Apr 10, 2018

The prolific Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals is set to release his fifth album Babelsberg and his first record for Rough Trade since 2007’s classic Candylion. Today, Rhys shared the video for the first song on the album “Frontier Man”. Watch with pleasant amusement below.

Here’s what Rhys said about the idea for the new album and some background on the project: “I’d made a note of the word Babelsberg after driving past a sign when I was on tour in 2014. Cut to a few years later and the studio where I recorded the album was being knocked down just a week after I finished to make way for a ‘luxury’ apartment development. I was looking for a name that evoked the Tower of Babel - people building towers to reach an idea of heaven (but maybe creating a kind of hell - I’m an atheist by the way!) In any case I had written Babelsberg down and when I listened to the songs together, it finally made sense why I’d done that.”

Apr 06, 2018

1980s pop singer Samantha Fox is back on a new single “Hot Boy” produced by the great Swedish electronic producer Johan Agebjörn (the man behind Sally Shapiro). The 12” ‘80s-style extended mix is dropping on Monday and Under the Radar is pleased to have the premiere. The track is featured in the forthcoming Swedish film Videomannen, set in a video store in the 1980s and reflects this time period perfectly. As the track is taken from the movie, Fox shot a soon to be released promo video for the single with the same team who made the movie and is very much a homage to those classic videos of the ‘80s.

Agebjörn was thrilled how the track came together: “How did this track happen? Kristian Söderström, the director of the movie, asked me to make some songs with some ‘80s stars. He suggested Samantha Fox to sing ‘Hot Boy’ and I thought ‘that would never happen,’ but I didn’t want to tell him ‘there’s no use asking her’ so I sent an email via her official website. In a few days, I heard from Sam’s manager that they liked the track and that she wanted to sing on it. That felt quite surreal! Later, we all recorded a music video in Gothenburg (where this photo was taken with me on the synth).”

The mix definitely throws anyone who was alive and dancing in the ‘80s right back there!

As well as the single mix, there are 10 remixes to be released on CD/Download/Stream.

“Hot Boy”:

1. Single Mix
2. 12 Inch Johan Agebjörn Mix
3. A Copycat Hot Dub
4. A Copycat Hot Remix
5. Highway Superstar Remix
6. Robert Parker Extended Remix
7. Jenkki Remix
8. Silent City UK Remix
9. AW Studio Remix
10. DJ Scott-e’s 80’s Flashback Mix
11. Paddy Duke Remix

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Apr 05, 2018

For a few years now, audio pioneer Moog has been inviting musicians into their sound lab to experiment with their instruments in playing original songs. The latest video sees Phantogram making their second appearance and performing “Calling All” from their 2016 album Three. Check it out below:

“The Moog “Sound Lab” is an adult version of a candy store for a musician. The artists get to conduct unbridled experiments with an array of Moog gear. Everything Moog is available. Everything is permitted. Previous artists that have dabbled with Moog gear in the Lab include Tegan & Sara, Chvchers, Washed Out, Moses Sumney, Sylvan Esso, Toro Y Moi, Jack Antonoff, and many more.”

From Moog Music: Phantogram return to the Moog Sound Lab to perform “Calling All” from their album Three. Re-imaging the track completely with analog synthesizers, guitarist Josh Carter lays the song’s foundation with a Minimoog Model D while vocalist Sarah Barthel controls the depth and dimension of her voice using an MF-104M Analog Delay. This is Phantogram’s second performance in the Moog Sound Lab, after performing “16 Years” in 2011.

Apr 04, 2018

Wolf Parade is gearing up for festival season while still on their tour for Cry Cry Cry, one of the better albums of last year. During their Pacific Northwest swing back in January, the Montreal quartet performed a live set at the KEXP gathering space. It was just published and sees Wolf Parade shaking off the morning stiffness to perform “Lazarus Online”, “You’re Dreaming” and “Baby Blue”–which unfurls into beautiful jamming madness– from the current album and classic track “Soldier’s Grin”. Enjoy:

Apr 03, 2018

Son Lux guitarist Rafiq Bhatia has been busy. His band just finished a tour for their latest imaginative album Brighter Wounds, which dropped in February, and now Rafiq’s solo instrumental album Breaking English is about to drop this Friday on Anti Records. Ahead of the release, Rafiq has shared lead single “Hoods Up” and today shared the live session video for the title track. Check it out below.

From the bio/press release:

“Bhatia is the first-generation American son of Muslim immigrant parents who trace their ancestry to India by way of East Africa. Early influences such as Jimi Hendrix, John Coltrane, and Madlib—as well as mentors and collaborators including Vijay Iyer and Billy Hart—prompted him to see music as a way to actively shape and represent his own identity, not limited by anyone else’s prescribed perspective…For most of his listening life, he’d loved records in which familiar sounds were refashioned into wonderfully alien strains, where iconoclastic ideas met cutting-edge technology to yield a new lexicon. Making music like this would mean reaching beyond his six strings and customarily collaborative approach, especially his reliance on outside producers. To get where he needed to go, he would need to learn how to sculpt sound for himself.”

“It was during this period of reinvention that Bhatia joined Son Lux, a studio-centered project in which producer Ryan Lott used software to warp found sounds into dazzling electronic experiments. Son Lux afforded Bhatia the chance to record with the likes of Lorde and Sufjan Stevens, but, more important, it gave him the support he needed to develop his voice as a producer—the process that ultimately yielded Breaking English.”

Bhatia is also eager to bring the hybridity of his ideas to the live stage; He will be performing tracks from Breaking English with Ian Chang of Son Lux on drums and Jackson Hill on bass. All upcoming US and European tour dates are listed below.

TOUR DATES

3/15–Seattle, WA–Tractor Tavern*

3/16–Portland, OR–Doug Fir Lounge*

4/9–New York, NY–National Sawdust

4/11–Chicago, IL–Schubas

4/12–Indianapolis, IN–IUPUI Masterclass

4/19–Warsaw, PL–Poglos

4/20–Berlin, DE–Acud Macht Neu

4/21–Hamburg, DE–Hafenklang

4/22–Copenhagen, DK–Ideal Bar

4/26–Antwerp,BE–deSingel / Bouge B Festival

4/27–London, UK–Shacklewell Arms

4/28–Paris, FR–Point Éphémère

4/29–Metz, FR–7(7) Café

5/3–Nyon, CH–LA Parenthèse

5/4–Luzern, CH - Sedel

5/29–Los Angeles, CA–The Moroccan Lounge

5/30–San Francisco, CA–Café Du Nord

*- supporting Red Baraat

Apr 02, 2018

Well, this was a nice surprise on a Monday morning. At some point recently, Stephen Malkmus played a mix of solo acoustic songs and haunting electronic beats at an empty St. John’s Episcopal Rectory in Brooklyn and it was filmed for Pitchfork Live. Here’s the tracklist: 0:56 - Solid Silk - 4:06 Shiggy 8:11 - Middle America 11:56 - Refute 16:11 - Freeze the Saints 19:18 - Trigger Cut. It’s lovely and strange. Check it out below:

Mar 30, 2018

There’s high praise in the air for Amen Dunes’ new album Freedom, which was released today on Sacred Bones. Three years in the making and a survivor of being ditched then picked back up and reworked, Freedom is a personal triumph pounding with the pulse of its author Damon McMahon. Reinforcements came in the form of Parker Kindred  (Antony & The Johnsons,  Jeff Buckley)  on drums, Delicate Steve  on guitars, production by Chris Coady  (Beach House) and additional contributions from Nick Zinner, and session bass player extraordinaire  Gus Seyffert  (Beck, Bedouine). Freedom was put back together and is being raised aloft. Check it out for yourself. Freedom is the fifth album from Amen Dunes and swells with the evolution of McMahon’s production and arrangements.