News
Escaping the Nostalgia Trap
Dec 29, 2024
By Mark Redfern
Under the Radar tends to handle our best albums of the year lists differently than most other music publications. More
Plus Nilüfer Yanya, Wild Pink, Kelly Lee Owens, and a Wrap-up of the Week’s Other Notable New Tracks
Sep 13, 2024
By Mark Redfern (with Andy Von Pip)
Welcome to the 29th Songs of the Week of 2024. This week Andy Von Pip, Caleb Campbell, Jim Scott, and Scotty Dransfield helped me decide what should make the list. We considered over 50 songs and narrowed it down to a Top 16. More
Small Changes Due Out November 15 via Geffen
Sep 12, 2024
By Mark Redfern
British singer Michael Kiwanuka has announced a new album, Small Changes, and shared two new interconnected songs from it, “Lowdown (part i)” and “Lowdown (part ii),” via a joint music video. More
Plus MEMORIALS, W.H. Lung, Laura Marling, Charly Bliss, and a Wrap-up of the Last Two Week’s Other Notable New Tracks
Jul 12, 2024
By Mark Redfern (with Andy Von Pip and Marina Malin)
Welcome to the 22nd Songs of the Week of 2024. This week’s list covers the last two weeks, owing to last week being the July 4th holiday weekend. More
Jul 11, 2024
By Marina Malin
British Singer Micheal Kiwanuka has shared a new single, “Floating Parade,” which was first debuted during his set at Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage this year. More
Plus Laetitia Sadier, Michael Kiwanuka, HARD FEELINGS, Hamilton Leithauser and Kevin Morby, and a Wrap-up of the Week’s Other Notable New Tracks
Oct 15, 2021
By Mark Redfern (with Joey Arnone)
Welcome to the 39th Songs of the Week of 2021. It was a blockbuster week for new songs, although the week’s biggest song (Adele’s “Easy On Me”) didn’t make the list. But “Easy On Me” did set the all-time record for biggest single day streams for a song in Spotify history, so Adele will be fine. This week we have a supersized Top 12 and a solid honorable mentions list. More
Featured in the New Netflix Documentary Convergence: Courage in a Crisis
Oct 12, 2021
By Joey Arnone
Michael Kiwanuka has shared a new song titled “Beautiful Life.” It is featured in the new Netflix documentary from Oscar-winning director Orlando von Einsiedel, Convergence: Courage in a Crisis, which is out today. More
Taken from His Critically Acclaimed Third Album KIWANUKA
Dec 15, 2020
By Joey Arnone
Michael Kiwanuka has just shared a video for the song “Interlude (Loving the People),” featured on KIWANUKA, his critically acclaimed third studio album that earned him a Mercury Prize this year. The video was directed by award-winning filmmaker Phillip Youmans. More
Original Song is from Her Grammy-Nominated Solo Debut Album Jaime
Dec 08, 2020
By Joey Arnone
A new mix of Alabama Shakes frontwoman Brittany Howard’s “13th Century Metal” done by Michael Kiwanuka has just been shared. The song is originally from Howard’s five time Grammy-nominated album Jaime, which was released back in September 2019 via ATO. This marks Kiwanuka’s first mix for another artist. A press release stops short of calling it a “remix.” More
Other Nominees Included Anna Meredith, Laura Marling, Porridge Radio, Charli XCX, Dua Lipa, Lanterns on the Lake, and Others
Sep 24, 2020
By Christopher Roberts
Michael Kiwanuka has won the 2020 Mercury Prize, for his 2019 album KIWANUKA, which came out last November via Interscope. Foregoing a full on ceremony this year because of COVID-19, BBC radio DJ Annie Mac presented the award to Kiwanuka tonight on the nightly British TV show The One Show, on BBC One. More
Charli XCX, Michael Kiwanuka, Dua Lipa, Lanterns on the Lake, and Others Also Nominated
Jul 23, 2020
By Christopher Roberts
This year’s Mercury Prize nominees have been announced and they include the latest albums by Anna Meredith, Laura Marling, Porridge Radio, Charli XCX, Michael Kiwanuka, Dua Lipa, Lanterns on the Lake, Stormzy, Georgia, Sports Team, and more. More
Plus Michael Kiwanuka, Little Scream, Matt Berninger, and a Wrap-up of the Week’s Other Notable New Tracks
Oct 18, 2019
By Christopher Roberts
Welcome to another Songs of the Week. It was a pretty light week, in terms of new songs this week. Hence we only have a Top 8. More
KIWANUKA Due Out November 1 via Interscope
Oct 17, 2019
By Christopher Roberts
Michael Kiwanuka is releasing a new album, simply titled KIWANUKA, on November 1 via Interscope. Now he has shared another song from the album, “Hero,” via a video for the track. He has also announced some new 2020 tour dates. More
Plus Michael Kiwanuka, Ride, Chelsea Wolfe, Death Cab for Cutie, and a Wrap-up of the Week's Other Notable New Tracks
Aug 16, 2019
By Christopher Roberts
Welcome to another Songs of the Week. It was a super strong week for new songs. There was lots of debate about how many tracks we should include this week and what would make the list. Hence we ended up with a Top 12, instead of our usual Top 10. There are also a whole lot of honorable mentions. More
KIWANUKA Due Out October 25 via Interscope
Aug 13, 2019
By Christopher Roberts
Michael Kiwanuka has announced a new album, simply titled KIWANUKA, and shared a lyric video for its first single, “You Ain’t the Problem.” KIWANUKA is due out October 25 via Interscope. Listen to “You Ain’t the Problem” below, followed by the album’s tracklist and cover art, as well as his upcoming tour dates. More
Plus Field Music, Gaz Coombes, Belle and Sebastian, The Radio Dept., Hookworms, and a Wrap-up of the Week's Other Notable New Tracks
Jan 12, 2018
By Mark Redfern
We haven’t posted a Songs of the Week post in quite awhile, as there weren’t that many new songs of note over the holidays or at the start of the year, but this week there was an tidal wave of new tracks worth considering for this list. It was definitely a challenge to narrow it down to only 10 (Franz Ferdinand and Marlon Williams almost made the Top 10). More
Part of KENZO’s New Spring/Summer Fashion Campaign
Jan 11, 2018
By Christopher Roberts
Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Karen O has shared a new song, “YO! MY SAINT.” It features the guest vocals of Michael Kiwanuka and the song is part of the new Spring/Summer fashion campaign for clothing company KENZO and is featured in a short film for the company. More
Last Weekend in Oslo, Norway
Jun 30, 2015
By Laura Studarus
Last weekend, Oslo, Norway hosted Piknik i Parken. More
Reviews
Dec 13, 2024
By Jim Scott
On Small Changes—his fourth full-length, and first since his Mercury Prize-winning Kiwanuka five years ago—Michael Kiwanuka continues to seemingly pluck songs from the ether, creating music whose strongest impression is that of déjà vu. More
Nov 08, 2019
By Ben Jardine
On his third studio album, London’s Michael Kiwanuka dives even deeper into the R&B, funk and soul influences of 2016’s Love & Hate—setting out to explore distortion, voice samples, darkness and light, and a recurring motif of identity.