Mar 14, 2018

There’s no shortage of animated music videos these days and now Tinariwen jumps in with the video for the song “Nannuflay” from their latest album Elwan, featuring Kurt Vile and Mark Lanegan.

From the press release: In the clip, an old Taureg man returns to the camp where he grew up, bringing back memories of both the joys and the torments of the nomadic life he lived there, a story of hearty people living in the land of loneliness.

In recent years Tinariwen’s homeland, a Saharan mountain range between north-eastern Mali and southern Algeria, has been transformed into a conflict zome. Each song on the album powerfully evokes a land that can no longer be found, with nostalgia for a joyous past and sadness for the tragic loss of a territory.

Mar 12, 2018

You’re getting the consensus sense right now that Montreal’s Ought just put out one of the best albums of the year so far. One of the best songs on the new album Room Inside the World is “Desire” and the video just dropped. It has an interesting twist with the ordinary protagonist transforming into a lead singer in drag. Check it out below.

The video’s director Heather Rappard says:

“Desire” as a song has a real triumphant quality and masculine energy; I wanted to take this and subvert it and create a video that focused more on internal desire. Something that was important to me was that the video feel cathartic and positive; I’ve seen a lot of videos that take on ideas around gender that have characters being assaulted or just exoticized. I wanted this character to have a full life but be most empowered, happiest, and at peace with himself when he’s on stage at the end.”

Mar 09, 2018

Mar 07, 2018

August Rosenbaum is a Danish pianist and composer, the beautiful music of whom Under the Radar has only just discovered. We have the premiere of the video for the contemplative piano piece “Nomad”. The production is very pretty in every sense (and perfect for this snowy day in New York). “Nomad is from the piano-based EP Rasa, out April 13th and follows the Rosenbaum’s critically acclaimed album Vista, released back in November. Directed by Jasper Spanning, the music video is based on a fascination of the story of Jeanne D’arc and moves with mystique and gorgeous imagery.

From the press release, Rosenbaum describes the making of the new video: “..We felt like exploring an approach that allowed the music to take on the form of a score. The minimalistic feel of the piano version of “Nomad” carves out room for the listener while adding a distinctive tone to the images.”

Jasper Spanning continues: “August is an old friend and it has been a great pleasure to create these images for his music. It’s been a very close collaboration and I really feel that music and images merge into one expression. The project is very personal to me.”

“The piano is my starting point for everything when I make music,” says August. “It has been my natural expression since I started playing at 6 years old, and it is how I hear, feel and create harmonies, chords and melodies. When making Vista with Robin (Hannibal), it became a dogma that underneath all the layers of detail, production and arrangement, there had to be a strong “core”, a composition that could carry the emotion and intent when scraped down to only being played on the piano.”

Last year’s release of the album Vista put August Rosenbaum on the map as one of the most exciting rising composers. It’s a record of evocative and soulful music that brought together August Rosenbaum’s rich musical background in both jazz, classical music, film scoring and pop. Vista was written and produced in collaboration with Grammy-nominated producer Robin Hannibal who’ve worked with an impressive range of artists including Rhye, Little Dragon and Kendrick Lamar.

August Rosenbaum

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Mar 06, 2018

British electronic producer Jon Hopkins is known for his spacious, ethereal and pulsing compositions. His long awaited new album Singularity will be released May 4th. In the meantime, he just released an animated video for the track “Emerald Rush”. Check it out below.

Mar 05, 2018

Japanese Breakfast released its splendid album Soft Sounds from Another Planet this past summer and today shared the video for “Boyish” from that album. Check the prom themed video below and new Japanese Breakfast tour dates as well.

Here’s what frontwoman Michelle Zauner had to say about the video that she directed:

“The video for Boyish was always sort of our magnum opus for Soft Sounds. I think it took Adam Kolodny and I working on so many videos together to prepare for the enormity of a school dance—lighting and decorating such a large space, casting and dressing so many extras. The song is about insecurity, particularly what it’s like to love someone who isn’t physically attracted to you. It’s an old song, the meaning of which has transformed for me over time, but it has always been about a tension and rejection perfectly encompassed by a school dance. I did not attend my own senior prom, so it was the perfect opportunity to bring my own vision of a gorgeous, space dance to life.”

Japanese Breakfast Tour Dates:

Mar 04, 2018

Here’s hoping Jonny Greenwood receives a much-deserved Academy Award this evening. Check out his score piece “Dark Streets” from the upcoming Joaquin Phoenix film You Were Never Really Here and a piece from his Academy Award nominated score for Phantom Thread. Listen also to his interview with NPR about the nominated score.