We have three episodes done now and you can still hear them all on Spreaker. There is now limited access on Spreaker due to copyright rules. If you can’t listen to an episode, please let me know and I will send you a link. The episodes will also be playing regularly on VoicEd Radio.

Bob Kennedy and I have been doing this show for three weeks. The basic idea is simple – 10 songs over one hour, all songs have to have been produced after 2015 – hence – New Music.

Here are Bob’s selections for this week.

Rolling Coastal Blackout Fever – An Air Conditioned Man

Fontaines DC – Oh Such A Spring

Seaway – Lula on the Beach

Solange – Cranes in the Sky

Minus 5 – Davy Gets the Girl

You can hear all of Bob’s songs and much more on our Spotify playlist. If you listen to the podcast, you will find out so much more, for example, who is Solange’s famous sister?

What I find so much fun about all this is researching the stories for the songs. My first choice came fro a twitter suggestion by Errol Nazareth whose new show Frequencies on CBC Radio 2 is amazing.

Errol Nazareth describes Finley as the ‘real deal’ and goes on to say “One day, I’d like to see Mr. Finley at the Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, Mississippi.”

After listening to him and especially after watching his video for his newest release I totally agree!

from Under the Radar Magazine

Robert Finley, described by The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach as “the greatest living soul singer,” has returned for a third studio album, Sharecropper’s Son. Co-written and produced by Auerbach, the album sees Finley follow his acclaimed 2017 record Goin’ Platinum! alongside studio legends and bluesmen, some of which have worked with everyone from Elvis Presley to Wilson Pickett. Finley has returned today with the video for his latest single, “Country Boy,” premiering with Under the Radar.

Under the Radar April 2021

You really need to watch this.

Louisiana-based musician @therobertfinley has shared the video for his latest single, “Country Boy,” premiering with Under the Radar. Finley’s new record, ‘Sharecropper’s Son (co-written and produced by @danauerbach) is out May 21st on Easy Eye Sound.

We also featured a young singer from Kitchener, JJ. Wilde – The Rush

Her video is very interesting and you can watch it here

This track is from her album, Ruthless released in April 2020. She has written over 500 songs and is 28 yrs old. Another single – Mercy is also terrific. The Rush was #1 on all 3 Canadian Rock Radio formats – JJ Wilde was the first woman to do this. She has also toured with bands like The Glorious Sons.

The lyrics to Rush are really interesting. Even though she is pretty hard hitting, the song has lots to do about not disappointing her mom with her risky lifestyle:

Woke up this morning, in panic

I had my red dress on again

Last night I came out I was so damn manic

Don’t even know where I went wrong

But I went wrong

And it’s times like these that I swear to god

I’m glad my mother can’t see me

And if she did, I don’t know how I would keep it together

I don’t know how I would keep it in

It’s the Rush, it’s the lust, you can’t trust

Kandle, the daughter of Neil Osborne from 54-40, was another new discovery. Stick Around and Find Out her fourth album features the track Happy Pills. It is a little dark, but if you listen to her explanation, it really is a song about regeneration and growth. Her voice is haunting which makes this song all the more evocative.

I was sitting around in the Hipposonic studio in Vancouver trying to finalize arrangements for recording when I picked up a guitar and wrote it, almost by accident, in about 10 minutes. I had been focusing so much on rockin’, Motown, power house songs that I kind of missed being a little bit folky.  At the time I was working on getting off of the medications that I’d been put on post breakdown and realized I wanted to reclaim and manage my life without them. “When did I start? And how do I stop? I caught my reflection, tied my stomach in knots”. 

You can read the full interview with Kandle here on American Songwriter.

Only some of her material like Honey Trap is out on video. This again is worth watching.

Another artist that was new to me (they are all new to me) is Phoebe Bridgers. She has great songs and really interesting lyrics. Bob mentioned the controversy about her smashing a guitar on Saturday Night Live that was news to me.

While I don’t have that video, I do have a New York Times interview that discusses her song writing. This is probably more interesting than smashing guitars.

This year at the Grammys she was up for Best New Artist, Best Alternative Album, Best Rock Song, and Best Rock Performance (the latter two are for “Kyoto”).

Also the song Motion Sickness is really good!

All this is from a new music source for me – Under the Radar, a source I will continue to go back to in the weeks ahead.

And finally a video from one of Bob’s picks Valley.