Nov 01, 2008 By Marcus Kagler Year End 2008 - Best of 2008

“I feel dumb for being on the road promoting a record; I feel like I should be learning how to grow my own food,” says TV on the Radio’s vocalist/guitarist Kyp Malone, referring to the economic crisis in the United States. “The whole thing seems like a big card game played with a bunch of cheaters. The worst thing about it, from a human perspective, is the people who have been suffering from the injustices of the economic system are going to bear the brunt of the greedy pigs’ tomfoolery at the top. If there isn’t some complete change of value systems, there is going to be a lot of pain and suffering ahead.” More

Nov 01, 2008 By Chris Tinkham Arnaud Desplechin

French director Arnaud Desplechin, whose first film was titled La Vie des morts (Life of the Dead), acknowledges that there appears to be a preoccupation with death in his work. More

Nov 01, 2008 By Chris Tinkham Web Exclusive

Ballast, a meditative and visually eloquent film about death and renewal, is an unlikely work from a Los Angeles filmmaker. Shot on 35mm film in the Mississippi Delta while using only available light, Ballast has been linked to the films of Belgium’s Dardenne brothers, not only because writer-director Lance Hammer employed handheld camera, jump cuts and nonprofessional actors, but also for the naturalistic way the film depicts the emotional and psychological effects of impoverished living. More

Nov 01, 2008 By Matt Fink Year End 2008 - Best of 2008

Imagine that you’re feeling a little overwhelmed. Imagine you and your band have made a first album that is arguably the most widely acclaimed release of the year. Imagine you’re Robin Pecknold, and you write the songs for Fleet Foxes. More

Oct 01, 2008 By J. Pace Apse

“We understand why we get the post-rock thing, but we hate it,” says Robert Toher, guitarist/vocalist of Apse, speaking from his home on Cape Cod. Apse can’t seem to avoid the comparisons to Sigur Rós, Explosions in the Sky, Mogwai, and their ilk. More

Sep 02, 2008 By Frank Valish Vivian Girls

For Cassie, Katy, and Ali of Brooklyn’s Vivian Girls, being in a band began as a fun extension of a life filled with other pursuits. When the band started in March 2007, Cassie was studying illustration at Pratt Institute, Katy was finishing degrees in physics and education at Rutgers University, and Ali, also at Rutgers, was majoring in German. However, after three 7” singles and a limited-run pressing of the band’s debut album—which sold out within a week of its May release—things have been heating up. In fact, Cassie, Katy, and, Ali—who all prefer to be referred to only by their first names—were lucky to make it out of school at all. More

Sep 02, 2008 By Evan Rytlewski The Week That Was

If you want to watch broadcast television in the United Kingdom, you must purchase an annual “television license” that costs well over 100 pounds. For Peter Brewis—who along with his brother, David, forms the core of Sunderland indie-rock band Field Music—having to pay the fee again after moving into a new apartment was all the excuse he needed to finally do what he’d long threatened: get rid of his television. More

Sep 02, 2008 By Marcus Kagler The Verve

The fact that The Verve’s 1997 breakthrough mainstream hit was a song called “Bittersweet Symphony” is apt in almost every way. Not only did the track catapult the little-known and criminally ignored band from Wigan, England into superstardom, it also epitomized their future (or lack thereof) and proved to be a fitting epitaph for a band on the cusp of continually falling apart. Indeed, when “Bittersweet Symphony” became a hit, it already seemed that The Verve’s days were numbered. More

Sep 02, 2008 By J. Pace Okkervil River

Okkervil River singer/guitarist Will Sheff is having more fun these days. Before 2005’s Black Sheep Boy charmed critics, he was seriously contemplating throwing in the towel. “Basically, I was broke,” he says from his home in Brooklyn. “I was totally broke, and I’d been broke for my entire adult life.” More