Jul 14, 2014
By Matt Fink
Issue #50 - June/July 2014 - Future Islands
Slow Club‘s Charles Watson tells a story about the British band’s 2009 American tour with Norwegian synthpop band Casiokids, explaining how he and co-leader Rebecca Taylor would stand at the side of the stage and marvel at how the audience would dance in unison during their tourmates’ set, as if surrendering themselves to the music. More
Jul 11, 2014
By Shawn Hazelett
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
Jul 10, 2014
By Matt Fink
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
Jul 09, 2014
By Paul Bridgewater
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
Jul 09, 2014
By Matt Fink
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
Jul 08, 2014
By Matt Fink
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
Jul 03, 2014
By Chris Drabick
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
Jul 02, 2014
By Michael Wojtas
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.”
Jul 02, 2014
By Austin Trunick
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
Jul 01, 2014
By Matt Fink
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