The Underground of Happiness

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...

It's just gone 50 years since The Byrds recorded their groundbreaking version of 'Mr Tambourine Man' (thanks J Comic), so time, I thought, for some Gene Clark from 1968, providing the ultimate antidote to the Summer of Love - "Los Angeles, City of Doom". There's a great new single from Myles Manley , top drawer beat-pop and get a load of that keyboard solo which kinda upstages the rest of the song. Twerps also play brilliant off kilter guitar pop. The new Rozi Plain single has a lovely kosmische drift to it. Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith also has a cosmic feel, very much in keeping with the title 'Glide' - she plays a Buchla Music Easel, more on that soon. O Emperor's new single takes up where their last album Vitreous left off (tasty psych/prog pop) & Roslyn Steer with some very nice cut up dream pop - both play the Quarter Block Party in Cork next month. And a wonderful long languid psych jam from Dublin band Princess who are out on ...

Another genius turn from the Sligoman, taking his acerbic, literate pop up a few gears to “fast pace” for a change. The result is a brilliantly snarky commentary on audience expectation which retains just the faintest suspicion of self-deprecation. Recently, you might recognise the energised soulfulness of Ezra Furman in it. At under 2 minutes it’s over way too soon (always a good thing). The lead vocal is smooth, the drumming satisfyingly blunt, the backing vocals suitably strident but the crowning glory of this mini-masterpiece is the inspired keyboard solo to finish (credit to Cal Folger Day, I’m told). It contains some frantic Devo DNA and reminds me also of Steve Naive’s finest agitated moments for Elvis Costello & The Attractions. I’ll wager you’ll find yourself humming and head-bopping along to it all day in an only-you Silent Disco. On any level it's a triumph and is worth paying for handsomely.

A few more of the Best of 2014 bunch this week. A Lazarus Soul, Sean Nicholas Savage, Twerps, AWVFTS & Golden Retriever , all great music, find the full 4-part round up elsewhere on these pages. We also had new music from Nathalie Prass whose upcoming debut album is receiving much critical love, and rightly so - she also plays Whelan's in Dublin at the end of January. And Myles Manley , continuing his ongoing conversation with his public quite brilliantly with 'Pay me what I'm worth'. Robert Pollard (GBV) is going under Ricked Wicky for a new album on Fire Records , going back to his Who rots which sounds great. Lubomyr Melnyk plays two Irish shows this month. And The Go Betweens , the subject of a major new Domino box set reissue this month, with their lost treasure of a classic 'Karen' from 1978. Jan 13 2015 w/ Best of 2014 AWVFTS,Sean NIcholas Savage,Twerps + Nathalie Prass,Myles Manley++ by The Underground Of Happiness on Mixcloud...