Album Reviews
Surfer Blood
Astro Coast
Feb 01, 2010 Issue #29 - Year End 2009 - Best of the Decade
A timeless pop song never goes out of fashion. From The Beatles, to R.E.M., to The Shins, a simple three-chord track that raises goose bumps is perhaps the most alchemical device in music. Florida's Surfer Blood are acutely aware of these possibilities, and on their debut Astro Coast, they shimmy and sway through 10 tracks copiously laden with chill-inducing hooks.
Classic Interviews
Jamie Lidell
By Any Other Name
Apr 01, 2008 Spring 2008 - Flight of the Conchords
As the creative process tends to be an intensely private and solitary endeavor, it’s no wonder that many artists simply don’t have the ego strength or interpersonal skills to effectively communicate their vision without freaking out every time someone else leaves their fingerprints on it. Being a songwriter is one thing, but being a bandleader is something else altogether, and it’s up to every artist to strike the balance between stomping on every suggestion and letting collaborators run the show.
Comic Book Reviews
Green Lantern: Agent Orange
DC
Feb 02, 2010 Web Exclusive
These days, Geoff Johns' work for Green Lantern (vol. 4) is almost beyond reproach in comcidom and even eclipses DC's Batman and Superman series. Agent Orange is no exception. It stopgap miniseries further illustrates the blockbuster scribe's adeptness for the comic medium after successful runs for 52, Infinite Crisis, Justice Society of America, and Teen Titans. And even as a prelude to the still continuing Blackest Night tentpole event, it is well written and expertly visualized space opera of the emotional spectrum.
Book Reviews
Dave Thompson
Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell: The Dangerous Glitter of David Bowie, Iggy Pop, and Lou Reed
Jan 22, 2010 Web Exclusive
While the glam rock era of the early 1970s could arguably be one of the most scrutinized, mimicked, analyzed and ultimately eviscerated scenes in books, media, and copycat bands in recent years, Dave Thompson manages to put a new spin on his examination of glam by primarily focusing on that essential period from 1970-1973 when the lives of David Bowie, Iggy Pop and Lou Reed—arguably the triptych of vitality in glam rock—neatly dovetailed to create a monumental shift in the face of rock music.
Video Game Reviews
Bayonetta Xbox 360/PlayStation 3
Sega
Jan 19, 2010 Web Exclusive
Bayonetta is the most talked about game of the season. It's not hard to see why, after being slapped back and forth by the titular sexy female demon (with dark hair that covers her body and sexy librarian glasses), who sucks on lollipops and spreads her legs every which way while kicking angelic ass.
News
Yeasayer's Anand Wilder
Photos of Yeasayer at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles
Feb 08, 2010
This past Friday Brooklyn's Yeasayer performed at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County as part of their First Fridays series, in which on the first Friday night of each month the museum hosts performances from bands and DJs. We have the photos.
Interviews
Clare and the Reasons
Jan 22, 2010 Web Exclusive
"We're a bunch of idiots! We definitely mix that into what we do because that's who we are," confesses Clare and the Reasons' frontwoman Clare Muldaur. "We take the music we do very very, very seriously, but we don't take ourselves that seriously."
Pleased to meet you
Nurses
Dec 10, 2009 Web Exclusive
The history of psych-pop outfit Nurses and its core members, Aaron Chapman and John Bowers, reads like a musical travelogue of sorts. Having grown up in Idaho Falls, Idaho, Chapman and Bowers took their love of music to California, Chicago, back to Idaho, and finally to Portland, Oregon, where the pair, along with drummer James Mitchell, has taken up permanent residence. The result of all their travel can be heard on the band's sophomore album, Apple's Acre. Under the Radar caught up with Chapman to discuss Apple's Acre and the origins of a band that was built upon discovery, musical and otherwise.
Live reviews
Hotrats at Spaceland, Los Angeles, CA
Jan 22, 2010
You are in between albums. You are bored. You are fooling around in the studio. A side project is born. This is the story behind The Hotrats, comprised of Supergrass' persona, Gaz Coombes (vocalist/guitarist) and powerhouse, Danny Coffey (drummer).
Blog
Austin City Limits Festival 2009 - 3-Day Recap
Oct 09, 2009
This was my eighth ACL (Austin City Limits) Festival to attend (the idea was born in '02) and although I'm not one for reading festival "recap" posts, for those that missed this year's festivities here's a little summary of the day's events. Includes coverage of The Dead Weather, Bon Iver, Grizzly Bear, Phoenix, Girl Talk, Pearl Jam, The Dodos, The Walkmen, Passion Pit, Here We Go Magic, The B-52's, Ghostland Observatory, The Decemberists, Andrew Bird, Kings of Leon, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Daniel Johnston, Blitzen Trapper, School of Seven Bells, and more.
Cinema Reviews
The Young Victoria
Dec 18, 2009 Web Exclusive
Emily Blunt is assured and stately in her role as the British monarch whose accession to the throne in 1837 launched the Victorian era, yet so much is made of Victoria's youth during the early section of the film that the smarts and resolve Blunt brings to her performance becomes a distraction.
DVD Reviews
The Decemberists: Here Come The Waves: The Hazards of Love Visualized
Studio: Capitol
Jan 27, 2010 Web Exclusive
The Decemberists' 2009 album The Hazards of Love now has an animated album-length video companion, one that brings to mind those '60s and '70s rock 'n' roll films that were often watched with chemical enhancement.
Television Reviews
Kathy Griffin: She’ll Cut a Bitch DVD
Shout! Factory
Jan 19, 2010 Web Exclusive
Kathy Griffin has become a grand commenter on mass media who seems to somehow invade every aspect of our lives. She's also elevated herself from D-list status to something so much more, moving past just being a stand-up comedian and showing up on nearly every talk show.