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Under The Radar

Sixty-one records by artists who were, at the time this was assembled, doing excellent work that almost nobody was hearing.

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Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.

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Under The Radar

This is the earliest of the several playlists on this blog devoted to the under-promoted, and in some ways the most ambitious. Sixty-one tracks, mostly from the first half of the 2010s, drawn from soul, rock, gospel, electronic and singer-songwriter territory, with almost no famous names.

Reading it now is instructive. Several of these artists went on to considerable careers, several did not, and the quality distinction between the two groups is not obvious from the music — which is more or less the point the playlist is making.

What to listen for

Alabama Shakes' "Don't Wanna Fight" is the biggest thing here, and Brittany Howard's vocal is one of the great rock performances of that decade.

Gary Clark Jr.'s "Things Are Changin'" in the solo acoustic version is the blues entry and the most exposed performance on the set.

Avery*Sunshine's "Call My Name" is the one soul listeners will thank you for — a church-trained singer and pianist whose records deserved a far larger audience.

Eric Roberson is the most significant name most people will not know: an independent soul artist who has built a substantial career entirely outside the major-label system and been Grammy-nominated for doing it.

Teedra Moses's "Skin Diver" is the cult record — her album Complex Simplicity is one of the most beloved commercial failures in modern R&B.

Stacy Barthe and Carolyn Malachi are the other two worth following immediately, and J*DaVeY are the Los Angeles duo who were doing alternative R&B a decade before the category existed.

Blood Orange's "Chamakay" is Dev Hynes, who has since become one of the most in-demand writers in pop.

Gordon Chambers is the songwriter's entry — he wrote for Anita Baker and Whitney Houston before recording himself.

Go deeper

Teedra Moses's Complex Simplicity and Eric Roberson's Mr. Nice Guy are the two albums to correct first.

Alabama Shakes' Sound & Color is the one that went on to win Grammys, and Brittany Howard's solo record Jaime is better still.

What it demonstrates: several of these artists went on to substantial careers and several vanished, and the quality difference between the two groups is not audible. That is the uncomfortable point a set like this makes — the filter that decides who gets heard is not primarily a filter for how good the records are.

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