The Underground of Happiness

A playlist for Spring. Things growing. There is sun but in this part of the world it's still weak. A cooling sun (with thanks to Jessica Risker , see below). Enjoy. Playlist 487 – May 2018: A cooling sun Modern Studies – Young sun (Fire Records) ( playing The Lexington, London, May 28 ) Nightports w/ Matthew Bourne – Exit (The Leaf Label) ( Matthew Bourne playing Leeds Jazz Festival, July 22 ) Jack Hayter – The mulberry tree at Abbey Wood (Gare du Nord) Sebastian Reynolds – Mahajanaka (Remix by Emseatee) Laurence Pike – Cloud and wires (The Leaf Label) Alasdair Roberts, David McGuinness, Amble Skuse – Long a-growing (Drag City) ( Alasdair Roberts, playing Campfire Club, London, Sept 14 ) Spindle Ensemble – Panic amongst the dragonflies (Adderwell Music) ( playing The Wardrobe Theatre, Bristol, May 20 ) Moondog – Voices of spring (CBS/BGO Records) Death & Vanilla – Free Design Kung-Fu (live, The Tenant) (Fire Records) Ennio Morricone with the Czech Nat...

The final weekly show for the time being has a number of my favourite things in 2018 so far. Caroline Says , a dream pop of devastating hush. Jim Ghedi , beautiful chamber folk and each element holding its own. La Luz , stalking noir pop with an unbeatable bassline. Kacy & Clayton , great country rock with an unforgettable lead vocal. Jack Hayter's wonderful heart on sleeve narratives. And new Jessica Risker , folk music with gorgeous/unsettling psych tones. Keep in touch on these pages. The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com Twitter: UndergroundOfHappy Playlist 486 Tues Apr 17 2018 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 goo.gl/C2Skvv Playlist The Byrds – She don’t care about time Kacy & Clayton – A lifeboat ( playing Cathedral Arts Quarter Festival, Belfast, May 7 ) J...

New John Parish album coming soon. The first song from it is a remembrance of the late Mark Linkous feat. PJ Harvey , both of whom worked with Linkous. And some wonderful slowcore Americana from the man himself. Gone too soon, 8 years already. Bedouine plays Dublin in May, a sublime slice of soulful folk from her debut album. Both Fixity and The Bonk playing live shows this month. Sample their brilliantly atmospheric mongrel jazz. And Lee Hazlewood giving expression to a mature years world view with grace and genius string arrangements. More on these pages. The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com Twitter: UndergroundOfHappy Playlist 485 Tues Apr 10 2018 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 goo.gl/UJAsbD Playlist Sparklehorse – Homecoming queen John Parish feat PJ Harvey – Sorry fo...

New Jess Williamson (pictured) on the show this week. A bit of a departure based on her previous stuff I've heard. She apparently moved from Texas to California. Sounds like a good move. Blue sky psych pop shall we say. Caroline Says (Caroline Sallee) moved to Austin Texas from Alabama and recorded her second album late at night in her apartment with gorgeous hushed vocals. Landless are a 4-piece a capella Irish group. Here's a spellbinding lament from their debut album. Jim Ghedi - great folk instrumentals undercut with classical strings and a lovely trumpet part. And The Double Six of Paris . Giving Ray Charles an upbeat jazz treatment. 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 484 Tues Apr 3 2018 11.00am-12.00pm (repeated on Tuesdays 8.30pm) UCC 98.3FM listen live on...

It's Serge Gasinsbourg's 27th anniversary this month. Time to mark the occasion although no excuse is needed. The ageless 'Bonnie & Clyde' with Brigitte Bardot and a lovely late years version of 'La Javanaise' by Jane Birkin . A beautful hushed Yo La Tengo number sung by Georgia. Breezy jazz pop from the top drawer from The Sea & Cake . And lush power pop from Mr Ben Montero of Melbourne via Athens. 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 483 Tues Mar 27 2018 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 goo.gl/FsG4qg Playlist Serge Gainsbourg & Brigitte Bardot – Bonnie & Clyde Jane Birkin – La javanaise Katie Von Schleicher – Glad to be here (...

Caroline Says is an artist whose debut album we loved last year. Her ( Caroline Sallee ) 2nd album is coming soon and we heard a gorgeous track from it. A hushed intimate wall of sound with banks of swooping backing vocals. Flights of Helios are a band from Oxford. 'Embers' is a beautiful building drone pop song with memorable backing vocals. The Altered Hours are a top class psych rock band as you know. They are currently touring UK/EUR and have a new EP out. Excellent live also. And one of the greatest uplifting/downbeat tunes of all time from 1983 and The The . 'This is the day' - an anthem for your personal development for sure. 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 482 Tues Mar 13 2018 11.00am-12.00pm (repeated on Tuesdays 8.30pm) UCC 98.3FM listen live on t...

A bit of a baroque kick on the show this week. Lake Ruth is a Brooklyn 3-piece with wonderful flourishing melodies and shimmering arrangements around treble-y basslines and analogue synths. Jean-Claude Vannier – famous collaborator with Serge Gainsbourg – patented a brand of baroque pop with those up front basslines once again. This is one of his vault treasures as issued by the Finders Keepers label some years back. Charlotte Gainsbourg has a new album full of great melancholy arpeggios. A kind of downbeat baroque pop. Also some exotica. From the past Eden Ahbez . A dream of a life of freedom that shimmers. From the present The Saxophones . A dream of pop music with flutes. 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 481 Tues Mar 6 2018 11.00am-12.00pm (repeated on Tuesdays 8...

Meet Benin City . The lads in the sharp suits. Sharp tunes too. Nisantashi Primary School have nothing to do with Japan. They're a 3-piece from Kiev and have a very tasty brand of rudimentary IDM w punk funk shadings. The Brackish are a band from Bristol playing lovely instrumental post rock not a million miles from Tortoise. Josh T Pearson is back with a collection of brash pop songs. And The Saxophones making a most alluring dream pop. 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 480 Tues Feb 27 2018 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 goo.gl/YscbWb Playlist Spindle Ensemble – Moonbow ( playing South Bank Centre, London, Mar 16 ) Alex Stolze – Alkorhythmus Jack Hayter – At C...

A couple of surf references in this week’s show which is nice on the cusp of winter/spring. La Luz are a 4-piece from Seattle (or I’ve also seen LA) and their tune ‘Cicada’ is a brilliantly propulsive piece of surf noir, that’s what they’re calling it. Sven Libaek soundtracked a surf documentary in 1968. Here we had the wonderful theme from that OST which sounds a little like The Byrds gone lounge. (What a lost opportunity says you.) Also Nightports with Matthew Bourne making beautiful piano (re)shapes. Tune Yards going full soul diva on the excellent ‘Heart attack’. Brickwork Lizards carving a space for Egyptian fusion in Oxford. And a little Petula Clark to show everyone how to make perfect pop music. 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 479 Tues Feb 20 2018 11.00am-12...

Valentines are in the air. We had a few but not the soppy kind. Manly regret and nostalgia soaked in strings from Richard Hawley . Stirring moving heartwrenching soul lament from Nina Simone . Serge & Jane with a glorious JC Vannier arranged paean to love in the margins. Charlotte Gainsbourg with a gorgeous melancholy love letter to her father. And Jack Hayter with wonderful quixotic and earthy English folk songs. 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 478 Tues Feb 13 2018 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 goo.gl/VR3cLv Playlist Richard Hawley – For your lover give some time Nina Simone – Black is the colour of my true love’s hair Spindle Ensemble – Kite ( playin...

A couple of themes in this week’s show. Voices. The wonderful bruised croon of Ken Griffin of August Wells , coming back again to Ireland to play in April. The epitome of soul. The pure heart-piercing tones of Brona McVittie , from her beguiling new album. Eden Ahbez , a lost treasure from 1960, imagining an idyllic existence amid hushed and spellbinding exotica. Jack Hayter , a gritty maybe eccentric folk voice, contemplating the outpourings and emissions of a city. And Orquesta Akokán , a Cuban group on Daptone. Irresistible frenetic Latin rhythms. 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 477 Tues Feb 6 2018 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 goo.gl/A8EBmW Playlist Aug...

It’s been a little while since we had a dance set on the show. We had a good mini set in the middle this week. Charlotte Gainsbourg hooking up with SebastiAn to wonderful French disco effect. De Lux with the great sunbaked LA disco full of nagging synth lines. And SlowPlaceLikeHome with some lovely ambient electronica from the Atlantic north west (Donegal). Also another beautiful cut from the new Spindle Ensemble album. Light as air. The Sea & Cake giving vent to wonderful breezy jazz pop. Jon Brion from the Lady Bird OST making gorgeous quixotic music for pictures involving woodwind. And Django Django making music to make people who don’t know how to dance dance. 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 476 Tues Jan 30 2018 11.00am-12.00pm (repeated on Tuesdays 8.30pm...

A lash of new music again this week. Lake Ruth , lush baroque pop tones. Brona McVittie , pastoral folk music with a kosmische filter. Jim Ghedi , sprightly enervating folk instrumentals. Chloe March , sumptuous dream pop. Benjamin Schoos & Dent May , gorgeous orch pop. Plus an aching memory from Michael Nyman from 1988 (pic), soundtrack music for the ages. 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 475 Tues Jan 23 2018 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 goo.gl/KyG3NM Playlist Percolator – Crab supernova ( playing Quarter Block Party, Cork Feb 2-4 ) Lake Ruth – Julia’s call Tandem Felix – Nothing I do will ever be good enough ( playing Quarter Block Party, Cork, Feb 2-4 ) The...

A couple more great cuts from the Best of 2017 annals this week (check around the blog for more on that). This is the Kit who are in Ireland this week – Cork tonight, Dublin tomorrow – another great psych pop dance tune. Mick Harvey with the brilliant guest vocal turn of Andrea Schroeder giving Serge Gainsbourg’s ‘Je t’aime’ a German twist. It’s magnificent. Then Ennio Morricone from the new live album recorded on recent European tour. Bliss. Django Django back with new music and it’s a cracker ahead of new album. Plus Charlotte Gainsbourg (one that got away from my Best of 2017 lists but it's never too late). Dreamy, heartbreaking, sublime downtempo dance music. Take it how you like. 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 474 Tues Jan 16 2018 11.00am-12.00pm (repeate...

Happy New Year to all of you and opening 2018 with a few tasty cuts from last year which you’ll find more on in the Best of 2017 posts on the blog. Laetita Sadier Source Ensemble is one of those. A lovely groovy kosmische informed by Brazil. The Clientele is another. Cosmic folk rock with a yearn and a robust jangle to it. Manu Louis is one. Wonky and very groovy dance music. Michael Nau . Gorgeous blissed out psych pop. Plus new music from The Go! Team . Morse code for the dancefloor. The Altered Hours . Lovely psych drones. Tune-Yards . A playground chant meets eco themed pop music. And Spindle Ensemble . Beautiful light touch classical tones from Bristol . 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 473 Tues Jan 9 2018 11.00am-12.00pm (repeated on Tuesdays 8.30pm) UCC 98.3FM l...

A Christmas Cracker this week folks. A journey through some less travelled paths of seasonal music. Atheists/Social Realists – Gruff Rhys & Owensie Exotica – Arthur Lyman & Esquivel Blaring Jazz – Pony Poindexter Pre Modern – Laura Cannell & Lost Idol Folktronica/Bonkers Unicorn Strand – Sufjan Stevens Plus some classic spoken word from the absolute legend that was Dylan Thomas . 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 472 Tues Dec 12 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 goo.gl/a3E7Rx Playlist Gruff Rhys – Post apocalypse Christmas Owensie – The old breadline Dylan Thomas – A childhood Christmas in Wales (extract) John Cale – A childhood Christmas in Wales (li...

There’s a bunch of Best of 2017 cuts in this week’s show (the 2nd last of the year), all of which you’ll be hearing more about when I do my end of year round ups later in the month. Laetitia Sadier Source Ensemble , brilliant Brazilian inflected kosmische Loma , magnificent slowcore meaderings Matthew Bourne , exquisite use of silence piano cello and a room The Bonk , jazz having its knees scuffed by prog pop Laura Cannell , bracing pre modern invocations. And Bonny Doon , one of the most poignant lyrics of the year wrapped in Silver Jews clothes. 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 471 Tues Dec 5 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 goo.gl/LHt96o Playlist Jason Falkner – ...

There’s a kinda core of lounge music at the heart of this week’s show. Howe Gelb has expanded on last year’s Future Standards album with the wonderful Lonna Kelley joining him for some new songs and a few updated. Check that for the voices alone, the sumptuous backing is a bonus. The late Andy Williams has always had a lot of love round here. Here he is with a gorgeous arrangement of a classic. And some great Italian jazz from Armando Trovajoli . Brilliant and thanks to Trunk Records for the tip. As we’re at it let’s throw Lee Hazlewood into that basket too. From his masterful Swedish soujourn in 1970. Tenniscoats , a different kind of lounge, a beautiful drifting naive folk pop one. And Loma . Not lounge per se. But slow moving and weighty and absolutely compelling. More on thesepages. The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Twitter: U...

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 ...

Something I’ve been thinking about for a while is a cello themed show. Well a little preview in the middle of this week’s show. Penny Rimbaud was in Crass and has made a very interesting new album of treatments of Wilfrid Owen’s war poems, featuring some gorgeous piano and cello. I wouldn’t call it backing, it’s more like a jazz trio with one of the parts being a voice. Also in there is the Andy Nice contribution to the Front & Follow compilation celebrating 10 years in the world, beautiful loops and layers. And Solo Collective teasing out the durational element of this endlessly fascinating instrument. Little Tornados making beguiling dream pop featuring Caroline Sallee of Caroline Says . Who is in there in her own right with one of my favourite songs of the year somehow bridging the gap between bossa nova and kosmische. And Bonny Doon sounding like a young 20s Silver Jews with the poetry and the guitars and the wonderful bittersweet stance on life. More on the...