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Tuesday, March 19th, 2024  

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12 Best Songs of the Week: Black Belt Eagle Scout, Lael Neale, Caroline Polachek, Girl Ray, and More

Plus Wings of Desire, Alex Lahey, The WAEVE, H. Hawkline, and a Wrap-up of the Week’s Other Notable New Tracks

Feb 03, 2023

Welcome to the fifth Songs of the Week of 2023. There were lots of strong contenders this week, the Top 7 is especially solid. We settled on a Top 12 this week. More

Feb 02, 2023

Petite Noir has announced a new album, MotherFather, and shared a new song from it, “Blurry” (which features Sampa the Great), via a music video. More

11 Best Songs of the Week: Quasi, The WAEVE, Gaz Coombes, serpentwithfeet, and More

Plus Petite Noir, The Natural Lines, Sweet Baboo, and a Wrap-up of the Week’s Other Notable New Tracks

Dec 02, 2022

Welcome to the 41st Songs of the Week of 2022. We didn’t do a Songs of the Week last week because of the Thanksgiving holiday, so this week’s list covers songs from the last two weeks. More

Nov 30, 2022

Petite Noir (aka Yannick Ilunga) has shared a new single, “Simple Things.” The song features jazz musician Theo Croker and is out now via Roya. More

Joint Album of the Week: Madeline Kenney and Phosphorescent

Perfect Shapes Out Now via Carpark and C'est La Vie Out Now via Dead Oceans

Oct 05, 2018

This week we have a tie for Album of the Week, with both Madeline Kenney‘s Perfect Shapes and Phosphorescent‘s C’est La Vie taking the top spot. Below is info on both albums.

12 Best Songs of the Week: Lana Del Rey, Frontperson, Helena Deland, Villagers, and More

Plus Suede, Beak>, Steve Mason, Petitie Noir, and a Wrap-up of the Week's Other Notable New Tracks

Sep 22, 2018

In many instances an album’s strongest songs are shared before the album’s release. There were several albums released this week, however, that featured standout tracks that were not advance singles and so this week’s Songs of the Week features some of those, filtered in with other new singles released this week. More

Petite Noir Shares New Song “Beach” (Feat. Danny Brown and Nukubi Nukubi)

La Maison Noir / The Black House Due Out October 5 via Roya

Sep 21, 2018

Petite Noir (aka half-Congolese, half-Angolan, Cape Town-residing artist Yannick Ilunga) is releasing a new mini-album, La Maison Noir / The Black House, October 5 via Roya. Previously he shared its first single, “Blame Fire”(which was one of our Songs of the Week). Now he has shared another song from the album, “Beach,” which features Danny Brown and Nukubi Nukubi. More

10 Best Songs of the Week: Anna Calvi, Spiritualized, Petite Noir, Neneh Cherry, and More

Plus Phosphorescent, Moses Sumney, Robyn, Jaakko Eino Kalevi, Teleman, and a Wrap-up of the Week's Other Notable New Tracks

Aug 03, 2018

Lots of strong Songs of the Week contenders this week. We were tempted to do a Top 12 again like last week, instead of our usual Top 10, but resisted the excess. There are lots of Europeans in this week’s list. More

Petite Noir Announces Mini-Album, Shares New Song “Blame Fire”

La Maison Noir / The Black House Due Out October 5 via Roya

Jul 30, 2018

Petite Noir (aka half-Congolese, half-Angolan, Cape Town-residing artist Yannick Ilunga) released his debut album, La Vie Est Belle / Life Is Beautiful, in 2015 via Domino. Now he has announced a new mini-album, La Maison Noir / The Black House, and shared its first single, “Blame Fire.” More

Under the Radar Announces Three SXSW Events: Car Seat Headrest, Hinds, Eleanor Friedberger, and More

Everything Everything, Caveman, Still Corners, Julien Baker, Sunflower Bean, Petite Noir, Fear of Men, Yuck, Gwenno, Girls Names, Cullen Omori, TEEN, and Others to Play

Mar 04, 2016

Under the Radar magazine is excited to reveal the full lineups, poster, and set times for its three SXSW 2016 events: two day parties on Wednesday, March 16 and Thursday, March 17 and one official nighttime showcase on Wednesday, March 16. The lineups include Car Seat Headrest, Julien Baker, Hinds, Eleanor Friedberger, Everything Everything, Caveman, Still Corners, Yuck, Sunflower Bean, Petite Noir, Girls Names, Gwenno, MONEY, Cullen Omori, TEEN, Mass Gothic, Younghusband, and more. More

Petite Noir Announces U.S. Tour Dates, Shares “MDR” Live Video

La Vie Est Belle / Life Is Beautiful Out Now via Domino

Feb 09, 2016

Petite Noir (aka half-Congolese, half-Angolan, Cape Town-residing artist Yannick Ilunga) released his debut album, La Vie Est Belle / Life Is Beautiful, last year via Domino. Now he has announced a handful of March U.S. tour dates to follow his SXSW appearances. More

SXSW Music 2016 Announces Second Round of Artists

Mercury Rev, Gwenno, Petite Noir, Cullen Omori, Autre Ne Veut, Chad Valley, Girls Names, PINS, and More on List

Nov 17, 2015

SXSW (aka South By Southwest), the annual conference/festival in Austin, Texas, has announced the second round of artists to be performing during the music portion (there’s also film and interactive portions) in 2016 (its 30th year). The list is a little short on big names, but a huge part of SXSW is discovering new artists. More

Watch: Petite Noir - “La Vie Est Belle / Life Is Beautiful” Video

La Vie Est Belle / Life Is Beautiful Out Now via Domino

Oct 19, 2015

Petite Noir (aka half-Congolese, half-Angolan, Cape Town-residing artist Yannick Ilunga) released his debut album, La Vie Est Belle / Life Is Beautiful, last month via Domino. Now he has shared the video for the album’s title track, which features rapper Baloji. Alan Del Rio Ortiz directed the stylish and futuristic clip, which was produced in conjunction with Urban Outfitters and their UM Music Video Series. More

Stream the Full New Album from Petite Noir, “La Vie Est Belle / Life Is Beautiful”

La Vie Est Belle / Life Is Beautiful Due Out September 11 via Domino

Sep 03, 2015

Petite Noir (aka half-Congolese, half-Angolan, Cape Town-residing artist Yannick Ilunga) is releasing his debut album, La Vie Est Belle / Life Is Beautiful, next Friday (September 11) via Domino. Previously he had shared the videos for “Down” and “Best,” as well as the audio for “MDR.”Now you can stream the full album below, via NPR First Listen. More

Listen: Petite Noir - “MDR”

La Vie Est Belle / Life Is Beautiful Due Out September 11 via Domino

Aug 25, 2015

As we previously reported, Petite Noir (aka half-Congolese, half-Angolan, Cape Town-residing artist Yannick Ilunga) is releasing his debut album, La Vie Est Belle / Life Is Beautiful, on September 11 via Domino. More

Watch: Petite Noir - “Best” Video

La Vie Est Belle / Life Is Beautiful Due Out September 11 via Domino

Aug 04, 2015

As we previously reported, Petite Noir (aka half-Congolese, half-Angolan, Cape Town-residing artist Yannick Ilunga) recently announced his debut album, La Vie Est Belle / Life Is Beautiful, which is due out September 11 via Domino. More

Petite Noir Announces Debut Album, Shares New Song “Down”

La Vie Est Belle / Life Is Beautiful Due Out September 11 via Domino

Jun 23, 2015

Petite Noir has announced his debut album and has shared a new song from it, “Down,” via its video. La Vie Est Belle / Life Is Beautiful is due out September 11 via Domino. More

Under the Radar Announces April/May Issue with Tame Impala on the Cover

Issue 53 Also Includes Interviews with Death Cab for Cutie, Mew, My Morning Jacket, The Jesus and Mary Chain on Psychocandy, Father John Misty, Charlie Cox of Marvel's: Daredevil, Domhnall Gleeson, Courtney Barnett, and More

Apr 10, 2015

Under the Radar is excited to announce the full details of the April/May 2015 issue, which is about to hit newsstands. It features Tame Impala on the cover. Actor Charlie Cox talks about his starring role in the new Netflix series, Marvel’s Daredevil. We interview The Jesus and Mary Chain‘s Jim Reid and Creation Records’ founder Alan McGee about the 30th anniversary of the Scottish band’s iconic debut album, 1985’s Psychocandy. The issue also includes interviews with Death Cab For Cutie, Mew, My Morning Jacket, Father John Misty, Domhnall Gleeson of Ex Machina, Courtney Barnett, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Laura Marling, Django Django, Will Butler, Purity Ring, San Fermin, TORRES, Twin Shadow, Matthew E. White, Amason, Jacco Gardner, Tobias Jesso Jr., Petite Noir, Natalie Prass, SOAK, and more. More

Watch: Petite Noir – “The Fall” Video

King of Anxiety is Out Now via Dom Mart

Mar 11, 2015

Petite Noir’s new video for The King of Anxiety cut “The Fall” sees the South African artist performing his track in stark black and white. More



Interviews

Petite Noir

Petite Noir

May 21, 2015

Yannick Ilunga is many things. A traveler who splits his time between London, England, and his home in Cape Town. A musician who crafts muted pop full of hypnotic chants, and sinuous, R&B inspired vocals under the name Petite Noir. More


Reviews

Dec 06, 2018

Frantz Fanon once wrote that “each generation must discover its mission, fulfill it or betray it, in relative opacity.” In this framing, the struggles for collective liberation and personal awakening are unified into a single revolutionary project that must begin with the understanding of where we stand. More

Mar 12, 2015

Yannik Ilunga aka Petite Noir may have grown up in Cape Town, but the musical inklings on his debut EP, The King of Anxiety, reveal roots spanning across the globe. More