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Dec 08, 2010 Yann Tiersen By Under the Radar Staff

For Under the Radar’s 8th annual Artist Survey we emailed some of our favorite artists a few questions relating to 2010. Pick up a copy of Under the Radar’s Year End issue for interviews with: The Antlers, Bon Iver, Caribou, Club 8, Delphic, Rose Elinor Dougall, Gayngs, Hot Chip, Lost in the Trees, Love is All, The Love Language, Mogwai, of Montreal, Okkervil River, Yoko Ono, Owen Pallett, Plants and Animals, Mark Ronson, Superchunk, Tame Impala, Vampire Weekend, Sharon Van Etten, and Vivian Girls. Here’s a survey from Yann Tiersen.

Top 6 Albums of 2010

We managed six:

1. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti: Before Today

2. Arcade Fire: The Suburbs

3. Liars: Sisterworld

4. Deerhunter: Halycon Digest

5. Third Eye Foundation: The Dark

6. Syd Matters: Brotherocean

What was the highlight of 2010 for either you personally or for the band?

It was a packed year with so many good things, but two highlights were playing in New York with the orchestra, and we had a great time at La Route du Rock festival.

What are your hopes and plans for 2011?

Nonstop touring for the first half of the year. We will be in the U.S. for a month and a half from January to March. We also have some special plans to do some more gigs with the orchestra.

What are your thoughts on President Obama’s job performance in the last year? Has your optimism, if you were an Obama supporter, waned?

Think he was the best option for the president in the U.S.

What are your thoughts on the Tea Party movement?

I think it’s dangerous when any group like this gets too much publicity.

With the Internet making every artist’s music potentially available to a wide audience, is it now easier to find listeners or more difficult because you have to compete with so many other musicians?

It’s not a question of competition; it’s great that more people get to hear the music. The more the better. I think the good quality music still comes through.

Who would you rather listen to—a totally original musician whose compositions are groundbreaking but difficult to listen to or a musician whose songs are immediately enjoyable but derivative? Why?

If someone tries to be too enjoyable on purpose I don’t like it. But equally if someone tries to be to be too difficult on purpose I don’t like it. But good music is good music and, I can spend just as many hours listening to Faust music as I can Arcade Fire.

In the race to find new bands, are too many unworthy bands being hyped up by music blogs and websites? How are music fans supposed to filter through all these new bands being hyped?

I think there are quite a lot of new bands coming through on blogs, but the really great ones will stick around no matter what hype there is in the beginning.

If your house was on fire, what would you grab as you were running out?

The fire. Then the water.

If you could relive one day of your life, which would it be?

I would wait for my very last day, make sure it was a good one, then re-live that over and over and over.

What’s the strangest fan encounter you’ve ever had?

There is a woman who has my sheet music tattooed on her back. I don’t know whether to be flattered or worried.

If you had a bucket list, what would be the Top 4 things on that list?

Top 2 things!

1. Witness a worldwide revolution (but a good one).

2. Sail around the world in a small boat.

(www.yanntiersen.com)