Issue #71 - Weyes Blood and Black Belt Eagle Scout | Under the Radar Magazine Under the Radar | Music Blog for the Indie Music Magazine
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Issue #71

Issue #71 - Weyes Blood and Black Belt Eagle Scout

Apr 05, 2023

Under the Radar is excited to announce the full details of our new print issue, Issue 71, which features Weyes Blood and Black Belt Eagle Scout on the two covers.

The issue has shipped out to subscribers and stores and can now be bought from us directly here (or buy the digital version here). The issue will also be available to purchase nationwide (on newsstands, in such stores as Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million, and elsewhere).

Issue 71 also features interviews with Angel Olsen, M83, The New Pornographers, John Cale, Indigo De Souza, Lael Neale, Phoenix, Dry Cleaning, Miss Grit, Sleaford Mods, The WAEVE, Shame, Bartees Strange, Caroline Rose, Stella Donnelly, Florist, Hot Chip, black midi, Jockstrap, Horsegirl, Blondshell, Sleaford Mods, Beth Orton, and others.

Weyes Blood (Photo by Koury Angelo)
Weyes Blood (Photo by Koury Angelo)
Black Belt Eagle Scout (Photo by Koury Angelo)
Black Belt Eagle Scout (Photo by Koury Angelo)

COVER STORIES

Weyes Blood

Jasper Willems spoke to Weyes Blood (aka Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Natalie Mering) about her acclaimed new album, And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow, which was released last November via Sub Pop. We gave And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow a rave 9/10 review and the album was #2 on our Top 100 Albums of 2022 list. Koury Angelo photographed Weyes Blood exclusively for Under the Radar in Los Angeles.

“I’ve kind of accepted and taken the stance that new music is not particularly good at moving the needle on political things.” – Weyes Blood (aka Natalie Mering)

“In some ways, new music is less relevant than it’s ever been, because old bands are favored in the algorithms.” – Weyes Blood (aka Natalie Mering)

“This album is definitely a breakup novel.” – Weyes Blood (aka Natalie Mering)

“I do think that it’s funny to talk to Gen Xers, certain Gen Xers feel like the gatekeepers of the old music industry. The fact that the power is kind of in the hands of the artists now is so cool.” – Weyes Blood (aka Natalie Mering)

“I want to talk about how to move past the fear and the dread of living in such an existential time and kind of instead learn how to ride it like any other time throughout the human race.” – Weyes Blood (aka Natalie Mering)

Weyes Blood (Photo by Koury Angelo)
Weyes Blood (Photo by Koury Angelo)
Weyes Blood (Photo by Koury Angelo)
Weyes Blood (Photo by Koury Angelo)

Black Belt Eagle Scout

For our other cover story, Mark Moody spoke to Black Belt Eagle Scout (aka Swinomish Indian Tribal Community-based singer/songwriter/guitarist Katherine Paul) about her amazing new album, The Land, The Water, The Sky, which came out in February via Saddle Creek and which we wrote a rave 9/10 review of. We also spoke to her about her upbringing and her return to her community during the pandemic. Koury Angelo also photographed Black Belt Eagle Scout exclusively for Under the Radar in Los Angeles.

“My people have been here for so long. Our bones, our essence, are within this land. It’s part of the systems here. The waterways and the soil, the trees, all of that stuff.” – Black Belt Eagle Scout (aka Katherine Paul)

“I had to reevaluate and figure out what was important to me. And I realized that what’s important to me and that’s beyond music, is being with my family.” – Black Belt Eagle Scout (aka Katherine Paul)

“I knew I wanted my parents to sing on my record in some way. There is some spiritual aspect to the song [‘Spaces’], which is primarily about love. My dad sings at funerals and to open up [other events]. Like an opening prayer. So I wanted this song to be intentional for people who support me, including people who come up to me at shows that will say my music has impacted them in some way.” – Black Belt Eagle Scout (aka Katherine Paul)

“I remember back in the day, there was just a [U.S. government] trailer that people would go to see the dentist in. Once we received self-governance and started building up our infrastructure we just went from zero to 100 in such a short amount of time. Now the dentist here has a fancy office with a beautiful view of the water.” – Black Belt Eagle Scout (aka Katherine Paul)

Black Belt Eagle Scout (Photo by Koury Angelo)
Black Belt Eagle Scout (Photo by Koury Angelo)
Black Belt Eagle Scout (Photo by Koury Angelo)
Black Belt Eagle Scout (Photo by Koury Angelo)

DETECTION

The front-of-book Detection section features interviews with the following about their latest albums: Black Country, New Road; black midi; John Cale; Crack Cloud; Indigo De Souza; Dry Cleaning; Florist; Hot Chip; Lael Neale; M83; The New Pornographers; Angel Olsen; Beth Orton; Phoenix; Caroline Rose; SASAMI; Shame; Sorry; Bartees Strange; and Whitney. Ray Lego did an exclusive photo-shoot with Florist in New York City and James Loveday photographed Dry Cleaning for us in London.

“I’m incredibly proud of [Ants from Up There]. But personally, I had to emotionally disconnect from it when it came out.” – Charlie Wayne of Black Country, New Road

“We’re still young as hell, relatively. We still have, on the upper end, maybe 50 or 60 years to be fully happy with what we’ve done. There’s so much time to figure out how best to do it.” – Geordie Greep of black midi

“I really thought that Lou [Reed] was a talent. It just needed careful handling. Sometimes it happened, and sometimes it didn’t.” – John Cale

“Crack Cloud was a project born out of recovery. There’s a certain involvement when you go through rehab and you do the work, the reconciliation. I think that nuance has never left us, in terms of our conviction when making art.” – Zach Choy of Crack Cloud

“[In my youth] I just wanted to leave town instead of trying to figure out how to solve everything because I really didn’t have the support around me to actually figure out how to survive in the spaces that I was in.” – Indigo De Souza

“It’s more of an emotional album. It feels more tender than New Long Leg. There’s bits in it that are more romantic, as well, even just the soundscapes and stuff.” – Florence Shaw of Dry Cleaning

“The album goes to dark places, it goes to weird places. It’s not just a straightforward 10 songs of nice folk pop.” – Emily Sprague of Florist

“I think we had all probably been quietly freaking out at home [during lockdown] and then felt a sense of relief, and release, when we could all get together and play music again.” – Alexis Taylor of Hot Chip

“I intentionally don’t have a smart phone, I deliberately created a barrier. Without getting too sci-fi we are all becoming so permanently fused with technology you wonder what’s coming next? A computer in our head perhaps?” – Lael Neale

“I’m glad I started 20 years ago. If I was a young artist now, I don’t know how I’d cut it. You really have to love yourself to be an artist nowadays. That can be hard for artists like me.” – M83

“When you’ve been writing for a long time, you just get sick of the idea of picking up an acoustic guitar and playing some chords and singing along with it. It just seems so boring.” – Carl Newman of The New Pornographers

“It’s not just wanting to look pretty and be a legend. That is how it’s always been for me, whether or not people were paying attention.” – Angel Olsen

“I found being a parent incredibly confusing. Going to the school gates in the midst of writing a song was really jarring.” – Beth Orton

“My grandfather was a hairdresser and he always cut my hair. And when he died I wouldn’t let anyone else cut my hair so I’ve been doing it myself since.” – Thomas Mars of Phoenix

“Every single song was like, ‘I have to write this or I’m going to explode.’” – Caroline Rose

“There was so much social unrest, collective reckoning and educating on American history and racial identity that it pushed me to go deeper into my own family history.” –SASAMI

“I think the word is maturity. We play for longer. We take it more seriously.” – Charlie Steen of Shame

“I want to have a family some day, so I can’t play live 120 days every year. That will have to taper off at some point and I hope to be producing more records.” – Bartees Strange

“We went to a ton of [George Floyd] protests and were in the middle of some of the gnarlier ones, with tear gas and other stuff.” – Julien Ehrlich of Whitney

Dry Cleaning (Photo by James Loveday)
Dry Cleaning (Photo by James Loveday)

Florist (Photo by Ray Lego)
Florist (Photo by Ray Lego)

PLEASED TO MEET YOU

Our Pleased to Meet You section features interviews with these exciting new artists: Blondshell, Horsegirl, Jockstrap, Miss Grit, and Wings of Desire. Shervin Lainez photographed Horsegirl and Miss Grit for us in New York City.

“Music brought me such relief, but after a while, I began to think if other people’s songs make me feel like this then it might feel even better if I write songs of my own.” – Blondshell

“I’ve only been playing four or five years, but I wasn’t the most motivated or good at it until I joined Horsegirl. And now I’m the best drummer in the world.” – Gigi Reece of Horsegirl

“We never really plan for what we make.” – Georgia Ellery of Jockstrap

“[When I record] I have my headphones on and my guitar is just plugged into my computer without amplification. I had to do the vocals when I knew my roommate would be gone.” – Miss Grit

“I always feel like we’re always in this cycle of destruction and then creation.” – James Taylor of Wings of Desire

Miss Grit (Photo by Shervin Lainez)
Miss Grit (Photo by Shervin Lainez)
Horsegirl (Photo by Shervin Lainez)
Horsegirl (Photo by Shervin Lainez)

MAIN FEATURES

Our Main Features section has interviews with Stella Donnelly and The WAEVE (a new duo consisting of Rose Elinor Dougall and Blur guitarist Graham Coxon). Shervin Lainez photographed Donnelly for us in New York City and James Loveday did a photo-shoot with The WAEVE at the Church Studios in Crouch End, North London.

“I wanted to quit music. I even started studying conservation to eventually become an ornithologist. I dropped out of the classes in the end because I was taking it too far.” – Stella Donnelly

“It’s about the earth, not the different people and the different classes, not the toffs. [It’s a sort of] folk-horror, kind of how those films in the ’70s looked, where it’s always winter, and there’s always plowed fields.” – Graham Coxon of The WAEVE

“The last thing I would have wanted to have made was a kind of saccharin, soppy, self-congratulatory album. It was really important to me that there were raw, jagged edges on the record.” – Rose Elinor Dougall of The WAEVE

Stella Donnelly (Photo by Shervin Lainez)
Stella Donnelly (Photo by Shervin Lainez)

The WAEVE (Photo by James Loveday)
The WAEVE (Photo by James Loveday)

THE END

For our regular last page feature, The End, we ask a different artist the same set of questions about endings and death. Jason Williamson of Sleaford Mods is this issue’s participant.

“I run away from death, I don’t like its presence or the rituals we’ve created to honor those that pass. Funerals I avoid, there are other ways to say goodbye to people.” – Jason Williamson of Sleaford Mods

REVIEWS

Issue 71 has a selection of album reviews, including of the latest albums by the following:

Algiers
Bodywash
Indigo De Souza
Fever Ray
Fruit Bats
The GOLDEN DREGS
H. Hawkline
The Hold Steady
Alex Lahey
Fenne Lily
The National
Lael Neale
The New Pornographers
Caroline Polachek
Frankie Rose
U.S. Girls
Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Wednesday
Yaeji
Young Fathers

DIGITAL SAMPLER

Each issue comes with a digital sampler that is a free download and includes up to 39 complimentary MP3s. This issue’s digital sampler includes tracks by:

Amber Arcades
Andy Shauf
Meg Baird
Beth Orton
Black Belt Eagle Scout
Blondshell
Bodywash
Braids
Caroline Rose
Cast of Thousands
Death and Vanilla
Death Valley Girls
Dutch Uncles
Fenne Lily
Frankie Rose
Greedy Cherry
H. Hawkline
Hatis Noit
Heather Woods Broderick
The Henry Clay People
Indigo De Souza
koleżanka
Ladytron
Luminous Wavez
M83
Miss Grit
Murray A. Lightburn
The Natural Lines
NEAR BEER
Pearla
Reaper on Red
Rival Consoles
Silver Moth
The WAEVE
Weyes Blood
Wings of Desire
Young Fathers

DIGITAL MAGAZINE

The digital version of the issue (for iPads, iPhones, Macs, and PCs) also features extra interviews not found in the print magazine, as well as additional full-page photos from our photo shoots for the issue.

The digital magazine features additional interviews with the following artists: Braids, Dutch Uncles, The GOLDEN DREGS, koleżanka, The Mountain Goats, Samia, Radiohead drummer Philip Selway, and Xiu Xiu.

The digital version also features an additional 19 reviews of the latest albums by the following artists:

100 gecs
Amber Arcades
Black Belt Eagle Scout
Blondshell
The Church
Death and Vanilla
El Michels Affair & Black Thought
Gorillaz
Ladytron
Shannon Lay
M83
Maps
Miss Grit
Paramore
Pearla
Caroline Rose
Yves Tumor
Xiu Xiu
Yo La Tengo

Click here to buy the print version of the issue.

Click here to buy the digital version of the issue.

Click here to subscribe to the print version of Under the Radar.

Click here to support us on Patreon.

Interviews
Beth Orton on “Weather Alive”
Black Country, New Road on “Ants from Up There” and “Live at Bush Hall”
Caroline Rose on “The Art of Forgetting”
Indigo De Souza on “All of This Will End”
John Cale on “MERCY”
Lael Neale on “Star Eaters Delight”
Shame on “Food For Worms”
The End: Jason Williamson of Sleaford Mods
The End: Raphaelle Standell-Preston of Braids
Wings of Desire on Their Formation and Early Singles
black midi on “Hellfire”

 

Reviews
All of This Will End
Big Picture
First Two Pages of Frankenstein
Glorious Game
I Held the Shape While I Could
Star Eaters Delight
The Answer Is Always Yes