Mar 04, 2019

Sam Evian, aka Sam Owens, is a brilliant musician, if you didn’t know. Case in point - his new 7” Cherry Tree b/w Roses. The former track in particular packs a soulful classic rock wallop.

“Cherry Tree” and “Roses” will be released by Saddle Creek as a limited edition 7” (250 copies). The 7” comes on the heels of Sam’s 2018 sophomore album, You, Forever.

Here’s the background from Sam’s bandcamp page:

You, Forever was Sam Evian’s first foray into a more soul-baring sensibility. Released in the summer of 2018, the album is a beautiful collection that glows with an intense, slow burn. It was hailed by Pitchfork as a collection of songs that are “gentle and sweet but avoid the most saccharine tendencies of soft rock.” Last fall, Sam released a version of the You, Forever track “Next to You” with vocals by Blonde Redhead’s Kazu Makino. It lit up playlists. Paste magazine said “The track is a beautiful little diamond of Sunday morning guitars and Marvin Gaye-style bass grooves.”

Now, two new songs shine a light on the evolution of Sam Evian’s music. “Cherry Tree” is a daydream of the first warm hints of spring, which came to Sam as he took in the sun under a cherry tree in New York’s Central Park. It was also the first song that Sam Owens ever released as Sam Evian. It has remained a fan favorite and a staple of the rousing live set. “Tell me life’s a passing cloud,” he urges amid a charming backdrop of lilting guitars, gorgeous piano flourishes, and a swelling harmony-vocal chorus.

Accompanying “Cherry Tree” is the hazy lament of “Roses,” a new, unreleased song from the You, Forever sessions which offers a lyrically complex but equally reflective outlook as its counterpart. “I’ll buy an old conversion, drive it down the great west coast,” Sam sings. “Who knows how far she’ll make it in this world.”

Feb 28, 2019

Devendra Banhart’s newest release is personal and unexpected, in keeping with his artistic approach. Banhart isn’t recording as much anymore and his latest offering is a curaiton of demos from dear friends, including Arthur Russell, Nils Frahm, Vashti Bunyan, King Tuff and more. These never before heard works collected over many years is being released tomorrow and is titled Fragments du Monde Flottant. It will only be released on vinyl, limited to 2000 copies, and each with one of six different colored cardboard packaging and one of six drawings by Devendra. Listen to “That Old Dream Of Ours” by Rodrigo Amarante below.

Says Devendra: “I’ve always loved demos, often much more than the final version. In fact, my favorite John Lennon song is a demo; its called “Friend of Dorothy”. It’s a masterpiece. This is an album of demos. You know who doesn’t like demos? The people who make them - that’s who! Wait , wait…. That’s not true. They do like their demos but they are definitely not gonna let anyone hear them anytime soon. They have big big plans for these songs. Fortunately , I don’t mind being extremely annoying when it comes to bothering/begging my friends to let me hear their demos. Unfortunately , I am not a very good dentist. This album could have been called “Pulling Teeth” if ya know what I’m sayin’….

Feb 23, 2019

One of the truly soulful pieces of music from last year was Rafiq Bhatia’s title track from his startling album Breaking English. Bhatia reworked the track, bringing in singer Sam Dew. An already divine song gets a further blessing. Listen and let it fill your soul.

Bhatia offers the following analogy for the feeling behind the music: “In August, I lost my grandmother. In Muslim funerals, there is a communal element in laying the deceased to rest. Dozens of mourners (family members, friends, and members of the congregation) all take turns as pallbearers, each shouldering the weight briefly before making room for the next person, singing in unison as the procession continues. It’s a teeming, resonant swarm helping to bear the final burden gently. (‘...a million other lights like me beside me and we’ll return again’)”

TOUR DATES

3/1 – Boston, MA – Museum of Fine Arts Boston

3/6 – Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s

3/7 – Pittsburgh, PA – Andy Warhol Museum

3/8 – Oberlin, OH – The Sco, Oberlin College

3/9 – Toledo, OH – Peristyle Theatre at the Toledo Museum of Art

3/10 – Indianapolis, IN – Newfields: A Place for Nature & The Arts

3/15 – New York, NY – The Kitchen

3/22 – Knoxville, TN – Big Ears Festival 2019

6/28 - 6/30 - North Adams, MA - Solid Sound Festival

Feb 20, 2019

Randy Randall of No Age is releasing a ambient album. Oh yeah….His debut solo LP is titled Sound Field Volume One and is set to be released March 29th via Dangerbird Records. “The record is a series of ambient pieces inspired by California’s I-10 highway and the various landscapes along the route, from the desert sunrise in Palm Springs to the dense traffic of Downtown LA to the sunset at the Santa Monica Pier.” I mean, do you need to know any more?? This video created by Aaron Farley is for the track “Shore Sunset, Pt. 1”

From the press release:

“This project has been a really fun way to explore the many different environments of Southern California,” says Randall, “We drove along the 10 freeway from the desert at sunrise thru the suburbs in the morning, thru downtown LA in the afternoon and ending at the beach at sunset. This video is the first part of sunset and it reflects the way the beach interacts with the city and how people experience a peaceful environment right next to the highway.”

Sound Field Volume One is the next installment from the LA-based experimental music and visual art collective Arthur King Presents. Who is Arthur King? http://www.whoisarthurking.com/

Feb 19, 2019

It’s always cool to run across something that has that late ‘90s DIY band sound. Lo-fi and sweet. Ohyeahsumi. is twin sister duo Lena + Rena Verno out of LA and they just released a six track EP titled Hopeless Aromantic. Listen below.

Feb 15, 2019

Perth Australia’s Methyl Ethel has just released their third album Triage today and it closes on a big high note with “No Fighting”. Listen to Jake Webb get anthemic below.

Feb 14, 2019

Acclaimed composer Jeff Russo (Legion, Star Trek: Discovery) has written the original score for the new Netflix series The Umbrella Academy. Under the Radar is happy to premiere “Hazel and Delores” from the soundtrack.

Lakeshore Records will release the score digitally tomorrow, February 15, when the show debuts on Netflix. Developed by Steve Blackman, the series is based on the Eisner award-winning comics and graphic novels created and written by Gerard Way (My Chemical Romance), illustrated by Gabriel Bá, and published by Dark Horse Comics.

Says Russo about the experience: “With such an eclectic group of characters, writing themes was super fun. Many different personalities got many different musical motifs and feelings.”

Russo, who is also a founding member, lead guitarist and co-songwriter of the band Tonic, has a number of noteworthy scoring crrdits, earning an Emmy Award and another two nominations for his memorable music on FX’s Fargo. He also scored HBO’s Golden Globe® and Emmy-nominated series The Night Of. His take on “Hazel and Delores” reveals another interesting part of the profile.