• Interviews

• All
• Music
• Cinema
• TV
• Comic Books

Jan 14, 2013 I Break Horses By Under the Radar Staff Photography by Per Kristiensen

For Under the Radar‘s 10th annual Artist Survey we emailed some of our favorite artists a few questions relating to 2012.

Pick up the print version of the Best of 2012 issue to read responses from the following artists: Alt-J, Fred Armisen, Bear in Heaven, Camera Obscura, Chad Valley, Charli XCX, Choir of Young Believers, Clinic, CSS, Dan Deacon, Desaparecidos, Django Django, Efterklang, Egyptian Hip Hop, El Perro Del Mar, Grimes, Halls, Richard Hawley, Hercules and Love Affair, Ladytron, Liars, Lord Huron, Lower Dens, Mount Eerie, My Morning Jacket, The Mynabirds, The New Pornographers, of Montreal, Peaking Lights, Porcelain Raft, Laetitia Sadier, Tame Impala, and Tegan and Sara.

Then download the digital version of the Best of 2012 issue to read all those surveys, as well as bonus responses from the following artists: !!!, Clare and the Reasons, Codeine, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., Esben and the Witch, The Fresh & Onlys, Get People, Islands, Kwes, Lost in the Trees, NZCA/LINES, OFF!, Plants and Animals, Still Corners, Violens, Xiu Xiu, Young Dreams, and Zambri.

We are also posting additional web-exclusive artist survey interviews to the website. Here are responses from Maria Lindén of I Break Horses.

Top 10 Albums of 2012?

1. Actress: R.I.P
2. Dan Deacon: America
3. John Talabot: Fin
4. Frank Ocean: Channel Orange
5. Swans: The Seer
6. Slow Magic: Triangle
7. Holy Other: Held
8. Porcelain Raft: Strange Weekend
9. Lower Dens: Nootropics
10. Blanck Mass: Blanck Mass

What was the highlight of 2012 for either you personally or for the band?
Touring with M83 in the USA was very special.

What was the low point of 2012 for you?
We had to cancel a headline tour in the USA because we couldn’t finance it. That was really sad. We had been looking forward to it so much.

What are your hopes and plans for 2013?
I’m in the middle of the writing process of a new album, so I’m hoping to release it sometime in 2013. And then I’d love to come back to America and tour with the new songs.

To what extent did the poor world economy affect your ability to make a reasonable living as an artist in 2012?
I don’t think the poor world economy itself affected me that much, I think generally it’s difficult to make a reasonable living as an independent artist. I’ll probably always be dependent on a part-time day job on the side to be able to make the kind of music I make.

What are your thoughts on the 2012 U.S. presidential election?
The American political system is very different from the European ones and especially the Swedish, so it’s hard to fully understand how it affects the everyday life for an American. I’m pleased for everyone that Obama got re-elected, though.

Steve Albini criticized Amanda Palmer for recruiting musicians to play in her backing band for free. Was he right to do this and was Palmer right to change her mind and pay her musicians?
As I understand it, Palmer had a budget of about a million dollars for the tour, which is a shitload of money, so I don’t see why she couldn’t spend some of that money on her backing band. It would have been a different thing if she’d had to cancel the whole tour because there really was no money to pay her musicians. Everyone’s always right to change their minds and I’m happy for Amanda Palmer’s musicians that she did.

What pop culture phenomenon from 2012 would you most like to erase from your memory?
I actually can’t remember any pop culture phenomenon from 2012 so there’s nothing there that hasn’t been erased naturally already.

Were you affected by Hurricane Sandy? Do you think that climate change was partly responsible for the hurricane?
I wasn’t affected personally, no. I don’t know that much about hurricanes but it seems reasonable that a globally raised temperature should lead to increased damage at some point.

Tell us about your first kiss.
I remember it as a failure, as I was very nervous and wore a baseball cap that I hit the poor guy in the eyes with.

Would you survive a zombie apocalypse?
If the zombies would be as slow as in the movies, I think I’d have a chance.

www.ibreakhorses.se