Under the Radar
EditorMark Redfern
CategoriesMusic
FrequencyFour issues per year
PublisherWendy Lynch Redfern and Mark Redfern
Founded2001
Based inLexington, Virginia, United States
LanguageEnglish
Websiteundertheradarmag.com
ISSN1553-2305

Under the Radar is an American music magazine that features interviews with accompanying photo-shoots. Each issue includes opinion and commentary of the indie music scene as well as reviews of books, DVDs, and albums. The magazine posts web-exclusive interviews and reviews on its website.

Items are reviewed based on a rating system in which each album, book, and DVD receives a rating from 1 to 10. The magazine has been in publication since late 2001 and is issued three times per year.

The magazine was founded by co-publishers (and husband and wife) Mark Redfern and Wendy Lynch Redfern, who currently run the magazine. Mark is the magazine's Senior Editor and writes many of the magazine's articles. Wendy is the Creative Director and lays out each issue. She is also a music photographer and conducts photo-shoots for the magazine, including many of its covers.

Contents

It was the first American magazine to interview the following non-American bands: The Aliens, The Besnard Lakes, The Dears, The Duke Spirit, The Earlies, Editors, The Go! Team, Hope of the States, iLiKETRAiNS, I'm from Barcelona, The Long Blondes, Los Campesinos!, Love Is All, Lucky Soul, Mew, Mugison, Mystery Jets, The Pipettes, The Research, Serena Maneesh, The Sleepy Jackson, Taken By Trees, The Thrills, and Young Galaxy. It was also the first print magazine to interview Vampire Weekend and Fleet Foxes.[1][2]

Photographers who have shot for the magazine include: Crackerfarm, Wendy Lynch Redfern, Ray Lego, Koury Angelo, Ian Maddox, James Loveday, Autumn de Wilde, and David Redfern.

Issues

Under the Radar has had 71 print magazine issues since its debut in December 2001.

Special issues and features

Issue 10, the Summer 2005 issue, featured the Britpop: A Decade On special section. The section featured new interviews with key members of mid-1990s Britpop bands.[3]

For Issue 11, the Fall 2005 issue, Under the Radar ran a big 36-page special section on Canadian indie rock. The section included interviews with Canadian bands.[4]

In Issue 17, the Spring 2007 issue, Under the Radar ran a 15-page special section entitled Music vs. Film. For the section, British band Kaiser Chiefs interviewed comedian/actor/writer Simon Pegg and Kevin Drew of the Canadian collective Broken Social Scene interviewed Irish actor Cillian Murphy. The section also included an interview with singer/actress Charlotte Gainsbourg. In addition, various bands wrote about their favorite movies.[5]

For Issue 29, the Winter 2009 issue, included a Best of the Decade section, where a Top 200 Albums of the Decade list was featured.[6]

Issue 36, the Spring 2011 issue, featured a special section entitled Music vs. Comedy, which featured interviews between music artists and comedians.[7]

Issue 38, the Fall 2011 issue, celebrated the 10th anniversary of the magazine's debut. It featured an extensive interview between Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes and Joanna Newsom, along with new interviews with the artists that graced the cover of the first six editions.[8] The magazine then celebrated its 15th anniversary with Issue 59, the Winter 2016 edition.[9]

Issue 66, the Fall 2019 issue, featured a section entitled My Favorite Album, where many artists (including The Flaming Lips, Slowdive, Wilco, and many more) talk about their all-time favorite album.[10]

Elliott Smith's last interview

In 2003, Mark Redfern and writer Marcus Kagler interviewed acclaimed singer/songwriter Elliott Smith for an Under the Radar cover story and Wendy Lynch photographed him for the cover. It was the first interview that Smith had done in a couple of years and at the time he was hard at work on his album From a Basement on the Hill. Elliott Smith killed himself later that year and the Under the Radar feature ended up being Smith's last interview and photo-shoot.[11]

The Protest Issue

In 2004 and 2008, coinciding with the U.S. presidential elections, Under the Radar put together special "Protest Issue." In addition to politically themed articles, bands were photographed with self-made protest signs and the photos ran in the issue. The autographed protest signs were later auctioned off on eBay, with all the profits donated to the political action group Music for America. This trend continued for both the 2012 and 2016 U.S. presidential elections. The latest Protest Issue was released in 2021 and features Japanese Breakfast and HAIM on the covers.

U.S. political magazine The Nation named Under the Radar the Most Valuable Music Magazine in their 2016 Progressive Honor Roll.[12]

Chris Walla Explains It All

From issue 7, 2004 through issue 22, 2008's editions of "The Protest issue", Death Cab for Cutie guitarist and indie rock producer Chris Walla has written a regular column for Under the Radar entitled "Chris Walla Explains It All".

Versus

From time to time, Under the Radar has a special feature where a current musician interviews for the magazine a musician whom they admire and who has influenced them. Versus features have included: Clinic vs. Can, Devendra Banhart vs. Donovan, The Dresden Dolls vs. Bauhaus, Love Is All vs. The Vaselines, Primal Scream vs. The Cramps, and The Thrills vs. Brian Wilson.

Website

Under the Radar has a website which features daily news items along with album reviews and artist interviews. A "Songs of the Week" list is posted to the website every week.

In popular culture

A fictitious cover of Under the Radar magazine makes an appearance in the 2019 Oscar-winning film Sound of Metal. [13]

Awards

The magazine has been nominated as the Plug Awards "Magazine of the Year" three times.[14]

References

  1. ^ "Throwback Thursday: Vampire Weekend Interview from 2007". Archived from the original on December 10, 2020. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
  2. ^ "Throwback Thursday: Fleet Foxes Interview from 2008". Archived from the original on December 10, 2020. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
  3. ^ "Summer 2005: Death Cab for Cutie". Archived from the original on October 23, 2020. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
  4. ^ "Fall 2005: O Canada!". Archived from the original on October 22, 2020. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
  5. ^ "Spring 2007: Feist". Archived from the original on October 22, 2020. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
  6. ^ "Winter 2009: Best of the Decade". Archived from the original on September 18, 2020. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
  7. ^ "Spring 2011: Music vs. Comedy". Archived from the original on November 24, 2020. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
  8. ^ "Fall 2011: 10th Anniversary Issue". Archived from the original on October 20, 2020. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
  9. ^ "Winter 2016: 15th Anniversary Issue". Archived from the original on November 24, 2020. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
  10. ^ "Fall 2019: My Favorite Album". Archived from the original on November 30, 2020. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
  11. ^ "Elliott Smith: Better Off Than Dead". Under the Radar. Archived from the original on December 10, 2020. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  12. ^ "The 2016 Progressive Honor Roll". The Nation. Archived from the original on November 29, 2020. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  13. ^ "Check Out Under the Radar's Cameo in the Acclaimed New Film "Sound of Metal"". Archived from the original on January 26, 2021. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
  14. ^ "The 2008 PLUG Independent Music Awards". Archived from the original on January 24, 2010. Retrieved April 1, 2010.
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