The Underground of Happiness

rotterdam to osaka. surabaya to dublin. montreal to portland. enjoy x Playlist 1. Tulpa – Let’s make a Tulpa! (Skep Wax) 2. M(h)aol – Pursuit (Tulle) 3. Men I Trust – Heavenly flow (bandcamp) 4. Miss Grit – Tourist mind (Mute) 5. Nobukazu Takemura – deep sea’s rainbow part 2 (Thrill Jockey) 6. Pictish Trail – Hold it (Fire Records) 7. Rats on Rafts – Painting roses (Fire Records) 8. Robin Kester – The daylight (Memphis Industries) 9. Seamus Fogarty – I passed your house (Lost Map Records) 10. Barry Walker Jr feat. Rob Smith & Jason Willmon – Quiessence (Thrill Jockey) 11. Stereolab – Melodie is a wound (Duophonic/Warp) 12. Stuart Moxham – Do the locomotion (Stuart Moxham vs Radio Boy radio mix) (Tiny Global Productions) 13. The Attendant – Beautiful humans (faux lux) 14. Thee Marloes – What’s on your mind (Big Crown Records) 15. Truthpaste – See you around (Memorials of Distinction) 16. Vanbur – My own (Manners McDade) 17. Ways of Seeing – USA 94 (ban...

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...

Brian Eno's new album, Drums between the bells , his second on Warp , came out last month. In fact, it's a collaboration with poet Rick Holland . I've just heard a few tracks from it on a sampler, but one tune in particular has really stuck with me. It's a beautiful slice of drifting guitar and synth kosmische, with a straight-faced female spoken word monologue, describing the view, in a sort of impressionistic fashion, from the top of a skyscraper in New York - " from the top of this high rise, people as small as the pigment in your eyes ." It's surprisingly romantic given the delivery, with a dizzy, swooning quality to the arrangement. Brian Eno - pour it out (taken from Drums Between The Bells) by Warp Records I don't know who's responsible for the vocal but the delivery reminds me a lot of Berit Immig from Berlin-based band Omo . They released one of my favourite albums of the last few years in 2009, The white album on LoAF . Many o...