Under the Radar | Music Blog for the Indie Music Magazine

Album Reviews

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
Murder of the Universe

Jun 23, 2017 Web Exclusive

Here's a quick recap: since 2012, Australian psych-punk gang King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard have released nine albums. One was a spoken-word Western concept album. One featured four long tracks of deliberately equal length.

Jeff Tweedy
Together At Last

Jun 23, 2017 Web Exclusive

Now this is a lovely thing. Jeff Tweedy revisits his past catalogue, recording acoustic renditions of songs from Wilco, Loose Fur, and Golden Smog. The record begins with a slightly faster paced "Via Chicago" from Wilco's Summerteeth, the tempo suiting the song very well.

Slow Dancer
In a Mood

Jun 22, 2017 Web Exclusive

Throughout In a Mood, Simon Okely (Slow Dancer) untangles a relationship—he mourns and celebrates it. What's fascinating about this deconstruction, however, is that he does not separate his feelings in a way that makes one song distinctly happy and another sad.

Classic Interviews

Pallers
Hanging out With Pallers

Aug 31, 2011 Web Exclusive

Take a moment to consider your best friend. He’s awesome, right? Now imagine locking yourself in a room with him and beginning an artistic process that will take years to complete. The picture may start to look less than ideal. Pals and musicians Johan Angergård (Club 8, The Legends, Acid House Kings) and Henrik Mårtensson managed to do just that—and maintain a sense of humor about the process. Leaning on a bulletproof friendship, the two musicians slowly chiseled out their haunting electro take on love and loss over the course of two years (or three—depending on who’s telling the story), displaying a patience usually reserved for sculptors.

Comic Book Reviews

Hellboy: Into the Silent Sea
Dark Horse

Jun 09, 2017 Web Exclusive

Hellboy: Into the Silent Sea has a lot going for it. Per usual with a Mike Mignola-verse project, the art-in this case by Gary Gianni, who also co-wrote the book with Mignola-is simply gorgeous.

Book Reviews

Matt Brennan
When Genres Collide: Down Beat, Rolling Stone, and the Struggle Between Jazz and Rock

Jun 02, 2017 Web Exclusive

With When Genres Collide, Matt Brennan takes a critical look at the interaction between jazz and rock and roll.

News

Six Best Songs of the Week: Grizzly Bear, Algiers, Radiohead, HAIM, and More

Jun 23, 2017 Christopher Roberts

To help you sort through the multitude of fresh songs released in the last seven days, we have picked the seven best this week had to offer, along with highlighting other notable new tracks shared this week.

More news:

Interviews

Track-by-Track: Kevin Morby on “City Music”

Jun 16, 2017 Web Exclusive

For the Track-by-Track feature, we go in-depth with an artist about each song on their new album. This week we are featuring Kevin Morby's City Music, out today on Dead Oceans.

Protest: The Drums

Jun 15, 2017 Issue #60 - Father John Misty

"How about we don't go to Walmart anymore, even ironically? Let's just not go to Walmart, period. Let's not think it's funny. Let's get mad instead."

More interviews:

Pleased to meet you

Fazerdaze

Jun 14, 2017 Issue #60 - Father John Misty

"I feel like I'm inviting people to watch me grow," says Amelia Murray, confessing to the deliberate transparency that she presents Fazerdaze—her happy/sad bedroom pop project. "I'm still figuring out what I'm doing."

More Pleased to Meet You:

Lists

Tribeca Film Festival 2017: Our Best of the Fest

May 01, 2017

Words by Austin Trunick.

The 2017 Tribeca Film Festival is now in the books, and this year’s fest was a true blast. Always a showcase for new and rising film talents, this year’s festival also provided attendees a chance to sneak peeks at new TV shows, interact with virtual reality shorts and installations on an entire floor dedicated to immersive entertainment, listen to respected video game makers dish on their design secrets, and hear some old filmmaking heavyweights discuss their classic movies. (I was lucky enough to be in the audience at this year’s Reservoir Dogs 25 Anniversary reunion, where Quentin Tarantino and his old castmates – Buscemi, Keitel Madsen, and Roth – looked back at the film, and even detailed Tom Waits’ failed audition for the movie.) When you’ve seen dozens of movies in such a short period of time, it can be tough to pick favorites, but we’re going ahead and trying. Here are our five top films of this year’s Tribeca festival, plus a few more noteworthy mentions.

More lists:

Galleries

Sled Island 2017
Sled Island 2017

More galleries:

Live reviews

Baroness at Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, June 2, 2017

Jun 13, 2017 By Frank Valish

At the "Birth Day" anniversary party for Tired Hands Brewing Company, metal masters Baroness thrilled to a sell out crowd.

More live reviews:

Blog

Soundtracking the Resistance - An Interview with Algiers on Their Politically Charged New Album

Jun 23, 2017 By Stephen Mayne

Not all musicians are political, and not all those who are think too deeply on the subject. That cannot be said of the members of Algiers, half of whom lay out concerns and hopes for the future in our interview this week. This week's column also tackles Republican healthcare plans, lost elections, disturbing footage, and memorials.