The Underground of Happiness

One last post before New Year's. This one rounds up some tunes mostly from the second half of the year. It turns out there was a lot of great instrumental music in there. Plus some other material that I think fits with that. Enjoy and see you on the other side. Fixity – Hungry clouds Tortoise – The catastrophist Elias Krantz – Patchwork Pt 1 Syrinx – Aurora spinray Marielle V Jakobsons – Rising light Cavern of Anti-Matter feat. Bradford Cox – liquid gate Melt Yourself Down – Dot to dot The Comet Is Coming – Space carnival Dieterich & Barnes – Parasol gigante Alien Ensemble – Skeleton dance Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith – Arthropoda Matthew Bourne – Keighley Qluster – Glasperlenspiel Nathan Bowles – Chiaroscuro Lambchop – Flotus Iggy Pop, Tarwater & Alva Noto – As Adam early in the morning/I am he that aches with love Rothko – A young fist curled around a cinder for a wager Wymond Miles – Protection C Duncan – Nothing more Weyes Blood – Generation Why Cool...

Part 2 of this list, out of four in total, the others to follow in January. There will be another Best of Mix also over the next week, stay tuned to Mixcloud. ********************************************************************* 1. Trashcan Sinatras – Let me inside (Or let me out) A monumental year for fans of this treasured Scottish band. A new crowdfunded album, the wonderful Wild pendulum , possibly their best ever work, and tours in America and Europe. And having seen them play live in November, the big insight (other than the obvious genius on show) was the sheer soulfulness of the songs. So yeah, top notch tunes and buckets of soul. I’ll take that any year. http://theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.ie/2016/11/trashcan-sinatras-workmans-club-dublin.html Track 14 in this playlist 2. Britta Phillips – One fine summer morning (from the album Luck or magic, Double Feature) Another artist I saw play live in 2016. In these thoughts from last June, I was zoning...

Musical moments and memories from the year gone by. In no particular order. Enjoy. ******************************************************************* 1. North Sea Radio Orchestra – Dronne (The Household Mark) Another sublime set of tunes from Craig Fortnam and company which combines folk, kosmische and avant garde classical strands, taking the legacy of former band Cardiacs into fascinating new territory. Woodwind and strings are strong and strident against a hushed motorik rhythm on centrepiece song ‘The British road’, a wonderfully sharp state of the nation analysis of Brexit era Britain – when will they learn to fight like our men, how can I rise if you don’t fall. These poised swooping strings, along with the cooing woodwind, the signature guitar style of Craig Fortnam – courtly, playful, lithe – buzzing synths and the great pure singing of Craig’s wife Sharon against Craig’s reedier tones provide the core elements throughout. Essential food for the ears, th...

A sublime psych soul cut with deep roots coming from Prince and Curtis Mayfield and others. Horns. Bending melodies. Ascending strings. Wonderful bass driven backbeats. It’s 3 and a half minutes long but feels like a full blown symphony. If you need any other reasons to be endeared, it seems to be a song about love and dancing. One of the year’s essential sounds for me.

A late entry into my end of year thinking but not to worry as this is an album that needs time to smoulder. The opening song has a gorgeous sweep if you take a minute – banks of devotional voices, a surrounding sense of mystery and a graceful but insistent melody. And in the end a kind of soulfulness, a reaching out, perhaps an effort to alleviate the weight, underneath the sublime minimalist stylings. There's something deeply existential about this sound but in the end it is simply transcendant. The Midnight Sun by C Duncan

A sweet left turn from the Wand frontman into gorgeous string soaked psych folk territory. With a voice knowing like early Marc Bolan but vocal delivery straight and earnest like Nick Drake. Beautiful things that will stick with you from this record. The brilliant slow build of the title track, with a string playout that is balm for the soul. The soft shoe boogie, strident string section and killer up and down vocal melody of ‘Replica’. The hushed major seventh mood of ‘Violent moon’, with plaintive cello accompaniment. The line “ordinary people took my mother from me” amid a string section throbbing one minute and soaring the next, irresistible but emotionally fraught. The swooning melancholy of the highlighted vocal on ‘The garden of delight’. The all round intrigue and arms length psych feel of the set. A wonderful wonderful piece of work.

A captivating tune from Howe Gelb as he goes back (to the future?) to a piano trio format and back to the atmosphere of the standards he grew up with. He also hooks up here with Lonna Kelley , often time associate of Gelb’s and duetter on ‘Pen to paper’ from the last Giant Sand record, Heartbreak Pass , one of the most glorious vocal performances ever committed to record I still believe. There’s a narcotic effect to this dual vocal, sleepy and late night. But though steeped in later years nostalgia, there’s a satisfying knottiness to the lyric that keeps pulling you back to wide awake. Love was just a just reward just not the thing that your heart could ill afford A beautiful intimate late night experience, this. Track 1 in this playlist