The Underground of Happiness

The third and final part of my Best of 2018 round up. Some folk sounds. A few soundtrack cuts. Hint of ambient. A share of dream pop. Great memories of 2018 for me. And again it must be said that it was another wonderful year for music in this neck of the woods. Enjoy. Playlist Jessica Risker – I see you among the stars (Western Vinyl) Jim Ghedi – Sloade Lane (Basin Rock Records) Alasdair Roberts, Amble Skuse & David McGuinness – Babylon (Drag City) Jack Hayter – At Crossness Pumping Station (Gare du Nord) Caroline Says – First song (Western Vinyl) The Saxophones – Aloha (Full Time Hobby) Jennifer Castle – Texas (Paradise of Bachelors) Gabriel Naim Amor – Just before revelation (Vacilando ’68) LOMA – Dark oscillations (Sub Pop) Tenniscoats – Ende (Alien Transistor) Spirit Fest – Anohito (Till the gate) (Alien Transistor) Landless – Caoin (Humble Serpent) Kathryn Joseph – we have been loved by our mothers (Rock Action) Low – Always trying...

******************************************************************************************************** Bedouine – Back to you (from the album Bedouine , Spacebomb) Another wonderful nugget recorded at Matthew E. White’s Spacebomb hub in Richmond Virginia. The origin though is the voice and songs of Azniv Korkejian born in Syria to Armenian parents but resident in the US for some years. Her voice is an intoxicating thing. Hushed. Softly spoken. Insistent. Containing something of a Carole King about it. Or even a Karen Carpenter maybe. Another time anyway. When there was strength in subtlety and soul was in the nuance as much as the decibels. And the dream of an arrangement behind the perfect match. Gently enervating brass and woodwind. Uplifting top note strings. Beautiful pitter patter bass. A genius falsetto backing vocal that catches me every time. She also has a way with a lyric Ms Korkejian. California city parks They talk in excl...

There’s a kinda core of lounge music at the heart of this week’s show. Howe Gelb has expanded on last year’s Future Standards album with the wonderful Lonna Kelley joining him for some new songs and a few updated. Check that for the voices alone, the sumptuous backing is a bonus. The late Andy Williams has always had a lot of love round here. Here he is with a gorgeous arrangement of a classic. And some great Italian jazz from Armando Trovajoli . Brilliant and thanks to Trunk Records for the tip. As we’re at it let’s throw Lee Hazlewood into that basket too. From his masterful Swedish soujourn in 1970. Tenniscoats , a different kind of lounge, a beautiful drifting naive folk pop one. And Loma . Not lounge per se. But slow moving and weighty and absolutely compelling. More on thesepages. The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Twitter: U...

There’s a wonderful weight to this music. Could be the weight of longing. Or regret. Or desire. Maybe even fear. But the air is thick with it. It is Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater with Emily Cross and Dan Duszynski of Cross Record . It is the kind of song that could haunt your waking hours.

A new project to mark your cards with on the show this week. Loma is Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater , with Emily Cross & Dan Duczynski of Cross Record . Together they make some wonderful slow moving weighty sounds. A little ambient. A little epic. They would remind you a bit of the great Low , who are in here too, as well as Old Fire with an interesting cover of a Low song. Chloe March is back with a new album which is great news – stunning rarefied synth compositions with layers of her remarkable voice. Plus still not sick of the marvellous 'Semicircle song' from The Go! Team . More on these pages. The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Twitter: UndergroundOfHappy Playlist 469 Tues Nov 21 2017 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 ...