Apr 04, 2025 By Mark Redfern

Welcome to the 10th Songs of the Week of 2025. This week’s list covers the last two weeks, as I was out of town last Friday. This week Andy Von Pip, Caleb Campbell, Matt the Raven, Scotty Dransfield, and Stephen Humphries helped me decide what should make the list. We considered over 50 songs and narrowed it down to a Top 16, since it covers two weeks. More

Mar 27, 2025 By Mark Redfern

Julien Baker and TORRES (aka MacKenzie Scott) are releasing their debut album together, Send a Prayer My Way, on April 14 via Matador. Now they have shared its fourth single, “Dirt,” via an animated music video. More

Feb 28, 2025 By Mark Redfern

Welcome to the sixth Songs of the Week of 2025. This week Andy Von Pip, Caleb Campbell, 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 12. More

Feb 26, 2025 By Mark Redfern

Julien Baker and TORRES (aka MacKenzie Scott) are releasing their debut album together, Send a Prayer My Way, on April 14 via Matador. Now they have shared its third single, “Tuesday,” which is sung by TORRES and about a girl she had a crush on in her youth and the resistance to it from the girl’s mother. More

Jan 31, 2025 By Mark Redfern

Welcome to the third Songs of the Week of 2025. We didn’t do a Songs of the Week last week, with Martin Luther King Day plus Trump’s second inauguration equalling less songs released last week and leaving us uninspired to do a list. So this week’s supersized list covers the last two weeks. More

Jan 29, 2025 By Mark Redfern

Julien Baker and TORRES (aka MacKenzie Scott) have announced their debut album together, Send a Prayer My Way, and shared a new single from it, “Sylvia.” Send a Prayer My Way is considered a country album. More

Dec 13, 2024 By Mark Redfern

Julien Baker and TORRES (aka MacKenzie Scott) have officially released their debut single together, “Sugar in the Tank.” The two beloved queer indie rock singer/songwriters performed the country song on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday night. More

Dec 12, 2024 By Mark Redfern

Julien Baker and TORRES (aka MacKenzie Scott), two beloved queer indie rock singer/songwriters, performed their new country song, “Sugar in the Tank,” together on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday night. The song hasn’t been officially released yet. More

Dec 06, 2024 By Mark Redfern

Salt Lake City, Utah-based festival Kilby Block Party have announced their 2025 lineup and it’s packed with Under the Radar favorites. New Order, Beach House, Weezer, and Justice are the headliners. More

Jun 18, 2024 By Marina Malin

Initiated by the suggestion of Merge’s co-found Mac McCaughn, TORRES (aka Mackenzie Scott) and Fruit Bats (aka Eric D. Johnson) have announced a new collaborative EP, A Decoration, and shared its first single, “Married for Love.” Scott and Johnson had never met before and are collaborating for the first time. More

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

Jan 09, 2024 By Mark Redfern

TORRES (aka MacKenzie Scott) is releasing a new album, What an enormous room, on January 24 via Merge. Now she has shared its third single, “Wake to flowers,” via a music video. More

Nov 03, 2023 By Mark Redfern

Welcome to the 36th Songs of the Week of 2023. This week Andy Von Pip, Caleb Campbell, Scott Dransfield, and Stephen Humphries all helped me decide what should make the list. We settled on a Top 9 this week. More

Nov 01, 2023 By Mark Redfern

TORRES (aka MacKenzie Scott) is releasing a new album, What an enormous room, on January 24, 2024 via Merge. Now she has shared its second single, “I got the fear,” via a music video. More

Oct 06, 2023 By Mark Redfern (with Caleb Campbell)

Welcome to the 32nd Songs of the Week of 2023. This week Caleb Campbell, Mark Moody, Scott Dransfield, and Stephen Humphires all helped me decide what should make the list. It was a quiet week for new tracks, so we settled on a Top 7. More

Oct 03, 2023 By Mark Redfern

TORRES (aka MacKenzie Scott) has announced a new album, What an enormous room, and shared its first single, “Collect,” via a music video. She has also announced some new tour dates. More

Feb 22, 2022 By Joey Arnone

TORRES (aka MacKenzie Scott) has announced rescheduled U.K. and Europe dates for her upcoming tour with Superchunk, which is set to begin this Friday. Scott has also shared her covers of Nirvana’s “All Apologies” and Rodney Crowell’s “Making Memories of Us.” The reel-to-reel tape recorded covers were previously available as a 7-inch single release from Merge. 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

Sep 09, 2021 By Mark Redfern

Mac McCaughan of Superchunk (and also co-founder of Merge Records) is releasing a new solo album, The Sound of Yourself, on September 24 via Merge (of course). Now he has shared its third single, the atmospheric and dreamy “Burn a Fax,” via a video that features a snail. The song features guest vocals from TORRES (aka MacKenzie Scott) and saxophone from Matt Douglas of The Mountain Goats. More

Jul 30, 2021 By Mark Redfern

TORRES (aka MacKenzie Scott) has released a new album, Thirstier, today via Merge. Now that it’s out you can stream the whole thing here. Also, today we posted our rave review of the album. More

Jul 20, 2021 By Mark Redfern

Mac McCaughan of Superchunk (and also co-founder of Merge Records) has announced a new solo album, The Sound of Yourself, and shared its first single, “Dawn Bends,” which features Yo La Tengo, as well as his Superchunk bandmate Jon Wurster (on drums). In a press release McCaughan says the single is “a cautionary tale about getting a little too into the isolation.” More

Jul 16, 2021 By Mark Redfern

Welcome to the 27th Songs of the Week of 2021. There wasn’t an onslaught of amazing new songs this week, but we liked enough to come up with a solid Top 10. More

Jul 14, 2021 By Mark Redfern

TORRES (aka MacKenzie Scott) is releasing a new album, Thirstier, on July 30 via Merge. Now she has shared its third single, title track “Thirstier,” via a video for it. More

Jun 16, 2021 By Mark Redfern

TORRES (aka MacKenzie Scott) is releasing a new album, Thirstier, on July 30 via Merge. Now she has shared its second single, “Hug From a Dinosaur,” via a video for it. More

May 14, 2021 By Mark Redfern (with Emma Goad)

Welcome to the 18th Songs of the Week of 2021. This week the CDC relaxed mask guidelines for those who have been vaccinated, helping to further pave the way for live music to return this fall. Although, right now there’s no clear way for venues or stores to check if someone is vaccinated. More

May 12, 2021 By Mark Redfern

TORRES (aka MacKenzie Scott) has announced a new album, Thirstier, and shared its first single, “Don’t Go Puttin Wishes in My Head,” via a video for it. She has also announced some North American and European tour dates. More

Jun 09, 2020 By Christopher Roberts

TORRES (aka MacKenzie Scott) released a new album, Silver Tongue, back in January via Merge. Now she has shared a new song, “Too Big for the Glory Hole,” via a video for the track, which was originally was included on a bonus 7-inch packaged with the vinyl version of Silver Tongue, but is now available digitally. More

Jan 31, 2020 By Christopher Roberts

Destroyer (the project of Dan Bejar) has released a new album, Have We Met, today via Merge and it’s our Album of the Week. Find more info on the album below. Below that are streams of other notable albums and EPs released today: TORRES, Frances Quinlan, Wild Nothing, Dan Deacon, Drive-By Truckers, POLIÇA, and Squirrel Flower. More

Jan 31, 2020 By Christopher Roberts

TORRES (aka MacKenzie Scott) has released a new album, Silver Tongue, today via Merge. Now that the album is out, you can stream the whole thing here. Yesterday we posted our review of the album and you can read that as well. More

Jan 15, 2020 By Christopher Roberts

TORRES (aka MacKenzie Scott) is releasing a new album, Silver Tongue, on January 31 via Merge. Now she has shared another song from the album, “Dressing America,” via a video for the track that sometimes finds her mainly undressed. More

Dec 03, 2019 By Christopher Roberts

TORRES (aka MacKenzie Scott) is releasing a new album, Silver Tongue, on January 31, 2020 via Merge. Now she has shared another song from it, “Gracious Day,” and announced some new tour dates. More

Nov 01, 2019 By Christopher Roberts

Welcome to another Songs of the Week. It was another light week, in terms of compelling new songs this week. Hence, just like last week’s list and the week before, we only have a Top 8 again, instead of a Top 10. More

Oct 29, 2019 By Christopher Roberts

TORRES (aka MacKenzie Scott) has announced a new album, Silver Tongue, and shared its new single and opening track, “Good Scare.” More

Sep 12, 2018 By Christopher Roberts

27: The Most Perfect Album is an upcoming compilation album in which different artists write songs about the 27 amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Now the contribution by TORRES (aka MacKenzie Scott), “5th Amendment,” has been shared. More

Jul 16, 2018 By Christopher Roberts

TORRES (aka MacKenzie Scott) released a new album, Three Futures, last September via 4AD. It was her first album for the iconic label, but in April in a Twitter post Scott announced that 4AD had dropped her for “not being commercially successful enough.” More

Apr 16, 2018 By Christopher Roberts

TORRES (aka MacKenzie Scott) released a new album, Three Futures, last September via 4AD. It was her first album for the iconic label. Now she has posted to Twitter that the label has dropped her. More

Oct 20, 2017 By Christopher Roberts

Under the Radar is excited to announce the full details of our Fall 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 Julien Baker on the cover. More

Oct 09, 2017 By Christopher Roberts

TORRES (aka MacKenzie Scott) released a new album, Three Futures, just over a week ago via 4AD (her first for the label). Now that her fans have spent some time with the album, we invite them to submit their questions for our Fan Interview with Scott. More

Sep 22, 2017 By Christopher Roberts

We’re back down to eight Songs of the Week, after promising last week to stick with a Top 10 for awhile. But it was a slow week for new tracks. Still, there were some clear gems this week, as you will see below, with an easy choice for top song. More

Sep 19, 2017 By Christopher Roberts

TORRES (aka MacKenzie Scott) is releasing a new album, Three Futures, on September 29 via 4AD (her first for the label). She has already shared videos for “Skim” (it was our #1 Song of the Week) and title track “Three Futures” (it was also our #1 Song of the Week). Now she has shared a third song from the album, “Helen in the Woods,” via its video. More

Jul 14, 2017 By Christopher Roberts

The first four singles from Arcade Fire‘s forthcoming new album, Everything Now, seem to have gotten a mixed response from fans, but we make no apologies for naming the album’s excellent and catchy first single, title track “Everything Now,” our #1 Song of the Week back on June 2. More

Jul 12, 2017 By Christopher Roberts

Last month TORRES (aka MacKenzie Scott) shared a brand new song and video, “Skim” (it was our #1 Song of the Week), and announced that she had signed to the legendary British indie label 4AD. Now she has announced her new album, her third, and shared its title track. 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 06, 2017 By Christopher Roberts

TORRES (aka MacKenzie Scott) last released an album, Sprinter, in 2015, via Partisan. It was her sophomore release and was excellent. Now she has signed to the legendary British indie label 4AD and shared a brand new single, “Skim,” via its video. More

Jan 13, 2017 By Christopher Roberts

During the election many indie rock musicians released anti-Donald Trump songs and likely assumed, like many liberals and Hillary Clinton supporters did, that Trump didn’t have a strong chance of winning. More

Oct 02, 2015 By Christopher Roberts

Next week Garbage embarks on their “20 Years of Queer Tour,” in which they will play in its entirety their 1995-released excellent self-titled debut album. TORRES (aka MacKenzie Scott) will be the support act on the U.S. leg of the tour and in honor of that she has shared a new cover of Garbage’s “Special,” which is actually a song from the band’s 1998-released sophomore album. Scott’s take is rawer and more immediate than the original. More

Jun 08, 2015 By Christopher Roberts

1995 was a pretty great year for music, with classic albums from Björk, The Cardigans, Elastica, Oasis, Pulp, Radiohead, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Verve, and many others. It was also the year that Garbage released their excellent self-titled debut album. More

Apr 27, 2015 By Katie LaBranche

There are several notable albums coming out in the next couple of weeks, but you can stream them ahead of time. More

Apr 23, 2015 By Mike Hilleary

Just a few weeks out from releasing her anticipated sophomore LP Sprinter, Mackenzie Scott, aka TORRES, has premiered a brand new track from the effort titled, “Cowboy Guilt.” More

Apr 10, 2015 By Christopher Roberts

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

Apr 08, 2015 By Mike Hilleary

Musical artist Mackenzie Scott, aka TORRES, has premiered a brand new music video for the title track of her upcoming sophomore LP, Sprinter. More

Apr 03, 2015 By Christopher Roberts

Under the Radar hosted an official nighttime showcase at SXSW this year on the final night of the Austin music conference (Saturday). The event happened at Central Presbyterian Church, a beautiful building with amazing acoustics, and featured sets from TORRES, San Fermin, Amason, Boxed In, Springtime Carnivore, Talk In Tongues, and Dinner. Photographers Wendy Lynch Redfern and Johannes Andersen were there to capture the action. More

Mar 25, 2015 By Mike Hilleary

On May 5 Brooklyn-based musical artist Mackenzie Scott, aka TORRES, will release her anticipated sophomore album Sprinter. More

Mar 17, 2015 By Mackenzie Scott

My Favorite Thing is our recurring series when an artist tells us about one of their favorite things (favorite album, movie, book, TV show, comic book, food, etc.). Here, singer/songwriter/guitarist TORRES (aka Mackenzie Scott) tells us about her favorite actress, Julianne Moore, who just won the Oscar for Best Actress for her performance in Still Alice. TORRES’ sophomore album, Sprinter, is released on May 5 via Partisan. More

Mar 12, 2015 By Laura Studarus

TORRES’ new video for “Strange Hello” features dramatic split screens, low lighting, and semi-nude dancing. More

Mar 06, 2015 By Christopher Roberts

Under the Radar magazine is excited to reveal the full lineups, poster, and set times for our two SXSW 2015 events. This year we are having a day party at the Flamingo Cantina on Thursday, March 19, and an official nighttime showcase at Central Presbyterian Church on Saturday, March 21. Our events are set to feature performances from of Montreal, Mew, Torres, San Fermin, East India Youth, Matthew E. White, Jacco Gardner, Boxed In, SOAK, Amason, Springtime Carnivore, Pompeii, Talk in Tongues, and Dinner. More

Nov 17, 2017 By Frank Valish

“Nothing is off limits. I think that’s what people should know.” This quote was given by Mackenzie Scott, artistically know as TORRES, in discussion of a particular lyric off her third album, Three Futures. But it very well could apply to Scott’s career as a whole. More

Jun 19, 2015 By Frank Valish

When Mackenzie Scott spoke with Under the Radar last summer about the prospect of following up her 2013 debut, released under the pseudonym TORRES, she talked about the term “confessional” as it was used to describe the oft-times soft and introspective nature of her debut. More

Sep 29, 2014 By Frank Valish

In 2013, Mackenzie Scott (aka Torres) released her debut album. Torres was a fantastic introduction to a talented artist, a singer/songwriter adept at both the furious and the calm, the soul-baring and the storytelling, the dark and the light. More

Jan 30, 2020 By Andy Von Pip

It’s been a torrid few years for Mackenzie Scott, better known by her creative alter ego TORRES. Three Futures, her third album and her first for 4AD, was released in September 2017 to substantial acclaim from critics and fans alike. More

Sep 29, 2017 By Ellen Peirson-Hagger

“I’m not a righteous woman,” sings Mackenzie Scott (TORRES) on the fourth track of Three Futures. She’s right: the Georgia-born guitarist has made a third album that is introspective and cautious. More

May 08, 2015 By Patrick Bowman

When singer/songwriter and Macon, GA native Mackenzie Scott released her debut self-titled album under the moniker TORRES a day before her 23rd birthday in early 2013, reactions mostly focused on the fact that Scott’s country-fried… More

Apr 03, 2015 By Mark Redfern

For almost a decade now Under the Radar has been hosting unofficial day parties at the annual SXSW music conference and festival in Austin, Texas. More