Under the Radar Podcast

We 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 podcast Pictures of Lily. And here's a link to journalist and author Lyz Lenz's newsletter Men Yell At Me.

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 information.

Lucy 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 negotiates what songs need permission from the people that share these formative moments with her, and those that she relegates to fiction. And why there are some things she writes about that she will never share.

Many thanks for making this possible — Lucy for sharing so much more than we could hope to contain in this space. To Matador Records and Abby Rubin at Beggars Group for use of all songs. And Big Deal Music Group. Thank you to Lucy Sloane for sound design music. And Jessica Linker at Pitch Perfect PR for all the support.

Songs Featured: "Hot & Heavy," "I Don't Want To Be Funny Anymore," "Troublemaker Doppleganger," "Night Shift," "La Vie En Rose," "Partner In Crime," "Thumbs," "Going Going Gone."

To share your thoughts on this episode, email: [email protected]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After 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 sure you listen to them as they are discussed in some detail in this episode.

Many thanks for making this possible — Hannah for being the kind of leader that women—and men need right now. Thank you to Ministry of Sound, Sony Music and Warner Chappell for use of songs from albums Californian Soil and If You Wait. And to Olga Makrias at BTPR.

Songs Featured: "Lord It's A Feeling," "Wasting My Young Years," "Missing," and "America."

To share your thoughts on this episode, email: [email protected]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We 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 lilymakessound.com. Here's the link for Lily's podcast A Therapist Walks Into A Bar. For her solo album We Find Our Demons and her Pale Bird collaboration I told You How Important You Would Be, please head to her Bandcamp page. And here's Martin Austwick's Tom Wait's podcast Song By Song.

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 information.

Scottish 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 lightness of touch while lyrically tackling themes of loss, ageing and depression. 'Sometimes you have to shake things up,' James tell me of this experiment. He also discusses some of the other unusual choices his made that has helped shaped the kind of musical career that suits him.

Many thanks for making this possible — James for your time, humor and songs of joy in spite of sadness. To Domino Publishing Company and Domino Recording Company for use of songs from the albums Moving Up Country, The Year of the Leopard, When The Haar Rolls In, The Cellardyke Recording & Wassailing Society and The Wide, Wide River. Thank you to James Yorkston, for providing "3 Speed Wilfred" (By Huckleberry — written by James Yorkston, vocals by Vic Galloway, Reuben Taylor on Hammond organ and Stu Bastiman on drums). 

Songs Featured: "Struggles," "When The Haar Rolls In," "3 Speed Wilfred," "Moving Up Country, Roaring The Gospel," "Guy Fawkes Signature," "Woozy With Cider," "There Is No Upside," "We Test The Beams," "A Droplet Falls" and "Choices, Like Wide Rivers."

To share your thoughts on this episode, email: [email protected]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This 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 quest for freedom and Thao's desire to live her most honest life. A search which has proved elusive, sitting at the crucible of race, gender and sexuality. The very things Thao had avoided discussing when she was coming up in the indie rock scene. While her 2016 album A Man Alive started this process of trying to reconcile her past by dealing with the loss she felt when her father abandoned the family, that was only the first step. With Temple she has finally come out publically as queer, started to come to terms with her own internalized racism and galvanized herself to be more of an activist.

I had always admired Thao and her music from afar. She seemed an accomplished musician and songwriter who made singular records. I was not prepared for how honest and searing her work has always been. She might have never wanted to discuss her absent father, ethnicity or queer identity but it's in the DNA of her music.

Many thanks for this possible — Thao Nguyen for writing brave songs and allowing me to tell this story. To Ribbon Music, Domino Records and Domino Publishing for use of songs from We the Common, A Man Alive and Temple. Additionally to Adam Thompson for use of songs "Temple," "Phenom" and "Pure Cinema." To Kill Rock Stars for use of "Bag of Hammers" from We Brave Bee Stings and All and NPR's Tiny Desk Concert for the live performance. To film-maker and director Todd Krolczyk for use of Nobody Dies documentary. And to publicist Sydney Yeo at Domino Recording Company.

Songs Featured: "Temple," "Bag of Hammers," "Tallymarks," "We The Common (For Valerie Bolden)," "Kindness Be Conceived," "Meticulous Bird," "Millionaire," "Marauders," "Phenom" and "Pure Cinema."

To share your thoughts on this episode, email: [email protected]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We 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 children's book on Chinese food and their traditions.

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.

Links to Faye Wong singing the Heart Sutra, her Cocteau Twin's collaboration from the 90s and her version of "Dreams" from the Wong Kar Wai soundtrack.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emmy 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 Hong Kong. For three years, she made a life there with her partner and had a baby daughter. In 2019, after pro-democracy protests broke out and were followed by the Chinese government crackdown, they made the difficult decision to leave. This episode is about finding a sense of belonging between different worlds.

Many thanks for making this possible—Emma for your care with words, and your precious time. Sally Hedberg at [PIAS] for all the support. Bella Union for permission to use songs from the albums Second Love and April. And BMG America for song usage on the albums First Love and Virtue. Additional thanks to Gareth Jones and Euan Hinshelwood for use of songs "Trellick Tower" and "Paper Forest."

Songs featured: "Your Hallucinations," "Mid-Autumn," "Two Steps Forward," "We Almost Had A Baby," "Paper Forest," "Trellick Tower," "Swimming Pool," "Social Halo," "Dandelions/Liminal," "Writer," "Okinawa Ubud" and "Chang-E."

To share your thoughts on this episode, email: [email protected]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We 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 information.

The 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 latest masterpiece American Head has Coyne and longtime band member Steven Drozd reflecting on their youth and how the culture of drugs impacted their lives and tainted their idea of an American Dream.

Many thanks for making this possible—Wayne Coyne for your gracious time and infectious, wide-eyed optimism. Micheal Ivins for helping with the recording. To Rick Gershon from Warner Records Publicity for arranging interviews and permission to use songs. To Chris Greenspon for additional help with sound editing.

Songs Featured: "Dinosaurs On The Mountain," "She Don't Use Jelly," "Waiting For Superman," "Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt 1," Flowers of Neptune 6," "Will You Return When You Come Down," "You n Me Selling Weed," "Mothers Please Don't Be Sad," and "My Religion Is You."

Send your thoughts on this episode to [email protected] We would love to hear from you and might feature your feedback in our mini episode.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.