The Underground of Happiness

Ana Palindrome . My second time seeing this 3 piece. Violin sometimes guitar. Bass. (Note – Hofner. Hello Paul McCartney.) Moog and friends. Two badass women out front. Starting to love the development of badass Irish women ruling the stages lately. Brushed violin initially. Playing with the texture not the melody. Something about it would remind you of John Cale on viola. New York John Cale. Slides. Scrapes. Drones. Woman on bass avoiding root notes. Harmonics. Note flutters. Man on Moog in charge of beats and swells. To carry on the New York theme. Distinct bang of no wave from the songs. Of anything goes. Of dance music and ballads. Rock n roll or jazz. Club or concert hall. Pop and experimental. Chanted Meredith Monk vocals. If they were in New York no doubt already record deal and art branding. Treasure this under the radar shit. Danb emosewa gnikcuf is a palindrome of fucking awesome band. Tandem Felix are superior country rock with excellent...

An extremely accomplished new collection from this Dublin four piece plying various strands of Americana to superb effect. ‘Nothing I do will ever be good enough’ is a version of the self-pitying country staple but with several beautiful arrangement flourishes to distinguish it – the wandering synth break, the wonderfully restrained steel guitar, the shakers as uplift to the chorus, even the fleeting detail of the treatment on the word “smoke”. ‘Waiting in the wings’ brings a neat stop start structure to a deceptively vicious little lyric which is satisfyingly full of spite and driven by ingenious piano octaves. ‘Moon tingles’ has something of the stately grace of Lambchop to it, although perhaps if Sufjan Stevens sat in on vocals. Fiddle, steel guitar and a sublime harmonica cameo fill out the edges gorgeously. ‘Union St Blues’ takes on the Sufjan thread, a dark night of the soul ballad given great propulsion by a rhythmic banjo riff and a silky backbeat and topped off...