Jul 16, 2009 By Chris Tinkham Web Exclusive

Tegan and Sara plan to master their sixth studio album, Sainthood, at the beginning of August and release it at the end of October. Tegan Quin spoke with Under the Radar this morning to update us with some of the basic details and offer her impressions of the new music. More

Jul 02, 2009 By Aaron Passman Web Exclusive

Shortly after beginning their Spring tour in support of the recently-released third album Grr…, Bishop Allen frontman Justin Rice spoke over the phone with Under the Radar while driving on the way to a gig in Salt Lake City. Not only is Rice the band’s frontman, but he’s gained a following in film circles as well, having acted in a number of films, including Mutual Appreciation, Let Them Chirp a While, Alexander the Last and, most recently, Harmony and Me. More

Jun 29, 2009 By Frank Valish Web Exclusive

Lucky Soul is currently in the studio finalizing its sophomore album, which has yet to be titled. Two years since the release of its '60s girl group and Motown soul inflected debut, The Great Unwanted, the British band is prepared to move things in a slightly different direction, adding some different flavors to its anachronistic sound, which will hopefully distance the band from the retro label with which it was tagged as a result of its last album. Songwriter and guitarist Andrew Laidlaw corresponded with Under the Radar via email in between trips to Sweden where he was recording with Stockholm Strings to give a little taste of what we will be in for come the fall. More

Jun 23, 2009 By Frank Valish Web Exclusive

In his more than 30 years of writing and recording—with The Soft Boys, The Egyptians, solo, and now The Venus 3—Robyn Hitchcock has firmly established himself within the pantheon of great English songwriters, dating back to the eccentric master himself, Syd Barrett. Hitchcock's latest album, Goodnight Oslo, is his second with his Venus 3 band of Peter Buck (R.E.M.) on guitar, Scott McCaughey (Minus 5, Young Fresh Fellows) on bass, and Bill Rieflin (Ministry) on drums, and the album clearly demonstrates the rapport the musicians have established since 2006's Olé Tarantula. More

Jun 16, 2009 By Frank Valish Web Exclusive

With Mama, I'm Swollen, Cursive has written the most polarizing album of their career. The band's sixth album overall follows the vicious, raving song cycle about religion and angst that was 2006's Happy Hollow, and its predecessor, the widely lauded masterpiece, 2003's The Ugly Organ. But unlike those two works, this album has drawn both praise and critical disdain. Despite featuring some of songwriter/vocalist Tim Kasher's most personal lyrics involving themes of growing older and confronting the realities of adulthood, it remains an album on which many fans and critics are split. Under the Radar caught up with Tim Kasher on day seven of what seems like a nonstop spring and summer tour to talk about fans, critics, Mama, and how to remain vibrant in an industry that forever compares artists with their most recognizable work. More

Jun 03, 2009 By Lily Moayeri Web Exclusive

Listening to any of the endless dance-floor-oriented hits from Pet Shop Boys in their 13-year-long career, you would think the duo of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe have nothing but disco balls on their mind. But the two, who have just released their tenth studio album, Yes, have a lot more running through their brains. Starting their musical career in the mid-'80s, Pet Shop Boys have been through the boom of that decade, through the changeable '90s, and are now closing out the doom-filled '00s with not a lot changing in their songwriting process. More

Jun 02, 2009 By Kyle Lemmon Web Exclusive

Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn grew up surrounded by nature. The indie-pop songwriter is used to observing the Ying and Yang in life, after coexisting on a farm community in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, surrounded by her strong Protestant mother and aunts, and the warm Jewish culture on her father's side. After attending college in Olympia, Washington's Evergreen State College, she began experimenting on her 4-track recorder the sounds that would eventually become her debut album You Think It's Like This But Really It's Like This. At the same time, her longstanding collaboration with the lo-fi production wizard Phil Elverum, of The Microphones and Mt. Eerie fame, began. Mirah talked with us about the implications of her new project on her general outlook, how she was sheltered from the pervasiveness of what she calls "dude rock," the counsel she would give President Obama if she was in his advisory committee, and the story behind (a)spera's curious extraterrestrial cover. More

May 19, 2009 By Tom Vale Web Exclusive

We've all been there: you're the frontman for a popular indie rock act, but you leave your beloved home state of Texas to pursue a PhD in Biochemistry at Columbia. Ok, maybe we haven't all been there, but that's where The American Analog Set's Andrew Kenny has been, and now he's back, a in Texas and on the indie music scene, with Magnolia, the debut release from his new band, The Wooden Birds. More

May 15, 2009 By Mark Redfern Web Exclusive

"It's like a magical, unreal, heavenly land, isn't it?," observes Los Campesinos! violinist Harriet about the Coachella music festival. The Welsh band is hanging out backstage at the festival in the California desert a few hours before their energetic performance later that afternoon. Los Campesinos! released their first two albums, Hold on Now, Youngster and We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed, in 2008. The band has been recording their third album in Connecticut, but took a break for a short U.S. tour, including their Coachella appearance. We spoke to Harriet and drummer Ollie as they spilled the beans on what to expect from their next album, which is due out next year. More