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Wednesday, March 22nd, 2023  

Album Reviews

Fragments – Time Out of Mind Sessions (1996-1997): The Bootleg Series Vol. 17

Bob Dylan
Fragments – Time Out of Mind Sessions (1996-1997): The Bootleg Series Vol. 17

Mar 22, 2023 Web Exclusive

As with past expansive boxed reissues of Bob Dylan masterpieces, Fragments presents, along with a remix of the album proper, a plethora of additional tracks—over four extra discs—that illuminate the process of Time Out of Mind’s creation from start to finish.

How to Replace It

dEUS
How to Replace It

Mar 22, 2023 Web Exclusive

For their first album since 2012’s Following Sea, dEUS have reached back beyond their 1994 debut album Worst Case Scenario for inspiration, it seems.

Real-Life Human Garbage

Girl Scout
Real-Life Human Garbage

Mar 21, 2023 Web Exclusive

Girl Scout, who appeared on the Under the Radar’s 23 for 2023 list, excel on their sublime debut EP, Real Life Human Garbage.

Classic Interviews

The End: Anatole Serret of Parcels

The End: Anatole Serret of Parcels
Chicken and Waffles

Dec 07, 2018 Parcels

To end out the week, we ask Anatole “Toto” Serret of Parcels some questions about endings and death.

Comic Book Reviews

Tops: The Complete Collection of Charles Biro’s Visionary 1949 Comic Book Series

Tops: The Complete Collection of Charles Biro’s Visionary 1949 Comic Book Series
Fantagraphics

Dec 06, 2022 Web Exclusive

Michael T. Gilbert’s fascinating new tome tells the tragic tale of Tops, the ill-fated “adult magazine of dramatic picture stories.”

Book Reviews

Play Like a Man: My Life in Poster Children

Rose Marshack
Play Like a Man: My Life in Poster Children

Mar 09, 2023

In Play Like a Man, Poster Children bassist Rose Marshack details her life in the late ’80s, ’90s, and beyond in the band in which she made her name.

Interviews

Unloved – David Holmes on “Polychrome”

Unloved – David Holmes on “Polychrome”

Mar 17, 2023 Web Exclusive

Composer, DJ, and musician David Holmes is a creative bombshell. Along with Jade Vincent and Keffus Green, Holmes is one third of the band Unloved, who have just released Polychrome, their fourth album.

“Poker Face” Music Supervisor Thomas Golubić Speaks on the Series’ Music

“Poker Face” Music Supervisor Thomas Golubić Speaks on the Series’ Music

Mar 17, 2023 Web Exclusive

If you have a favorite music moment from our ongoing prestige TV era, chances are Poker Face music supervisor Thomas Golubić and his SuperMusicVision team curated it.

Lists

Under the Radar’s Top 100 Albums of 2022 Part 1

Dec 23, 2022

Are things back to normal in 2022? They are, aren’t they? Well not quite. In the past year we eased out of the pandemic, but COVID-19 is still around and still deadly to some (just look at what’s happening in China, now that their long national lockdown has lifted). The pandemic door has been left ajar, rather than fully closed. We put the chaos for the Trump administration in the rearview only for us to relive it via the very necessary January 6th Commission and the specter of the former president running again in 2024 (if he’s not barred from doing so or even in jail). And while Biden’s administration has been fairly steady and helped lead the Democrats to an unexpectedly strong showing in the midterm elections, over in the UK chaos has reigned with no less than three different prime ministers in one year (Liz Truss being the shortest serving prime ministers in British history), the death of the Queen, strikes across the country, and a recent poll having a majority of Brits admitting that Brexit was a mistake.

Those of us who grew up during the tale end of the Cold War and the beginning of perestroika have not been totally surprised that Russia has become a major adversary to the West again in the last decade, but it was still shocking when Russian President Vladimir Putin followed through with his threats to invade Ukraine. On top of the terrible toll on the Ukrainian people and its extraordinary President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the war has destabilized financial markets worldwide and helped lead to massive inflation, with all this talk from financial experts of a possible recession next year seemingly willing such a thing into existence.

After the last few years of the pandemic and all the political upheaval worldwide, the massive right and left divisions in this country and in others, it leaves one wondering if the events of every single year felt this monumental to our younger selves and to our ancestors. Certainly there have been other eras of even greater turmoil (World War II, the 1960s), but will things ever feel truly normal again?

Musicians continued to find their footing in 2022, with live shows and festivals pretty much back to normal and free of major COVID restrictions. Still, many musicians were finding it more expensive than ever to tour this year, in large part because of inflation, but also because of the unfair financial cuts some venues were taking of merchandise sales. With it being hard for indie artists to make much money from streaming or record sales in recent years, this year touring also became a less reliable source of income, with bands such as Animal Collective cancelling whole tours because they knew they’d lose money. 2022 also saw a slew of albums written and recorded during the pandemic, with some lyrics betraying their lockdown inspiration. Ben Gibbard, for example, sang about missing strangers on Death Cab For Cutie’s return-to-form, Asphalt Meadows, a lyric likely written at a time when interacting with strangers could prove deadly.

Asphalt Meadows lands at #12 on Under the Radar’s Top 100 Albums of 2022 list. Prior to June 2021, we had never even heard of the band that made it to #1 on our list, so meteoric was their rise. The rest of the list is filled with some familiar faces to be sure, but some other debut albums are peppered throughout our Top 100. To arrive at such a list, 23 of our writers and editors (including myself and my co-publisher/wife Wendy Redfern) submitted ballots of their 45 favorite albums of 2022, listed in order of preference from first to last. They were submitted via a Google Sheets spreadsheet that helped tabulate the eventual list. An album had to be picked by at least three or four writers to make the list (19 of our writers had our #1 album on their list and it was the clear winner of the vote, getting 100 more points than our #2). Then we worked out the Top 94 albums and held a separate vote to determine which albums should round out the bottom six, with our writers deciding between 21 albums that could make the bottom of the list. Some albums that almost made the list include (in no particular order) ones by GIFT, Tomberlin, Crack Cloud, Broken Bells, Skullcrusher, Sam Prekop and John McEntire, Just Mustard, Florence + The Machine, Warpaint, Cheekface, The Weeknd, Maggie Rogers, Craig Finn, The Orielles, and My Idea. Consider those honorable mentions.

As the next year dawns, I’ve already heard some January to March albums that will surely make our Top 100 Albums of 2023 list. It’s already shaping up to be another great year for new music. But it’s been exhausting living through history, so can 2023 please just be a boring year?

Live reviews

Suede, Desperate Journalist @ Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, UK, 18th March, 2023

Suede, Desperate Journalist @ Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, UK, 18th March, 2023

Mar 21, 2023 By Dom Gourlay

Suede remain one of the finest live bands on the planet and Under the Radar saw them tear Liverpool Philharmonic Hall a new one last weekend.

Blog

Tom Waits – Reflecting on the 50th Anniversary of “Closing Time”

Tom Waits – Reflecting on the 50th Anniversary of “Closing Time”

Mar 06, 2023 By Austin Saalman

Three years prior to the release of his critical and commercial breakthrough Small Change, Tom Waits signed with Asylum Records and released his boozy, nocturnal, and ultimately low-key debut Closing Time.