Under the Radar Magazine Under the Radar | Music Blog for the Indie Music Magazine
Tuesday, March 19th, 2024  

Issue #57

Issue # 57 - M83

May 06, 2016

Under the Radar is excited to announce the full details of our May/June 2016 issue (out May, June, and into July), which has shipped out to subscribers and stores and will be on all newsstands soon. It will also soon be available digitally via Under the Radar‘s app, and the magazine apps Zinio, Readly, and Readbug. The issue features M83 on the cover.

The issue also features interviews with Lush, Primal Scream, John Carpenter, Frightened Rabbit, Underworld, Yeasayer, Frankie Cosmos, Julien Baker, Cat’s Eyes, School of Seven Bells, Parquet Courts, Britta Phillips, Kevin Morby, LUH, Charles Bradley, The Last Shadow Puppets, Wild Nothing, DIIV, The Joy Formidable, Caveman, Big Thief, Amber Arcades, Fear of Men, Minor Victories, Julianna Barwick, Marlon Williams, and more.

COVER STORY

The issue features an in-depth 4,300-word cover story article on M83. M83’s main creative force Anthony Gonzalez discusses the challenges of following up his most successful album (2011’s Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming) with his new album Junk, the polarized reaction to Junk‘s first single, how he came up with the album’s crazy cover art, and how the music and TV shows of the 1980s are the primary influence on Junk. Kourey Angelo photographed M83 for the cover exclusively for Under the Radar in Los Angeles and Matt Fink wrote the article.

“I just wanted to make an album where you can dance to it and cry at the same time.” - Anthony Gonzalez of M83

“I knew that every Sunday I would be there, watching TV with my grandfather, knowing that school is tomorrow. It’s just a very strong memory, something I can almost touch and feel.” - Anthony Gonzalez of M83

“I think this was a big influence on the album as well, watching old VHS [videos] of people you don’t know anything about filming themselves in water parks.” - Anthony Gonzalez of M83

“I’m asking a lot of questions about my life and myself, and turning 35 is scary. I’m growing older.” - Anthony Gonzalez of M83

DETECTION

The front-of-book Detection section features interviews with: Juliana Barwick, Charles Bradley, John Carpenter (the iconic horror film director on his second album of original music), Cat’s Eyes (which features Faris Badwan of The Horrors), Caveman, DIIV, Fear of Men, Frightened Rabbit, The Joy Formidable, The Last Shadow Puppets, Minor Victories (which features members of Slowdive, Mogwai, and Editors), Kevin Morby, Britta Phillips (of Luna and Dean and Britta on her debut solo album), Plants and Animals, Primal Scream, Underworld, Wild Nothing, and Yeasayer.

“I wanted to go back to my hermit style of making music.” - Julianna Barwick

“People come to the front of the stage, and they whisper in my ear and tell me about their personal lives.” - Charles Bradley

“Music is purer [than making movies], let me put it that way. It has a sincerity to it that I just find incredible at this point in my life.” - John Carpenter

“I really enjoy reading the really weird stuff like [conspiracy theorist] David Icke where he’s going on about the royal family being lizards.” - Faris Badwan of Cat’s Eyes

“We probably share more about ourselves in our records than we do anywhere else.” - Rachel Zeffira of Cat’s Eyes

“It’s funny working with your dad. I was in the studio for a month and a half and he shows up for a day and I was more stressed than ever.” - Matt Iwanusa of Caveman

“I wanted to make something that would live up to all of the talk. I wanted to be honest and forthright and to tell people the real story of what happened with me.” - Zachary Cole Smith of DIIV

“I was reading a lot of books trying to understand love while making the record.” - Jessica Weiss of Fear of Men

“On album number five you start questioning what the point of the band is.” - Scott Hutchison of Frightened Rabbit

“There were some tears, some good feisty arguments [when making this album].” - Rhiannon “Ritzy” Bryan of The Joy Formidable

“The Shadow Puppets is a project with which we feel the freedom to be experimental.” - Alex Turner of The Last Shadow Puppets

“There are a lot of epic moments, but it’s also a very personal, intimate, record, especially from Rachel [Goswell]‘s point of view.” - Stuart Braithwaite of Minor Victories

“I did all my vocals in my son’s bedroom with my laptop.” - Rachel Goswell of Minor Victories

“I was trying to create something like The Glow, Pt. 2 by The Microphones. I feel like that’s almost like a room that I walk into when I listen to that album.” - Kevin Morby

“When [my husband] Dean [Wareham] did a record, the first thing that popped in my mind was, ‘I should do one too.’” - Britta Phillips

“This is an arrival album, not a transitional album.” - Warren Spicer of Plants and Animals

“Primal Scream and The [Jesus and] Mary Chain were a reaction to the awful music of the ‘80s. We just took the whole fucking thing seriously.” - Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream

“Life is often presented as a series of convenient boxes: this goes with this, tick this if you like this, if you like this, you’ll probably be listening to this.” - Karl Hyde of Underworld

“I think this record is gonna take some patience, and I hope people have some.” - Jack Tatum of Wild Nothing

“This is our religious album.” - Chris Keating of Yeasayer

MAIN FEATURES

Our main features section includes interviews with: Lush, Parquet Courts, and School of Seven Bells. Lush’s Miki Berenyi and Emma Anderson discuss reforming the beloved ‘90s shoegazing band and going back on tour and releasing their first new music in 20 years. We talk to Austin Brown and Andrew Savage of Parquet Courts about their move from a tiny indie label to the mainstay Rough Trade and the implications of that. And in a heartbreaking and in-depth article, Alejandra Deheza of School of Seven Bells relays the story of finishing the band’s final album after the passing of her bandmate Benjamin Curtis.

“All of us are older. It’s a different world and a different way of doing the band. It’s not our entire lives now.” - Miki Berenyi of Lush

“There’s a lot of themes of loneliness and isolation on the record, plus a lot of existential questions.” - Austin Brown of Parquet Courts

“I was struggling with some things in my personal life that affected the music that I was making, and I think that’s one reason why [Human Performance] is somewhat different.” - Andrew Savage of Parquet Courts

“It was devastating, but I’m so glad I was there [when Benjamin passed], and I was right next to him and I’m so glad he knew that.” - Alejandra Deheza of School of Seven Bells

PLEASED TO MEET YOU

Our Pleased to Meet You new bands section highlights these exciting new artists: Amber Arcades, Julien Baker, Big Thief, C Duncan, Frankie Cosmos, Charlie Hilton (of Blouse, on her debut solo album), Living Hour, LUH (which features former WU LYF frontman Ellery James Roberts), Mass Gothic (the new project from former Hooray For Earth frontman Noel Heroux), Marlon Williams, and Yak.

“You can think positive all you want if you’re born in Syria or other warzones but it’s not gonna get you anywhere.” - Annelotte de Graaf of Amber Arcades

“I’m terrified of anything ever going to my head, so I ask my manager to spare me certain information, like statistics and stuff.” - Julien Baker

woke up in excruciating pain, some of the worst pain I’ve experienced, in my left ear.” - Adrianne Lenker of Big Thief

“I don’t think that I’m ever going to become a different character on stage than I am in real life.” - Frankie Cosmos

“The way I approach writing in terms of pop music is very similar to the way I was writing classical music.” - C Duncan

“I’ve always been perplexed by [my dad’s] taste in music. I definitely wasn’t thumbing through my dad’s record collection to get my inspiration.” - Charlie Hilton

“I was born with long fingers, so the nurse told my mom to put me in piano lessons.” - Sam Sarty of Living Hour

“I didn’t want to reinvent myself, but I got very sick of myself and where I was coming from and was trying to escape that.” - Ellery James Roberts of LUH

“Breaking up [my old] band was made a bit easier because I never really liked the name Hooray For Earth.” - Noel Heroux of Mass Gothic

“I’ve probably lost more brain cells as a result [of being tall]. I always hit my head on things.” - Marlon Williams

“I like it when people don’t know what to expect.” - Oli Burslem of Yak

THE END

For our regular last page feature, The End, we ask a different artist the same set of questions about endings and death. Kristin Kontrol (aka Kristin Welchez aka Dee Dee from Dum Dum Girls) is this issue’s participant.

“I would not mind dying so much if it were at the end of a failed skydive. I’ve had a recurring dream of flight my whole life and that’s probably the closest I’ll get.” - Kristin Welchez aka Kristin Kontrol

REVIEWS

Over 88 CDs, films, and comic books are reviewed in the issue, including reviews of releases by:

Amber Arcades
ANOHNI
Julianna Barwick
Beverly
Bibio
Andrew Bird
Black Mountain
Bleached
Charles Bradley
Car Seat Headrest
John Carpenter
Neko Case, k.d. lang, and Laura Veirs
Cat’s Eyes
Chris Cohen
Thomas Cohen
Frankie Cosmos
Deerhoof
Dinner
Eagulls
Brian Eno
Explosions in the Sky
Fear of Men
Frightened Rabbit
Gold Panda
Steve Gunn
HÆLOS
PJ Harvey
Holy Fuck
Islands
The Joy Formidable
Damien Jurado
The Kills
Kristin Kontrol
The Last Shadow Puppets
Cate Le Bon
Lush
M83
Minor Victories
Moderat
Mogwai
Moonface and Siinai
Kevin Morby
Mutual Benefit
Beth Orton
Pantha Du Prince
Parquet Courts
Pet Shop Boys
Britta Phillips
Iggy Pop
Primal Scream
Rogue Wave
Starwalker
Suuns
Tacocat
Teleman
The Thermals
Twin Peaks
Underworld
Weezer
White Lung
Whitney
Wire
Woods
Xiu Xiu
Yeasayer
Yumi Zouma
Yung

DIGITAL SAMPLER

Each issue comes with a digital sampler that is a free download and includes up to 33 MP3s. This issue’s digital sampler includes tracks by, among others:

Amber Arcades
Julien Baker
Julianna Barwick
Big Thief
Black Mountain
Charles Bradley
C Duncan
Cat’s Eyes
Caveman
Phil Collins
Frankie Cosmos
Fear of Men
Frightened Rabbit
Kristin Kontrol
Living Hour
LUH
M83
Minor Victories
Kevin Morby
Britta Phillips
Plants and Animals
Primal Scream
Prism Tats
James Supercave
The Thermals
Marlon Williams
Yak
Yeasayer

DIGITAL MAGAZINE

The digital version of the issue (available via iTunes, Zinio, Readly, Readbug, and Kindle and for iPads, iPhones, Macs, and PCs) also features extra interviews not found in the print magazine with: Black Mountain, Chairlift, Starwalker, Sunflower Bean, and TEEN (in a bonus The End article).

“It certainly is our aim to make music that can transcend the moment, and in doing so, we like to think that we’re a bit removed from what is a popular style at the time.” - Joshua Wells of Black Mountain

“I was very much falling in love during the time that a lot of these songs were written.” - Caroline Polachek of Chairlift

“If Justin Bieber shows his nipple, no one cares. If a woman does it, then it’s shocking. I just don’t get it.” - Barði Jóhannsson of Starwalker

“[Lou Reed] made some of the most amazing music in the world, and never compromised, ever. I don’t think we really like to say we have heroes, but he’s up there.” - Jacob Faber of Sunflower Bean

”[In my ideal heaven] I’d be a master saxophonist. And I’d know how to sew and sail. And bake bread. And everyone would smell really nice. Every toilet has a bidet. Or you never have to shit again. You’d be above basic human functions in heaven.” - Kristina “Teeny” Lieberson of TEEN

BONUS REVIEWS

The digital version of the magazine includes 40 extra reviews of CDs, films, TV shows, books, and comic books, including reviews of releases by:

Adult Books
Animal Collective
AURORA
Eric Bachmann
The Coathangers
John Congleton & The Nighty Night
The Coral
Deftones
Emmy the Great
The Feeling
The Field
Glitterbust
Grasscut
James
Kula Shaker
Living Hour
Lucius
Loretta Lynn
Bob Mould
My Bubba
Nada Surf
Marissa Nadler
Cian Nugent
POLIÇA
Postiljonen
Mark Pritchard
Bonnie Raitt
Sufjan Stevens
Suede
Luke Top
Kanye West
Yuck

Click here to buy the print version of the issue.

Click here to subscribe to the print version of Under the Radar.

Click here to buy the digital version of the issue (via iTunes and for iPads, iPhones, Android devices, Macs, and PCs).

Click here to subscribe to the digital version of Under the Radar (via iTunes and for iPads, iPhones, Android devices, Macs, and PCs).

Click here for a list of U.S. stores that carry Under the Radar.

Interviews
Amber Arcades
Big Thief
Black Mountain
Britta Phillips
C Duncan
Cat’s Eyes
Caveman
Charles Bradley
Charlie Hilton
DIIV
Fear of Men
Frankie Cosmos
Frightened Rabbit
John Carpenter
Julianna Barwick
Julien Baker
Kevin Morby
LUH
Living Hour
Lush
M83 - The Under the Radar Cover Story
Marlon Williams
Mass Gothic
Minor Victories
Parquet Courts
Plants and Animals
Primal Scream
School of Seven Bells
Starwalker
The End: Kristin Kontrol on Endings and Death
The Joy Formidable
The Last Shadow Puppets
Underworld
Wild Nothing
Yak
Yeasayer

 

Reviews
A Youthful Dream
Ash & Ice
Atomic
Clean Room
Congrats
Down in Heaven
Eyes on the Lines
Fading Lines
Fall Forever
Good Luck and Do Your Best
Kidsticks
Light Upon the Lake
Maggie’s Plan
Minor Victories
My Best Human Face
Skip a Sinking Stone
Strangers
Taste / Should I Remain Here at Sea?
The Blue Swell
The Magic
The Triad
Treasure House
Ullages
Under the Sun
X-Communicate
case/lang/veirs