Sep 02, 2025 By Mark Redfern

Sparks (brothers Ron and Russell Mael) have announced their first ever EP, MADDER!, and shared its first single, “Porcupine.” MADDER! is a companion to their latest album, MAD!, which came out in May via Transgressive. More

May 30, 2025 By Mark Redfern

At the start of February we launched our new Albums of the Month series, where we highlight the best albums released in the previous month, starting with January’s albums and followed by February’s albums, March’s albums, and April’s albums. Now here is a roundup of May 2025’s best albums. More

May 23, 2025 By Mark Redfern (with Issa Nasatir)

Welcome to the 17th Songs of the Week of 2025. This week Andy Von Pip, Caleb Campbell, Issa Nasatir, Matt the Raven, and Scotty Dransfield helped me decide what should make the list. It was a fantastic week for new tracks, with lots of ’90s artists putting out excellent new music. We considered over 40 songs and narrowed it down to a Top 15. More

May 21, 2025 By Issa Nasatir

Sparks (brothers Ron and Russell Mael) are releasing a new album, MAD!, this Friday via Transgressive. Now they have shared the album’s fifth single, “A Little Bit of Light Banter.” More

May 01, 2025 By Mark Redfern

Sparks (brothers Ron and Russell Mael) are releasing a new album, MAD!, on May 23 via Transgressive. Now they have shared the album’s fourth single, “My Devotion.” More

Apr 04, 2025 By Mark Redfern

Welcome to the 10th Songs of the Week of 2025. This week’s list covers the last two weeks, as I was out of town last Friday. This week Andy Von Pip, Caleb Campbell, Matt the Raven, Scotty Dransfield, and Stephen Humphries helped me decide what should make the list. We considered over 50 songs and narrowed it down to a Top 16, since it covers two weeks. More

Apr 02, 2025 By Mark Redfern

Sparks (brothers Ron and Russell Mael) are releasing a new album, MAD!, on May 23 via Transgressive. Now they have shared the album’s third single, “Drowned in a Sea of Tears,” and announced some new tour dates, including some North American ones. More

Feb 28, 2025 By Mark Redfern

Welcome to the sixth Songs of the Week of 2025. This week Andy Von Pip, Caleb Campbell, Matt the Raven, and Scotty Dransfield helped me decide what should make the list. We considered over 30 songs and narrowed it down to a Top 12. More

Feb 25, 2025 By Mark Redfern

Sparks (brothers Ron and Russell Mael) previously announced a new album, MAD!, but now they have confirmed the album’s details and released a new single from it, “JanSport Backpack.” The album’s release date, tracklist, and cover artwork have now all been announced. More

Jan 31, 2025 By Mark Redfern

Welcome to the third Songs of the Week of 2025. We didn’t do a Songs of the Week last week, with Martin Luther King Day plus Trump’s second inauguration equalling less songs released last week and leaving us uninspired to do a list. So this week’s supersized list covers the last two weeks. More

Jan 30, 2025 By Mark Redfern

Sparks (brothers Ron and Russell Mael) have announced a new album, MAD!, and released its first single, “Do Things My Own Way.” More

Sep 06, 2024 By Mark Redfern

Under the Radar is excited to announce the full details of our new print issue, Issue 73, which features Maya Hawke and Nilüfer Yanya on the two covers. Issue 73 also features interviews with Fontaines D.C., Cassandra Jenkins, DIIV, Sparks, Camera Obscura, Alan Sparhawk, The Decemberists, Jessica Pratt, Glass Animals, Charly Bliss, Yard Act, English Teacher, Goat Girl, Hana Vu, and others. More

Jun 26, 2023 By Kat Ramkumar

Sparks (brothers Ron and Russell Mael) released a new album, The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte, in May via Island. This past weekend they performed the album’s title track at Glastonbury, England’s most iconic music festival, with Oscar winning actress Cate Blanchett joining them onstage to recreate her appearance in the song’s video. More

May 12, 2023 By Mark Redfern (with Caleb Campbell)

Welcome to the 17th Songs of the Week of 2023. This week we had an obvious #1, a clear highlight to top the list. But there were plenty of other solid tracks too, including three from newly announced albums. More

May 12, 2023 By Mark Redfern

Sparks (brothers Ron and Russell Mael) are releasing a new album, The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte, on May 26 via Island. Now they have shared the album’s third single, “Nothing Is As Good As They Say It Is,” which is about a 22-hour-old baby who wants to return to the womb after seeing how terrible the world can be. It was shared via a music video featuring a whole lot of babies. More

Apr 21, 2023 By Mark Redfern

Welcome to the fourteenth Songs of the Week of 2023. It was a surprisingly quiet week for new tracks, perhaps because it was bookended by the two weekends of the Coachella festival. But there were still some songs we liked. More

Apr 21, 2023 By Mark Redfern

Sparks (brothers Ron and Russell Mael) are releasing a new album, The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte, on May 26 via Island. Now they have shared the album’s second single, “Veronica Lake,” which is inspired by the 1940s movie star known for playing femme fatales in film noir movies. More

Mar 03, 2023 By Mark Redfern

Welcome to the ninth Songs of the Week of 2023. There were quite a few strong contenders this week. We were especially enamored by the top two. More

Mar 03, 2023 By Mark Redfern

Sparks (brothers Ron and Russell Mael) are releasing a new album, The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte, on May 26 via Island. Yesterday they shared its first single, title track “The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte.” Now they have shared a video for the song starring none other than Oscar winning actress Cate Blanchett (who is nominated again this year for Tár). More

Mar 02, 2023 By Mark Redfern

Sparks (brothers Ron and Russell Mael) are releasing a new album, The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte, on May 26 via Island. Now they have shared its first single, title track “The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte.” More

Jan 25, 2023 By Mark Redfern

Sparks (brothers Ron and Russell Mael) have announced a new album, The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte, which will be the band’s first album on Island Records in 47 years. More

Mar 31, 2022 By Joey Arnone

Sparks (brothers Ron and Russell Mael) have announced a reissue series of seven of their albums. They have shared the previously unreleased song “It’s a Sparks Show.” The series includes the albums Balls, Lil’ Beethoven, Hello Young Lovers, Exotic Creatures of the Deep, The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman, Hippopotamus, and A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip, and it will be released this spring via BMG. More

May 28, 2021 By Mark Redfern

Welcome to the 20th Songs of the Week of 2021. This week, Republicans successfully blocked a commission that would have probed the January 6 storming of the Capitol. More

May 28, 2021 By Mark Redfern

Sparks (brothers Ron and Russell Mael) have shared a new song, “So May We Start,” that also features actors Adam Driver, Marion Cotillard, and Simon Helberg. The song is taken from the musical film, Annette, directed by Leos Carax (Holy Motors) and starring Driver, Cotillard, and Helberg. The Mael brothers co-wrote the film with Carax and wrote all the music for it (and also appear in the film). More

May 13, 2021 By Mark Redfern

A new trailer for The Sparks Brothers, Edgar Wright’s upcoming documentary on Los Angeles art-rock legends Sparks (brothers Ron and Russell Mael), has been shared. It showcases many of the notable musicians, actors, and writers interviewed in the documentary, but also displays some of the Mael brothers’ signature wit. More

Jul 06, 2020 By Samantha Small

Los Angeles brother duo, Sparks ( Ron and Russell Mael) released a new album, A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip, in May via BMG. To follow in the fun, they recently shared a wacky video for track “Existential Threat.” Watch the video below. More

May 18, 2020 By Christopher Roberts

Los Angeles legends Sparks (brothers Ron and Russell Mael) released a new album, A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip, last Friday via BMG. Now that the album’s out you can stream the whole thing below. They also recently shared a typically amusing video for the album’s “Lawnmower.” More

Feb 19, 2020 By Christopher Roberts

Los Angeles legends Sparks (brothers Ron and Russell Mael) are releasing a new album, A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip, on May 15 via BMG. Now they have shared another song from it, “Self-Effacing,” via a lyric video for it. They have also revealed the album’s tracklist. More

Jan 28, 2020 By Christopher Roberts

Los Angeles legends Sparks (brothers Ron and Russell Mael) have announced a new album, A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip. There are also other exciting 2020 projects in the works for the duo, including a documentary on the band directed by British auteur Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Baby Driver) and a musical film, Annette, directed by Leos Carax (Holy Motors) and starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard. More

Oct 20, 2017 By Christopher Roberts

Under the Radar is excited to announce the full details of our Fall 2017 Issue, which is out now digitally via Under the Radar’s app and the magazine app Readly. The print version has shipped out to subscribers and stores and will be on all newsstands soon (as well as available soon digitally via the magazine app Zinio). The issue features Julien Baker on the cover. More

Aug 29, 2017 By Christopher Roberts

Eccentric Los Angeles legends Sparks (brothers Ron and Russell Mael) are releasing a new album, Hippopotamus, on September 8 via BMG. Previously they shared a video for its title track, a video for another song from the album, “What the Hell Is It This Time?” (which posited that God gets a little tired of people over-praying to him all the time for trivial things), and the audio for “Edith Piaf (Said It Better Than Me).” More

Jul 28, 2017 By Christopher Roberts

Eccentric Los Angeles legends Sparks (brothers Ron and Russell Mael) are releasing a new album, Hippopotamus, on September 8 via The End Records. More

May 16, 2017 By Christopher Roberts

Eccentric Los Angeles legends Sparks (brothers Ron and Russell Mael) are releasing a new album, Hippopotamus, on September 8 via The End Records. More

Mar 28, 2017 By Christopher Roberts

Los Angeles legends Sparks have announced a new album, Hippopotamus, and shared a video for its title track. The album is due out September 8. More

Nov 20, 2015 By Christopher Roberts

Los Angeles legends Sparks have kept busy in 2015 with FFS, their collaboration with Scotland’s Franz Ferdinand that released their self-titled debut album back in June via Domino. But they’ve also found time to record a new holiday song, “Christmas Without a Prayer.” More

Oct 15, 2015 By Christopher Roberts

FFS, the collaboration between Scotland’s Franz Ferdinand and Los Angeles legends Sparks, released their self-titled debut album back in June via Domino and it’s really one of the best records from a super-group in recent memory, seamlessly blending both artists’ sounds into something new and exciting. More

Oct 14, 2015 By Christopher Roberts

FFS, the collaboration between Scotland’s Franz Ferdinand and Los Angeles legends Sparks, released their self-titled debut album back in June via Domino. Last night the supergroup showed up on The Late Late Show with James Corden. They performed “Police Encounters.” More

Aug 04, 2015 By Christopher Roberts

FFS, the collaboration between Scotland’s Franz Ferdinand and Los Angeles legends Sparks, released their self-titled debut album back in June via Domino. More

Jul 29, 2015 By Christopher Roberts

Yoko Ono has announced a new album. It’s not due out until January 22, 2016 (is this the first notable album to get a confirmed 2016 release date?) and it’s titled Yes, I’m a Witch Too, making it the sequel 2007’s Yes, I’m a Witch. Like that record, this one is a collaborative album. Every song is a collaboration between Ono and a different artist. This one includes collaborations with Death Cab for Cutie, tUnE-yArDs, Sparks, Peter Bjorn and John, Cibo Matto, Portugal the Man, Miike Snow, Penguin Prison, and of course her son, Sean Lennon, among others. More

Jun 08, 2015 By Christopher Roberts

FFS, the collaboration between Scotland’s Franz Ferdinand and Los Angeles legends Sparks, are releasing their self-titled debut album tomorrow via Domino and now we have the video for “Piss Off.” More

Jun 01, 2015 By Christopher Roberts

FFS, the collaboration between Scotland’s Franz Ferdinand and Los Angeles legends Sparks, are releasing their self-titled debut album next week via Domino. More

May 28, 2015 By Christopher Roberts

FFS, the collaboration between Scotland’s Franz Ferdinand and Los Angeles legends Sparks, have shared a new single entitled “Call Girl.” It’s the latest song to be revealed from their self-titled debut album, which is due out June 9 via Domino. More

May 20, 2015 By Christopher Roberts

FFS is a collaboration between Scotland’s Franz Ferdinand and Los Angeles legends Sparks. It’s an inspired matchup to be sure and seems to work based on what we’ve heard so far. Their self-titled debut album is out June 9 via Domino and now we have the video for “Johnny Delusional.” More

Apr 01, 2015 By Trevor Flynn

Glasgow, Scotland-based rock band Franz Ferdinand has joined forces with legendary Los Angeles duo Sparks to form the super-group FFS, announcing the release of their self-titled debut, due out June 9 via via Domino Records. More

Feb 07, 2014 By Mike Hilleary

Still touring behind their latest LP Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action, Franz Ferdinand have apparently been secretly collaborating on a joint album with veteran synth duo Sparks. More

Oct 28, 2013 By Mark Redfern

We sent out the same set of Halloween-related questions to a bunch of different musicians. All Halloween week we are posting their responses. Here are some spooky answers from Sparks, Wooden Shjips, White Hills, Audacity, and His Clancyness. More

Jun 18, 2021 By Owen Maxwell

Ahead of The Sparks Brothers’ debut on June 18, Edgar Wright’s upcoming horror film Last Night in Soho, and Sparks’ own film, Annette, we spoke to the director and the band about the kind of documentary they wanted to make, the fun they had interviewing so many people, and how you sustain a career over five decades without drama. More

Nov 27, 2017 By Matt Fink

After 45 years and 25 albums, Sparks’ multi-instrumentalist Ron Mael admits that writing songs is no easier now than it was when he started making music in Los Angeles in 1968 with his little brother, Russell. More

Nov 03, 2015 By Matt Fink

FFS—an acronym meaning “For Fuck’s Sake” in text lingo—is what many people probably thought when they heard that Scottish indie rockers Franz Ferdinand and Los Angeles art-pop legends Sparks were attempting to join together in one band under that moniker. Or at least that’s what Franz Ferdinand vocalist and songwriter Alex Kapranos suspects, a possibility that seems to please him to no end. More

Oct 28, 2013 By Mark Redfern

We sent out the same set of Halloween-related questions to a bunch of different musicians. All Halloween week we are posting their responses. Here are some spooky answers from Sparks, Wooden Shjips, White Hills, Audacity, and His Clancyness. More

May 25, 2023 By Michael James Hall

“They always said you must stay between the lines/Be easily defined/Or you’re wasting all your time,” sings Russell Mael on “It Doesn’t Have to Be That Way.” More

Apr 26, 2022 By Mark Redfern

Legendary duo Sparks embarked on a UK tour lately and Under the Radar photographer James Loveday captured their show in London at the Roundhouse on April 17, 2022. More

Mar 31, 2022 By Hays Davis

As part of the biggest run of North American dates in their career, Sparks found a wildly receptive audience for their sold-out show Washington DC’s Lincoln Theatre. On a roll following last year’s well-received The Sparks Brothers documentary and their soundtrack to the film Annette, singer Ron Mael and keyboardist Russell Mael led their band through a setlist that moved freely through their five decades of recording. More

Nov 29, 2013 By Hays Davis

At the very least, the brothers Ron and Russell Mael, otherwise known as Sparks, deserve a trophy for perseverance. Over the course of more than four decades, Sparks’ artistic evolution has been intriguing, even if that meant denting the Billboard charts only occasionally. More