The Underground of Happiness

Sumptuous mood piece from Doug McCombs and friends from only the fourth Brokeback album I was surprised to learn, although of course McCombs has been plenty busy with other projects. If the title suggests cinema, so does the quietly intense atmosphere – a weary travelogue maybe, or a melancholic memoir. The gorgeous slowly unwinding guitar lines smoulder, reminsicient of McCombs’ work with Tortoise, and underneath a bed of steel guitar shimmers. Instrumental music doesn’t get much more beautiful or meaningful than this. Illinois River Valley Blues by Brokeback

Part 3 of this epic poem, again in no particular order. And as a companion piece, check also this Best of 2016 mix which includes many of these tunes, along with a few from the upcoming Psych section, the final instalment. ************************************************************ 1. Tortoise – The Catastrophist (Thrill Jockey) Another wonderful album from Chicago’s finest and apart from anything else (the glorious hooks, the minimalist chops, the thrilling musicianship etc) a reminder of just how fucking groovy they are. Marvellous music for the brain and the feet. 2. Syrinx – Tumblers from the vault: 1970-1972 (RVNG Intl) A bolt from the blue for me and a fantastic compilation of ecstatic kosmische/dream jazz from this Toronto 3-piece. Also a thoroughly fascinating slice of the 70s underground (albeit unexpectedly accessible) and another great piece of archive work by RVNG Intl. 3. Fixity – Hungry clouds (Kantcope) Tremendous cut from the very...

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...

Every week the radio show is a series of mixes, usually a sequence of mini-mixes, 3 or 4 song runs put together to fill an hour. Every now and again though, a bunch of music comes together on my radar, drawn from albums sent to me as well as my own listening habits. Over the last few months I’ve noticed an amount of striking and powerful instrumental music coming together in this orbit I call The Underground of Happiness . All of this has received an airing on the show at some point, but given that I only have 1 hour per week to play with live on air, I thought it would be good to give some of this music an extra platform. Firstly, as you would expect, these are all instrumental pieces, which is to say they don’t contain vocals (although Polar Bear flirt with humming at one stage in ‘No more goodbyes’). In fact, most of these artists are what you would call either exclusively or largely instrumental artists. The cellist Julia Kent for example, exploring the outer reaches of her inst...

There’s only one Tortoise in the world and they’re back with their latest gift to us, a glorious groovy thing from the very first beat. So. Many. Highlights. The title track, a thrilling circling tune full of conviction and killer kosmische synth hooks. The great ominous build of ‘Shake hands with danger’, a minimalist clanging chime loop at its centre. The beautiful shifting sands of ‘The clearing fills’, a drifting jazz dream. The epic ‘Gesceap’, buzzing keys under a series of interlocking Reichian melodies. Guest vocals by Yo La Tengo’s Georgia Hubley on ‘Yonder blue’, a gorgeous dream pop turn over an army of swooning guitars. ( John McEntire produced YLT’s 2nd last album, the very beautiful Fade , so favour returned.) The drumming as always is wonderful, chunky and delicate, supported brilliantly by an urgent bass pulse. Plus they cover a David Essex song, ‘Rock on’, sung by Todd Rittmann of U.S. Maple . Honestly, can this band get any cooler? ...

A class of a Lambchop sideproject involving Kurt Wagner, Ryan Norris and Scott Martin of that revered Nashville band turning their hands to electronic dance music, as a follow on from their CoLAB EP from 10 years ago. On the face of it, you’d be hard pushed to identify any common features with the source group, although of course Lambchop always had a strong current of soul running under its country top notes. ‘We are glistening’ has Wagner’s wonderful hangdog croon (it just never gets old) over a busy backbeat of high hats and clicks and later on a series of sumptuous brass swells. John McEntire gets a mention on the bio as an influence and it’s probably the closest the album gets to that smouldering and soulful strand of Tortoise . In fact, it’s probably the closest the album gets to that smouldering and soulful strand of Lambchop. Which is to say it’s class all over.