Oct 30, 2009 By Frank Valish Web Exclusive

Montréal trio Plants and Animals have spent the majority of the past year in a van, touring in support of their 2008 breakthrough album, Parc Avenue. Yet amidst bringing their particular brand of folk-rock to the masses, singer/guitarist Warren Spicer, guitarist/bassist Nicolas Basque, and drummer Matthew Woodley (aka, the Woodman, or Woody) have also devoted their attention to writing and recording what will be their third album. The album, title TBA, is due for an early 2010 release. As the band inches closer to the album's completion, Woodley took some time to speak with Under the Radar, filling us in on the details. More

Oct 23, 2009 By Chris Tinkham Web Exclusive

New York-based Chilean writer/director Sebastián Silva is a busy man. Not only does he have three film projects in the works, but he also is an accomplished painter, illustrator and musician. It was beneficial that he found time to make his award-winning feature The Maid when he did, because it immediately had a positive effect on the woman who inspired the story. More

Oct 22, 2009 By Kyle Lemmon Web Exclusive

Milwaukee post-rock outfit Collections of Colonies of Bees were introduced to Justin Vernon (aka Bon Iver) in 2005, when he toured with his old group, the Eau Claire-based Americana band DeYarmond Edison. According to Vernon's "guitarist mentor," Chris Rosenau and drummer/percussionist John Mueller, Bees and Vernon quickly bonded over their mutual appreciation of "classical songwriting with a straight-up structure" and "informal folk music that's not as traditional." When the experimental quintet started posting random snippets of field recordings on a common FTP and through email, the group saw it as a welcome escape from the gigantic soundscapes they were constructing live at the time. More

Oct 19, 2009 By Lorraine Carpenter Web Exclusive

When Richey Edwards fled from London's Embassy Hotel one February morning in 1995, he left behind a legacy, a myth, and a band of childhood friends who carried on without him, achieving greater success in the ensuing years than they'd had with their "minister of propaganda" in the fold. More

Oct 15, 2009 By Jeremy Nisen Web Exclusive

Matt Kindt is a St. Louis-based, Harvey Award-winning designer and comic book writer/artist. The eclectic, compelling style of his body of work is increasingly earning him notice. He's perhaps best known for Super Spy, "52 interwoven short stories about cyanide, pen-guns, heartbreak and betrayal." His version of Marvel Comics' Black Widow is soon to appear in that publisher's Strange Tales series, which showcases short stories from so-called indie artists dipping their hands into the superhero world. More

Oct 13, 2009 By John Everhart Web Exclusive

"Someone going on about how amazing their life is, that's pretty depressing to me. But a song about death, yeah, that really lifts my spirits," laughs Twilight Sad frontman James Graham. And if, like Graham, down for you is up (to borrow from the parlance of Lou Reed), you'll find solace in his act's newest LP, Forget the Night Ahead. More

Oct 12, 2009 By Frank Valish Web Exclusive

Lou Barlow may be the unluckiest man in indie rock history. Having been kicked out of Dinosaur Jr. in the late '80s, Barlow saw success with Sebadoh, only to have his musical partner, Eric Gaffney, quit (they only recently reunited for a 2007 tour). Then, to continue the trend, Barlow's post-Sebadoh collaboration with John Davis, The Folk Implosion, tanked when Davis abruptly left on the release of the band's 1999 major label debut. More

Oct 09, 2009 By Chris Tinkham Web Exclusive

Three weeks prior to the release of her new film Peter and Vandy, lead actress Jess Weixler followed through on two major decisions. First, she moved to Los Angeles after living in New York for more than a decade. Second, she bought a car. "I've never had a car, ever," Weixler says with a laugh. "It makes me feel so adult." More

Oct 09, 2009 By Frank Valish Web Exclusive

It has been only slightly over a year since Noah and the Whale released its debut album, but the London-based band has come a long way in that time. While 2008's Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down was a collection of songs inspired by love and loss, fueled by the jumpy single "5 Years Time," the band's new album, The First Days of Spring, is a more epic affair. More