Sep 30, 2010 By Kyle Lemmon Web Exclusive

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

Aug 05, 2010 By Laura Studarus Web Exclusive

Early blushes of success and all the superlatives that come with it can threaten to topple even the most level-headed of bands. But Delphic—whose debut full-length Acolyte was released earlier this summer in the U.S.—is well studied for their role as “next big thing.” Under the Radar originally interviewed the band in our Winter 2010 Issue in January (when the album came out in the U.K.), but in honor of their U.S. release we sat down with two-thirds of the Manchester trio—James Cook (vocal/guitar) and Rick Boardman (multi-instrumentalist)—before their performance at Dangerbird Records to discuss first musical obsessions, first gigs, and everything that went into their first tastes of success. More

Apr 03, 2010 By Hays Davis Issue #31 - Spring 2010 - Joanna Newsom

Sometimes inspiration has to doggedly chip away at those who refuse its presence until the light bulb finally brightens. More

Feb 19, 2010 By Laura Leebove Web Exclusive

Simon Balthazar, frontman of the orchestral pop group Fanfarlo, grew up surrounded by instruments. And although he learned how to play the piano, guitar, drums and mandolin early on, it wasn’t until he was about 17 that he figured out a way to effectively use them: first to play other people’s songs, then to write his own More

Jan 05, 2010 By Laura Studarus Issue #30 - Winter 2010 - Vampire Weekend

Recounting Casiokids 2009 schedule, frontman Ketil Kinden Endresen sounds a bit tired, despite being on break from tour duties. “We played 170 shows in 18 countries. It came as a surprise because the year before that we played maybe 35, 40 concerts!” he explains in quiet awe, speaking from his hometown of Bergen, Norway. More

Dec 11, 2009 By Frank Valish Nurses

The history of psych-pop outfit Nurses and its core members, Aaron Chapman and John Bowers, reads like a musical travelogue of sorts. Having grown up in Idaho Falls, Idaho, Chapman and Bowers took their love of music to California, Chicago, back to Idaho, and finally to Portland, Oregon, where the pair, along with drummer James Mitchell, has taken up permanent residence. The result of all their travel can be heard on the band’s sophomore album, Apple’s Acre. Under the Radar caught up with Chapman to discuss Apple’s Acre and the origins of a band that was built upon discovery, musical and otherwise. More

Nov 18, 2009 By Mike Hilleary Local Natives

Having recently moved into a new place in Silver Lake, CA, vocalist/ guitarist Taylor Rice of Local Natives says he and his bandmates are still feeling out just how much noise they can get away with before the neighbors start to complain. More

Oct 22, 2009 By Kyle Lemmon Web Exclusive

Milwaukee post-rock outfit Collections of Colonies of Bees were introduced to Justin Vernon (aka Bon Iver) in 2005, when he toured with his old group, the Eau Claire-based Americana band DeYarmond Edison. According to Vernon’s “guitarist mentor,” Chris Rosenau and drummer/percussionist John Mueller, Bees and Vernon quickly bonded over their mutual appreciation of “classical songwriting with a straight-up structure” and “informal folk music that’s not as traditional.” When the experimental quintet started posting random snippets of field recordings on a common FTP and through email, the group saw it as a welcome escape from the gigantic soundscapes they were constructing live at the time. More

Sep 21, 2009 By Mike Hilleary Suckers

At the moment, Suckers’ single-named multi-instrumentalist Pan is making his way on a cold February night toward Brooklyn’s Greenpoint neighborhood, where he’ll spend the next several hours rehearsing with his cohorts Quinn Walker, Austin Fisher, and Brian Aiken. More