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Jan 06, 2011 By Under the Radar Staff Photography by Wendy Lynch Redfern Artist Surveys 2010

For Under the Radar’s 8th annual Artist Survey we emailed some of our favorite artists a few questions relating to 2010. However our printed pages weren’t enough to hold all the great responses we got. Pick up a copy of Under the Radar’s Year End issue for interviews with: The Antlers, Bon Iver, Caribou, Club 8, Delphic, Rose Elinor Dougall, Gayngs, Hot Chip, Lost in the Trees, Love is All, The Love Language, Mogwai, of Montreal, Okkervil River,Yoko Ono, Owen Pallett, Plants and Animals, Mark Ronson, Superchunk, Tame Impala, Vampire Weekend, Sharon Van Etten, and Vivian Girls. Then check here for bonus responses not found in the magazine. Here are additional answers from from Matthew Woodley of Plants and Animals.

Top 10 Albums of 2010

I’m no good with Top X lists. I can’t remember what came out in 2009 or 2010; I can’t remember so many things that I’ve been listening to and to do so I’d have to use Google and sift through all kinds of documents. Then I’d have to put them in an order from 1-10 and choose some artists over other ones. I get an F grade.

What was the highlight of 2010 for either you personally or for the band?

All the shows where that crowd goes nuts. That’s too much fun.

If your house was on fire, what would you grab as you were running out?

As long as my dog was already out the door, I’d probably grab my laptop. That sounds nerdy, but it’s expensive and I have a lot of documents. I don’t own much that I couldn’t stand to lose in a fire.

What are your thoughts on the Tea Party movement?

Theatre of the absurd.

With the Internet making every artist’s music potentially available to a wide audience, is it now easier to find listeners or more difficult because you have to compete with so many other musicians?

It’s easier to find listeners who have downloaded our records for free and put them on their iPods with 6,000 other bands. So yes. And no. More listeners in a more saturated world of music maybe?

Who would you rather listen to—a totally original musician whose compositions are groundbreaking but difficult to listen to or a musician whose songs are immediately enjoyable but derivative? Why?

I’d tend towards the latter. I like original and groundbreaking, but there’s a reason that so many people make derivative music. It feels good. “1234.” “Boom Boom Bap.”

If you could relive one day of your life, which would it be?

You can do that?

(www.myspace.com/plantsandanimals)