After having graced U.S. shores with a (very) short tour in the fall, Swedish four-piece The Mary Onettes are primed and ready to bring their particular brand of lush, '80s-inflected pop music to the States once again this spring. The band will be working off its latest album, Islands, it's second with Swedish indie record label Labrador. The album may be the band's best to date, inspired largely by the loss of several important people in singer/songwriter Philip Ekström's life prior to and during the writing process. Ekström speaks with Under the Radar, sharing some of the hardships that came with Islands and discussing what is ultimately a triumph of spirit in music. More
Though the stigma seems to be lifting-as producers such as Pharrell can make any former teenybopper sound forward thinking and innovative-making pop music can still be a frightening proposition for artists who are ingrained with the mindset that all good music must be difficult to be substantial. For Sparklehorse's Mark Linkous, this mindset produces an impulse to apologize for making a record that can be enjoyed on first listen, one that doesn't require any of the details of his rise to fame as a critically adored but deeply troubled artist More
When it came time to craft their latest record, the members of Philadelphia quintet Dr. Dog were shooting for something different. Rather than lay down their latest batch of Beach Boys- and Beatles-inspired psych-pop themselves, as they'd done in the past, singer/guitarist Scott McMicken says the group decided to experiment with outside production. "The studio craft side of it has been as much what we're about as any other thing," says McMicken. More
"We're a bunch of idiots! We definitely mix that into what we do because that's who we are," confesses Clare and the Reasons' frontwoman Clare Muldaur. "We take the music we do very very, very seriously, but we don't take ourselves that seriously." More
Since its 2005 Columbia debut Thunder, Lightning, Strike!,The Go! Team has built up a reputation for super-energetic vocalist Ninja's chants mixed with samples compiled by frontman Ian Parton. 2007's Proof of Youth (Sub Pop) found the British band taking a more melodic approach, and the still-to-be-named third LP, which Parton says will likely be out sometime in the spring, is headed in the same direction. More
When Under the Radar was doing research for the retrospective on Swedish music of the 2000s that is featured in our Year-End issue, we stumbled upon the juicy tidbit of information that Gothenburg's Love Is All was back in the studio recording. And when we spoke to singer/songwriter Josephine Olausson for said retrospective, we found out that the album was already finished. Graciously, and without being given prior warning, Olausson agreed to give Under the Radar the scoop on the band's forthcoming, as-yet-untitled album. Album number three is scheduled for Spring 2010. More
Under the Radar's Best of the Decade/Year-End Issue features our Best of the Decade Artist Survey. For Under the Radar's 7th annual Artist Survey we emailed some of our favorite artists a few questions relating to the last decade and asked them for a list of their best albums of the decade. Some of the surveys didn't make it in the issue and some answers from surveys that did make it in the issue had to be trimmed for space. Those surveys and answers are posted on our website. Here is a web-exclusive survey from Darren Bancroft of We Have Band.
Under the Radar's Best of the Decade/Year-End Issue features our Best of the Decade Artist Survey. For Under the Radar's 7th annual Artist Survey we emailed some of our favorite artists a few questions relating to the last decade and asked them for a list of their best albums of the decade. Some of the surveys didn't make it in the issue and some answers from surveys that did make it in the issue had to be trimmed for space. Those surveys and answers are posted on our website. Here is a web-exclusive survey from Paul Alcott of Ramona Falls.
Under the Radar's Best of the Decade/Year-End Issue features our Best of the Decade Artist Survey. For Under the Radar's 7th annual Artist Survey we emailed some of our favorite artists a few questions relating to the last decade and asked them for a list of their best albums of the decade. Some of the surveys didn't make it in the issue and some answers from surveys that did make it in the issue had to be trimmed for space. Those surveys and answers are posted on our website. Here is a web-exclusive survey from Yuki Chikudate and James Hanna of Asobi Seksu. More
Under the Radar's Best of the Decade/Year-End Issue features our Best of the Decade Artist Survey. For Under the Radar's 7th annual Artist Survey we emailed some of our favorite artists a few questions relating to the last decade and asked them for a list of their best albums of the decade. Some of the surveys didn't make it in the issue and some answers from surveys that did make it in the issue had to be trimmed for space. Those surveys and answers are posted on our website. Here is a web-exclusive survey from Mpumelelo Mcata of BLK JKS. More
