Nick Diamonds, Cloud Cult, and Norah Jones perform on Radio Happy Hour
This month Radio Happy Hour is celebrating our two-year anniversary. And as is our tradition (because we’ve done it twice now) we’re sharing our annual Radio Happy Hour Mixtape with you. The last year has been pretty awesome, we’ve had some great musical guests including Born Ruffians, Tim Kasher, Suckers, Norah Jones, Abe Vigoda, Nick Diamonds, and more. Enjoy some free MP3s of performances recorded live at (Le) Poisson Rouge in New York, then go check out some full episodes of Radio Happy Hour with these guests on iTunes.
We’ll be celebrating our two-year anniversary with a live taping at City Winery with special guests Sun Airway, Hank & Cupcakes, Jared Logan, and John & Molly Knefel on June 18th. More info on that here.
You can download a zip file of the entire mixtape here.
1. Tim Kasher – “No Fireworks”
Tim Kasher made his second appearance on Radio Happy Hour for the episode titled “The Christmas Gayle” along with Suckers, Arden Myrin, and Joe Mande. (His first appearance was with his band Cursive.) Tim played “No Fireworks” from his solo debut album The Game Of Monogamy
2. Islands (Nick Diamonds solo) – “Shotgun Vision”
It was one year ago that Nick Diamonds (Islands, Unicorns) came on the show for our first Radio Happy Hour & Friends evening on our one-year anniversary. He appeared on “The Little Flautist” with actor Eddie Kaye Thomas and comedian Murray Hill. “Shotgun Vision” is a brand new song (well, at least a year old now) that Nick hasn’t recorded yet, but will likely appear on a forthcoming Islands album in a full band arrangement. Here, he goes solo.
3. David Dondero – “Nobody Loves Your Doggie Like You Do”
Austin-based singer-songwriter David Dondero came to Radio Happy Hour for “The Don, The Delicious, and The Doom,” which also featured The Postelles and 2009 US Air Guitar Champion William Ocean. Here he played a song from his album of covers and oddities A Pre-Existing Condition
Suckers appeared on “The Christmas Gayle” along with Tim Kasher and comedians Arden Myrin and Joe Mande. They played their epic indie anthem “Black Sheep” off their album Wild Smile.
5. The Postelles – “White Night”
The Postelles stopped by well in advance of their just recently released debut album to play their single “White Night” on the episode “The Don, The Delicious, and The Doom” with David Dondero and William Ocean (who played some air guitar with The Postelles at the end of the show).
6. Born Ruffians – “Retard Canard”
Born Ruffians came on the show last fall for a hilarious episode that also featured director Andrew Bujalski and comedian Hannibal Burress (30 Rock, SNL).
7. Cloud Cult – “You’ll Be Bright”
It was October when we had Norah Jones and comedian Gabe Liedman on the show for an episode called “Bonerman’s Honor,” and Minnesota-based chamber pop ensemble Cloud Cult came out as a surprise guest to play a full band rendition of their beautiful and sweeping “You’ll Be Bright.”
8. Abe Vigoda – “Dream of my Love (Chasing After You)”
Downcast indie-rockers Abe Vigoda (not the actor) guest starred on the episode “The House That Ted Built” with Marcellus Hall and Ted Alexandro.
9. Marcellus Hall – “Laughing With You”
The companion of Abe Vigoda, Marcellus Hall was another member of Sam’s Junior Detectives in “The House That Ted Built.” The singer-songwriter (and New Yorker artist) sang his charming song “Laughing With You.”
10. Elizabeth & the Catapult – “Race You”
Elizabeth Ziman and co. join the Radio Happy Hour crew in “The Montana Three Way” along with author Arthur Phillips and comedian Dave Hill. She played some beautiful songs on piano and guitar with her band including “Race You.”
11. Franz Nicolay – “This is Not A Pipe
The mustachioed vaudevillian Franz Nicolay fit right in on Radio Happy Hour. He joined the crew in their return to Manhattan, Minnesota for “The Tax Murderer” and told some stories of what it takes to make it in show business.
12. Norah Jones – “Young Blood”
Friend of the show, Norah Jones made her second appearance on the show for “Bonerman’s Honor” with comedian Gabe Liedman.
This year also saw the first three part mini-series from Radio Happy Hour called “The Fall of Keith.” You can watch part one here:
Radio Happy Hour presents The Fall of Keith: Part 1 from Radio Happy Hour on Vimeo.
Many thanks to Richie Clarke at (Le) Poisson Rouge, who engineered all of these recordings, as well as the sound for all live recordings.
Please do not rehost these files on your site. If you wish to repost this, please provide a link to this site. We appreciate it.
