News
Tall Tales Due Out May 9 via Warp
Mar 11, 2025
By Mark Redfern
Thom Yorke (of Radiohead and The Smile) and electronic musician/producer Mark Pritchard have announced their debut album together, Tall Tales, and released a new single from it, “This Conversation Is Missing Your Voice.” More
The Best Songs from the Best Albums of the Last Year
Jan 07, 2025
By Mark Redfern
We have put together a Spotify playlist for our Top 100 Albums of 2024 list and it’s 10 hours long. It features at least one song from each of our Top 100 in the order the albums appear on the list, from our #1 album to our #100. Some albums are represented by multiple songs filtered throughout the list. More
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 The Smile, Bartees Strange, Waxahatchee, Cheekface, and a Wrap-up of the Week’s Other Notable New Tracks
Oct 04, 2024
By Mark Redfern (with Andy Von Pip)
Welcome to the 32nd Songs of the Week of 2024. This week Andy Von Pip, Caleb Campbell, Mark Moody, Marina Malin, Matt the Raven, Scotty Dransfield, and Stephen Humphries helped me decide what should make the list. It was a very strong week for new tracks, so we considered over 30 songs and narrowed it down to a Top 14. More
Cutouts Due Out This Friday via XL Recordings
Oct 03, 2024
By Mark Redfern
The Smile (Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, and Sons of Kemet’s Tom Skinner) are releasing a new album, Cutouts, this Friday via XL Recordings. Now they have shared another new song from it, “Bodies Laughing,” via a visualizer video that looks like an 8-bit zombie video game. More
Plus Tess Parks, Public Service Broadcasting, The Clientele, and a Wrap-up of the Week’s Other Notable New Tracks
Aug 30, 2024
By Mark Redfern (with Andy Von Pip)
Welcome to the 28th Songs of the Week of 2024. This week Andy Von Pip, Caleb Campbell, Jim Scott, Scotty Dransfield, and Stephen Humphires helped me decide what should make the list. We considered over 40 songs and narrowed it down to a Top 12. More
Plus Wild Pink, Katy J Pearson, Charly Bliss, MEMORIALS, and a Wrap-up of the Last Two Weeks’ Other Notable New Tracks
Aug 16, 2024
By Mark Redfern
Welcome to the 26th Songs of the Week of 2024. This week’s list covers the last two weeks, as at the end of last week I was on a mini vacation after finishing up our new print issue. This week Andy Von Pip, Matt the Raven, Scotty Dransfield, and Stephen Humphires helped me decide what should make the list. We considered over 40 songs and narrowed it down to a Top 15. More
The Soundtrack to Daniele Luchetti’s New Film Due Out April 26 via XL
Apr 22, 2024
By Mark Redfern
Thom Yorke (of Radiohead and The Smile) has confirmed the details of his soundtrack to Confidenza and shared two tracks from it, “Knife Edge” and “Prize Giving.” The former features Yorke’s vocals and was shared via a video featuring a scene from the film. The latter is an instrumental track. More
Plus Ride, Sleater-Kinney, Omni, Youth Lagoon, TORRES, and a Wrap-up of the Last Two Week’s Other Notable New Tracks
Jan 12, 2024
By Mark Redfern
Welcome to the first Songs of the Week of 2024. This week’s list includes songs from the last two weeks, as we didn’t do a Songs of the Week last week due to it being the first week of the year and there not being a lot of worthy songs to consider. But this week the music industry was in full swing, with plenty of important album announcements. More
Wall of Eyes Due Out January 26 via XL
Jan 09, 2024
By Mark Redfern
The Smile (Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, and Sons of Kemet’s Tom Skinner) are releasing a new album, Wall of Eyes, on January 26 via XL. Now they have shared the album’s third single, “Friend of a Friend,” and have announced some special cinema screening album playback events, as well as some new European tour dates. More
Plus Everything Everything, Laetitia Sadier, SPRINTS, and a Wrap-up of the Week’s Other Notable New Tracks
Nov 17, 2023
By Mark Redfern (with Andy Von Pip)
Welcome to the 38th Songs of the Week of 2023. This week Andy Von Pip, Caleb Campbell, Mark Moody, Matt the Raven, Scott Dransfield, and Stephen Humphries all helped me decide what should make the list. We settled on a Top 9 this week. More
Plus Faye Webster, Sigur Rós, Palehound, Strange Ranger, and a Wrap-up of the Week’s Other Notable New Tracks
Jun 23, 2023
By Mark Redfern (with Kat Ramkumar)
Welcome to the 22nd Songs of the Week of 2023. We didn’t do a Songs of the Week last week because I was out of town last Thursday to this Monday in Washington, DC, covering Awesome Con. So, this week’s Songs of the Week is supersized and incorporates tracks from the last two weeks. More
Festival Will Take Place July 21–23 at Chicago’s Union Park; Lineup Also Features Weyes Blood, Black Belt Eagle Scout, Alvvays, and More
Mar 20, 2023
By Mark Redfern
Pitchfork Music Festival has announced their 2023 lineup. The Smile, Big Thief, and Bon Iver will be headlining. Other acts include Weyes Blood, Black Belt Eagle Scout, Alvvays, Nation of Language, and more. More
Dec 23, 2022
By Mark Redfern
Are things back to normal in 2022? They are, aren’t they? Well not quite. More
Plus Kendrick Lamar, Gwenno, Bartees Strange, Ezra Furman, and a Wrap-up of the Week’s Other Notable New Tracks
May 13, 2022
By Mark Redfern (with Joey Arnone)
Welcome to the 19th Songs of the Week of 2022. It was a stellar week for new tracks, thanks in part to some exciting album announcements and their corresponding singles. So this week we have a slightly super-sized Top 13. More
Plus Sorry, Hot Chip, Andrew Bird, Florence + the Machine, and a Wrap-up of the Week’s Other Notable New Tracks
Apr 22, 2022
By Mark Redfern (with Joey Arnone)
Welcome to the sixteenth Songs of the Week of 2022. It was a nice week for new album releases, including the latest by Spiritualized, Hatchie, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Fontaines D.C., and others, some of which gave us fodder for Songs of the Week. We ended up with 12 new songs were really liked, with some strong honorable mentions as well. This week’s artists traverse the globe: Australia, England, South Korea, Sweden, and of course America. More
A Light For Attracting Attention Due Out May 13 via XL
Apr 20, 2022
By Joey Arnone
The Smile, a new group composed of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood along with Sons of Kemet’s Tom Skinner, have announced the release of their debut album, A Light For Attracting Attention, which will be out on May 13 via XL. They have also shared a video for a new single from the album, “Free in the Knowledge.” More
Plus Melody’s Echo Chamber, Florist, Horsegirl, and a Wrap-up of the Week’s Other Notable New Tracks
Apr 08, 2022
By Mark Redfern
Welcome to the fourteenth Songs of the Week of 2022. It was a fantastic new release day, with fresh albums by Wet Leg, Father John Misty, Jack White, Oceanator, Daniel Rossen, Orville Peck, Lucius, and others. Some of those artists end up on this week’s Songs of the Week, which is a Top 12 this week. More
Plus Hovvdy, Arcade Fire, Bon Iver and Ethan Gruska, and a Wrap-up of the Week’s Other Notable New Tracks
Mar 18, 2022
By Mark Redfern (with Joey Arnone)
Welcome to the eleventh Songs of the Week of 2022. Whereas last week was the strongest seven-day period for new tracks so far this year, where we had a Top 15 songs, this week we almost didn’t do a Songs of the Week. More
Mar 17, 2022
By Mark Redfern
The Smile, a new group composed of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood along with Sons of Kemet’s Tom Skinner, have shared a new song, “Skrting on the Surface,” via a video for it shot in a mine. Mark Jenkin directed the black & white video, which was shot on 16mm film and filmed at the disused Rosevale Tin Mine in Cornwall UK. More
Plus Ducks Ltd., The Weather Station, Warpaint, and a Wrap-up of the Week’s Other Notable New Tracks
Jan 28, 2022
By Mark Redfern (with Joey Arnone)
Welcome to the fourth Songs of the Week of 2022. Compared to the last two weeks, it was a fairly quiet seven days for new songs. Last week, for example, we had 12 honorable mentions on top of a Top 10 songs and the week before that instead of a Top 14 songs. Still, there were definitely some worthy tracks this week. More
Plus Father John Misty, Let’s Eat Grandma, and a Wrap-up of the Week’s Other Notable New Tracks
Jan 07, 2022
By Mark Redfern (with Joey Arnone and Hayden Merrick)
Welcome to the first Songs of the Week of 2022. We haven’t done a Songs of the Week in almost a month, as the holiday season slowed the release of new songs in mid December. But the first week of 2022 presented enough new tracks to warrant a return to Songs of the Week. More
Reviews
Nov 05, 2024
By Scotty Dransfield
Reviewing any album involving Thom Yorke, especially in conjunction with collaborator Jonny Greenwood, inevitably invites comparisons to their work with Radiohead. More
Jun 10, 2024
By Laura Studarus
The 2024 edition of NorthSide Festival took place in Aarhus last weekend (June 6-8) and Under the Radar photographer Laura Studarus captured the highlights More
Feb 21, 2024
By Ben Jardine
At this stage, it would be a disservice to merely dub The Smile a “Radiohead side project.” The trio—composed of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood and Sons of Kemet’s Tom Skinner—deserve better than that. More
May 13, 2022
By Caleb Campbell
In the music world, a new Radiohead project feels like a seismic event, commanding the kind of attention that few other bands can. As one of the most universally beloved and remarkably consistent elder statesmen in what can loosely be defined as rock music, Radiohead albums each seem weighty and purposeful, the product of years of careful craftsmanship. More
