Featured in the

Winter 2007 Issue

Cover Story:

Writer Matt Fink interviewed Modest Mouse about their new album We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank, their first since the mega-success of “Float On” and the addition of legendary former-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr. Fink interviewed Isaac Brock, Johnny Marr, Eric Judy, The Shins’ James Mercer (who sings backing vocals on the record), and Alan Goldsher (the author of the unauthorized Modest Mouse biography A Pretty Good Read). Under the Radar’s co-publisher and head-photographer Wendy Lynch conducted an exclusive photo-shoot with the band at the historic Alexandria Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, which was once a popular haunt of silent movies stars like Charlie Chaplin.

“Isaac doesn’t remind me of Morrissey in the least.” – Johnny Marr

“There is no fucking Isaac Brock, there is no Jeremiah Green or Eric Judy or fucking Johnny Marr in Modest Mouse. It’s just a band. It’s Modest Mouse. If I get fucking beheaded in a car accident today, odds are, there’d still be Modest Mouse. It will just be a different Modest Mouse.” – Isaac Brock

“We’re all a bunch of misfits, so all I know is that I felt very comfortable and that something good was happening. When you’re creating music of that quality at that kind of rate, then something must be going right. There’s a really good atmosphere around the band, and they were really welcoming, and they’re a refreshingly quirky bunch of people. So I fit right in.” – Johnny Marr

Main Features:

Bloc Party: Writer Bryan Borzykowski spoke to lead-vocalist and guitarist Kele Okereke about the band’s second album A Weekend in the City, subway bombings, busted lungs, over-consumption, race, and anti-depressants. Regular Under the Radar photographers Crackerfarm shot the band exclusively for us in their New York studio. “Kids I went to university with are now being ushered into the real world. No one I know is doing anything they think is fulfilling, but rather than do anything about it they spend all their energies into getting super messed up on the weekends.” – Kele Okereke

Deerhoof: A Band For All Seasons: Writer Matt Fink spoke to all three members of the experimental band about their eighth album Friend Opportunity. Photographer Aubrey Edwards conducted an exclusive photo-shoot with the band for us in New York. “We just couldn’t afford to make a bunch of rules for ourselves. It didn’t matter if it was four in the morning—if somebody came up with an idea and a computer was nearby, they were going to put it down.” – Greg Saunier

The Good, The Bad and The Queen: Damon Albarn, Tony Allen, Paul Simonon, and Simon Tong: Writer Jumana Farouky visited a London warehouse and sat in on a practice session with The Good, The Bad and The Queen, interviewing all four members of the band: Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz), Tony Allen (Fela Kuti), Paul Simonon (The Clash), and Simon Tong (The Verve). Regular Under the Radar photographer Derrick Santini conducted an exclusive photo-shoot with the band in London. “For me, since Think Tank, all my records have been political. I have a pacifist agenda and I think everyone here shares that with me. It’s about a combination of things. It’s about a collaboration between a very eminent African musician and a bunch of white boys from England.” – Damon Albarn

The Shins: Changing Lives, One Song at a Time: Writer Matt Fink spoke to The Shins’ James Mercer and Dave Hernandez about their third album Wincing the Night Away, their first album since the ‘Garden State phenomenon.’ “Whenever we felt pressure—from the powers that be or fans or whatever—we knew that was a time to stop and take a breath and look at the songs. We learned our lesson with Chutes [Too Narrow]. We rushed through it, and we ended up with something we hate. In the end, people liked it, and that’s great, but there are parts of [Chutes] that when we listen to it, we just cringe.” – Dave Hernandez

The Most Anticipated Albums of 2007:

In the twenty-two page section we offer a preview of some of the most anticipated albums due out later in 2007, thanks to exclusive interviews with many of our favorite artists. Not every band was ready to talk to us about their new albums yet, but we got updates from as many notable bands with 2007 releases as possible. The section includes new interviews with the following artists about their forthcoming new albums:

Architecture In Helsinki
Art Brut
The Bees
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Blonde Redhead
Bright Eyes
Isobel Campbell
The Concretes
Doves
Earlimart
Editors
Elbow
Electrelane
The Go! Team
The Helio Sequence
Iron and Wine
Kaiser Chiefs
Ladytron
LCD Soundsystem
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
Jamie Lidell
Low
Metric
Midnight Movies
The National
The New Pornographers
Okkervil River
The Rentals
The Sea and Cake
Spoon
Stars
Super Furry Animals
Tegan and Sara
The Thrills
UNKLE
Chris Walla
Wolf Parade

New Artists for 2007:

The section includes interviews with seven of our favorite new bands:

The Besnard Lakes (Words by August Brown / Photo by Christophe Collette)
The Broken West (Words by Bryan Borzykowski)
Loney, Dear (Words by Frank Valish / Photo by Jayme Thornton)
My Latest Novel (Words by Chris Barton)
Pop Levi (Words by Frank Valish / Photo by Wendy Lynch)
Voxtrot (Words by Frank Valish / Photo by Wendy Lynch)

2006 Artist Surveys:

For Under the Radar’s fourth annual artist survey, we e-mailed 18 different questions to some of our favorite artists. The questions were in regards to their favorite records of 2006, their highs and lows of 2006, and other pertinent 2006-related questions. In the 11-page section we present survey responses from the following 27 artists:

…And You Will Know Us By the Trail of the Dead
Bloc Party
Calexico
Camera Obscura
The Concretes
The Dears
The Decemberists
The Dresden Dolls
The Duke Spirit
Grizzly Bear
Headlights
The Hold Steady
Idlewild
I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness
I’m From Barcelona
Love Is All
Mates of State
Mercury Rev
Mew
My Morning Jacket
Mystery Jets
Peter Bjorn and John
The Pipettes
The Sleepy Jackson
Smoosh
Tilly and the Wall
The Walkmen

The Best of 2006:

We polled all our writers and presented in a two-page section are Under the Radar’s Top 55 Albums of 2006, Top 10 Songs of 2006, Top 10 Debut Albums of 2006, and Top 10 Overrated Albums of 2006.

Q&As:

Air: The French duo discuss their new album Pocket Symphony, which features guest vocals from The Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon and Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker. Interview by Lily Moayeri.

John Waters: The acclaimed cult film director (Pink Flamingos, Hairspray, Serial Mom) discusses his new Valentine’s Day-themed compilation album A Date With John Waters. Interview by Matt Fink.

Cinema/TV:

Crispin Glover: Mr. Density: Writer Nick Hyman interviewed cult film actor Crispin Glover about his strange directorial debut What Is It?, an ambitious experimental film in which most of the actors have Down syndrome and in which many snails are killed. The interview also covers many of Glover’s career highlights, including Back to the Future (and why Glover refused to appear in the sequels), River’s Edge, Wild At Heart, Charlie’s Angels, and Beowulf. Under the Radar’s co-publisher and head-photographer Wendy Lynch conducted an exclusive photo-shoot with Glover at his Los Angeles home. “When I look into the face of somebody that has Down syndrome, I really do see the history of somebody that has lived really their entire lives outside of the culture, and you can feel that. It’s telling that the seemingly racist material in the film, such as a character in blackface, is not as taboo as the killing of snails.” – Crispin Glover

Reviews:

Over 110 albums, singles, EPs, books, and DVDs reviewed, including releases by the following artists:

!!!
120 Days
Air
Lily Allen
The Apples In Stereo
Architecture In Helsinki
The Autumn Defense
The Besnard Lakes
Bloc Party
The Broken West
Euros Childs
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Clinic
Bobby Conn
Daylight’s for the Birds
Dean and Britta
Deerhoof
Depeche Mode
Dolorean
Dr. Dog
The Drones
The Earlies
The Early Years
Explosions in the Sky
Feathers
Benjy Ferree
Field Music
The Frames
Ghost
Ghost Stories
The Good, The Bad and The Queen
Lee Hazlewood
Herbert
The High Llamas
I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness
I’m From Barcelona
The Inner Banks
Klaxons
k-os
LCD Soundsystem
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
Sondre Lerche
Loney, Dear
The Magic Numbers
Willy Mason
Menomena
Mercury Rev
Midnight Movies
Minus the Bear
Mixel Pixel
Modest Mouse
Múm
My Latest Novel
Norfolk & Western
Oasis
Of Montreal
Yoko Ono
Pacific UV
PAS/CAL
Elvis Perkins
Pink Nasty
Pop Levi
Pulp
Damien Rice
Selda
The Shins
Émilie Simon
Sonic Youth
Sufjan Stevens
Richard Swift
Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter
Tahiti 80
Trans Am
The Twilight Sad
Vietnam
Voxtrot
Voyager One
James Yorkston
Youth Group
John Waters
White Magic
Working For a Nuclear Free City

And more…

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