Feb 13, 2025 By Mark Redfern

Japanese Breakfast (aka Michelle Zauner) is releasing a new album, For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women), on March 21 via Dead Oceans. Now she has shared the album’s second single, “Mega Circuit,” via a music video. She’s also announced some more tour dates. More

Jan 10, 2025 By Mark Redfern (with Andy Von Pip)

Welcome to the first Songs of the Week of 2025. This week Andy Von Pip, Caleb Campbell, Mariel Fechik, Mark Moody, Matt the Raven, and Scotty Dransfield helped me decide what should make the list. We considered over 30 songs and narrowed it down to a Top 13. It was a packed week for new songs, including a lot of album announcements, so there was a plethora to choose from. More

Jan 07, 2025 By Mark Redfern

Japanese Breakfast (aka Michelle Zauner) has announced a new album, For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women), and shared its first single, “Orlando in Love,” via a music video. She’s also announced some new tour dates. More

Nov 20, 2024 By Mark Redfern

Coachella has announced the lineup for their 2025 festival. Lady Gaga, Green Day, and Post Malone are the headliners. The lineup also features Beth Gibbons, Japanese Breakfast, Blonde Redhead, Missy Elliott, Charli XCX, Kraftwerk, Amyl and The Sniffers, Beabadoobee, Darkside, Jimmy Eat World, Viagra Boys, Djo, FKA twigs, Parcels, and many others. More

Jan 23, 2023 By Mark Redfern

Beck and Phoenix have announced a co-headlining tour they are calling the Summer Odyssey tour. Select dates feature support from Weyes Blood, Jenny Lewis, and Japanese Breakfast, depending on the show, with Sir Chloe to be the opener for all shows. More

Oct 04, 2022 By Joey Arnone

Japanese Breakfast (aka Michelle Zauner) has shared a cover of Brandi Carlile’s 2007 song “The Story.” The cover is being released for The North Face’s It’s More Than a Jacket campaign, and was featured in a promotional ad for the brand. More

Jul 20, 2022 By Joey Arnone

Japanese Breakfast (aka Michelle Zauner) has shared a Korean version of the song “Be Sweet” from her most recent album, Jubilee. The new version features guest vocals from So!YoON! of Seo So Neon. More

May 23, 2022 By Joey Arnone

Japanese Breakfast (aka Michelle Zauner) was the musical guest this past weekend on the season finale of Saturday Night Live. She performed “Be Sweet” and “Paprika” from her newest album, Jubilee, and made an appearance in a sketch. Zauner also just made the 2022 list for TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People. More

May 02, 2022 By Joey Arnone

Yeah Yeah Yeahs have announced N.Y. and L.A. tour dates in their upcoming string of live performances. Their October 1 performance at N.Y.C.’s Forest Hills Stadium will feature The Linda Lindas and a yet-to-be-announced supporting act. Their October 6 performance at Hollywood Bowl in LA will also feature The Linda Lindas in addition to Japanese Breakfast. Tickets go on sale this Friday at 10 a.m. local time. More

Mar 30, 2022 By Joey Arnone

Japanese Breakfast (aka Michelle Zauner) has shared a cover of Bon Iver’s “Skinny Love” and a newly recorded disco-inspired version of “Be Sweet” from Zauner’s newest album, Jubilee. The two new tracks are out now via Spotify’s Singles Series, which is currently featuring artists nominated for Best New Artist at the upcoming Grammy Awards. More

Mar 08, 2022 By Joey Arnone

Pitchfork Music Festival has announced their 2022 lineup. The National, Mitski, and The Roots will be headlining. Other acts include Spiritualized, Parquet Courts, Dawn Richard, Indigo De Souza, SPELLLING, Camp Cope, Wiki, Japanese Breakfast, Lucy Dacus, Low, Magdalena Bay, Dry Cleaning, Toro y Moi, and Cate Le Bon, among others. The festival will take place from July 15–17 at Union Park in Chicago. Tickets will go on sale this Friday (March 11) at 10 a.m. CST. More

Jan 26, 2022 By Joey Arnone

Japanese Breakfast (aka Michelle Zauner) has shared a cover of Yoko Ono’s 1981 song “Nobody Sees Me Like You Do.” It is the latest cover to be released from the upcoming Ono tribute album, Ocean Child: Songs of Yoko Ono, which will be out on February 18. More

Jan 25, 2022 By Mark Redfern

It is confounding that so many outlets insist on posting best songs of the year lists in early December. Not only are there several more weeks left in the year, in which a number of potential great songs could be released, it also takes time to digest all the tracks released in November and earlier in the fall. We’ve obviously taken too much time. More

Jan 19, 2022 By Mark Redfern

Japanese Breakfast (aka Michelle Zauner) released a new album, Jubilee, last year via Dead Oceans (it was our #1 album of 2021). Last night she was the musical guest on The Late Late Show with James Corden, where performed the album’s “Slide Tackle” with a horn section. She was also interviewed by Corden about being nominated for two Grammys and playing Coachella this year. More

Jan 07, 2022 By Mark Redfern

2021 began and ended in a state of uncertainty, but was still a fruitful year for new music. Here are Under the Radar‘s 100 favorite albums from the year. More

Nov 23, 2021 By Joey Arnone

The nominations for the 2022 Grammy Awards have just been announced. Below is a list of nominations in the biggest categories, which includes nods to artists such as Japanese Breakfast, St. Vincent, Foo Fighters, and more. For the complete list of nominations, visit the Grammys website. The 64th Annual Grammy Awards will air Monday, January 31, 2022 live on CBS. More

Oct 28, 2021 By Joey Arnone

Japanese Breakfast (aka Michelle Zauner) has shared a cover of Weezer’s “Say It Ain’t So.” It is taken from her newly-released EP, which is out now exclusively via Spotify and is the latest in their Live at Electric Lady series. Zauner also performed several tracks from her latest album, Jubilee. More

Aug 27, 2021 By Mark Redfern

Japanese Breakfast (aka Michelle Zauner) has done the soundtrack for the video game Sable, which will be released on September 24 via Sony Music Masterworks, the same date the game is due out. Now she has shared another song from the soundtrack, “Glider,” which she first teased way back in 2018. More

Jul 08, 2021 By Mark Redfern

Japanese Breakfast (aka Michelle Zauner) released a new album, Jubilee, last month via Dead Oceans. Last night she was the musical guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, in which Zauner performed album opener “Paprika” with her backing band. It was an ornate performance featuring strings, horns, two drummers, and a gong she would hit throughout. More

Jun 14, 2021 By Mark Redfern

The Japanese Breakfast takeover of modern culture continues. It’s not enough that in 2021 Michelle Zauner has already put out an acclaimed album and a best selling memoir (which is being adapted into a film featuring her music), now it’s been announced that her soundtrack for the video game Sable will be released on September 23, the same date the game is due out. A trailer for the game has also been released and features part of a new Japanese Breakfast song, “Better the Mask.” More

Jun 08, 2021 By Mark Redfern

Bright Eyes (Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis, and Nathaniel Wolcott) have announced some new summer tour dates, in what will be their first tour in 10 years. The shows go down this July and August and Lucy Dacus will support all dates. One show will also feature Japanese Breakfast and Waxahatchee will be opening another show. More

Jun 07, 2021 By Mark Redfern

In April, Michelle Zauner, who releases music as Japanese Breakfast, released her debut memoir, Crying In H Mart, on Knopf. Now it’s been announced that the book is being adapted into a feature film by MGM’s Orion Pictures. Japanese Breakfast is also doing the music for the film. Also, on Saturday she performed three songs from the album on CBS This Morning and was interviewed on the show. More

Jun 04, 2021 By Mark Redfern (with Emma Goad)

Welcome to the 21st Songs of the Week of 2021. We figured it would be a quiet week for new songs, with Monday being a holiday here in America, but we were wrong. More

Jun 04, 2021 By Mark Redfern

Japanese Breakfast (aka Michelle Zauner) has released a new album, Jubilee, today via Dead Oceans. Now that it’s out, you can stream the whole thing here. Japanese Breakfast has also announced a new more tour dates. Plus, on Wednesday we posted our rave review of the album and she’s on the cover of our current print issue. More

May 21, 2021 By Mark Redfern

Welcome to the 19th Songs of the Week of 2021. This week there was finally a ceasefire in the latest Israeli Palestinian conflict. More

May 19, 2021 By Mark Redfern

Japanese Breakfast (aka Michelle Zauner) is releasing a new album, Jubilee, on June 4 via Dead Oceans. Now she has shared its third single, “Savage Good Boy,” via a self-directed video in which she co-stars with actor Michael Imperioli of The Sopranos. More

Apr 29, 2021 By Joey Arnone

Crying in H Mart, the new memoir by Michelle Zauner (who releases music as Japanese Breakfast), came out last week via Knopf, and it has debuted at #2 on The New York Times’ Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers List. Zauner reacted on Twitter, stating “NOW I’M JUST CRYING!!!” to the news. More

Apr 21, 2021 By Mark Redfern

Under the Radar is excited to announce the full details of our new print issue, which is out now nationwide (on newsstands, in such stores as Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million, and elsewhere) and available to buy directly from us here. The issue features Japanese Breakfast and HAIM on the two covers and is another edition of The Protest Issue, which examines the intersection of music and politics and features musicians photographed with protest signs of their own making. More

Apr 09, 2021 By Mark Redfern (with Joey Arnone and Caleb Campbell)

Welcome to the 13th Songs of the Week of 2021. Today we lost two giants of completely different worlds: Prince Phillip (married to Queen Elizabeth II) died at age 99, only two months before his 100th birthday, and influential rapper DMX lost his life at age 50 due to an apparent drug overdose. More

Apr 08, 2021 By Joey Arnone

Japanese Breakfast (Michelle Zauner) has shared a self-directed video for her new single “Posing in Bondage.” It is the latest release from her forthcoming album Jubilee, which will be out on June 4 via Dead Oceans. She has also announced a string of summer and fall tour dates. More

Mar 16, 2021 By Mark Redfern

Japanese Breakfast (Michelle Zauner) is releasing a new album, Jubilee, on June 4 via Dead Oceans. Last night she was the musical guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, in which she performed the album’s lead sinlge “Be Sweet.” Zauner and her band also performed “Jimmy Fallon Big!” as a web-exclusive. More

Mar 05, 2021 By Mark Redfern (with Joey Arnone)

Welcome to the eighth Songs of the Week of 2021. It was a fairly quiet week on the news front, with President Joe Biden’s pandemic stimulus bill getting closer to passing in the Senate, but without a minimum wage hike. More

Mar 02, 2021 By Joey Arnone

Japanese Breakfast (Michelle Zauner) has announced a new album, subsequently sharing a self-directed video for its lead single, “Be Sweet.” The album, entitled Jubilee, will be out on June 4 via Dead Oceans. More

Oct 07, 2020 By Christopher Roberts

Yesterday on social media The Postal Service teased that something was coming today. Calm down, no it’s not a long awaited new album from Ben Gibbard, Jimmy Tamborello, and Jenny Lewis. Instead they have shared an amusing video to encourage you to vote in which various notable people audition to join the band via Zoom, including Anne Hathaway, Michelle Zauner (aka Japanese Breakfast), Huey Lewis, Patton Oswalt, Kenny G, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Bret McKenzie (of Flight of the Conchords), Vanessa Bayer, Caroline Polachek, Tunde Adebimpe (of TV on the Radio), J Mascis, and others. More

Sep 04, 2020 By Christopher Roberts

Welcome to the 35th Songs of the Week of 2020. This week’s list is a bit more scaled back than usual, but there was still much to like. More

Sep 03, 2020 By Christopher Roberts

Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast and Ryan Galloway of Crying have teamed up for the new side-project BUMPER and have surprise-released their debut EP, pop songs 2020. More

Nov 20, 2019 By Christopher Roberts

The National have announced the lineup to their 2020 Homecoming festival and that they will be performing their 2010 album High Violet in its entirety both nights of the festival. More

Jun 07, 2019 By Christopher Roberts

Welcome to another Songs of the Week. There were several notable albums announced this week, which meant some strong opening singles to choose from, as well as a few album tracks. More

Jun 05, 2019 By Christopher Roberts

Japanese Breakfast (Michelle Zauner) has shared a cover of the Tears For Fears classic “Head Over Heels” (from 1985). It was recorded for W Records, which is an imprint of W Hotels, and all proceeds are going to the ACLU, and follows “Essentially,” a brand new song Japanese Breakfast released via W Records back in April (it was one of our Songs of the Week). More

Apr 26, 2019 By Christopher Roberts

Welcome to another Songs of the Week. There were a plethora of strong tracks to choose from this week, thanks in part to both some new albums that were announced this week and some other albums that were released today. So much so that we have expanded it to a Top 12 this week (as we’ve done from time to time in the past). More

Apr 26, 2019 By Christopher Roberts

Japanese Breakfast (Michelle Zauner) has shared a brand new song, “Essentially.” It was recorded for W Records, which is an imprint of W Hotels, and all proceeds are going to the ACLU. It was recorded at the W Sound Suite at the W Hotel in Bali, is the first completely original track created for W Records, and is the first of two songs Zauner has recorded for the label. More

Feb 28, 2019 By Christopher Roberts

Michelle Zauner has released two albums as Japanese Breakfast and is also becoming an accomplished music video director. Now she has announced that she has signed a book deal with the publishing company Knopf and is writing a memoir entitled Crying in H Mart. More

Jan 29, 2019 By Christopher Roberts

Phoebe Bridgers and Conor Oberst (of Bright Eyes) have teamed up as the new band Better Oblivion Community Center and last week they surprise released their self-titled debut album via Dead Oceans. Now the duo has shared a video for “Dylan Thomas.” Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner directed the clip, which features Bridgers and Oberst attend a weird cult-like party. The band have also announced their first tour dates. More

Oct 05, 2018 By Matt the Raven

As if the South By Southwest (SXSW) extravaganza isn’t enough for Texas’ Capital city, it is the annual Austin City Limits music festival in October that truly keeps Austin weird. Inspired by the musical television series of the same name, the festival began as an annual one weekend (3-day) music festival in 2002. More

Sep 05, 2018 By Christopher Roberts

Back in February Scotland’s Belle and Sebastian told fans they were considering launching a Belle and Sebastian cruise in 2019 and wanted their fans’ opinions on it via a survey on their website. Then in May the band announced The Boaty Weekender, a floating festival to set sale from Barcelona to Sardinia and back again on August 8-12, 2019. Now Belle and Sebastian have announced the initial line-up. Most notably, it features Camera Obscura, who are making their return to performing live for the first time since the 2015 death of the band’s Carey Lander from cancer. More

Jul 20, 2018 By Timothy Michalik

There’s a very specific aesthetic that fills the air of Pitchfork Music Festival. You could blame it on the slightly pretentious nature of the multimedia behemoth, or the dozens of record shop pop-ups scattered within the tent filled merchandise area. But what really seems to be that aesthetic is the overall energy found within the gates of Chicago’s Union Park. That energy is mellow, obsessive, and ridiculously easygoing. More

Apr 25, 2018 By Christopher Roberts

Japanese Breakfast (aka Michelle Zauner) released her sophomore album, Soft Sounds From Another Planet, last July via Dead Oceans (it was one of our Top 100 Albums of 2017). Now she has covered The Cranberries’ “Dreams” in a session for Spotify. More

Mar 13, 2018 By Christopher Roberts

Chicago’s the Pitchfork Music Festival has been slowly announcing their lineup via a mural with the artists’ names being painted on it over the last few weeks. Now the final and full lineup has been revealed for the festival, which goes down July 20 to 22 in Chicago’s Union Park. More

Feb 05, 2018 By Christopher Roberts

The Sasquatch! Music Festival has revealed the lineup for their 2018 festival, their 17th year. Once again it will be going down Memorial Day Weekend (May 25 - 28) at the Gorge Amphitheater in Quincy, Washington. The lineup includes Bon Iver, The National, Modest Mouse, David Byrne, Spoon, Grizzly Bear, Slowdive, Neko Case, Julien Baker, TV On The Radio, Tune-Yards, Wolf Parade, Japandroids, Big Thief, Perfume Genius, Japanese Breakfast, Benjamin Clementine, Phoebe Bridgers, Algiers, Pond, and others. More

Jan 22, 2018 By Christopher Roberts

Belle and Sebastian are releasing three interconnected EPs, all titled How to Solve Your Human Problems. How to Solve Your Human Problems Part 1 came out back on December 8, Part 2 came out January 19, and Part 3 is due out February 16. More

Jan 09, 2018 By Christopher Roberts

Bonnaroo have announced their 2018 lineup. The festival goes down in Manchester, Tennessee from June 7-10 and this year, their 17th year, the headliners are Eminem, The Killers, and Muse. More

Jan 03, 2018 By Christopher Roberts

Coachella has announced the lineup for their 2018 festival, which goes down in Indio, California over two weekends in April (with the same bill each weekend). Friday April 13 and 20 is headlined by The Weeknd, Saturday April 14 and 21 is headlined by Beyoncé, and Sunday April 15 and 22 is headlined by Eminem. More

Dec 30, 2017 By Mark Redfern

2016 was regarded as a fairly rough year by many, but 2017 was no walk in the park either. 2016 was mired by the deaths of several beloved musical icons (David Bowie, Prince, Leonard Cohen, George Michael, and Sharon Jones among them) and the disappointing and divisive Presidential election, but in 2017 we had to deal with the ramifications of said election (we’d say that roughly 95% of the musicians we interview likely don’t support many, if any, of President Trump’s policies). More

Oct 25, 2017 By Christopher Roberts

Japanese Breakfast (aka Michelle Zauner) released her sophomore album, Soft Sounds From Another Planet, back in July via Dead Oceans. Now she has stopped by NPR’s offices to perform a Tiny Desk Concert. For the uninitiated, Tiny Desk Concerts are stripped down sets recorded at the desk of Bob Boilen, the host of NPR’s All Songs Considered. More

Oct 18, 2017 By Christopher Roberts

Japanese Breakfast (aka Michelle Zauner) released her sophomore album, Soft Sounds From Another Planet, back in July via Dead Oceans. Now she has shared a video for “The Body is a Blade.” More

Oct 10, 2017 By Christopher Roberts

Bay Area singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Jay Som (aka Melina Duterte) released her debut full-length album, Everybody Works, back in March via Polyvinyl. It’s an eclectic and confident mix of dream pop and garage rock. Now she has shared a video for “The Bus Song.” Japanese Breakfast (aka Michelle Zauner) directed the video, which features Duterte and friends goofing around the Bay Area, picking up more musicians as they go. More

Sep 15, 2017 By Christopher Roberts

Japanese Breakfast (aka Michelle Zauner) released her sophomore album, Soft Sounds From Another Planet, back in July via Dead Oceans. Previously she shared a video for the album’s first single, “Machinist,” the audio for the lush ballad “Boyish,” and the video for “Road Head.” Now she has released a RPG browser video game entitled Japanese Breakquest. More

Jul 20, 2017 By Christopher Roberts

If you support Under the Radar‘s Patreon page at the minimum contribution of at least $1.00 a month you get access to our Patreon-only feed featuring exclusive content only available to Patreon supporters. And our friends at Dead Oceans have also donated a vinyl copy of the excellent new album by Japanese Breakfast (aka Michelle Zauner), Soft Sounds From Another Planet, to give away to one lucky Under the Radar Patreon supporter. More

Jul 18, 2017 By Christopher Roberts

Under the Radar is excited to announce the full details of our Summer 2017 Issue, which is out now digitally via Under the Radar’s app and the magazine app Readly. The print version has shipped out to subscribers and stores and will be on all newsstands soon (as well as available soon digitally via the magazine app Zinio). The issue features Grizzly Bear on the cover. More

Jul 07, 2017 By Christopher Roberts

Most of the American music industry took Monday and Tuesday off for the long July 4th weekend, leaving only three days to produce worthy new songs this week. But that was good enough for some strong new offerings, including one song actually called “Offering.” More

Jul 06, 2017 By Christopher Roberts

Japanese Breakfast (aka Michelle Zauner) is releasing her sophomore album, Soft Sounds From Another Planet, on July 14 via Dead Oceans. Previously she shared a video for its first single, “Machinist,” and the audio for the lush ballad “Boyish.” Now she has shared another song from the album, “Road Head,” via its video. Zauner self-directed the video, with some help from Adam Kolodny. More

Jun 09, 2017 By Christopher Roberts

What a packed week for new songs and album announcements, enough to help you ignore all the James Comey/Donald Trump (but at least the Conservatives stumbled at the U.K. general election). More

Jun 07, 2017 By Christopher Roberts

Japanese Breakfast (aka Michelle Zauner) is releasing her sophomore album, Soft Sounds From Another Planet, on July 14 via Dead Oceans. Previously she shared a video for its first single, “Machinist.” More

May 04, 2017 By Christopher Roberts

Japanese Breakfast (aka Michelle Zauner) has announced her sophomore album, Soft Sounds From Another Planet, and shared a video for its first single, “Machinist.” Soft Sounds From Another Planet is due out July 14 via Dead Oceans. More

Jan 23, 2017 By Christopher Roberts

Legendary ‘90s shoegazers Slowdive reformed in 2014 and have been playing shows. There were promises that they were working on new music and a couple of weeks ago they finally shared “Star Roving,” their first new song in 22 years. More

Sep 21, 2017 By John Everhart

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. More

Oct 08, 2021 By Laura Studarus

Last night, Japanese Breakfast performed at Meow Wolf’s House of Eternal Return in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was cool. Really cool. More

Jun 02, 2021 By Mark Moody

It’s as if the de-saturated colors of Jubilee’s arresting cover photo were momentarily absorbed into the album’s core only to be splashed back onto the listener. Michelle’s Zauner’s third album as Japanese Breakfast is clearly her finest accomplishment to date. More

Jul 13, 2017 By Stephen Mayne

When Japanese Breakfast first emerged into the world, it was to deal with the loss of Michelle Zauner’s mother. The solo project from Little Big League singer Zauner mourned with impeccable pop style on 2016’s Psychopomp. A year on and Soft Sounds From Another Planet finds Zauner seeking escape from trauma, shooting off to the stars for a synth-tinged autotuned adventure every bit as good as her debut. More