The Underground of Happiness

The centrepiece of this week's show was a snippet of an interview I did with Howe Gelb a few weeks ago, when Giant Sand played in Cork as part of their farewell tour. The full interview is about 30 minutes long and I'll upload the whole thing here soon. He's a fascinating man. Also new music from Rozi Plain (gorgeous kosmische), Britta Phillips (noirish dream pop from her debut album), Cate Le Bon (keeping it brilliantly wonky), Dieterich & Barnes (John Dieterich of Deerhoof and Jeremy Barnes of Neutral Milk Hotel, A Hawk and a Hacksaw etc, making superb left field improv instrumentals) and XIXA (two of the guys from the Giant Sand band making psych cumbia). And Teho Teardo & Blixa Bargeld (pic), making vivid compelling chamber sounds, glorious. More on the blog. The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Twitter: UndergroundOfHappy ...

Which sees Cate dialling down the psych a tad but up on the wonderfully wonky pop, all manner of pastoral folk and baroque ballads rubbing up against angular post punk. This song sings its own brand of wonky psych, a love song apparently, and why not, love is more psych than most, my heart’s in my liver / my heart’s in my supper my supper my supper. And if you think that’s risky, watch the video. There really is nothing cooler than someone willing to risk looking ridiculous. The key of course is that Cate doesn’t give a fuck (I mean tan leather gloves?). An endearing quality in itself. Paired with savage tunes it makes great pop music for all of us.

Wonderfully wonky new single from Cate Le Bon appropriately titled 'Wonderful'. New Robert Pollard album out, why not dig out a GBV classic from 1996, and as we're at it some classic Pavement from around the same time. What a great time for "alt rock" that was. The Bonk , making some tasty psych sounds, playing in Cork this weekend. Damien Jurado picking up where he left off with his last great psych folk album, playing Whelan's this week. The Chap with some salutary advice for students, touring Europe now. The Chills with some salutary advice for the human race, playing Primavera in June. Rejoice. 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 397 Tues Apr 12 2016 11.00am-12.00pm (repeated on Tuesdays 8.30pm) UCC 98.3FM listen live on the web at www.ucc.ie/983fm ...

This week's show seems to have become a compilation of recent favourites, so more from: Robert Forster , in sweltering ballad form The Chills , belting out wonderful big-hearted pop songs with ringing guitars Julia Holter , drifting gossamer-light enigmas Blank Realm , no views, no wave, no shortage of storming psych pop Laura Cannell , ancient timeless folk strains. Also great new tune from Owensie with help from Conor (Villagers) O'Brien on backing vox. And Kevin Murphy , likewise back with more top drawer folk soul songwriting. More on these pages. Oct 13 2015 w/ Deerhunter,Kevin Murphy,Julia Holter,The Chills,Laura Cannell,Darren Hayman++ by The Underground Of Happiness on Mixcloud The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Twitter: UndergroundOfHappy Playlist 373 Tues Oct 13 2015 11.00am-12.00pm (repeated on Tuesdays 8.30pm) UCC 9...

Where pop music makes room for euphoric vocal innovations with the grace of Eastern and African musics and the adventurousness of the avant garde. From one of the key voices of the best Dirty Projectors output, also Avey Tare, Flying Lotus, Vampire Weekend and more. While the killer singing may hit you first here listen out too for the wonderfully lithe backbeat with groovy rolling bassline. It’s the perfect surging counterpoint to the stratospheric glide of the voices. The birdsong back of the throat effect that adorns every chorus intro is my current favourite. There’s just no chaining it down. It is a fantastic fucking racket all round. And get full value for every inch of those syncopations with this live film as Angel and her sister Arlene lay down a series of interlocking drumbeats and handclaps before singing live with little more than a Hofner bass for company. It’s positively thrilling stuff. (And if you’re into things that look cool well it scores highly o...

I had the huge pleasure of seeing Future Islands play live in Dublin last weekend - they finished their show with the fantastic 'Tin man', I've started mine with it. Sleaford Mods too, touring Ireland next month, and putting some vicious vim and bounce back into protest songs. The Go Betweens sounding sunny and carefree from 1979. Fellow Aussies Twerps sounding similarly endearing. Another ghostly, late-night folk creation from Kemper Norton and Chloe March with glorious dream pop, perhaps with a debt to Ryuichi Sakamoto. Mid-section of the show, three crooners of the highest order; Liam Hayes (Plush), back with a new album in January, Rumer with a voice like velvet and Harry Nilsson making desire and longing sound absolutely gut-wrenching. Plus Merchandise , bringing a wonderful white soul vocal to slinky rock guitar songs. More on these pages as always. Nov 4 2014 w/ Future Islands,Sleaford Mods,Go Betweens,Twerps,Jennifer Castle,Merchandise++ b...

Today is the 25th anniversary of the death of Cork post-punk legend Finbarr Donnelly (there's a special tribute event at The Pavilion to mark the date). We had to have some Five Go Down To The Sea to mark it in our own way - 'There's a fish on top of Shandon (swears he's Elvis)' still sounds remarkable today. Remember Dark Captain ? Meet Astronauts , that's Dan Carney's new group, sounding quite in keeping and just as great as before, cellos and beats and drones. Nice to hear it with the folk swing of Arch Garrison and the spooky cultish mood of Paul Giovanni's Wicker Man film music. Trans Am, The Elwins, Matmos and more, check them all on these pages. June 17 2014 w/ Death in the Sickroom,FGDTTS,Arch Garrison,Wicker Man s'track,Trans Am,The Elwins++ by Conor O'Toole on Mixcloud The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhapp...

One of the first "new" bands to catch my ear this year is Lord Huron . You'll probably have come across their single 'Time to run', from an EP of the same name. Lord Huron - Time To Run from Lord Huron on Vimeo . I like it, it's good, but there's another song on that EP that got me a bit distracted. It has some glorious South African style guitar work and, of all things, a two-step backbeat. It also has a top layer of beautiful Fleet Foxalike vocal harmonies. The whole effect is a little bit like Paul Simon's Graceland transplanted to the US west coast. I'll be interested to hear if they can sustain it over a whole album, but for now, they're getting me through January very nicely.

It was very remiss of me, but back in July – after picking my favourite music from the first half of the year for a playlist – I never posted the accompanying background as intended. So it sat there unfinished until now. On the bright side, I’m going to post it now, along with my picks from the second half of 2012, making for a neat two-hander (hopefully). As with all these things, a flick around the blog will usually unearth more info on the tunes, something I’d strongly recommend in all cases. This week's show was a kind of round-up of my favourite music of the year so far (being that we're about halfway through the calender at this point). If you're a regular listener or check in on the blog regularly, you'll already know what my faves consist of. They're in these playlist posts. But to go with that playlist, I thought I'd gather together some info about the tunes from these pages over the last 6 months. So here they are, starting with that mix. Podcast...

I picked up a 60’s French Pop compilation recently, put together by Kid Loco, and I’ve been on a bit of a French buzz ever since. The Les Chats Sauvages track is from that, giving the 1st Psych Wave a run for its money. And before that, any excuse for the incomparable greatness of Serge & Jane . We also had two Front & Follow releases, a beautiful remix from the Sone Institute album (pictured, the remix EP is a free d'load through the label from Dec 3rd), and Kemper Norton with the latest in the Collision/Detection series. Great label, that. Another Little Annie/Baby Dee song from the getting better all the time State of grace album; Kyle Forester (Crystal Stilts keyboardist) singing the songs of his friend Joshua Stein ; B Fleischmann brilliantly taking a pop at Bono & Sting; Sfumato with full gospel choir; some lovely flamenco from the upcoming Mice Parade album; and Snow Palms' (Ellis Island Sound's David Sheppard) beautiful instrumental exotica. Plus a...

We started the show this week with XTC from an album I only picked up again over the weekend, having "lost" it years ago, the great Apple Venus . River of orchids is such a strange but uplifting piece of music, Andy Partidge's vocal is brilliantly unhinged. There's a new Hauschka remix album out in the new year, we had Michael Mayer's lovely, slow building house re-do of Radar . He's the head of the Kompakt label, based in Cologne, and with Hauschka/Volker Bertelmann from Dusseldorf, that's an axis of current German electronic music right there. Jon DeRosa was back again with the gorgeous Snow coffin , the most moving anti-war song in a long time (at least I think I detect a war comment in it). Get Well Soon also in there, with another epic piece of orchestral, sweeping pop music, using Italian 60s/70s film music as his (Konstantin Gropper) drawing board, Rota, Argento, Morricone and the like. Also TOPS' nice New Wave sound, Seti The First...

Lots of orchestral influences on the show this week, it goes like that sometimes. Jon DeRosa , with the brilliant drone-and-strings of Snow coffin ; the great brass fanfare of Seti The First (playing Cork and Dublin this week - here's an interview I did with Kevin from the band for WeAreNoise , where he explains the title and thinking behind Victory Motel ); previously unreleased film music from Sylvain Chauveau ; more film music with signature and sublime vocals from Ennio Morricone ; and either side of the master, two current artists certainly influenced by him - Laetitia Sadier and Get Well Soon . There's also two lovely pieces of "modern" English folk music, from North Sea Radio Orchestra and The Singing Loins ; some beautiful, fuzzy dream pop from Dublin's September Girls ; Nils Frahm and Jens Lekman (both playing Cork's Half Moon Theatre soon). And B. Fleischmann (pictured), with a track from a wonderfully laconic album called I'm not ready fo...

This week's show kicked off with windings' new single, a great piece of prog pop from the Limerick band. Melody's Echo Chamber was in there again, can't get enough of that; Jon DeRosa , from a beautiful album called A wolf in preacher's clothes , for fans of Scott Walker; some Goat , for that itchy funk fix, new music from Thread Pulls , more brilliant skeletal grooves and Melt Yourself Down , a new project from ex Acoustic Ladyland members, more great African-inflected live dance music. And of course Ariel Pink ..."you sank my battleship, no I sank your battleship...". Class. The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Playlist 237 Tues Oct 2 2012 11.00am-1.00pm (repeated on Tuesdays 8.30pm) UCC 98.3FM listen live on the web at www.ucc.ie/983fm *listen back to this show here http://i.mixcloud.com/CBmesQ Playlist windings - This is ...

This song came into my life last week. And at the moment, it feels like my life is divided into the time before I heard it, and the time since. It's a fantastic slice of dreamy, bittersweet psych pop that is liable to haunt/soundtrack your waking hours. I've become quite obsessed with the way the bass and keys enter at different points to competely shift the mood of the arrangement. The woman responsible is Melody Prochet . My information on her is quite sketchy. She may or may not be French. Her debut self titled album comes out in November on Weird World (that already spectacular little label, only just over a year in existence) and was partly recorded in Perth with Kevin Parker from Tame Impala . There is something of that band's dense sound about the tune, although more about this track (all effected guitars and dropped snare beats), a 7" from last summer on Fat Possum (another fine label), which is also great. It's a bit like a Grizzly Bear tune pum...

A special extended show this week, with an extra hour. Three more bands playing the NOISE Weekender this coming weekend, Mumblin' Deaf Ro from Dublin, Trumpets of Jericho & The Great Balloon Race from Cork; a knockout tune from the new Rozi Plain album; new Dark Dark Dark, Polica, Christian Bookshop, David Byrne & St Vincent, Nils Frahm playing piano with 9 fingers, Peter Broderick pondering the mystery of the soul; a lovely Sfumato remix by Sunken Foal , a great slow build by Babe, Terror ; there was also Sone Institute, Wussy, Shonen Knife, Bobby Womack feat. Lana del Rey, Hotels, September Girls, Pollens , and more. And not to forget, Melody's Echo Chamber - I follow you is one of the songs of the year. The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Playlist 236 Tues Sept 25 2012 11.00am-1.00pm (repeated on Tuesdays 8.30pm) UCC 98.3FM listen live...

Managed to squeeze a few extra tunes in this week - they just happened to be shorter I think. More Laetitia Sadier from her beautiful new album Silencio; Peter Broderick beatboxing; Pollens doing some intriguing vocal work; two Cork artists, Cormac O'Caoimh & The Great Balloon Race , both playing the NOISE Weekender at the end of September; Lower Dens & Beach House , both also playing Cork in the next couple of months; Ariel Pink followed by Donnie & Joe Emerson , with the song covered on the new Ariel Pink album; more Wussy and the now Mercury Prize nominated Field Music . Who'll pay the bills? That could be the new Irish national anthem... The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Playlist 235 Tues Sept 18 2012 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...

The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Playlist 227 Tues June 26 2012 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 http://i.mixcloud.com/CB5Wyg Playlist Yawning Chasm - Whispered sun ( playing Citóg, Galway, June 28, w/ Brigid Power-Ryce & Raising Holy Sparks ) Mumblin Deaf Ro - Sister ill, better now ( playing Popical Island All-dayer, Whelan's, Dublin, July 7 ) First Aid Kit - Blue ( playing Vicar Street, Dublin, Nov 25 ) Cat Power - Ruin Clare & the Reasons - The lake Richard Hawley - Seek it ( playing Electric Picnic, Stradbally, Aug 31-Sept 2 ) Field Music - Who'll pay the bills Frankie Rose - Apples for the sun (The Go! Team remix) Hooray For Earth - Bring us closer together Markus Mehr - Barcelona waltz Elisa Luu - Il tempo di capire Dutch Unc...

The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Playlist 226 Tues June 19 2012 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 http://i.mixcloud.com/CB3vwL Playlist Donnie & Joe Emerson - Baby Katie Kim - Your mountains my mountains ( playing Cork Opera House, July 21 ) Efterklang - I was playing drums ( playing Cork Opera House, Sept 15 ) Ombre - Cara Falsa Elisa Luu - Se fosse per me Slow Place Like Home - Dr Astro goes ballistic Calexico - Para Naim Amor - Our day will come M. Ward - The first time I ran away Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat - Ballad of the bastard ( playing Bowerbird, Triskel Christchurch, Cork, June 30 ) David Byrne & St Vincent - Who Ghost Estates - Never forget Electric Guest - Awake *next week's show will feature music from Richard Hawle...

We've already mentioned Jherek Bischoff's wonderful new album, Composed , on Leaf this side of the Atlantic ( Brassland in the U.S.). A new video has just seen the light of day for the track Young and lovely , which features guest vocals from Zac Pennington (of Parenthetical Girls) and Soko . The tune is a brilliant, head-spinning combination of fast-paced sections with swooning string flourishes, and brass band style waltzes. Here's a little background on the video from the director. "The video for YOUNG and LOVELY is a retelling of the Roman myth of Aurora... more or less. It's also a collaboration with our Melbourne family -- the friends Jherek and I made while recording in Australia during the Spring of 2012. We shot in the Royal Botanical Gardens of Melbourne, and in an amazingly wonderful and beautifully weird penthouse (generously lent by David Walsh of the MONA Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania)." - Michael McQuilken, director

One of our favourite labels, the Perth-based Hidden Shoal , is 6 years old this month. I'm not sure if the term 'boutique' applies, but there's certainly a care and attention to detail about everything they do that is very satisfying. And as if to take this approach to a new level, label manager Cam Merton has post-produced and edited the new video for Inventors by Kramies . That's the centrepiece of Kramies' recent EP The European (full name Kramies Windt, he's Dutch originally, but domiciled in the US for some time), from which we featured several tracks on the show when it came out, and which was produced by regular Guided By Voices collaborator Todd Tobias - more about him later in the month. Inventors is a lovely, leisurely slice of dream-pop, blissed out and shimmering. Happy Birthday Hidden Shoal, keep doing what you're doing.