Under the Radar Podcast
43 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 1 year ago -A monthly podcast that dives into memories of childhood, musical inspirations and milestones that have shaped artists—and informed their most recent albums. Hosted and produced by Celine Teo-Blockey. Presented by Under the Radar, a print magazine and website founded in 2001 by Mark and Wendy Redfern.
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Episodes
Spacey Jane
March 30, 2023 11:00 - 1 hour - 48.2 MBBeing hailed as the poster child for a Covid generation might sit uncomfortably with some indie bands but Caleb Harper, frontman of Spacey Jane—a four-piece from Perth, Australia—takes it in his stride. Their 2020 debut Sunlight is defined by intimate lyrics often rooted in Caleb's strict, religious upbriging, that had made his transition to adulthood particularly fraught. Being part of Spacey Jane with Kieran Lama, Ashton Hardman-Le Cornu and Peppa Lane has continued to help him process fee...
Tim Burgess
February 09, 2023 15:00 - 47 minutes - 38.2 MB"Typically, music heals," says Tim Burgess, the hyperactive multi-talent whose career encompasses three decades as The Charlatans frontman, sixth diverse solo albums, three memoirs, his own O Genesis record label, and more than 1000 installments of the now-beloved Tim’s Twitter Listening Party. During the darker, more uncertain days of lockdown, these twitter parties facilitated joyful connections between fans and some of our favorite bands—from Blur's Dave Rowntree to Oasis' Paul 'Bonehead'...
Phoenix - Thomas Mars
December 05, 2022 13:00 - 1 hour - 59.7 MBPhoenix frontman Thomas Mars subscribes to Ed Ruscha's philosophy on art—that it should prompt bewilderment or even disgust before appreciation. And not the reverse. This can be applied to the French band's music. Consider their latest album Alpha Zulu, the title seems odd but dig a little and it reveals a salient truth for Thomas. Together with his friends and bandmates Deck D'Arcy, Christian Mazzalai and Laurent Brancowitz the foursome started the songwriting for this, their seventh album,...
Bloc Party - Kele Okereke
November 04, 2022 21:00 - 52 minutes - 71.5 MBOne of the biggest British post-punk revival bands Bloc Party returned this year with Alpha Games, their sixth album. Frontman, Kele Okereke discusses how new band members, drummer Louise Bartle and bassist Justin Harris (replacing Matt Tong and Gordon Moakes who left in 2013 and 2015 respectively) finally had the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to a Bloc Party album. Much to the delight of fans, the album's sonics harks back to their critically-acclaimed debut, Silent Alarm. Usually,...
Marlon Williams
September 30, 2022 00:00 - 1 hour - 86.7 MBAs a child, New Zealand singer-songwriter Marlon Williams believed that if he could nail the songs at iwi or tribe gatherings then surely everything in the world would be ok. Nevermind that elders were discussing big issues such as Maori land rights, water rights and education, Marlon had an inate believe in the virtues of song and his vocal prowess as a singer. Indeed his voice is something to behold — a melismatic, velvety croon that can register as Roy Orbison or Elvis. And before the rel...
Seratones - A.J. Haynes
August 31, 2022 08:40 - 58 minutes - 80.2 MBSeratones frontwoman A.J. Haynes and her Shreveport, Louisiana-based band (bassist, Travis Stewart and drummer, Jesse Gabriel) released their disco-inspired, third album Love & Algorhythms, earlier this year. At the time of writing the album, A.J. was also working full-time as an Abortion Advocate in the last standing Abortion clinic in Louisiana, an experience that brought her close to burnout and informed much of the record's theme of liberation, Afro-Futurism and radical joy as a form of ...
Warpaint
July 07, 2022 22:00 - 50 minutes - 69.9 MBWarpaint are back after six years with Radiate Like This, their excellent fourth album after 2016's Heads Up. According to drummer Stella Mozgawa, completing the album while isolated from bandmates Emily Kokal, Theresa Wayman and Jenny Lee Lindberg was challenging. Theirs is a band that have always thrived on the intimacy of being in the same room during the songwriting process, and after finally coming together in between babies, solo albums and cross-country moves, the pandemic forced them...
Teenhood, Wolves and that Right Path
June 16, 2022 21:00 - 49 minutes - 40 MBIn our final episode for Season 2, we listen to some raw tape that didn't make the Julien Baker episode. And we're joined by not one but two fans. Allison, a teenage fan, from Louisiana, shares how Julien's music helped her through her own bouts of depresson during the pandemic. And Azin Samari, a documentary editor on "The September Issue"—the award-winning film about Vogue magazine, Amazon docu-series "Lorena" and more recently, Hulu's "Sasquatch." Azin is currently working on a documentar...
Unpleasantness is Necessary for Art?
May 19, 2022 21:00 - 33 minutes - 26.9 MBWe listen to some raw tape of Jamie Stewart—from experimental, art-pop band Xiu Xiu—that didn't make it to the main episode. And we're joined by a Xiu Xiu fan, Bay Area-electronic musician Alex Olive who shares how elements that we might ordinarily find off-putting in Xiu Xiu's more discordant, noize-led and sometimes frightening work is vital to her art and life. We also discuss gender dysphoria, trans rights and In true Xiu Xiu form, Sanrio characters. Follow Alex Olive @olivecraving on In...
A Music Podcast With Music
April 21, 2022 21:00 - 21 minutes - 17.6 MBWe listen to some raw tape of Courtney Barnett before she pressed record for our interview. We are also joined by a true fan of her music—Paul Kondo, of The Podcast Gumbo Newsletter. Not too long ago we were "hotsauce" in that newsletter. Paul recommends three podcasts in each gumbo newsletter, with an added extra podcast mention, thrown in as hot sauce. Paul shares with us the first albums he coveted—The Last Waltz, Martin Scorsese's 1978 documentary of The Band's final performance in San F...
Julien Baker
January 26, 2022 21:46 - 56 minutes - 45.1 MBMemphis-bred singer/songwriter Julien Baker's third album Little Oblivions revisits familiar themes in her confessional writing — faith, addiction, mental health and her sense of isolation. However, in the process of writing the album, Julien had to undergo more transformation than ever before. She now has a radically different understanding of God, of her own struggle with addiction, and how she squares that with her own queer identity. She's also attempting to be kinder to herself. The cat...
Jamie Stewart - Xiu Xiu
December 24, 2021 05:03 - 55 minutes - 38.4 MBExperimental art-pop and noize band Xiu Xiu's single "Rumpus Room" found me on a particular low day in early 2021. I remember puttng it on, cranking the volume up and jumping around like a sugar-ed up toddler in a boucy castle. There's hints that the song is about more serious things but in that moment I needed joy and bouce—and that's what I found. Jamie Stewart began Xiu Xiu 20 years ago. The band has seen many configurations and different members. For the last decade, Xiu Xiu's been a duo...
Royal Blood
November 26, 2021 19:17 - 46 minutes - 37.4 MBEnglish rock duo, Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher are Royal Blood. When they burst on the scene with their eponymous, debut album in 2014—boasting an old school rock sound reminiscent of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they were immediately hailed the saviors of guitar rock. Their sophomore album, How Did We Get So Dark followed the same playbook. There's an evolution in their sound on Typhoons, their latest studio album. It harks back to their eclectic roots. Both honed in their skills playing i...
Courtney Barnett
November 19, 2021 00:40 - 53 minutes - 43.3 MBAustralian indie rocker Courtney Barnett's latest album Things Take Time, Take Time is an attempt to be kinder to herself. To not worry about the big picture of how to stay successful or even sane after achieving then sustaining global stardom against the backdrop of a world that seemed to be burning at each turn. Instead, she shfts her mind and focus on the small comforts — regular Zoom calls with friends during the Pandemic, taking in the laid-back beauty of a Joshua Tree sunset, the blush...
Transgenerational Trauma in Music
November 05, 2021 01:00 - 32 minutes - 26 MBWe listen to some tape that didn't make the main SPELLLING episode. And are joined by podcaster Alexandra Cohl of The Pod Broads who discusses the different pieces that she thinks an artist like SPELLLING brings to her music. From the lasting effects of transgenerational trauma that manifests itself on SPELLLING's track "Haunted Water," to her bi-racial identity that quietly informs all her work. Alexandra—whose partner is multi-hyphenate rapper, producer and Empire State Music & Arts festiv...
SPELLLING
October 11, 2021 20:37 - 48 minutes - 39.2 MBBay Area-based experimental artist Chrystia Cabral started making Gothic-inspired music as SPELLLING, in 2017. The dabbling and experimenting of her first two albums were instructive but have now given way to something more intentional. The bewitching vocals and haunting soundscapes of Pantheon of Me and Mazy Fly are still present but her art has evolved and expanded sonically and thematically on her lush, third record The Turning Wheel. She pulls from Science Fiction authors, fairy tales, D...
Let's Talk About Class, Pop Music and Tom Waits
October 01, 2021 06:51 - 38 minutes - 31.1 MBWe hear a bit of tape from Sleaford Mods singer Jason Williamson that did't make it to the main episode. Our guest is musician, producer and award-winning podcaster Martin Zaltz Austwick. He shares some of his thoughts on the class warfare endemic to the music of Sleaford Mods and why he sets a higher bar for pop music. As the co-host of Song by Song podcast—a show about the music of Tom Waits—we of course, discuss the genuis of the left-of-field autuer! Please visit Martin's blog Year of T...
Sleaford Mods
September 24, 2021 05:30 - 47 minutes - 38.3 MBOn Sleaford Mods latest album Spare Ribs the Nottingam duo keep their aim firmly at the ruling political class and their mishandling of the pandemic. As the U.K. reels from further economic unraveling thanks to the harsh realities from the Tory push for Brexit, coupled with a decade of austerity measures, Jason Williamson's agit-punk over Andrew Fearn's sly beats continues to give voice to the everyman and their frustrations. Lyrically, the rants are richer, more poetic and in parts intimate...
Why Do We Have To Talk About Race?
August 27, 2021 06:50 - 24 minutes - 20 MBWe hear two pieces of tape that didn't make it to the main Adrian Younge episode. Both speak to these awkward and sometimes very difficult conversations on race that we should all be having, especially in the aftermath of George Floyd and this country's race reckoning. We also speak to a promising young artist, jaythehomie, from emo-rap duo RoeShamBeaux about his thoughts on Adrian Younge's album The American Negro and the things he learnt that weren't in any history book. He also shares hi...
Adrian Younge
August 19, 2021 23:30 - 50 minutes - 40.7 MBThe cover art of Adrian Younge's album The American Negro depicts the shocking image of a man hanging from a tree. Flip the cover over and the other image reveals that on his back is a note which reads 'This n***** voter." You may ask "Why, do we need an image so offensive? Or an album like this one now?" A multi-hyphenate artist dedicated to shining a light on the unsung heroes of soul, jazz and culture, Adrian also shares a deep love for history which he is keen to impart to us. As he beli...
The Stories We Tell
July 30, 2021 01:15 - 21 minutes - 17.2 MBWe hear some tape that didn't make it to main episode featuring Lucy Dacus. And speak to Under the Radar Magazine's Television Editor, Lily Moayeri—a long time music journalist and teacher-librarian—on her thoughts about whether we need permission to tell our stories. Lily also shares her personal story on learning to read as a young child and we reflect on how far women have come as musicians, artists and journalists. Or have we? Follow her on twitter @lilymoayeri and this link to her podca...
Lucy Dacus
July 16, 2021 01:13 - 53 minutes - 37.1 MBLucy Dacus has gone from strength to strength with her music career. Her stunning 2015 debut No Burden, highlighted her poetic lyricism and gift for melody. Her follow up Historian honed in on her ability to tell us a compelling story. Her most recent Home Video is brutally direct and personal. It feels like we're reading her private diary, not meant for public consumption. It's a tricky thing when we make art out of this excavation of our own intimate experiences. Lucy explains how she nego...
London Grammar - Hannah Reid
July 01, 2021 06:30 - 47 minutes - 32.6 MBAfter more than a decade of functioning as a democracy, Hannah Reid has stepped into the offical role of band leader in London Grammar. And her bandmates Dot Major and Dan Rothman are more than happy for her to steer the ship on a more female-centric course, for their latest album Californian Soil. It's a more direct album than their previous work—unafraid to show strength and vulnerability. Here are the links to "I'll Be Rooting For You," "Missing," "Californian Soil," and "America"—make ...
Why Do Artists Struggle?
June 25, 2021 04:30 - 29 minutes - 20.5 MBWe hear some tape that didn't make it to the James Yorkston & The Second Hand Orchestra episode. And speak to Lily Sloane, an artist and therapist who we thought could speak uniquely to the relationship between art and mental health. What we weren't expecting was the deeper significance that songs such as "Struggle" and "Choices Like Wide Rivers" have for her. For more news on Lily's sound design and composing work follow her @lilyrosesloane on Twitter. Or check out her website lilymakessou...
James Yorkston & The Second Hand Orchestra
June 17, 2021 21:00 - 58 minutes - 47 MBScottish singer/songwriter James Yorkston released his 10th studio album The Wide, Wide River as James Yorkston & The Second Hand Orchestra earlier this year. After almost 20 years playing with band members who were often friends (The Athletes, Yorkston/Thorne/Khan and the Fence Collective among others) he teams up with a collective of Swedish musicians, most of whom he had never met before the studio recordings. This brave experiment works lending the songs an air of surprise and a lightne...
Thao & The Get Down Stay Down
May 29, 2021 01:30 - 59 minutes - 47.4 MBThis is a Bonus episode to celebrate AAPI Heritage Month. Thao & The Get Down Stay Down's latest album Temple opens with a chunky Vietnamese rock riff, the kind that Thao Nguyen's mother would have grown up dancing to—in the Vietnam of her youth, before war came to define the country. The title track is sung from her mother's point of view and includes snippets of real conversations. The most poignant being her stoic mother's advice to her to now "find her own freedom." Temple is about this...
Can you sing in your Mother Tongue?
May 28, 2021 05:10 - 21 minutes - 17.2 MBWe hear some tape that didn't make it to the main episode featuring Emmy the Great. To celebrate AAPI Heritage Month, we speak to a new fan of Emmy the Great, food writer Jenny Liao. She talks about her Chinese American heritage and her efforts to re-learn her mother tongue of Cantonese by listening to old Canto-pop, new Emmy the Great and watching the films of internationally renowned Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar Wai. Follow Jenny Liao @jeliao on Twitter to find out more about her upcoming ...
Emmy The Great
May 13, 2021 17:00 - 58 minutes - 46.9 MBEmmy the Great is the moniker of Hong Kong-born, British singer-songwriter, Emma-Lee Moss. Her latest album April was written four years ago, after a British Council residency to China and a trip back to Hong Kong. For most of her adulthood, Emma felt she had transcended living in the former British colony. So she was surprised that after her trip, she felt the pull to return there. As soon as the album was recorded, Emma left New York where she was residing at the time and moved back to Hon...
Memories of The Flaming Lips
April 22, 2021 22:04 - 14 minutes - 11.6 MBWe hear some tape that didn't make it to the main episode featuring The Flaming Lips. And we also speak to an early fan about the memories he had as he listened to the episode. Write us an Apple Podcast review or if you prefer to share your thoughts with us via email, please drop us a line at [email protected] — and you might be featured on the podcast. Get your latest print copy of Under the Radar magazine here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more inform...
The Flaming Lips - Wayne Coyne
April 08, 2021 17:00 - 1 hour - 50.5 MBThe Flaming Lips are one of the most beloved psych-pop bands. They've managed to achieve commercial success and win multiple Grammy awards without having to sacrifice their instinct for the wierd and wonderful. Led by Wayne Coyne, an unconventional but committed frontman, this once band of 'wierdo outsiders' have gone on to inspire a generation of psychedelic rock bands and collaborate with a diverse range of artists—from Henry Rollins and Peaches to Miley Cyrus and Kasey Musgraves. Their...
Coming Soon: Season 2 of Under the Radar
April 01, 2021 19:00 - 2 minutes - 2.4 MBListen for a teaser to our Season 2 launch episode and other upcoming guests. Follow us on Apple Podcast so you don't miss our first episode with The Flaming Lips, out next Thursday, April 8. Send us your thoughts at [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
UnEdited: Hanif Abdurraqib
March 05, 2021 22:00 - 30 minutes - 24.7 MBHanif Abdurraqib is a poet, essayist and cultural critic. His book Go Ahead in the Rain blended criticism, history, memoir, and poetry to pay tribute to A Tribe Called Quest, and the upcoming A Little Devil in America (March 30) explores how Black performance is woven into American culture. His website, 68 to 05, is mapping the music that shaped him with personal playlists for each year—between 1968 and 2005. He is also the host and creator of Lost Notes: 1980, named one of 2020's best musi...
UnEdited: Hrishikesh Hirway
February 19, 2021 20:37 - 58 minutes - 47 MBSong Exploder's Hrishikesh Hirway has had a busy 12 months. He launched two new podcasts as the Pandemic hit last year. And by Thanksgiving had a Netflix hit when Song Exploder his longtime music podcast made the transition to a television show. I was unaware of his TV show when we spoke but we did chat about this business of making podcasts, couple's therapy and how for years the piano he practiced on was made of paper. Here's the original article that was published at Under the Radar maga...
UnEdited: Roman Mars
February 06, 2021 07:00 - 1 hour - 54.6 MBRoman Mars has been producing one of the most popular podcasts ever—his show, 99 Percent Invisible—for over a decade. Last year, they marked the occasion by releasing a design book called The 99 Percent Invisible City: A Field Guide to The Hidden World of Design. I was presented with the opportunity to interview him about it. Here's the original article that was published at Under the Radar magazine's website. And a link directly to 99 Percent Invisible where you can purchase the book. Un...
UnEdited: Jason Bentley
January 23, 2021 00:39 - 37 minutes - 30.2 MBAs KCRW Music Director for a decade and host of the radio show Morning Becomes Eclectic, Jason Bentley is a respected tastemaker. He has been pivotal in introducing us to artists and bands that have ascended pop charts and become permenent fixtures in the culture. He left a hole in my radio-listening habits when he left the station, late in 2019. It was a treat to get the opportunity to interview him about his new podcast, in partnership with Soho House called The Backstory. We discuss how...
Under the Radar Podcast Presents: The Show On The Road with Agnes Obel
December 16, 2020 21:30 - 58 minutes - 53.9 MBThe Show On The Road is a great music podcast hosted by Zach Lupetin from folk rock outfit, Dustbowl Revival. I'm excited to share this episode where he speaks to Danish composer, pianist and singer/songwriter Agnes Obel. It was recorded at the Capitol Records Building in Los Angeles before there was a hint of Pandemic. And Obel was still looking forward to playing at the Greek Theatre over the Summer. They discuss her latest album Myopia, how perhaps we are not masters of our own fate and h...
Travis - Fran Healy
October 29, 2020 19:10 - 1 hour - 55 MBWhen Scottish band Travis landed their bonafide hit with "Why Does It Always Rain On Me?"—we were all taken with frontman Fran Healy's cheeky grin, affable persona and the way he seeminly wore his heart on his sleeve. After years of Brit-pop feuds and Oasis infighting, it was refreshing to have a band that wasn't grabbing the headlines with tiresome rock n'roll antics. Travis were nice. After their 1997 debut Good Feeling—a rock record that fitted the zeitgeist but failed to make an impress...
Fantastic Negrito
September 25, 2020 18:00 - 1 hour - 82.6 MBFantastic Negrito is the latest incarnation of Xavier Amin Dephrapaulezz. As a child, he was raised in an orthodox Muslim household in New England. His Somali-Caribbean father was an Oxford-educated immigrant who played traditional African music. Just before he hit his teens, his father relocated their family to Oakland. Coming from his conservative childhood, it was at once an intense culture shock and liberating. The street was alive with the new sounds of hip hop, rap and punk. And he was...
Everything Everything - Jonathan Higgs
August 28, 2020 00:41 - 1 hour - 82.5 MBEverything Everything frontman, Jonathan Higgs grew up in the North of England in a home filled with music. As early as six years old, he was experimenting with making music and rudimentary computer games on a free software program. By the time, he got to University he knew he wanted to be the frontman of a band. Everything Everything's line-up was complete when Alex Robertshaw joined Higgs, and his friends, Michael Spearman and Jeremy Pritchard—just in time for the quartet to ink their firs...
Caroline Rose
July 27, 2020 20:00 - 55 minutes - 77 MBCaroline Rose grew up on Long Island, New York, in a happy household where her artists-parents encouraged her creativity—she won coveted roles in musical theater productions, performed in a regional middle school band and instead of Summer jobs, she would take to the streets busking to earn her keep. However, like many of us, she was eager to see the big world. She couldn’t wait to get out of her small town and live the life she craved— to “hop trains and write songs”— the way vagabonds and ...
Ezra Furman
June 18, 2020 22:00 - 59 minutes - 54.4 MBEzra Furman grew up in Chicago, loving the Jewish faith as much as punk, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. While driving with a friend through their suburban streets one evening, she stumbles on the voice of Lou Reed. The car stereo is playing "Rock n Roll" by the Velvet Underground. She is smitten with that voice. Still unsure about her sexuality at this stage, it's like a siren's call—she begins to see in Reed, a way for her to express her gender, identity and ambitions. Ezra was fortunate ...
Black Belt Eagle Scout
May 14, 2020 16:00 - 53 minutes - 48.6 MBAs a young indigenous artist growing up in Northwest Washington, Katherine Paul was drawn to the noise of grunge and Bikini Kill's punk. But the rhythms of an idyllic life on her Coast Salish reservation, punctuated by her family's All My Relations gatherings—an annual powwow which coincided with birthday parties celebrated in the local gymnasium—are deeply-rooted in her being. These unique and varied inspirations would later inform the way she would make music under the Black Belt Eagle Sc...
Under the Radar Teaser
May 07, 2020 16:57 - 1 minute - 836 KBUnder the Radar is a music podcast that goes deeper into the latest albums by indie artists. Each month, an artist reveals memories of childhood, musical inspirations and milestones that have helped shape them and their work. Hosted and produced by Celine Teo-Blockey. From Under the Radar magazine, founded in 2001 by co-publishers Mark and Wendy Redfern. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.