The Underground of Happiness

There’s a welcome strain of mad bastard floating around a certain brand of German music lately and a good portion of it seems to emanate from the Alien Transistor label. AMEO are an 18 piece ensemble lead by Daniel Glatzel based in Berlin and this music could really make you want to move there. From the blurb: It arrives gently, with shimmering lights, soft winds, sashaying melodies, and of course, the isotherms and isotheres function just as they should: All of a sudden, lighting strikes amid the concord of instruments, unforeseen energies erupt and upset the rhythmic scenery with elemental force. Making a combined effort to create sheltering patches of harmony within the unfolding drama, leader Daniel Glatzel and his 18-piece “working band” set out to harness album #4...imagine Michel Legrand meeting Maurice Ravel at a Gil Evans gig. To that I would also add the lightness and sparkle of a Joe Hisaishi Studio Ghibli soundtrack. And the joyousness frivolity and el...

A most appealing bass concoction from this Berlin husband and wife duo, Ella and Florian Zweitnig. In among the stalking pulses, there are plenty of lovely kosmische tones giving a satisfying light-and-dark experience. The vocal is perfectly pitched too, banks of dispassionate Ellas conveying something vaguely disquieting.

Photo: Bríd O'Donovan - showshotshare.tumblr.com I went to see Beach House in Cork last month, at the Cork Opera House (review here , which was originally published on WeAreNoise ). I’m a big fan of the band and I enjoyed the gig, but, disappointingly, I wasn’t blown away. That was my third time seeing them live, in fact, and each gig, for different reasons, fell short of the wow factor (Whelan’s 2010, some kind of onstage edginess; Primavera 2010, ropey sound). At the time, I put this down to a combination of things – mainly, the festival weekend crowd in the Opera House, much of whom were more concentrated on the bar than the stage, and qualms about the suitability of the venue for the band. Now, the Opera House is a magnificent venue, but it occurred to me that somewhere less expansive, high-ceilinged, theatrical might be a better fit for Beach House. Well, I was lucky enough to see the band again, in Berlin, a few weeks ago, at the Astra Kulturhaus in Kreu...

Last year's In dust album by Roll the Dice was one of my highlights of the year, a great slow burning, rolling machine of a beast, but somehow warm and engaging at the same time. Now, the Swedish duo have enlisted Stefan Betke , better known as the influential Berlin electronic artist Pole , to perform some remixes from the album. Hard to say these days where an original begins and a re-do kicks in. In this case, it's as if the original pieces are in glitchy telephone contact with the updates, from a distant space colony of the future, while bass bins pound through the floor from downstairs. Ghostly dub, you might say, catchy and intriguing you might also say, and the effect is to make you hear the originals with a whole new perspective. Here's the beef. artist: ROLL THE DICE meets POLE title: In Dubs label: The Leaf Label formats: Limited edition 12” silver and black vinyl EP (DOCK 59 / UPC 843190055968) Digital (DOCK 59E / UPC 843190055999) release date: Mond...

Peter Broderick returns with his follow-up vocal album to debut Home in 2008, and shows the influence of his copious instrumental and soundtrack work in the interim, with (he tells us) no restrictions placed on arrangements or sonic direction this time. Straightaway I am piano has an air of Music for Confluence (one of PB’s dance soundtrack commissions – more here ) about it, in its gentle foundation of swinging violin. That’s followed quickly by A tribute to our letter writing days , the lovely group choral backdrop the perfect setting for its communal nostalgia. At this point, I began to form the impression that the album lacked the immediacy or the arresting beauty of Home . However, he then hits on a fascinating new direction on the title track, creating a backbeat from an insistent picked electric guitar figure and some whipcrack guitar effect decay. Later in the same tune, there’s a gorgeous, ascending violins-with-choir section. The song also contains the line “ maybe you ...

Irresistible indie pop from the Berlin-based boy-girl duo Robert Kretzschmar and Ella Blixt , with dual lead vocals, infectious drumbeats and swirling organ riffs. If that description makes you think of Quasi, there is something of their aesthetic going on, although this pair operate at a less frenetic pace. This (their second album) is full of perfect pop songs like Point Back, Team that never wins (an Eleventh Hour cover), Pictures, The dream and the title track, one of the sweetest, most defiant putdowns in the pop canon. They also have one ear firmly on the dancefloor. If you’re anything like me, you won’t be able to get enough of this. Highly recommended. *Extra kudos for the name, to my mind answering the ageless question, “ What kind of music do you play ?”. For Years And Years by It's A Musical

The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Playlist 212 Tues Mar 13 2012 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://rapidshare.com/files/1681058786/The_Underground_Of_Happiness_Mar_13_2012.m4a Playlist The Go-Betweens - Karen Grand Pocket Orchestra - Andy has the power of a million men ( playing The Pavilion, Cork, Apr 12th, w/ Saint Yorda ) Papa M - Arundel ( playing Crane Lane Theatre, Cork, May 26 ) It's a Musical - Point Back AU - Epic ( playing Shacklewell Arms, London, Apr 25 ) British Expeditionary Force - When all of this is done FS Blumm & Lucrecia Dalt - quizas perhaps quizas Dustin O'Halloran - Opus 7 ( playing Cork Opera House, May 19, w/ Johann Johannsson & Hauschka ) Naim Amor - Le revenant Cian Nugent - Sixes & sevens (Excerpt...

One of our favourite labels around here is Erased Tapes , home to some of the most beautiful records of the last few years - Peter Broderick's soundtrack work, Nils Frahm's solo piano (and collaborative) albums, Olafur Arnalds' chamber music and, most recently, A Winged Victory for the Sullen's swoonsome, ambient instrumentals, to name just a few ( the latter's gig in Cork a few weeks ago was also up there for me among my all-time highlights of gigs in this, or any, city). Well, they're celebrating their 5th birthday and to mark the occasion they're giving away a free sampler featuring everyone on the roster. You can sample the sampler below, to avail of the download just register on their website . There was apparently a surprise party for label founder Robert Raths in Berlin , some of which was recorded - have a look at Peter Broderick, Nils Frahm and friend Martyn playing here. "Erased Tapes: Five Years Old!" from Erased Tapes on Vimeo...

This is a beguiling album of emotional songs from the Berliner, featuring lyrics with a broad romantic (in the Keats and Shelley sense – in fact the album title is apparently a nod to a Shelley poem from 1812, how cool) sweep. Let the bed sheet soak up my tears And watch the only way out disappear Don’t tell me why Kiss me goodbye But while the words wonder and brood in melancholy, almost metaphysical fashion, the surging, fizzing soundtrack reaches for the sky. The stall is set out from the beginning, in the shape of the celestial choir and circling, Reichian synths of opener Sweet unrest . You’ll probably already have heard the sublime single Song of Los , which manages to combine a semi-operatic vocal with a twitchy two-step (it reminds me of CocoRosie in a way), to make a tune of soaring emotional power. That title refers to the genesis of the album during a break from touring in Mexico in 2010, and there is a kind of sun-bleached, morning-after quality to a lot of the mu...

Another set of sublime neo-classical instrumentals from the Berlin resident, which shed new light on the full dynamic range of the piano. By close-miking the instrument from the inside, and playing the keys softly (it’s practically his signature style), Frahm exposes an unexpected set of sounds. Actually, the album almost qualifies as a field recording where the field is the inside of a piano, and the listener is surrounded by the sounds of the room fed through its natural reverb and decay, at least as much as the notes coming from the keys. The resulting arrangements feature microscopic rumbles and creaks and clicks as a kind of supporting orchestra arrived from the wings, and headphones are recommended/essential to get the full benefit. The title apparently derives from Frahm’s need to quieten the piano notes to show consideration for his neighbours during his nocturnal practice sessions. To achieve this effect, he layered thick felt in front of the piano strings. At times though ...

As an adjunct to last week's mention of the new My Brightest Diamond album , some great new Take Away Shows of her ( Shara Worden ) with some friends have just been released by the wonderful La Blogotheque . This first film features her solo with guitar sitting at the bar of the Hotel MichelBerger in Berlin (sounds good so far, says you) singing a song she wrote for her son (if my French isn't mistaken). Apart from being achingly beautiful, it also shows the meaning of "inhabiting" a song, as opposed to simply singing it. Those tears aren't crocodile, girls. My Brightest Diamond | I Have Never Loved Someone | A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo . This next one switches to New York (in the park, near water) and features Shara Worden and the yMusic Ensemble , who play extensively on the new album. There are actually two pieces of music here - first a song (she plays an autoharp and suppresses a smile, as if the director was trying to make her laug...

A new soundtrack work by the now Berlin resident (following last year's Congregation and 2009's Falling from trees dance soundtracks, both also on Erased Tapes ), this time to a film documentary by Jennifer Anderson and Vernon Lott about a cluster of unsolved cases of missing and murdered young girls in Idaho around 1980, and the main suspect that links the cases. With subject matter like that, and track titles like She just quit coming to school , Until the person is apprehended and Circumstantial evidence , you might expect something dour, serious, hopeless. Far from it. Broderick manages to maintain a delicacy and lightness of touch about the arrangements, without sacrificing a certain ominous quality in keeping with the subject matter. Broderick’s main instruments (if it’s fair to call them that, he seems to play everything, including vibes and steel drums on stage with Efterklang in Cork last July), piano and violin, are most prominent, to plaintiff and moving effect. ...

We always look forward to e-mails from Erased Tapes here at UOH HQ, but a particularly nice one arrived today. Have a listen here while reading below - rather than make up a load of other stuff, I've just copied the very well written press release. It makes more sense anyway, because there's a bit of a backstory, which you'll notice includes the late Mark Linkous (Sparklehorse) , as well as Peter Broderick , two of the people we love most in music. A Winged Victory For The Sullen – Steep Hills Of Vicodin Tears by erasedtapes CONTENT: ‘ A Winged Victory For The Sullen’ is the first installment of the new collaboration between Stars Of The Lid founder Adam Wiltzie and L.A. composer Dustin O’Halloran . The duo agreed to leave the comfort zone of their home studios and develop the recordings with the help of large acoustic spaces, hunting down a selection of 9ft grand pianos that had the ability to deliver extreme sonic low end. Other traditional instrumentation was...