Issues | Under the Radar | Music Blog for the Indie Music Magazine
Wednesday, December 11th, 2024  

Issue #54

Issue #54 - August/September 2015 - CHVRCHES

Aug 07, 2015

Under the Radar is excited to announce the full details of the August/September 2015 issue, which is available digitally now (via Under the Radar‘s app and the magazine apps Zinio, Readly, and Readbug), has shipped out to subscribers and stores and will be on all newsstands soon. It features CHVRCHES on the cover. Garbage’s Shirley Manson discusses the 20th anniversary of the band’s self-titled debut album. We talk to the creators and various cast members of Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp. Star Cliff Curtis and producer Gale Anne Hurd talk about The Walking Dead companion series Fear the Walking Dead. The issue also includes interviews with Beach House, New Order, Foals, Beirut, Jesse Eisenberg, Low, FFS, Destroyer, Wolf Alice, Tamaryn, Telekinesis, Ducktails, DRINKS, Briana Marela, LA Priest, Jaakko Eino Kalevi, Chelsea Wolfe, and more.

COVER STORY

The issue features an in-depth 8-page cover story on CHVRHCES. It was one of the first interviews the band granted in honor of their upcoming second album, Every Open Eye, which they had just finished up when we interviewed them. In the 5,600-word article Lauren Mayberry, Martin Doherty, and Iain Cook discuss the challenges of crafting a follow-up to their beloved debut album, 2013’s The Bones of What You Believe, the early days of the band, and how pop music has changed in the last decade. Mayberry also discusses in-depth the misogyny and sexism she’s had to confront in both the music industry and in Internet comments about the band.

Pal Hansen photographed CHVRCHES for the cover exclusively for Under the Radar in Glasgow, Scotland and Matt Fink wrote the cover story.

“All we were doing is being a band with a woman in the front, and if that’s something that upsets people that much, I think that’s a startling look at society.” - Lauren Mayberry of CHVRCHES

“It’s hard to truly understand pop these days, because it changes on a monthly basis. The Internet has changed everything.” - Martin Doherty of CHVRCHES

“I don’t think we would have been accepted by an indie audience 15 years ago.” - Iain Cook of CHVRCHES

DETECTION

The front-of-book Detection section feature interviews with: Beirut, Destroyer, DRINKS (Cate Le Bon + White Fence’s Tim Pressley), Ducktails, FFS (Franz Ferdinand + Sparks), Foals, Low, Tamaryn, and Telekinesis. Actor Jesse Eisenberg discusses his role in End of the Tour and we also talk to star Cliff Curtis and producer Gale Anne Hurd about The Walking Dead companion series Fear the Walking Dead.

“I woke up one day and was sick of wallowing in my own misery.” - Zach Condon of Beirut

“The record has a lot of conflicting things on it, which I’ve chosen not to care about because that’s a pop music concern.” - Dan Bejar of Destroyer

“[Collaborating with Cate Le Bon] was almost like two teenagers got together in a room and started playing instruments.” - Tim Presley of DRINKS

“There’s absolutely no way to say where these songs came from. Even now, when we listen to the record, we fight over who played what guitar part.” - Cate Le Bon of DRINKS

“I wanted to present my life more clearly and concisely with my lyrics, and talk about relationships, love, and loss.” - Matt Mondanile of Ducktails

“You walk away from an otherwise enjoyable day on set feeling these horrible feelings: a harrowing insecurity, and feeling like what you’re making is not good enough.” - Jesse Eisenberg

“Right from the start it was clear that, while we both loved each other’s music, we weren’t going to be fawning or deferential or precious about what we were doing.” - Alex Kapranos of FFS

“I got interested in presenting the spasms from my consciousness without really actively writing stuff down or crafting it into narrative.” - Yannis Philippakis of Foals

“I don’t know if you can hear that our record is done by one of the guys that works with Kanye, but there’s definitely a more brave sonic thing going on.” - Alan Sparhawk of Low

“I’m not of the school of Kurt Cobain when it comes to lyrics. I think it’s cool to care about things and to put your heart and soul into things.” - Tamaryn

“I was asking a piece of gear from last year to exist with a piece of gear from 1984.” - Michael Benjamin Lerner of Telekinesis

MAIN FEATURES

Our main features section includes a Retro article on Garbage, in which frontwoman Shirley Manson discusses the band’s 1995-released self-titled debut album in honor of its 20th anniversary. There’s also an in-depth article on the new Netflix TV series Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp which incorporates interviews with creators/cast members Michael Showalter and David Wain, along with cast members Michael Ian Black, Joe Lo Truglio, Ken Marino, Marguerite Moreau, Lake Bell, Randall Park, and Kevin Sussman. The section also includes interviews with Beach House and New Order on their new albums.

“As I get older and as we make more records, fewer and fewer people are going to want to interview us.” - Victoria Legrand of Beach House

“During the course of our first record, I felt very combative with the world.” - Shirley Manson of Garbage

“I’m very aware that after all this time we should be making boring music that doesn’t have any energy and is perhaps a bit tired.” - Bernard Sumner of New Order

“There was nothing distinctive about my character except that he has sex with Bradley Cooper, which is notable.” - Michael Ian Black of Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp

“It’s amazing what wigs, short shorts, and camp clothes can do to an adult person, as far as getting us into the mind frame of what we were doing 15 years ago.” - Joe Lo Truglio of Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp

“Obviously, with the original cast, the majority of them are major motion picture stars. Getting everyone there at the same time was nearly impossible to do. There were a lot of challenges in trying to make that happen.” - Lake Bell of Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp

“There was a shocking amount of people coming to me and saying, ‘Hey, I heard you’re doing this, and I’d love to be part of it.’ Like, big stars.” - David Wain of Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp

PLEASED TO MEET YOU

Our Pleased to Meet You new bands section highlights six exciting new artists: HÆLOS, Jaakko Eino Kalevi, LA Priest, Briana Marela, Seoul, and Wolf Alice.

“All three of us have been the front person of our previous projects so it’s fun and different and interesting to be doing it together.” - Lotti Benardout of HÆLOS

“We went to my place for an after party and [Ariel Pink] slept in my bed. I never did talk with him, actually!” - Jaakko Eino Kalevi

“I always intended [my album] as an oddity that would be picked up in a secondhand shop in the distant future and people would quiz over it.” - LA Priest

“I think I’ve just learned to accept being patient and being able to embrace that some things just take time.” - Briana Marela

“Someone can listen to [our] record and get that feeling that your 20s aren’t supposed to be this crazy, happy time. It’s okay if it’s confusing.” - Dexter Garcia of Seoul

“These playlist cultures we’ve got today, I don’t think a lot of people want to sit through a record where there are 12, 13 songs that sound exactly the same.” - Joff Oddie of Wolf Alice

THE END

For our regular last page feature, The End, we ask a different artist the same set of questions about endings and death. Chelsea Wolfe is this issue’s participant.

“The world is so heavy, and I’m trying to confront it and escape it at the same time.” - Chelsea Wolfe

REVIEWS

Over 90 CDs, films, TV shows, books, and comic books are reviewed in the issue, including reviews of releases by:

Algiers

Baio

Battles

Beach House

Willis Earl Beal

Beirut

The Bird and the Bee

Bully

Cayucas

The Chemical Brothers

Mac DeMarco

Desaparecidos

Destroyer

Diane Coffee

DRINKS

Ducktails

Duran Duran

Eternal Summers

EZTV

FFS

FIDLAR

Florence and the Machine

Flying Saucer Attack

Foals

Fox Millions Duo

Ezra Furman

Gardens & Villa

Georgia

Ghostface Killah

Albert Hammond Jr.

HEALTH

Georg Holm, Orri Páll Dýrason, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, Kjartan Holm

Julia Holter

Holy Sons

Jason Isbell

Iron & Wine and Ben Bridwell

The Jesus and Mary Chain

Jaakko Eino Kalevi

LA Priest

The Lighthouse and the Whaler

Little Boots

Loop

Low

Briana Marela

Mas Yas

Mercury Rev

Metric

Micachu and the Shapes

Giorgio Moroder

MS MR

Muse

The Mynabirds

The National

Oberhofer

Outfit

Painted Palms

Pavement

Petite Noir

Public Image Ltd

Ratatat

Refused

Royal Headache

Vince Staples

Tame Impala

Teen Daze

Telekinesis

Titus Andronicus

Ultimate Painting

Veruca Salt

Widowspeak

Wolf Alice

Chelsea Wolfe

Youth Lagoon

DIGITAL SAMPLER

Each issue comes with a digital sampler that is a free download and includes 33 MP3s. This issue’s digital sampler includes tracks by, among others:

Beach House

CHVRCHES

Destroyer

DRINKS

Ducktails

Dungen

J. Fernandez

FFS

Foals

Fraser A. Gorman

Gwenno

Julia Holter

Jaakko Eino Kalevi

Kid Wave

LA Priest

Low

Briana Marela

Mercury Rev

Outfit

Painted Palms

Seoul

Tamaryn

Telekinesis

Chelsea Wolfe

DIGITAL MAGAZINE

The digital version of the issue (available via iTunes, Zinio, Readly, and Readbug, and for iPads, iPhones, Macs, and PCs) also features an extra article not found in the print magazine, a 4,000-word bonus Q&A with the members of CHVRCHES.

“We’ve been unfortunate that a few lyrics have been misheard because of our accents. I’ve seen a couple tattoos that were like, ‘Oh, no…that’s not what it is.’” - Lauren Mayberry of CHVRCHES

The digital version also includes 31 reviews of albums, films, DVDs, and comic books not featured in the print magazine, including releases by the following artists:

The Darkness

Brandon Flowers

Daughn Gibson

Girlpool

Heartless Bastards

iji

Major Lazer

Maribou State

Mates of State

Matt Pond PA

Midnight

Flo Morrissey

No Joy

Of Monsters and Men

Prinzhorn Dance School

Shamir

Elliott Smith

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin

Sun Kil Moon

Sharon Van Etten

Ryn Weaver

Neil Young

Click here to subscribe to the print version of Under the Radar.

Click here for a list of U.S. stores that carry Under the Radar.

Interviews
Beirut - Zach Condon on “No No No”
Briana Marela
CHVRCHES - The Under the Radar Cover Story
DRINKS - Cate Le Bon and Tim Presley on Their Collaboration
Destroyer
Ducktails
FFS - Franz Ferdinand and Sparks on Their Debut Together
Fear the Walking Dead
Foals - Yannis Philippakis on “What Went Down”
Garbage - Shirley Manson on the 20th Anniversary of Their Debut Album
HÆLOS
Jaakko Eino Kalevi
LA Priest
Low - Alan Sparhawk on “Ones and Sixes”
New Order
Seoul
Telekinesis
The End: Chelsea Wolfe on Endings and Death
Wolf Alice

 

Reviews
99 Homes
Ad Infinitum
All Around Us
Batman Vol. 7: Endgame
Blunt Talk
Chronovision
Depression Cherry
Documentary Now!
Everybody’s a Good Dog
Fante Bukowski
Have You In My Wilderness
Heaven Adores You Blu-ray/DVD
Hermits on Holiday
High
Horizons
Into the Night
La Di Da Di
La Vie Est Belle / Life Is Beautiful
Motorcycle Samurai
Music For Dogs
New Suicide Squad Vol. 1
No No No
Noctunes
Ones and Sixes
Pagans in Vegas
Paper Gods
People Places Things
Poison Season
Savage Hills Ballroom
Sleeping With Other People
Star Trek/Planet of the Apes
The Decline of Western Civilization Collection
The League of Regrettable Superheroes
The Light in You
The Mythology of S. Clay Wilson Vol. 2:  Demons and Angels
The Names
The Secret History, Vol. 1
They’re Not Like Us
What Went Down
What the World Needs Now