The Underground of Happiness

The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Playlist 182 Tues June 28th 2011 11.00am-12.00pm (repeated on Tuesdays 8.30pm) Cork Campus Radio, 98.3FM listen live on the web at www.ucc.ie/ccr *listen back to this show at https://rapidshare.com/files/3371091017/UOH_Podcast_June_28_2011.mp3 Playlist Future Islands - Before the bridge ( playing Plan B, London, July 9 ) Thread Pulls - Weight ( playing Crane Lane Theatre, Cork, July 1 ) Cian Nugent - Sixes & sevens (excerpt 2) ( playing Triskel Christchurch, Cork, July 22, w/ Ryan Francesconi ) Patrick Kelleher & his Cold Dead Hands - Too many harsh words ( playing The Grand Social, Dublin, July 15, album launch ) The Reich Effect Festival, Cork, July 27-31 Ensemble Avantgarde - Pendulum Music I ( Steve Reich Public Interview, Cork Opera House, July 27 ) Efterklang - Illuminant ( playing Savoy Theatre, ...

I remember a time, just about 6 years ago (bear with me on this, it won't take long). It was the Electric Picnic Festival in September 2005. I was attending largely because of one band, Arcade Fire , whose first album Funeral had spent most of that year on repeat at my house, and whose uplifting anthems (or are they anti-anthems) I was very much looking forward to seeing and hearing in the flesh. Of course, I wasn't alone. In fact, at least 5,000 other people had exactly the same idea as me and crammed into the large tent for one of the most anticipated Irish gigs of recent times. Now, I'm not a great one for crowds, in the sense of feeling at one with that many other people in a confined space. I'm a bit too cynical, maybe. I'm happy to share the moment with a few close friends, but beyond that... However as the band came on stage and played through Rebellion (Lies), Wake up, Neighbourhood #2 (Laika) et al, I felt myself surfing a genuine wave of emotion, a wave ...

I flicked around the BBC love-in over the weekend, otherwise known as the Glastonbury Festival . In among the constant back-slapping, there were some genuinely memorable pop moments. (Not including Gwyneth Paltrow, Beyoncé and Jay-Z standing together in the VIP pit watching Coldplay . Or U2 . Although both had some anthropological value.) I'm thinking more of Metronomy's performance of The look in the backstage "fairy garden", which was brilliant. They came complete with compulsory wellies, handclaps, watertight vocal harmonies and that unforgettable vintage keyboard riff. Magic. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to locate the footage of the performance on the net, so we'll have to make do with the video. And as a bonus, here's the ridiculously entertaining video for their new single The Bay , a sub-Ian Fleming fantasy, showing off lovely Torquay, I believe. *I must also mention the mindblowing performance of Janelle Monae . Apart from the flaw...

Josh Ottum - Watch TV (Tapete Records) Thrilling revival of all that is good about 70's AM rock and a certain 80's high fidelity sound (you know you love it), from America's Pacific Northwest. Goin gone has authentic prog-pop chops (a bit like a calmer Darwin Deez ) and a knockout chorus (two different ones, in fact) that recalls the theme tune to The Greatest American Hero . The spectre of Chicago (the band) hangs comfortably around the twin guitar solo of Fool in the night . The very next song, Storms in the summertime , takes a left turn with synth gurgles and handclap syncopations - sounding quite like a 21st century Steely Dan - underlining the experimental heart beneath the pop hooks. The gorgeous male falsetto of Green in the sun belongs on primetime television (not a putdown), which is appropriate given the title of the album. Not built for two seems at first like the type of electric piano ballad not heard since Dean Friedman's I am in love with a McDonald...

Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat - Everything's getting older (Chemikal Underground) Grand Snr's a big fan of this and it's grown on me like something you'd look forward to wearing. We already spoke last month about the brilliant single The copper top , a plaintiff meditation on mortality. Among other things worthy of your attention on the album, check the shopping list monologue of Cages with its handclap jazz beat backing; the raw, and very Arab Strap -ish, confessional of Ballad of the Bastard ; the scuzzy Scottish street funk of Glasgow Jubilee , all back-alleys and blow jobs; the great Runyonesque noir gone wrong of Dinner time . The arrangements of legendary jazzman Wells, anchored by sombre piano, are pitch-perfect all the way, sincere or playful as needs be. And Moffat's writing jumps off the page, characters fully formed, a dirty-realist page-turner. It's a great piece of work, this album.

The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Playlist 181 Tues June 21st 2011 11.00am-12.00pm (repeated on Tuesdays 8.30pm) Cork Campus Radio, 98.3FM listen live on the web at www.ucc.ie/ccr *listen back to this show at https://rapidshare.com/files/332237186/UOH_Podcast_June_21_2011.mp3 Playlist Patrick Kelleher & his Cold Dead Hands - Multipass (Catscars remix) ( Catscars playing The Spiegeltent, Cork, June 26 ) The Doomed Bird of Providence - Fedicia Exine (Zoon van snooK remix) Josh Ottum - Goin gone Darren Hayman & the Secondary Modern feat. Emmy the Great - Calling out your name again ( playing Deaf Institute, Manchester, June 29 ) Metronomy - The bay ( playing Oxegen Festival, Punchestown, July 8 ) Ryan Francesconi - Palios Karsilamas ( playing Triskel Christchurch, Cork, July 22, w/ Cian Nugent ) Cashier No. 9 - Lost at sea ( playing The Marquee...

Qluster - Haste Tone (Bureau B, from the album Fragen ) From Hans-Joachim Roedelius, who (along with Dieter Moebius and others) brought you Kluster, Cluster and Harmonia, and sound installationist Onnen Bock. Meditative, swelling synths ebb and flo like the tide, punctuated by discreet bells and obscure gurglings, until a beautiful piano and flute duo sails into view. Sublime stuff from a master. QLUSTER - LIVE PREVIEW 2011 from luma launisch on Vimeo . Cashier No. 9 - Lost at sea (Bella Union, from the album To the death of fun ) An uplifting wall of 60's sound, with a melancholy vocal in the middle and a lonesome harmonica in the wings, from the Belfast band's David Holmes-produced debut album. Tympani and castanets make up the intriguing supporting cast. There's the glorious whiff of the Brill building about the songwriting too. And here's the equally great first single from the album, Goldstar , sounding a shade like The Stone Roses taken in hand by Lee H...