The Underground of Happiness

Damon & Naomi - False beats and true hearts (Broken Horse) The former bandmates of Dean Wareham in Galaxie 500 are still making a handsome contribution to the canon of dream pop. You only need to hear the plangent beauty of How do I say goodbye , or the English folk revival feel (albeit with a VU-ish electric guitar drone lurking in the shadows) of the gorgeous Shadow boxing . My own fave is What she brings , with its aching slide, creamy psych guitar and vibrating bells. Rich textures are supplied by understated mellotrons and flutes. All in all, a dizzy drift of pleasure through your subconscious. Which is something I recommend. Damon & Naomi with Chris Marker - And You Are There from The Wire Magazine on Vimeo .

The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Playlist 168 Tues Mar 22nd 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 http://rapidshare.com/files/453838662/UOH_Podcast_Mar_22_2011.mp3 Playlist Josh T. Pearson - Woman, when I've raised hell (alternate version) (playing Crane Lane Theatre, Cork, May 1) Marques Toliver - Deep in my heart The Unthanks - No one knows I'm gone (playing School of Music, Cork, Apr 10) Robin Pecknold feat. Ed Droste - I'm losing myself Eat Lights; Become Lights - They transmit Damon & Naomi - Walking backwards (playing Cafe Oto, London, May 11) The Raveonettes - Recharge and revolt Grimes - Favriel (playing Great Escape Festival, Brighton, May 12) Hauschka - Ping (playing Triskel Christchurch, Cork, May 15, live score ...

A couple of things came together recently. First, there was the new Damon & Naomi "video" made by Chris Marker (here's the post - http://theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com/2011/03/damon-naomi-chris-marker.html ) Then the new Erland & the Carnival album Nightingale (Full Time Hobby) arrived, and track 3 on it, Emmeline , begins with something like a prelude sequence, which bears a great resemblance to the Prelude from Bernard Herrmann's score for the Alfred Hitchcock film Vertigo . This caught my attention straight away because I'm a huge fan of this soundtrack, as well as Herrmann (and Hitchcock) in general. Chris Marker is probably best known for his seminal film, La jetée , which is made up almost exclusively of still images. But he's also responsible for a wonderful film called Sans soleil , in which, among other things, he explores the theme of "insane memory" in Hitchcock's Vertigo . It got me wondering if there were any connect...

Here's a fascinating link between the sweeter reaches of dream pop and iconic image-making. Damon & Naomi (in another life, the drummer and bass player in Galaxie 500) release a new album in May, False beats and true hearts , on Broken Horse. And one of the tracks from the album, And you are there , comes accompanied by a still image provided by one Chris Marker . Apparently, the duo have had contact with the legendary French film-essayist in the past and asked if he would like to contribute an image/s to go with this new song, which they tell us was inspired by his work. The inevitably beautiful result is below. Damon & Naomi with Chris Marker - And You Are There from The Wire Magazine on Vimeo . Chris Marker If you're nonplussed by a "music video" which is a still image, bear in mind that Marker's most famous work, La Jetée , consisted almost completely of still images (you're no doubt familiar with the much inferior Hollywood remake by...