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Steve James and Chaz Ebert Discuss Roger Ebert and “Life Itself”

Jul 11, 2014 Web Exclusive

In documenting the life of Roger Ebert, Life Itself leads with an uncommon fade-in on the legendary film critic. We aren’t presented with images of him shaking hands with Fellini, or receiving his Pulitzer, or sitting alongside longtime pal Gene Siskel. Life Itself begins with its subject in a hospital bed, near the end of a long, trying bout with throat cancer. It’s an ordeal that cost him the entirety of his lower jaw and, with it, his ability to speak, leaving a disfigurement so jarring that he would avoid his own reflection. It would be understandable for him to express reticence in allowing access to such candid moments, but it’s an experience Roger specifically asked director Steve James to document. More

Throwback Thursday: Sufjan Stevens Interview from 2005

Jul 10, 2014 Summer 2005 - Death Cab for Cutie

For this Throwback Thursday we revisit our 2005 article on Sufjan Stevens. Read on as Stevens discusses his acclaimed 2005 album Illinois, the seemingly since abandoned 50 states project, his relationship to the press, and his discomfort with all the attention he was receiving at the time. More

Jungle

Jul 09, 2014 Jungle

London duo Jungle kicked off 2014 as one of the hottest bands in the U.K. A placing on the BBC’s prestigious “Sound Of” list—chosen by over 200 tastemakers—was all the more extraordinary considering the misinformation and mystery surrounding the band’s early press. A lack of photos confirming who Jungle was even left many assuming core members “J” and “T” might in fact be the talented roller-skating stars of the clip for second single “The Heat.” More

Lykke Li on Broken Hearts, Broken Characters, and Battling Self-Doubt

Jul 09, 2014 Lykke Li

When I ask Lykke Li if her songwriting process is cathartic, she seems to feel insulted. It’s a lazy question, I admit, one that’s almost guaranteed to elicit a certain answer from a songwriter who writes songs so full of insecurity, restlessness, and self-reproach. More

Lykke Li on Rejecting Pop with I Never Learn

Jul 08, 2014 Lykke Li

Lykke Li does not want to be a pop star—she wants to make that clear. Though recent years have eroded much of the boundary, as well as the stigma, separating the pop and non-pop worlds, she nonetheless expresses frustration over the fact that after seven years of writing and singing her own songs she is still categorized more with pop singers than singer/songwriters. More

Throwback Thursday: Fleet Foxes Interview from 2008

Jul 03, 2014 Fleet Foxes

For this Throwback Thursday we revisit our 2008 article on Fleet Foxes, our first interview with the band. In fact, this was the Seattle band’s first interview for a nationally distributed print magazine. At the time of the interview they had only recently signed to Sub Pop and were some six months away from releasing their debut album, which was then to be titled Ragged Wood but was eventually simply self-titled. More

Ought

Jul 02, 2014 Ought

“Today!/Together!” Tim Beeler repeatedly yowls on the title track of More Than Any Other Day, the full-length debut from Montréal indie upstarts Ought. More a battlefield rallying cry than a utopic declaration, the couplet rides an exhilarating emotional crest that suddenly dives earthward when the song’s momentum halts and singer/guitarist Beeler bows out with a shrugging “We’re all the fucking same.”

Mark Ruffalo, Keira Knightley, and John Carney on their new film, “Begin Again”

Jul 02, 2014 Keira Knightley

After his 2006 film Once turned into an international sensation, Irish filmmaker John Carney avoided musicials or the next eight years, afraid of being pigeonholded as “that music guy.” Here Carney and actors Mark Ruffalo and Keira Knightley discuss Begin Again, which is about a stage-shy songwriter who strikes out on a solo career with the help of a down-on-his-luck label executive and Ruffalo discusses how Wayne Coyne inspired his character. More

The Antlers

Jul 01, 2014 Issue #50 - June/July 2014 - Future Islands

As a master storyteller, The Antlers’ Peter Silberman has developed an uncanny method of exploring the contours of his mind through the interpersonal dynamics in his songs, playing his characters off each other to poke at universal truths. More