Under the Radar Podcast

Everything 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 first label deal.

Higgs spoke to us ahead of the band's upcoming album Re-Animator which will be released on September 11th. Like most artists and bands putting new records out during a pandemic they've had to adapt. Re-Animator's release date was pushed back. A music video they had already begun production on had to be scrapped because it's lyrics were inappropriate given COVID 19. Unable to meet or do photo shoots, Higgs set about using computer software and animation for their promo shots as well as their latest music videos:— "Arch Enemy," "In Birdsong" and "Planets." The "fatberg" in "Arch Enemy" (the outro track on the podcast) is unmissable. No prizes for guessing the inspiration for the oversized, congealed, blob.

I first encountered the band's music with their third album, 2015's Get To Heaven. The track "No Reptiles" was like nothing I had heard before. The lyrics were as violent as the news stories they were referencing - ISIS beheadings and school shootings - yet tender in it's odd refrain: "Oh baby, it's alright. It's alright, to feel like a fat child, in a pushchair, old enough to run. Old enough to fire a gun." How it folded the brutality with mocking humor, then a tenderness, in the most erudite manner, expanded the bounds of Math Rock exponentially.

Re-Animator's most uplifting track "Violent Sun" — echoes that sentiment but with a simpler, more impassioned plea: "I'm too old, to be crying out...." At a time when we're supposed to be strong, at every turn the world keeps burning and we have every cause for incredible sadness. But still we keep singing, hoping, re-animating.

For those interested in the theories that inspired Higgs on Re-Animator, please check out Julian Jayne's book The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind.

Many thanks for making this possible — Jonathan Higgs for sharing your time, thoughts and music with us. To Alexander Baker and Jamie Sward at High Rise PR for the support. And to Kobalt Music for permission to use songs from the albums Get To Heaven, A Fever Dream and Re-Animator.

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Caroline 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 storytellers, in the vein of her most favorite artist, Tom Waits, did. Her parents insisted that she have a back up plan. So she got a degree in Architecture. As soon as she was done with College, she lived out her fantasy of writing songs, living in a car and traveling around the country. In 2012, her first record of songs was self-released as America Religious.

“Soul No 5” on her excellent record Loner, was the first Caroline Rose song I ever heard and I was smitten. An earlier version of the song was featured on “NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert”— introduced as “I Got Soul,” it was marked by lashings of slide guitar and her earnest Country-inflected vocals. I was keen to find out how she went from Americana to the electro-pop heights of Superstar.

This is the first interview we’ve done since the Pandemic hit. It was conducted via Zoom, so apologies for the less than perfect audio in parts. The day we spoke, it was obvious that Caroline was going through some heartbreak—foregrounded by all the unrest erupting from George Floyd’s murder at the hands of police, and the general state of our world in crisis, I can only imagine how much more difficult it must be to navigate a broken heart during lockdown.

This was going to be her champagne year. Now, it will be Covid’s year. The pandemic has made her think of Superstar as suspended in time and space. She adds: “Like in The Matrix how things get frozen; and you can walk around it and view it from all these different perspectives... There is something magical about creativity that you don’t even fully realized it’s depth and true meanings when you’re creating it. Or fully understand it.“

Many thanks for making this possible—Caroline for graciously helping me, tell your story. To Nancy Rose for digitizing old VHS — “Connemara Sketches: A Folk Suite” performed with Caroline in her HMEA band (2003) and “Out of Time.” (I also loved Caroline performing music from Annie Get Your Gun, Annie and doing her “Wonderwall” cover but alas, it didn’t make the cut). To Anthony Borgatta for additional audio on the drums. To Pitch Perfect PR for support, plus New West Records and Words & Music for use of Caroline Rose’s music.

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We 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 festival founder, Kerry Blu—also sheds some light on the ways artists of color have felt about the previous administration's mishandling of the pandemic. And as a creative couple—and a singer herself—she reveals how they had to set boundaries for themselves during the difficult New York Shelter in Place. Follow Alexandra on Instagram @pod.dralandand on Twitter @poddraland Be sure to listen to her podcast The Pod Broads. And for Kerry Blu's fresh new EP, The Game Is The Game, please head to Spotify.

Write us an Apple Podcast review or if you prefer to share your thoughts via email, drop us a line at [email protected]

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We 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 Francisco featuring friends such as Neil Young, Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell —still ranks high for him decades later; his favorite Courtney Barnett song; and how pleased he is that Under the Radar is that rare music podcast, that actually plays music.

Please head to Bandcamp to purchase music from Jen Cloher's self titled album. And for tickets and more information about Courtney Barnett's own, curated festival, touring this August, head to Here And There Festival. Thank you to Milk! Records, Mom & Pop and Grandstand Media for clearance of songs used in this episode. And for the Caroline Rose episode, head here.

Write us an Apple Podcast review, send me a voice message or if you prefer to share your thoughts via email, drop us a line at [email protected]

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In 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 documentary about the refugee crisis. She discusses her experience with religion, editing for documentary, and its similairities to editing for audio.

Thanks to Matador Records for use of the song "Appointments." And Katie Nelson from Grandstand Media for support with music clearance. A big, big thank you to the many Julien Baker fans that reached out. We could only pick one but feel free to record a voice message and I promise to play it on a future mini-episode. And of course to our guest Allison, thank you for sharing the music in your head with all of us in the world — it's a truly special thing.

Links to the other episodes discussed — Black Belt Eagle Scout, Ezra Furman, Travis and Lucy Dacus. Julien Baker will tour with Angel Olsen and Sharon Van Etten, for the Wild Hearts Tour, from 21 July to 21 Aug 2022. Remember Season 3 will drop July 7.

Write us an Apple Podcast review, or again send me a voice message. If you prefer to share your thoughts via email, drop us a line at [email protected]

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