14 Best Songs of the Week: caroline, Japanese Breakfast, Alan Sparhawk, Deradoorian, and More

Mar 21, 2025 Mark Redfern (with Issa Nasatir)

Welcome to the ninth Songs of the Week of 2025. This week Andy Von Pip, Caleb Campbell, Issa Nasatir, 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 14.

My Firsts: The Horrors

Mar 21, 2025 Issue #74 - The Protest Issue with Kathleen Hanna and Bartees Strange

My Firsts is our email interview series where we ask musicians to tell us about their first life experiences, be it early childhood ones (first word, first concert, etc.) or their first tastes of being a musician (first band, first tour, etc.). For this My Firsts we talk to Faris Badwan, frontman of the British band The Horrors.

Bob Mould on “Here We Go Crazy”

Mar 13, 2025 Web Exclusive

Bob Mould sat down with Under the Radar to discuss his new album, how he views his musical output these days, and why, despite his storied history, he’s not much of one for looking back.

Pictoria Vark on “Nothing Sticks” and Accepting Change

Mar 21, 2025 Web Exclusive

The bulk of Victoria Park’s expanding catalog seeks answers in gently reflective ways. That is unless it doesn’t. Her second album, Nothing Sticks (recorded as Pictoria Vark), releases today on Get Better Records.

Seven Music Documentary Films and Series From the Second Half of 2024 to Watch (and Three To Skip)

Jan 08, 2025

Halfway through 2024, we published a list of “Seven Music Documentary Films and Series From 2024 to Watch (and Three to Skip).” Another glut of music documentaries and series have been released since then including the superstar projects Megan Thee Stallion: In Her Words (Prime Video), Luther: Never Too Much (CNN), Melissa Etheridge: I’m Not Broken (Paramount+), Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band (Hulu), Olivia Rodrigo: Guts World Tour (Netflix), Elton John: Never Too Late (Disney+) and Yoshiki: Under the Sky (On Demand). If there is one takeaway from the overabundance of the biographical documentaries, it is that it’s best if the subject is not involved. The micromanaging of their story leaves viewers with a manicured and surface-level experience of the artist.

Although, the artist’s complete removal from the process can make a documentary spin into tabloid territory. There’s a lot of scandal on tap. Fallen Idols: Nick and Aaron Carter (Max) is the traumatic story of mental illness and sexual assault. While the latter is horrifying, the litigation is still underway. Why are the survivors on film talking about their experiences? Speaking of survivors, IMPACT x Nightline: Diddy’s Downfall (Hulu) is equally horrific and a far more disgusting explanation of the recent uncovering of Sean Combs’ abusive, and illegal actions during his entire time in the spotlight. Secret Life of Diddy: A Special Edition of 20/20 (Hulu) covers the exact same ground with many of the same talking heads journalists and individuals. On the positive side of hip hop, Tale of the Tape (Tubi) explores the world of mixtapes, the skill involved in making them, their impact on the culture and the legends of that scene. While the homemade quality of this short but deep unpacking is charming, it only speaks to people in that space and doesn’t go far in educating the uninitiated.

A brave director with a strong grasp on storytelling can create a compelling product that draws you in, whether or not you are interested in the artist or topic. But it feels like there is a positive correlation between the number of music documentaries released and how many of them aren’t worth pressing play on. Here are seven from the second half of 2024 that are worth watching and three not so much.—By Lily Moayeri

The Avengers @ Gold Sounds, Brooklyn, New York, US, 7th March, 2025

Mar 10, 2025 By Matthew Berlyant

Seventies punk icons The Avengers turned back the black at Brooklyn’s Gold Sounds last weekend with support from Lupo Citta and Adult Human Females

Get 30% Off Subscriptions to the Last Great Indie Rock Print Magazine

Feb 21, 2025 By Mark Redfern

Subscribe to the last great American indie rock print magazine! We’re aiming to sign up 600 new or renewed subscribers in the next three months, and to help make that happen, we’re offering 30% off all print subscriptions.