing Twin – Afternoon X (Fire Records) 3. Me Lost Me – Eye Witness (Upset The Rhythm) 4. I Dreamed I Dream – The Bass (bandcamp) 5. Tandem Felix – There’s a new sheriff in town (bandcamp) 6. Terry – Gold duck (Upset The Rhythm) 7. Immaterial Possession – To the fete (Fire Records) 8. Lael Neale – I am the river (Sub Pop) 9. Death and Vanilla – Looking glass (Fire Records) 10. Trá Pháidín – m’anam go b’ea (bandcamp) 11. Nagasaki Swim – Sleep (Excelsior Recordings) 12. Nighttime – Veil (Ba Da Bing Records) 13. Symbol Soup – Overdressed (Sad Club Records) 14. The Notwist – Exit strategy to myself (Live from Alien Research Center) (Morr Music) 15. Aoife Nessa Frances – Automatic love (Partisan Records) 16. Spencer Cullum feat Erin Rae – Betwixt and between (Full Time Hobby) 17. BMX Bandits – Long forgotten summers (Tapete Records) 18. Holl...

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....

The first instalment of tunes that caught my ear last year. A combination of albums I played a lot and one off tracks that stuck with me. Call them earworms. Enjoy. x Playlist 1. Harmonious Thelonius – Soft opening machine (bureau b) 2. Ghost Power – Asteroid witch (Duophonic Super 45s) 3. Astrel K – Is it it or is it I (Duophonic Super 45s) 4. Albertine Sarges – Hold on (Moshi Moshi) 5. Chalk – Velodrome (Dutch Tilt) 6. Chewy She – Mustard (Chewy She) 7. Donna Thompson – Be with you (PRAH Recordings) 8. Guerilla Toss – Cannibal capitol (Sub Pop) 9. Josephine Foster – Hum menina (Fire Records) 10. Junk Drawer – Tears in Costa (Art For Blind Records) 11. L’Exotighost – Exotique mecanique (Everlasting Records) 12. Rozi Plain – Help (Memphis Industries) 13. Silverbacks – A job worth something (Full Time Hobby) 14. splint – Military procedures (Nice Swan) 15. Sprints – Literary mind (Nice Swan) 16. The Garbage and The Flowers – Eye know who you are (Fire...

An early summer backlog. Music from Cork, Dublin, Malmo, Tokyo, Helsinki, Berlin, Madrid, San Francisco, New York and more. RIP Cathal Coughlan. Enjoy. x The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.mixcloud.com/theundergroundofhappiness Twitter: UndergroundOfHappy UCC98.3FM www.ucc.ie/983fm Playlist 1. Etienne Jaumet & Fabrizio Rat – Visione pop (bureau b) 2. Povoa feat Páula – Intuition (Moshi Moshi) 3. Cephas Teom – Primordial forms (METR Music) 4. Silverbacks – A job worth something (Full Time Hobby) 5. Albertine Sarges – Bird’s life (Moshi Moshi) 6. Hater – Something (Fire Records) 7. Sack – Sleeping on the floor (Dimple Discs) 8. Craig Fortnam – Even on Sundays (Lunar One series - bandcamp) 9. Craig Fortnam – Gigant (Believers Roast) 10. Butcher Boy – Dear John (Needle Mythology) 11. The Plastik Beatniks feat Angel Bat Da...

Some odds and ends here. Mixture of things that fell through the cracks towards the end of last year, plus some new releases from January. More great sounds in the world. Enjoy. x Playlist 1. God is God – The song Part II (bureau b) 2. The Monochrome Set – Hello, save me (Tapete) 3. Analphabet – The wirtschaftswunder (bureau b) 4. Blue States feat Allison Brice Grasso – Alarms (Memphis Industries) 5. Guerilla Toss – Cannibal capitol (Sub Pop) 6. Junk Drawer – Tears in Costa (Art For Blind) 7. Lael Neale – Hotline (Sub Pop) 8. Naima Bock – 30 degrees (Sub Pop) 9. Prima Queen – Chew my cheeks (Nice Swan Records) 10. Sprints – Little fix (Nice Swan Records) ( playing Ulster Sports Club, Belfast, Mar 6 ) 11. Saroos feat Sequoyah Tiger – Frequency change (Alien Transistor) 12. Odd Nosdam & Rayon – From nowhere to north (Morr Music) 13. Abiodun Oyewole – My life (AFAR) 14. Anita Lane – Home is where the hatred is (Mute) 15. The Burning Hell – Bird Queen...

Part 2 of this lookback. Enjoy. x Playlist Cathal Coughlan – Owl in the parlour (Dimple Discs) Alasdair Roberts og Volvur – Nu solen gar ned (Drag City) Ann Scott – Sweetheart (Raghouse Records) Bobby Oroza – I got love (Big Crown Records) Brainstory – Bye bye (Big Crown Records) Daniel Blumberg feat Josephine Foster – The world to come (from the soundtrack of the film The world to come ) (Node Records/Wise Music Group) Ed Dowie – Number Eight Wire (Needle Mythology) Henrik Lindstrand – Enghave lys (Alex Somers rework) (One Little Independent) Fine Place – It’s your house (Night School Records) Junior Brother – Life’s new haircut (Strange Brew) Low – Days like these (Sub Pop) Lucy Gooch – Rain’s break (Fire Records) M Ward – Birthday (Anti) Pretty Happy – Sea sea sea (Art For Blind) Rats on Rafts – Osaka (Fire Records) Ruthann Friedman – Hurried life (Tompkins Square) (reissue) Sack – What a way to live (Dimple Discs) St Vincent – Pay your way in pain (L...

A soundtrack for the end. Or the beginning. Or in between. Enjoy. x Playlist 1. Faust – Vorsatz (Bureau B) 2. Curse of Lono – Let your love rain down on me (Submarine Cat Records) 3. Herbert feat Verushka – Fantasy (Accidental Records) 4. Luca Wilding – Book of fate (Abbey Records) 5. Nation of Language – This fractured mind ( playing Grand Social, Dublin, Jan 29th 2022 ) 6. Shannon Lay – Geist (Sub Pop) 7. The Go! Team – A bee without its sting (Memphis Industries) 8. Vanessa Anne Redd – By the time (Sharp Attack Records) 9. Virginia Wing – Soft fruit (Fire Records) ( playing Moth Club, London, Sept 24th ) 10. Sone Institute – Dead ahead (Mystery Bridge) 11. Lomond Campbell – Engineer of fear (One Little Independent) 12. Dntel – Connect (Les Albums Claus) 13. Fryars with Sean O’Hagan – God melodies 14. Hackedepicciotto – Evermore (Mute) 15. Henrik Lindstrand – För Den Goda Viljan (Robert Ames rework) (One Little Independent) ...

Tracks from 16 albums I've enjoyed a lot this year so far. Enjoy x Playlist 1. Cool Ghouls – In Michoacan (Empty Cellar Records/Melodic) 2. The Chills – You’re immortal (Fire) 3. Buffet Lunch – Red apple happiness (Upset The Rhythm) 4. Cathal Coughlan – Falling out North Street (Dimple Discs) 5. St Vincent – Down and out (Loma Vista) 6. El Michels Affair feat Piya Malik – Murkit gem (Big Crown Records) 7. Shannon Lay – Wild (Sub Pop) actually released in 2019 but heard for the first time by me this year… 8. Craig Fortnam – Ark (Onomatopoeia Records) 9. Lucy Gooch – Rain’s break (Fire) 10. Mark Fry – Song for Wilde (Now-Again Reserve Records) (reissue) 11. Marina Allen – Belong here (Fire) 12. yumbo – A house (Morr Music) 13. Colleen – Implosion-Explosion (Thrill Jockey) 14. Adrian Crowley – Bread and wine (Chemikal Underground) 15. Lambchop – Chef’s kiss (Merge/City Slang) 16. Ann Scott - Sweetheart

My favourite tunes of 2019.* Sounds like another great year. Enjoy. *A few snuck in from other years on the basis that they happened for me in 2019. So as well as the year of Twen, Purple Mountains, Vanishing Twin, Paul & The Tall Trees... The year of Bright Phoebus . The year of Steve McQueen (acoustic) . The year of Loch na hEala . Playlist Vanishing Twin – Magician’s success (Fire Records) POZI – Engaged (Prah Recordings) Weyes Blood – Everyday (Sub Pop) Hiss Golden Messenger – My wing (Merge) Charles Rumback & Ryley Walker – Half joking (Thrill Jockey) Twen – Holy river (Frenchkiss Records) Paul & The Tall Trees – Then we’ll wave (So long) (Big Crown Records) Rozi Plain – Trouble (Memphis Industries) Fixity – Becoming an earthworm (Penske Recordings) C Duncan – Reverie (Fat Cat Records) Sarah Louise – Late night healing choir (Thrill Jockey) Bedouine – Tall man (Caroline) Paperface – Little monsters (Daydream Records) Purple Mou...

There's a few tunes there now like... Playlist Fixity – Becoming an earthworm (Penske Recordings) Spill Gold – Dali (Meduse MagiQ) Laurence Pike – Drum chant (The Leaf Label) Pozi – Watching you suffer (Prah Recordings) Drahla – Stimulus for living (Captured Tracks) Pill Fangs – Pain inside (Sunstone Records) The Pinheads – Feel it now (Stolen Body Records) Mdou Moctar – Ilana (Sahel Sounds) Death & Vanilla – A flaw in the iris (Fire Records) Rozi Plain – Conditions (Memphis Industries) Lali Puna – Being water (Morr Music) Vanishing Twin – KRK (At home in strange places) (Fire Records) Von Spar feat. Laetitia Sadier – Extend the song (Bureau B) Wand – Scarecrow (Drag City) Samsara – Yellow fangs (Tiny Room/Hidden Shoal) The Proper Ornaments – Please release me (Tapete) Dana Gavanski – One by one (Full Time Hobby) Bobby Oroza – Your love is too cold (Big Crown Roecords) Hiss Golden Messenger – Everybody needs somebody (Merge) Nilufer Yanya – Tears (Ato...

New music in the ether in this new year.* (*A couple of exceptions, The Shacks who I just learned of lately, released last year, and a few others from end of 2018.) Music from Oslo, Cork, Berlin, Glasgow, Brooklyn, Brisbane, North Carolina, Athens, Rotterdam, Dublin, Niger, Bavaria, Bilbao, Tucson and more in here. Enjoy. ********************* Playlist Lali Puna – Being water (Morr Music) Coldharbourstores – Disenchantment (Enraptured Records) Deerhunter – Plains (4AD) C Duncan – Impossible (Fat Cat) Tim Presley’s White Fence – I can dream you (Drag City) Cosmic Range – Breathing water (Idee Fixe Records) Sarah Louise – Rime (Thrill Jockey) The Telescopes – Don’t place your happiness in the hands of another (Tapete) The Last Sound – Cyclical pang (Fort Evil Fruit) Julia Kent – Crepusculo (The Leaf Label) Rozi Plain – Symmetrical (Memphis Industries) North Sea Radio Orchestra – The flower (Bandcamp) Shana Cleveland – Face of the sun (Hardly Art Records)...

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...

******************************************************************************************************** Bedouine – Back to you (from the album Bedouine , Spacebomb) Another wonderful nugget recorded at Matthew E. White’s Spacebomb hub in Richmond Virginia. The origin though is the voice and songs of Azniv Korkejian born in Syria to Armenian parents but resident in the US for some years. Her voice is an intoxicating thing. Hushed. Softly spoken. Insistent. Containing something of a Carole King about it. Or even a Karen Carpenter maybe. Another time anyway. When there was strength in subtlety and soul was in the nuance as much as the decibels. And the dream of an arrangement behind the perfect match. Gently enervating brass and woodwind. Uplifting top note strings. Beautiful pitter patter bass. A genius falsetto backing vocal that catches me every time. She also has a way with a lyric Ms Korkejian. California city parks They talk in excl...