Oct 11, 2010 By Mike Hilleary Simon Helberg

While he’s never engaged in a down-and-out brawl before, actor Simon Helberg can throw a mean punch, having earned a black belt in karate by the time he was 10 years old. That’s not to say, however, that he won’t feel really, really bad about it. More

Oct 11, 2010 By John Everhart (Intro by and Moderated by) Lætitia Sadier

Deerhunter and Atlas Sound’s Bradford Cox has long professed his love for Stereolab, in particular 1999’s Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night, his favorite album by the band. He went so far as to effusively explicate upon its merits on a Deerhunter blog post back in 2007. In an impassioned manner akin to the prime years of the fiery late gonzo journalist Lester Bangs, he also excoriated the publications that panned the album. More

Oct 08, 2010 By Chris Tinkham Web Exclusive

In Stone, Edward Norton plays Gerald “Stone” Creeson, a prison inmate who’s served the majority of his sentence for covering up the death of his grandparents. Jack Mabry, played by Robert De Niro, is the parole official who holds the keys to Stone’s future. As a series of erratic and increasingly contentious confrontations ensue between the two characters, questions about spirituality and the right to judge come to the fore. Under the Radar spoke with Stone director John Curran (We Don’t Live Here Anymore, The Painted Veil) last week about working with two of today’s most respected actors. More

Oct 07, 2010 By Jeremy Nisen Jeff Lemire

Jeff Lemire, the writer/artist behind Sweet Tooth, refers to his creation as “lo-fi sci-fi.” “I always consider Sweet Tooth something you draw in the basement, not a glossy sci-fi comic,” he says.”

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Oct 07, 2010 By Hays Davis Web Exclusive

Neil Hannon has been happily plowing his particular furrow of witty, theatrical pop for more than two decades as The Divine Comedy. After years of freely employing horns and strings to a pop framework that has avoided seeming dated thanks to the alternately current/timeless sense of his lyrics, Hannon is presently preparing songs for an upcoming U.K. musical based on the children’s book, Swallows and Amazons. We spoke to Hannon about Swallows, the new Divine Comedy album (Bang Goes the Knighthood), extremely long vocal notes, the future of The Duckworth Lewis Method, and Doctor Who.

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Oct 06, 2010 By Laura Studarus Happy Pills

Some countries are known exporters. The U.K. has been a rock giant ever since the Fab Four busted out of their borders, Sweden has carved out a notable Scandinavian pop niche, and Canada has been busy breaking social scenes and setting arcades on fire for some time now. But what about other countries whose bands don’t always make it to stateside indie stardom? In such an interconnected world, why are there still large places on the musical map with question marks? On a recent visit to Poland to cover the OFF Festival; Under the Radar set out to fill in some of those blanks. Assisting our exploration were musicians Natalia Fiedorczuk, Jacek Kąkolewski. Both scene stalwarts, and members of Happy Pills—a six piece who take cues from Pixies, Sonic Youth, and Smashing Pumpkins among others—they told us about the Polish music scene, cultural expectations, and their big break in the U.S. that didn’t happen. More

Oct 06, 2010 By Kyle Lemmon The Walking Dead

“This is not good.” Those are the foreboding first words you read in the debut issue of Image Comics’ The Walking Dead. There is no over-the-top internal monologue from a main character, or omnipresent narrator clueing you in to the overall through-line. It’s just a bleak, monochromatic landscape, punctuated by telephone poles and a pivotal police shootout. More

Sep 30, 2010 By Stephen Humphries Beak>

Legend has it that the apocalypse will be preceded the sound of the hooves of four horsemen. But the British trio BEAK>, fronted by Portishead’s Geoff Barrow, creates a Krautrock sound so exquisitely doom-laden that you’d be forgiven for thinking that the end of days are near. More

Sep 30, 2010 By Kyle Lemmon Summer Camp

Summer Camp is not a chillwave band. Despite the warm, analog indie-pop tunes coming from the North London-via-Surrey duo, their catchy blend of hazy nostalgia has legs beyond the warm months of June, July, and August. It’s the soundtrack to compassionate first kisses, awkward prom portraits, dancing all night long, stupid keggers where you go out of complete boredom, and well, high school in general. Read our interview with Jeremy Warmsley and Elizabeth Sankey. More