• Interviews

• All
• Music
• Cinema
• TV
• Comic Books

Dec 10, 2010 By Under the Radar Staff Web Exclusive

For Under the Radar’s 8th annual Artist Survey we emailed some of our favorite artists a few questions relating to 2010. 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. Here’s a survey from Chris Chu of The Morning Benders.

Top 10 Albums of 2010

1. Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

2. Blake Mills: Break Mirrors

3. The Radio Dept.: Clinging To A Scheme

4. Drake: Thank Me Later

5. The-Dream: Love King

6. Gorillaz: Plastic Beach

7. Katy Perry: Teenage Dream

8. Twin Sister: Color Your Life

9. Charlotte Gainsbourg: IRM

10. The National: High Violet

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

Seeing the world. We’ve seen more this year than we’ve seen in our entire lives.

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?

I think it’s easier to get people to listen to one song, easier to find potential listeners, but much, much harder to get people to listen to an entire album, or even a song, multiple times. People are overloaded with music.

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?

If it’s difficult to listen to it’s not good. I think all music should be enjoyable. In my experience the most imaginative music is always enjoyable.

In the race to find new bands, are too many unworthy bands being hyped up by music blogs and websites? How are music fans supposed to filter through all these new bands being hyped?

Definitely. There are way too many bands with one or two songs that are being hyped as the saviors of music. I don’t mind enjoying a band if they have only one or two songs, but for me, my favorite bands are the ones that have albums full of good songs. That’s the way to see through the hype. Wait for the album.

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

My cat Zooey.

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

Being born.

Who was your first love and do you still keep in touch with them?

I plan to get married to my first love. She just doesn’t know it yet.

Is there anything that most people are able to do that you can’t (such as drive a car, swim, ride a bike)?

Work a regular job.

What or whom do you miss most when you’re touring?

Being healthy—eating and cooking good food. Exercise. Nature.

When you think of the future, what scares you most?

The state of the earth.

If you could give one piece of advice to an aspiring musician, what would it be? What was the best piece of advice that you’ve ever gotten?

Listen to R. Kelly more.

What was the first movie you saw in the theater as a child and do you still enjoy it now?

All Dogs Go to Heaven. I saved my “allowance” every couple weeks so I could see this movie over and over. Yes, I still love it, but it’s really sad.

In 2010, what was the best movie you saw, book you read, comic book you read, video game you played, and/or TV show you watched?

Graphic novel: Stitches. Book: Norwegian Wood. TV Show: Mad Men.

(www.themorningbenders.com)