Under the Radar podcast

Under the Radar podcast #6

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 12:16:00 GMT

Christmas. It might be chilly outside but it's hardly the coolest time of the year is it? We over-indulge in party snacks, strange, once-yearly liqueurs (eggnog?!) and belt-busting meals, before battening down the hatches on our little cocoons of reliable family customs, TV drowse-athons and enough lighting effects to melt Greenland. In short, the carving knife is all that's cutting edge about Yule-tide.

So it pleases us at UtR to know that the young hipsters and hipstresses of the Scottish music scene are equally predictable at this time of the year. Don't believe us?

Well, Billy caught up with a quintet of his favourite music makers for some festive banter, and was treated along the way to a poorly executed version of The Waitresses' Christmas Wrapping, a shameless plug for Terry's Chocolate Orange and the earth-shatteringly weird coincidence that two separate musos both long for one of those tiny screwdriver sets in their Christmas cracker.

Panda Su, French Wives, Conquering Animal Sound, Dead Boy Robotics and Cancel the Astronauts... we're looking at you.

We also asked a few more of our favourite acts of 2009 to contribute either Christmas-themed - or just plain new - songs, and eagleowl, The Last Battle, There Will Be Fireworks and Tokyo Knife Attack duly obliged.

Again, the sound quality isn't perfect, but rest assured that top of our list for Santa this year is some professional recording gear. Hope you enjoy it anyway...

Running order:

00:54: There Will Be Fireworks: In Excelius Deo
07:10: Interview: Panda Su
10:32: Panda Su - Eric Is Dead
15:44: Tokyo Knife Attack - Invisible Sister
20:15: Interview: French Wives
23:30: French Wives - Me vs Me
28:04: eagleowl - Sleep the Winter
34:09: Interview: Conquering Animal Sound
37:48: Conquering Animal Sound - Where The Wild Things Are
42:22: Interview: Dead Boy Robotics
44:31: Death Ohh Eff - Me and Fift (Dead Boy Robotics remix)
48:22: The Last Battle - Once Upon A Boxing Day
54:14: Interview: Cancel The Astronauts
57:27: Cancel the Astronauts - Funny For A Girl

Under the Radar podcast #5

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:00:00 GMT

...or, the one where we went down to Edinburgh Oxjam, grabbed a few bands in various states of inebriation and recorded the results, with a few songs thrown in for good measure.

Yep, that's pretty much what it says on the tin. We have interviews with Meursault, Boycotts, Dead Boy Robotics, The Little Kicks, Jesus H Foxx and Y'All is Fantasy Island.

Stevie, our Bowery correspondent, chatted to three of the bands at that venue, while Billy caught up with Dead Boy Robotics after their Cab Vol set and I (Nick) spoke to Boycotts backstage at the same venue and The Little Kicks later on outside the 'aftershow' party.

Under the Radar podcast #4.5

Wed, 06 Oct 2009 11:00:00 GMT

A couple of months back we pondered the question of whether an unsigned band can achieve a reasonable degree of success without the backing of industry 'pros'.

At the time it seemed to hit a nerve with our readers, causing a minor flurry of surprisingly well-informed, illuminating comments (for the interweb).

Unfortunately we never got round to pursuing the issue in the podcasts which have followed, so to make amends, we asked UtR contributor Stevie Kearney to go out and investigate the DIY topic in a bit more depth. (No, he didn't go undercover at Homebase, before someone cracks that joke.)

Stevie spoke to Peter Kelly, who has tasted a few crumbs of success from the top table in his guise as Rolling Stone-touted Beerjacket.

Stevie also chatted to someone who knows a thing or two about the kind of well-intentioned, small-scale operations we discussed in the editorial. Tallah Brash is the newest addition to the ever-expanding Edinburgh band Jesus H. Foxx, who have been championed by the tireless blog/label Song, by Toad.

Because it doesn't run to the normal 40-odd rambling minutes and is instead an opinion-packed package, we've stopped short of branding it podcast #5. Instead we opted for the ingenious title of ... podcast #4.5.

Under the Radar podcast #4

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:00:00 GMT

It may be old news now, but the ripples of record sales cast by the Mercury Music Prize are still being felt across the industry. Following our editorial on the subject a couple of weeks ago, we discuss the outcome (or more accurately, Billy vents his fury!), and whether the concept of the awards ceremony has any value at all.

And as if that wasn't enough to tempt you to download/play/whatever it is you do with a podcast, we also have a great selection of tuneage.

There's the new single from the Low Miffs' collaboration with former Orange Juice / Josef K legend Malcolm Ross, a new cut from Glasgow math rock upstarts Citizens, a taster of North Atlantic Oscillation's long-awaited debut album, as well as music acts we recently featured on the blog: Tokyo Knife Attack, The Pineapple Chunks and The John Knox Sex Club.

Running order:
00:12: Malcolm Ross and the Low Miffs - Cressida
04:34: Tokyo Knife Attack - Another One Falls
09:43: The Pineapple Chunks - The Horror The Horror
13:44: Discussion: Mercury Music Prize
19:17: Errors - Salut France
22:42: North Atlantic Oscillation - 77 Hours
27:46: Citizens - Shit Whistler
32:20: The John Knox Sex Club - John the Revelator

Words and podcast: Nick Mitchell, Billy Hamilton

Under the Radar podcast #3

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 00:00:44 GMT

Unsurprisingly, this is the third podcast from Under the Radar.

This time it's all about the music: we have an exclusive new track from Trapped in Kansas, a Springsteen cover by Beerjacket and new singles by UtR-featured Randan Discotheque and The Seventeenth Century.

On top of that, Stevie caught up with Edinburgh band White Heath for a chat at their recent EP launch, and there's more music from Glasgow/Dundee math rockers Popolo, a band we haven't featured yet (shock) in My Tiny Robots, and Small Town Boredom, the Paisely duo who were offered a record deal a couple of hours after appearing on UtR (yes, that's the sound of us patting our backs).

Running order:

00:55: The Seventeenth Century - Roses in the Park
06:22: Beerjacket - Dancing in the Dark
10:15: Popolo - Or Optimism
13:45: Interview: White Heath
17:20: White Heath - Election Day
21:30: Trapped in Kansas - Carpathia
24:53: My Tiny Robots - Other People Matter
30:01: Randan Discotheque - Daily Record May 18th 1993
35:10: Small Town Boredom - White Cart Water

Under the Radar podcast#2

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:49:57 GMT

The second podcast from Under the Radar.

This time we investigate the situation of modern day music journalism in depth, enlisting viewpoints from both sides of the journos vs bloggers divide.

We also have tracks by a fine array of UtR-tipped bands, including There Will Be Fireworks and Cancel the Astronauts, and we look forward to T in the Park with music from My Cousin I Bid You Farewell, Dead Boy Robotics and Tango in the Attic.

Running order:

01:20: There Will Be Fireworks - Foreign Thoughts
05:49: Cancel the Astronauts - Late in the City
10:34: Special report: music journalism v blogging (Mike Diver / Matthew Young)
20:18: Second Hand Marching Band - A Dance to Half Death
26:37: My Cousin I Bid You Farewell - The Contented Hearts
30:00: Dead Boy Robotics - We Drown Ourselves
32:59: Tango in the Attic - Jackanory

Under the Radar podcast #1

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:37:30 GMT

The inaugural Under the Radar podcast.

As well as songs from the likes of Mitchell Museum, Yahweh and The Gothenburg Address, Billy caught up with rising Edinburgh electronica artist Dollskabeat for an exclusive interview.

Running order:

00:50: Mitchell Museum - Take the Tongue Out
03:52: Dupec - Snakes & Ladders
08:31: eagleowl - Blanket
13:59: Interview with Dolskabeat
19:34: Dolskabeat - Zodiac Rising
23:28: The Gothenburg Address - The Lesser Coming Home
29:48: Rob St John - Paper Ship
36:43: Stag & Dagger preview
38:38: Yahweh - The Wee Ending