Issue #47 - September/October 2013 - MGMT | Under the Radar Magazine Under the Radar | Music Blog for the Indie Music Magazine
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Issue #47

Issue #47 - September/October 2013 - MGMT

Sep 04, 2013

Under the Radar is excited to announce the full details of the August/September 2013 issue, which is on newsstands now and will be out until mid/late-October. It features MGMT on the cover as well as interviews with Arctic Monkeys, Belle and Sebastian, Neko Case, Trentemøller, Ride, of Montreal, Cults, Goldfrapp, Patton Oswalt, Stephen Merchant, Crocodiles, Sebadoh, Medicine, Brie Larson, Chelsea Wolfe, The Dodos, Temples, London Grammar, AlunaGeorge, HAERTS, and much more.

The issue includes an in-depth 9-page cover story article on MGMT, written by Matt Fink and photographed by Ray Lego. In the article, band members Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser discuss breaking down the rock star mythology, surviving backlash, and the recording of their self-titled third album.

“At some point in college we would joke about this big fantasy of getting as popular as possible and then destroying it in this bombastic and crazy fashion. Even if it was a joke, that little seed of a fantasy, some people would pick up on that and see us putting out an album like Congratulations as fulfilling that kind of prophecy.” – Andrew VanWyngarden of MGMT

“I think it was kind of surprising to us that a lot of people didn’t get the joke. ‘Time to Pretend,’ which is definitely a not a song that’s advising people to forget about the world and party all the time, became known for that.” – Ben Goldwasser of MGMT

“I still get people who come in and say, ‘Make it sound like MGMT’ and I’ll start distorting stuff, and they’ll say ‘What are you doing?’ Well, did you listen to the record?” – MGMT producer Dave Fridmann

Our new Fashion Forward section will feature a fashion spread that will be the opening article to each issue. The Fashion Forward will also include a 500 word or longer article on the artist. This issue features an interview and fashion shoot with Chelsea Wolfe, conducted by David Studarus in Los Angeles.

“I wish I could be invisible and just play music and not have to worry about anyone looking at me.” – Chelsea Wolfe

The front-of-book Detection section features interviews with: Cults, of Montreal, Goldfrapp, Crocodiles, Sebadoh, Medicine, The Stepkids, actress Brie Larson (Short Term 12, Don Jon), actor/writer Stephen Merchant (co-creator of the original Office, writer/star of HBO’s Hello Ladies), comedian Patton Oswalt (Adult Swim’s The Heart, She Holler), and a relaunch of our Retro section, featuring Rides Mark Gardener and Andy Bell discussing their classic 1990 album Nowhere.

“I’m kind of loath to speak about this, because I know that it’s going to be blown up into a bigger thing than it really is. But Madeline and I stopped dating a year ago and moved into different apartments.” – Brian Oblivion of Cults

“Everyone has such a hang-up about country music, because it’s so patriotic and terrible most of the time. But there are elements of country music that I find really interesting and powerful and beautiful, so I was trying to take the little bits that I like and put them into something more interesting.” – Kevin Barnes of of Montreal

“I didn’t want to make an album where the lyrics were about me.” – Alison Goldfrapp

“Most likely no one’s gonna give a fuck, so you might as well make something you’re proud of, that you’ll listen to 20 years down the road and you can play to your grandkids.” – Brandon Welchez of Crocodiles

“I’ve never been much of a risk taker in life, whether it was creatively or romantically.” – Lou Barlow of Sebadoh

“With the album coming out now, I actually have to re-learn how to play the guitar.” – Brad Laner of Medicine

“Nobody was mixing The Strokes with Mary J. Blige. We saw that gap and we wanted to fill it.” – Jeff Gitelman of The Stepkids

“In my life, I hadn’t quite learned how to speak up for myself. That was the thing I had to practice in the mirror a little bit.” – Brie Larson

“I’ve grown up imagining beautiful people and beautiful parties, and the beautiful women and the beautiful parties don’t really want me to be part of them.” – Stephen Merchant

“I literally was walking down the street when I ran into Nick Offerman and was offered a job.” – Patton Oswalt

“A lot of stuff brewed under the surface in that sort of great English stupid thing of stiff upper lips. Nonsense where we could have probably just had a couple good fights and sorted things out.” – Mark Gardener of Ride

“I had some issues towards the end, which I think made me a bit defensive and difficult with the rest of the band. I’m definitely older and wiser these days, maybe because of all that.” – Andy Bell of Ride

Our main features include articles on Arctic Monkeys, Belle and Sebastian, Neko Case, and Trentemøller.

“It’s not like I’m going to start rapping, but it felt like this album is almost like a rap-rock record, something we can all agree by now, in the year 2013, is the worst combination around.” – Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys

“People really like to put music into boxes. I don’t really care about boxes. It’s a little bit boring.” – Anders Trentemøller

“[‘Blue Eyes of a Millionaire’ is] about a person I used to know in Glasgow. Rich people can buy many things, but they can’t buy actual grace and beauty, which this girl had.” – Stuart Murdoch of Belle and Sebastian

“I spent a good portion of the last four years being pretty darn depressed and grieving for people who died and people who left and parts of my life that I had never stopped to grieve for before.” – Neko Case

Our Pleased to Meet You new bands section highlights 11 new artists: Childhood, Outfit, Teleman, Desert Stars, San Fermin, Postiljonen, Alexander von Mehren, Temples, London Grammar, AlunaGeorge, and HAERTS.

“We want to evoke feelings of pining, of longing, a kind of romantic nostalgia.” – Leo Dobsen of Childhood

“We tend to write about points of change in your life or moments of potential, because they’re the most powerful.” – Andrew Hunt of Outfit

“Names are problematic. I often write bands off based on their name, before I even heard their music.” – Thomas Sanders of Teleman

;”>“My friend Jamie came over and fell apart in my kitchen, and I just felt for her. And when she left I was crying and in five minutes I wrote that song.” – Janelle Best of Desert Stars

“This record is about trying to find a place where everything is heightened, where everything feels like the stakes are really high and everything is being felt in a way that is as richly and intensely as possible.” – Ellis Ludwig-Leone of San Fermin

“Mia was in the studio and she was bored and didn’t know what to do. Our friend said you should do a cover of Whitney Houston.” – Daniel Sjörs of Postiljonen

“Sometimes [our reviews are] interesting to read, but if it mentions The Beatles in the first paragraph you tend to put it down!” – Tom Warmsley of Temples

“[Our album is] about youth and the psychology of youth and the psychology of relationships when you are so young.” – Hannah Reid of London Grammar

“We’ve been lucky. And we’ve worked hard. And it’s hard to know which bit got us to where we are.” – Aluna Francis of AlunaGeorge

Over 130 CDs, DVDs, books, films, TV shows, and comic books are reviewed in the issue, including reviews of releases by: AlunaGeorge, Arctic Monkeys, Julianna Barwick, Willis Earl Beal, Belle and Sebastian, Jake Bellows, Blouse, Body/Head, BRAIDS, Richard Buckner, Califone, Bill Callahan, Kirin Callanan, Neko Case, CAVE, CHVRCHES, Crocodiles, Crystal Stilts, Cults, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., Deltron 3030, Desert Stars, DIANA, Dodos, Dr. Dog, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, Elf Power, Explosions in the Sky / David Wingo, Factory Floor, Franz Ferdinand, Fuck Buttons, Robbie Fulks, FUZZ, Gauntlet Hair, Golden Suits, Goldfrapp, Grooms, His Electro Blue Voice, Holograms, Julia Holter, Holy Ghost!, Hookworms, Icona Pop, Islands, Kandodo, King Khan and the Shrines, King Krule, Mark Lanegan, Lissie, The Love Language, David Lynch, Man Man, Willy Mason, Dent May, Mazzy Star, Medicine, Moby, Moderat, The Moondoggies, Sarah Neufeld, No Age, Gary Numan, of Montreal, Okkervil River, Oneohtrix Point Never, Outfit, Parquet Courts, Peace, Pelican, Pet Shop Boys, Placebo, Plankton Wat, Poliça, Polvo, The Polyphonic Spree, Pond, Porcelain Raft, Postiljonen, Pure Bathing Culture, Jonathan Rado, Johnathan Rice, The Roots and Elvis Costello, Frankie Rose, Scott and Charlene’s Wedding, Jackson Scott, Sebadoh, Ty Segall, Soft Metals, Speedy Ortiz, The Stepkids, Superchunk, Travis, Trentemøller, KT Tunstall, Twin Peaks, Volcano Choir, Alexander von Mehren, Washed Out, Weekend, White Hills, White Lies, Chelsea Wolfe, Dustin Wong, Youth Code, Zola Jesus + JG Thirlwell, and more.

Our last page feature, Postscript, features a postcard sent to us from San Francisco by The Dodos.

The digital version of the issue (available for iPads, Android devices, Macs, and PCs) also features bonus articles not found in the print edition. Included are stories on: The Love Language (who does our My Firsts series), Pond, and Weekend.

“We used to dress [our dog] up as Splinter from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and I’m pretty sure he wasn’t down with that.” – Stuart McLamb of The Love Language

“We used the first or second take of everything we recorded. We could have maybe made it a lot tighter, but we’re always pretty proud to be sloppy!” – Jay Watson of Pond

“[Mariah Carey’s ‘Fantasy’ is] one of those things where I heard that song a lot when I was in middle school and I associate it with certain girls I had crushes on. Now every time I hear it I think about them!” – Shaun Durkan of Weekend

The digital issue also includes extended Q&As with artists interviewed in the print edition, quotes that didn’t make it into the print version. Included are bonus Q&As with Arctic Monkeys, Neko Case, and MGMT.

“I have a bad habit of picking up books about drugs, but that’s better than having a drug habit, I think.” – Andrew VanWyngarden of MGMT

“I think it would be really cool to have another hit single. That’s really exciting. But that’s not really the main goal for me.” – Ben Goldwasser of MGMT

“I think it’s our most nighttime party record that we’ve made. It sounds good in the car, nighttime drive.” – Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys

“She was the perfect mom to everyone else, but when it was just me and her, weird things would go down. There are a lot of people who weren’t really wanted as kids, and they have very similar experiences.” – Neko Case

The Postscript of the digital edition features an additional postcard sent to us by Porcelain Raft.

Click here to buy the print version of the issue.

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Click here to buy the digital version of the issue (for the iPad, Macs, PCs, and Android devices).

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

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

News
Chelsea Wolfe on “Pain is Beauty,” Werner Herzog, Natural Disasters, and the Desire to Be Invisible
MGMT - Read the Under the Radar Cover Story
MGMT Cover Story Bonus Q&A with Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser
Neko Case
Neko Case Bonus Interview
Ride on “Nowhere”
Interviews
AlunaGeorge
Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner Discusses the Band’s New Album, “AM”
Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner on “AM,” Working with Josh Homme, and Adapting John Cooper Clarke
Belle and Sebastian
Brie Larson
Chelsea Wolfe on “Pain is Beauty,” Werner Herzog, Natural Disasters, and the Desire to Be Invisible
Childhood
Crocodiles
Cults
Goldfrapp
HAERTS
London Grammar
MGMT - The Under the Radar Cover Story
MGMT Cover Story Bonus Q&A with Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser
Medicine
Neko Case
Neko Case Bonus Interview
Outfit
Postiljonen
Ride on “Nowhere”
San Fermin
Sebadoh
Stephen Merchant
Teleman
Temples
The Love Language: My Firsts
The Stepkids
Trentemøller Discusses His New Album, Touring with Depeche Mode, and the Importance of Housework
Weekend
of Montreal’s Kevin Barnes Discusses New Country Music Influenced Album, “Lousy with Sylvianbriar”

 

Reviews
AM
B-Room
Battling Boy
Boxers & Saints
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Defend Yourself
Don Jon
Dream River
Dynamics
Event II
FUZZ
Factory Floor
Ghosts and Ruins
Herein Wild
Hero Brother
Hostages
Idle No More
Imperium
Infinity Caller
Innocents
Kiss of the Damned Blu-ray/DVD
Law and Order
Lost
Lousy With Sylvianbriar
My Father and the Man In Black
Nature Noir
Nobody Knows
R Plus Seven
Repave
Saucer Country Vol. 2: The Reticulan Candidate
Scene but Not Heard
Seasons of Your Day
Shulamith
Siberia
Sleepy Hollow
Smoke/Ashes
Sound System
Splinter (Songs For a Broken Mind)
Static
Stitches
Sunlight on the Moon
Tales of Us
Tally All the Things That You Broke EP
The Bones of What You Believe
The Crazy Ones
The Goldbergs
The Ice Storm
The Incredible Cuteness of Being
The Michael J. Fox Show
The Speed of Things
The Tomorrow People
This Is…Icona Pop
Troubadour
Wise Up Ghost