Album Reviews
Broken Bells
Broken Bells
Mar 12, 2010 Web Exclusive
Sometimes following the career of Danger Mouse (aka Brian Burton) is kind of like watching Winona Ryder's dating life: it's fascinating to see who will turn up next, but at the same time, there's always the lingering desire to see him pick one and stick with it.
Classic Interviews
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Apr 01, 2006 Spring 2006 - The Raconteurs
Yeah Yeah Yeahs' debut full-length Fever to Tell sounded like a high school yearbook. It's a loud but uncertain art-punk screed, full of black humor and wicked riffs but with little ambition. Singer Karen O's squeals and moans and beer-slinging are sex-crazed without being especially sexy. It's aggressive and commanding but only hides the band's insecurities about what they really have to say. It's a portrait of young artists caught in the middle of growing up.
Comic Book Reviews
Madame Xanadu: Exodus Noir
DC/Vertigo
Mar 05, 2010 Web Exclusive
Madame Xanadu: Exodus Noir collects issues 11-15 of the DC/Vertigo series. I mentioned when reviewing the House of Mystery: Halloween Annual No. 1 last October that the art of Amy Reeder Hadley in the Madame Xanadu chapter was a standout. Accordingly, I was excited to review a chapter of Madame Xanadu, and somewhat disappointed when I discovered that Hadley was not the artist in this trade. But that disappointment didn't last long.
Book Reviews
David Hajdu: Heroes and Villains: Essays On Music, Movies, Comics and Culture
Feb 19, 2010 Web Exclusive
Though he's widely known for The Ten Cent Plague, his 2008 book on the U.S. government's 1950s war on comics, David Hajdu has long been a music critic for The New Republic. Heroes and Villains is primarily focused on the musical end of things, but as its full title notes, contains explorations into music, movies, comics, and the broader cultural landscape as well.
Video Game Reviews
BioShock 2 Xbox 360/PlayStation 3/PC
2K Games
Feb 21, 2010 Web Exclusive
The original BioShock did two things right. It told a brilliantly atmospheric story that borrowed heavily from Ayn Rand's dystopian novel Atlas Shrugged. And it married that story to a first person shooter, a genre that was hitting its peak in 2007. There was really no way that BioShock 2 could match the originality and surprise that the original possessed, but it comes close.
News
Broken Bells Bring “The Ghost Inside” to Jimmy Fallon
Mar 12, 2010
Last night, James Mercer/Danger Mouse supergroup Broken Bells invaded Jimmy Fallon, playing "The Ghost Inside," a cut from their self-titled debut. We have the video.
Interviews
The Mary Onettes
Mar 08, 2010 Web Exclusive
After having graced U.S. shores with a (very) short tour in the fall, Swedish four-piece The Mary Onettes are primed and ready to bring their particular brand of lush, '80s-inflected pop music to the States once again this spring. The band will be working off its latest album, Islands, it's second with Swedish indie record label Labrador. The album may be the band's best to date, inspired largely by the loss of several important people in singer/songwriter Philip Ekström's life prior to and during the writing process. Ekström speaks with Under the Radar, sharing some of the hardships that came with Islands and discussing what is ultimately a triumph of spirit in music.
Pleased to meet you
Fanfarlo
Feb 19, 2010 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
Live reviews
El Perro del Mar and Taken By Trees at The Troubadour, Los Angeles, CA, March 3, 2010
Mar 05, 2010
The thing about opening bands is, they rarely serve their intended purpose. Sure an act comes out, plays a mini set, and endures audience neglect and outright abuse in the name of hocking a few t-shirts and EPs, but as far as serving as a delicious appetizer to the musical main course to follow? Nine times out of ten you're better off cruising the bar for attractive singles, or more practically, earplugs. Maybe that's why the combination of co-headliners El Perro del Mar and Taken by Tress make such a shockingly successful paring. Both are thoughtful female singer/songwriters from Sweden with slightly off-kilter vocals, the only question is: what took them so long?
Blog
Guest Blog: Findlay Brown’s Tour Diary
Feb 23, 2010
British singer/songwriter Findlay Brown has just finished a west coast tour in support of his second album, Love Will Find You (Verve). Brown chronicled the short tour, which included opening slots for Nouvelle Vague, for this tour diary. Be prepared for bed bugs, '80s covers, gang fights, and much more!
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