The Underground of Happiness

Welcome to Part 2 of my Best of 2015 review. If you're a regular listener to the show, you'll know that folk music in all its forms is a staple of the playlists. And that's where we pick up here with another 22 great tunes. And as usual, it's fascinating to watch and hear what other strands make their way in - lounge, orchestral, whatever. Once again enjoy, and see you all on the other side in 2016. ************************************************************************************************ 1. Alela Diane & Ryan Francesconi – Shapeless (from the album Cold moon , Believe Recordings) A glorious winter entry to start, a collaboration between two fascinating artists in their own right. Like many in this list, it takes folk music and stretches it out until it’s transparent. In this case, classical, choral and tribal music are just a few of the ancestors visible behind Francesconi’s riveting fingerpicked guitar and Diane’s wonderfully pure and clea...

A few great new things on this week's show. Julia Kent back with another album of searching layered cello instrumentals (interview with her on the blog from 2014, see Interview section to the right). Another track from new album by The Drink , like The Fall same idea as before but completely different. And a few bands in the middle from a new compilation of ORK Records 45s, a label built around CBGBs in New York around the mid 1970s. The Feelies, Richard Hell & The Voidoids, Television , mapping out pop music for the next 30 years. Plus the sweet ambient dream pop drift of Chloe March . Colin Bluntstone's bossa nova, The Zombies' baroque brilliance. And Low with the most sublime husband and wife harmonies. More on these pages. Oct 6 2015 w/ Julia Kent,The Drink,Low,HeCTA, The Zombies,Richard Hell,Television,Feelies++ by The Underground Of Happiness on Mixcloud The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergro...

A round up of my favourite music of the year to date, a show which went out a couple of weeks ago before the summer break. Another belting set of tunes I must say and there was another whole bunch that didn't fit into the hour. So another great year for music, basically. I'll keep the preamble short here as you'll find plenty more around these pages on the artists listed below. Enjoy. July 28 2015 - Best of 2015 (Jan - July) 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 366 Tues July 28 2015 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 https://goo.gl/PhSV4Z Playlist Kathryn Joseph - The want ( playing Summerhall, Edinburgh, Aug 12, w/ Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat ) ...

A wonderful return for ex-Cardiacs man William D Drake joined by friends from North Sea Radio Orchestra and Stars in Battledress among others, combining folk threads with medieval, British dancehall, sea shanties and avant garde musics. You’ll be hard pushed to restrain yourself when you hear opener ‘Distant buzzing’ with an irresisitible stomping rhythm lead by a winning sax honk and endearingly antique lyrics by Mr James Kelsey-Fry. Thereafter, enjoy the shanty swing with melodica of ‘Lifeblood’, the startling slave mutiny anthem ‘Heart of oak’ and the meditative medieval choral atmosphere of ‘Be here steryear’ with Drake’s constantly searching wrongfooting piano chords. ‘The Catford Clown’ comes on like a modern day madrigal, twirling melodies and undefined time signatures, until the breakdowns near the end which countenance heavy metal. By flirting with the spectre of ‘the novelty song’ the scathing satire of the lyric and wonderful instrumental technique are thinly an...

There's a new album by William D Drake who used to be in Cardiacs . It's another wonderful combination of folk with medieval with avant garde and overflowing with great tunes. One of them was in the middle of this week's show, the swinging 'Lifeblood'. New (to me) music also from Kathryn Joseph , a compelling singer from Glasgow, and Flo Morrissey an English folk artist who would remind you a lot of Alela Diane , always a good thing. The Apartments are having one of their albums reissued by Captured Tracks. One of The Apartments Peter Walsh was briefly in The Go Betweens , in fact two of the latter's songs were about him. Sounds like a double play made in heaven. Marcus Hamblett we've had on the show a couple of wks ago. A sublime semi-instrumental from his album would put you in mind of Ennio Morricone so we had him next to Il Maestro this week. And Those Unfortunates who've written a cracking garage rock tune in tribute to Malcolm McDow...

Brothers James and Richard Larcombe , who make up Stars in Battledress , take elements of folk music, English music hall, classical and minimalism to make an adventurous pop brand all their own. Sharing vintage keys and guitars, they flit from uplifting to sinister to primal at the drop of a hat. James plays with North Sea Radio Orchestra and William D Drake (also Craig Fortnam, see this review ) and those groups would give a fair idea of the kind of richness of melody and innovative song structures you can expect here. It ends up as quixotic as Van Dyke Parks, with something too of the heartfelt restlessness of Apple Venus -era XTC. The latter is certainly present in my own personal favourite, ‘Fluent English’, a plangent piano tune with a panoramic melody and an intellectual lyrical sweep. *I also love the Wicker Man -esque ‘Hunt the button’ and the scathing ‘Buy one now’, an antidote to consumerism in the cunning guise of an advertising jingle. 'Fluent Engl...

And speaking of William D. Drake , I believe his hands make an appearance in this video (although I could be wrong). That's from the new North Sea Radio Orchestra album, I a moon . In a word, it's fantastic. I'll have a bit more on it at the end of the month. NSRO is Craig Fortnam and friends (that's him on guitar). Craig also released one of my favourite albums of last year under the name Arch Garrison . Here's a few thoughts on that at the time. Arch Garrison - King of the Down (Double 6) Arch Garrison is mainly Craig Fortnam of North Sea Radio Orchestra. This is a gorgeous album of ancient-sounding English folk music, with a few nods to modernity. Song titles like Stone on the pound, Thames Fluvius and Roman Road give a hint of tradition but this never feels clichéd. Great tunes help, as usual, and an irrepressibly upbeat mood. That upbeat mood is something carried over into his other band. NSRO classes itself as a chamber group of sorts. I'm no...

So anyway, I mentioned something in the William D. Drake review a couple of months back that I wanted to come back to. At the time, I said that the instrumental track Ziegler from his album, The Rising of the Lights , reminded me of the Wanderly Wagon theme tune. For the uninitiated, this was an Irish children's tv show from the 1970's, focused around the wide-eyed genius of puppeteer, the late Eugene Lambert . (For those of another generation, it also regularly featured the actor Frank Kelly - Father Jack from Father Ted - as the bungling evil wizard Dr Astro.) So here's the theme tune. Listening back to it now, it starts with more of a Beach Boys feel, with that signature alternating left-hand-right-hand keyboard style, before launching into full prog-rock glory with a creamy guitar solo. Nothing like Ziegler , in fact. Which sounds more like this. Ziegler by William D Drake Is that clarinet, harmonium and hurdy-gurdy together in the one piece of music? Brilliant...

Some more beauties now plucked from the fog of the recent monthly round-up. William D. Drake - Rising of the lights (Onomatopoeia Records) Here's what I know about William D. Drake. He used to be in English band Cardiacs. He's obviously interested in English folk and medieval music - I have a hunch he enjoys silent film soundtracks too. His music is playful and quite surreal, but not at the expense of passion and energy. The instrumental track Ziegler starts like a Buster Keaton chase sequence (with twirling clarinet) before becoming very like the theme tune to (the fondly remembered Irish children's tv programme) Wanderly Wagon . He's a fantastic piano player, who sounds like he'd be right at home with jazz, classical, traditional or any other genre you'd like to throw at him. The song Ornamental hermit concerns the (presumably discontinued, although you never know) practice of wealthy English families keeping a hermit on their grounds. The title of the al...

So we've had our summer here in Ireland, in the shape of an Easter heatwave. Normal service has been resumed now in the shape of rain (sometimes wholehearted downpours, sometimes a cheeky drizzle, just for variety). More great music to listen to (indoors) this month, with chamber pop particularly to the fore. But you'll also find orchestral, psychedelic, garage-rock and IDM flourishes, among others, below. What's a pop music tag between friends anyway. All albums, unless otherwise noted. The Doomed Bird of Providence - Will ever pray (Front & Follow) It's quite unusual to find an album that is the result of, in effect, a research project. What a bonus when the music has a mysterious and compelling quality (although we partly guessed as much based on the band's fine eponymous EP of last year). The research in question, by singer Mark Kluzek, focuses on early Australian history and reveals harrowing tales of death and delinquency in the inhospitable tropics an...