Apr 04, 2010 By Chris Tinkham Issue #31 - Spring 2010 - Joanna Newsom

When Joanna Newsom was in her early teens, the young harpist thought that she might want to become a solo classical performer. Although the Northern California native began to understand by age 17 that she would rather study composition than performance, her mother took her on a trip to several conservatories across the country during her senior year in high school to audition for admittance, an experience Newsom remembers as terrifying. Most intimidating was her audition for renowned classical harpist Yolanda Kondonassis, the head of the harp department at the prestigious Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio. More

Apr 03, 2010 By Hays Davis Issue #31 - Spring 2010 - Joanna Newsom

Sometimes inspiration has to doggedly chip away at those who refuse its presence until the light bulb finally brightens. More

Apr 02, 2010 By Laura Studarus Issue #31 - Spring 2010 - Joanna Newsom

Immersing yourself in a new culture can be a time of discovery—new food, new friends, new language—and for Karolina Komstedt (vocals) and Johan Angergård (guitar, synths) of Club 8, new inspiration. Leaving home became unexpectedly crucial to the creative process of their seventh album The People’s Record, a project whose origins began in 2008, during a rare Club 8 international tour that brought the Swedish pop duo to Brazil for the first time.

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Apr 02, 2010 By Matt Fink Issue #31 - Spring 2010 - Joanna Newsom

Though the last 10 years have done much to erode the stylistic divide between dance music and the innumerable rock and pop variants, the perception persists that music made for dance floors isn't quite as serious or thoughtful as music written for headphones. Lyrics, after all, are secondary in dance music; often they're the dressing for arrangements designed to bypass your brain and go straight to your body. And despite the fact that Caribou's Dan Snaith started out making dance music, the sort patented by IDM superstars Boards of Canada and Aphex Twin more than anything crafted specifically for the dance floor, he spent the majority of the last decade carefully honing his skills as a bedroom pop auteur, building dazzling towers of sound out of gorgeously cascading melodies, thundering avalanches of drums, and softly unfurling vocals. Having taken his brand of pocket psychedelia to its logical conclusion with 2007' s Andorra, Snaith has now returned to his beat-making roots with Swim, this time aiming to both move the pulse of the club with his experimental grooves and capture minds with lyrics about divorce, old age, and loneliness.  More

Mar 30, 2010 By Chris Tinkham Web Exclusive

The Most Anticipated Albums of 2010 section in Under the Radar's Winter 2010 Issue includes a short article on School of Seven Bells' new album. Here is the full Q&A of that interview with Alejandra Deheza. In preparing the follow-up to its 2008 full-length debut Alpinisms, a vibrant collection of dreampop harmonies, shoegaze guitars and synthetic tribal beats, Brooklyn trio School of Seven Bells didn't plan to change its recording process all that much. Yet, vocalist/guitarist Alejandra Deheza contends that the band's forthcoming sophomore album Disconnect From Desire is a departure from its predecessor, simply because the music and lyrics come from a different time and place. "I love Alpinisms, but I definitely think this is a way better record," she says. More

Mar 28, 2010 By Chris Tinkham Web Exclusive

The Most Anticipated Albums of 2010 section in Under the Radar's Winter 2010 Issue includes a short article on Superchunk's new album. Here is the full Q&A of that interview with Mac McCaughan. North Carolina's Superchunk, an indie rock trailblazer throughout the 1990s, hasn't released an album since 2001's Here's to Shutting Up, but with the recording of the Leaves in the Gutter EP in the spring of 2009, the seeds were planted for the band's ninth album, which frontman Mac McCaughan expects to be released in 2010. More

Mar 21, 2010 By Chris Tinkham Web Exclusive

The Most Anticipated Albums of 2010 section in Under the Radar's Winter 2010 Issue includes a short article on Rose Elinor Dougall's debut album. Here is the full Q&A of that interview. In December of 2008, Rose Elinor Dougall released her first single as a solo artist, "Another Version of Pop Song." The following February, Dougall blogged on her MySpace page that her debut album was nearly finished. But, more than a year later, her album, titled Without Why, has yet to be released. On the morning of the eve of 2010, Dougall was in good spirits as she discussed her impending album and divulged the logical reasons for its extended incubation. More

Mar 21, 2010 By Frank Valish Issue #32 - Summer 2010 - Wasted on the Youth

Whatever the perception, as any parent will tell you, raising children is hard work, and for a working musician, balancing writing, recording, and touring with being a full-time mom or dad can be extra tricky. More

Mar 08, 2010 By Frank Valish Web Exclusive

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