8 Best Songs of the Week: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Morrissey, CHVRCHES, Wolf Alice, and More

Sep 22, 2017 Christopher Roberts

We're back down to eight Songs of the Week, after promising last week to stick with a Top 10 for awhile. But it was a slow week for new tracks. Still, there were some clear gems this week, as you will see below, with an easy choice for top song. 

Iron & Wine on “Beast Epic”

Sep 22, 2017 Web Exclusive

Job satisfaction is never a concern for Sam Beam. The simplistic joy of musical expression he experienced recording as Iron & Wine for the first time is still the dominant feeling in the studio 15 years later. Perhaps it's no surprise, then, that the vulnerability that marked those first few records is still front and center on his latest album, Beast Epic (on Sub Pop).

Japanese Breakfast on “Soft Sounds From Another Planet”

Sep 21, 2017 Issue #61 - Grizzly Bear

Everyone's death grief model is unique. Kübler-Ross, the best known model, rarely encompasses its depth in the long term. There's no manual in place for such a cataclysmic life event. For Michelle Zauner, who essentially is the Philadelphia based Japanese Breakfast, her first album Psychopomp tackled the subject in a fairly straightforward manner after her mother's death. 

Bedouine

Sep 20, 2017 Issue #61 - Grizzly Bear

2017 has been a period of nascency for Azniv Korkejian, a.k.a. Bedouine-as we're settling in for our interview, the Syrian-Armenian singer is in Houston with her family, welcoming her newborn nephew into the world. Between that and the release of her self-titled debut album, Korkejian is in the midst of a very fruitful season.

Under the Radar’s Top 50 Albums of 2017 So Far

Jul 13, 2017

In the past we've avoided posting midyear best albums lists. It seemed somehow impatient and premature to evaluate the year's albums halfway through. And how do you decide which period the list covers, which arbitrary release date do you work out is the cut off point, as every midyear list seems to cover a different period? But 2017 is a year that demands a partial evaluation. The first half of the year has already produced enough strong albums to easily fill a Top 50, but also the second half of 2017 is stacked with so many high profile releases that threaten to overshadow some of the gems released so far. For example, we've already heard some August and September releases that we're certain will make the upper echelons of our final best albums of 2017 list come December.

To make this list an album had to be released for the first time (no reissues) somewhere between January 1, 2017 and last Friday, July 7. That means there are some good albums out tomorrow (such as Waxahatchee, Japanese Breakfast, and The Dears) that may made this list had we extended the period that far. Fourteen of our writers and editors (including myself and my co-publisher/wife Wendy Redfern) each submitted a list of their 20 favorite albums released this year thus far. Their number one album was worth 20 points, their number two worth 19 points, and so on until their number 20 album and any honorable mentions were worth one point each. All of that was calculated into the final list. By the way, this year we've interviewed 38 of the artists in the Top 50 and reviewed almost all these albums, so continue reading Under the Radar, both in print and online, for further proof that in-depth music journalism is far from dead. By Mark Redfern

Panorama 2017: Highlights & Observations

Aug 04, 2017 By Austin Trunick

NYC’s Panorama is a relatively young festival, which makes the smoothness with which it ran very impressive.

Soundtracking the Resistance - Gracie and Rachel on Music Industry Misogyny and Mansplaining

Sep 22, 2017 By Stephen Mayne

The backgrounds that form the soaring orchestral pop echoing out on Gracie Coates and Rachel Ruggles' self-titled debut as Gracie and Rachel can be reduced to a west coast/east coast duality. Hailing from California, and now based in New York, there's the majestic lightness of the golden state, and the urban isolation of NYC.