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Issue #61 Issue #61 - Grizzly Bear

Under the Radar is excited to announce the full details of our Summer 2017 Issue, which is out now digitally via Under the Radar's app and the magazine app Readly. The print version has shipped out to subscribers and stores and will be on all newsstands soon (as well as available soon digitally via the magazine app Zinio). The issue features Grizzly Bear on the cover.

The issue also features interviews with The National, The War on Drugs, Broken Social Scene, Phoenix, Beach House, Tori Amos, Ride, Alvvays, EMA, Big Thief, Japanese Breakfast, Saint Etienne, actor Jon Bernthal, Waxahatchee, Algiers, Kirin J Callinan, Kevin Morby, The Dears, and more. Plus Slowdive and Ariel Pink interview each other.

COVER STORY

Grizzly Bear

In our in-depth 4,700-word cover story article, writer Matt Fink talks to all four members of Grizzly Bear about Painted Ruins, their first album in five years, since 2012's Shields. After a long hiatus, the band struggled to reconvene and record a new album. The article recounts how the band's Chris Taylor was instrumental in getting the band back in the recording studio and goes in-depth on Painted Ruins and where the band is at now. James Loveday photographed Grizzly Bear for the cover exclusively for Under the Radar in London.

"I would say that I'm more politically aware than I ever have been in my life, and then there's a piece of me that is like, 'Wasn't it chill when you were 23 and you didn't pay that much attention?'" - Ed Droste of Grizzly Bear

"I've got to the point where I know that for sure people [online] are going to say horrible things about me or something that I'm really attached to, and there's nothing I can do about it." - Ed Droste of Grizzly Bear

"It wasn't guaranteed that we were actually going to do a record, ever. A couple of guys were like, 'If this doesn't go better or at least kind of well, then probably it shouldn't happen.'" - Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear

"I wasn't really sure how I wanted to function in the band, to be honest. I wasn't even sure that I wanted to write songs for the band or sing in the band anymore." - Daniel Rossen of Grizzly Bear

DETECTION

The front-of-book Detection section features interviews with various musicians. We talk to each member of The National about their new album. Mark Gardener and Andy Bell of shoegazing legends Ride discuss their first album in two decades. Beach House takes us through their B-sides and rarities compilation. Tori Amos takes part in our Self-Portrait section, sending us a self-portrait photo and providing a list of personal things her fans may not know about her. EMA (aka Erika M. Anderson) takes part in our Protest section, writing about what automation and robots could mean for artists and society in general. We talk to actor Jon Bernthal (Shane in The Walking Dead, The Punisher in Daredevil, Baby Driver) about his new movie Pilgrimage. We take Australia's Kirin J Callinan to get a shave and a haircut in Washington DC. We also interview the following artists about their new albums: Algiers, Alvvays, Big Thief, The Dears, Japanese Breakfast, Kevin Morby, and Saint Etienne.

"I wasn't surprised by Trump at all. Not by a country that let George Bush take the election the first time, and then after it was proven that he started two wars on false pretenses, voted for him properly the second time." - Franklin James Fisher of Algiers

"No one will tell you to stop touring. You just have to start refusing to do shows so you'll have time to make something new and we kind of learned that the hard way." - Molly Rankin of Alvvays

"I had opened the red velvet curtains only to walk into a brick wall." - Tori Amos

"I don't really look at the songs on [B-Sides and Rarities] and think, 'This could be a direction for Beach House.' I look at it as a final scrapbook of the last 12 years." - Victoria Legrand of Beach House

"I'm not a stranger to shame and redemption." - Jon Bernthal

"The people we work with, we chose because we got a really good feeling from them. They're all actually becoming real relationships." - Adrianne Lenker of Big Thief

"[This album is] pretty dorky and ugly and clumsy and bombastic at times, and I'm certainly capable of being all those things." - Kirin J Callinan

"If I could get a gig doing something else interesting, I would, but I've dedicated my life to making music." - Murray Lightburn of The Dears

"It's naïve to think, especially in today's world, that you can convince six people to sacrifice their actual lives to be in a band while making zero money. It's dumb. Yet it's also meaningful and important." - Natalia Yanchak of The Dears

"Let's free workers from monotonous jobs that robots could just as easily do." - EMA (aka Erika M Anderson)

"I'd been taking care of my mother while she was dying, and that informed the first record. This one provided time and distance, as it had been a year and a half since her death, but it's still there for sure." - Japanese Breakfast (aka Michelle Zauner)

"I was living in this house, and it was the first time in my life I could sort of go all day without seeing anybody, and it was kind of a culture shock to me." - Kevin Morby

"Every time we [start a new record] I think we all feel like, 'Are we really going to do this?'" - Bryce Dessner of The National

"I used to consciously think about and try to figure out what kind a singer I am. I stopped thinking about that." - Matt Berninger of The National

"I personally felt had I not [reformed with Ride], it would have probably haunted me for the rest of my life." - Mark Gardener of Ride

"We started out as 17-year-olds in a band and it all happened too fast. We were just very young and couldn't deal with it." - Andy Bell of Ride

"Where I grew up was pretty boring, so everybody just ended up forming bands or becoming clothes designers or DJs. Out of boredom comes creativity, I think." - Sarah Cracknell of Saint Etienne

MAIN FEATURES

Our main features section includes in-depth interviews with Broken Social Scene, Phoenix, and The War on Drugs, plus Slowdive and Ariel Pink interview each other. Broken Social Scene's Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning discuss Hug of Thunder, the Canadian band's acclaimed first new album in seven years. Thomas Mars and Laurent Brancowitz of Phoenix shed light on the French band's first new album in four years, Ti Amo. We go deep with The War on Drugs' Adam Granduciel on the Philadelphia-based band's new album, A Deeper Understanding, and the challenges of following up Lost in the Dream, arguably the most acclaimed album of 2014. Slowdive's Neil Halstead and Ariel Pink have a joint conversation about the shoegazing legends' critically lauded first album in 22 years, simply titled Slowdive, and Ariel Pink's upcoming new album, Dedicated to Bobby Jameson.

"I don't have the diehard fans anymore. They move on and call me a traitor." - Ariel Pink

"I feel like there's so much [music] out there, it impels you not to [check it all out]. You're overwhelmed before you start." - Neil Halstead of Slowdive

"You live a humble life and think, 'Maybe our time came. We tried really hard to break through when things were easier logistically and financially and we never quite got there.'" - Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene

"Often when the situation is a bit dark or confused, humans produce something joyful." - Thomas Mars of Phoenix

"Everyone found their own way of dealing with [the Paris terror attacks]. Our way was to create very happy music." - Laurent Brancowitz of Phoenix

"I felt some kinship with some of the characters that The Boss was writing about [on The River], just getting to a certain point in your life and wondering what's in store for you for the rest of your life and when are you going to walk through the door into another life?" - Adam Granduciel of The War on Drugs

PLEASED TO MEET YOU

Our Pleased to Meet You new bands section highlights these exciting new artists: Bedouine (Syrian-born, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Azniv Korkejian), London all-female trio Girl Ray, British singer/songwriter/guitarist Willie J Healey, Los Angeles duo Midnight Sister, and This Is the Kit (Paris-based, British-born singer/songwriter Kate Stables).

"There was a time where I just couldn't even get myself out of bed...I'd see [Syrian] children pulled out of rubble and I would just feel so paralyzed by it." - Bedouine (aka Azniv Korkejian)

"We named [our album] Earl Grey because we just thought it would sound funny if people said 'Girl Ray Earl Grey,' which we were just being cheeky, really." - Poppy Hankin of Girl Ray

"Sometimes we get compared to random girl groups that don't sound like us at all. That's just a little insulting." - Sophie Moss of Girl Ray

"I didn't realize I'd be dressed like a cowboy until I got there." - Willie J Healey

"I'm a filmmaker, and this is the first time I'd used music to tell a story." - Juliana Giraffe of Midnight Sister

"There's always more than one truth in the way you tell stories." - This Is the Kit (aka Kate Stables)

THE END

For our regular last page feature, The End, we ask a different artist the same set of questions about endings and death. Waxahatchee (aka Katie Crunchfield) is this issue's participant.

"The thought of outliving everyone I know sounds lonely and tragic but also strangely powerful. It could be the pinnacle of enlightenment and wisdom." - Waxahatchee (aka Katie Crunchfield)

REVIEWS

Over 50 albums, films, and comic books are reviewed in the issue, including reviews of releases by:

Algiers

alt-J

Alvvays

Avey Tare

Baio

Beach House

Bedouine

Boris

Phoebe Bridgers

Broken Social Scene

Alice Cooper

Cornelius

Downtown Boys

The Drums

EMA

Everything Everything

Fleet Foxes

Girl Ray

Grizzly Bear

HAIM

Laurel Halo

Iron & Wine

Japanese Breakfast

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard

Liars

Lorde

Luna

Mogwai

The National

Oh Sees

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

Peaking Lights

Frankie Rose

Shabazz Palaces

Sheer Mag

Sparks

Sufjan Stevens, Nico Muhly, Bryce Dessner, and James McAlister

Jeff Tweedy

The War on Drugs

Washed Out

Waxahatchee

Steven Wilson

Neil Young

Zola Jesus

DIGITAL SAMPLER

Each issue comes with a digital sampler that is a free download and includes up to 33 MP3s. This issue's digital sampler includes tracks by:

Alvvays

Cameron Avery

Beach House

Bedouine

Big Thief

Broken Social Scene

Kirin J Callinan

Chastity Belt

Childhood

Curse of Lono

The Dears

EMA

Fleet Foxes

Frankie Rose

Girl Ray

Juliana Hatfield

Willie J Healey

Iron and Wine

Japanese Breakfast

Land of Talk

Briana Marela

Midnight Sister

Mogwai

Kevin Morby

Ohmme

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

Public Service Broadcast

Saint Etienne

Secret Company

Single Girl, Married Girl

The War on Drugs

Waxahatchee

Younger Then

Zola Jesus

DIGITAL MAGAZINE

The digital version of the issue (available via iTunes, Zinio, Readly, and Kindle and for iPads, iPhones, Macs, and PCs) also features extra interviews not found in the print magazine. We talk to British film director Michael Winterbottom about his new films The Trip to Spain (the third in the series) and On the Road, a film that follows the British band Wolf Alice on tour. And then there are bonus Q&A interviews with Alvvays, Grizzly Bear, Saint Etienne, and The War on Drugs, containing portions of their interviews not found in the print magazine.

"When we made our first record, you do have that luxury of no one caring, but it's also a problem. We didn't have very much support." - Molly Rankin of Alvvays

"I don't expect constant coverage, nor do I really want it. I don't want to have a report on every tweet or every interview where you say something-that's unneeded noise, in my opinion." - Ed Droste of Grizzly Bear

"When we first started doing this when we were 24, we got labeled as freak folk, which we were like, 'Yuck! No way. We don't want to be that!'" - Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear

"I don't know that it would be a great move for our band to venture into provocative topical songwriting. It just doesn't seem like what we do." - Daniel Rossen of Grizzly Bear

"I think when you grow up really close to a city, certainly for me and [the rest of the band], I was desperate to be there and to live there." - Sarah Cracknell of Saint Etienne

"There's always the desire to record new songs or scrap this or scrap that or record this again, but I do respect the deadlines that I say I'll deliver." - Adam Granduciel of The War on Drugs

"[For On the Road] I wanted a band that were young and actually out there on the road. Wolf Alice, at that point, had been on the road nonstop for a year. They're a serious band, and a very hard-working band." - Michael Winterbottom

BONUS DIGITAL REVIEWS

The digital version of the magazine also includes extra reviews not found in the print version, including albums by the following:

!!!

Agent Blå

Amber Arcades

Nicole Atkins

Dan Auerbach

Beach Fossils

Big Thief

Blondie

Benjamin Booker

Glen Campbell

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

The Charlatans

Chastity Belt

Cigarettes After Sex

Amber Coffman

Com Truise

The Cranberries

Girlpool

Gorillaz

Hoops

Joywave

Laibach

Kendrick Lamar

Land of Talk

Sondre Lerche

Little Cub

London Grammar

Moby and the Void Pacific Choir

The Monks

Kevin Morby

Nite Jewel

Bill Orcutt

Palehound

Phoenix

Priests

Ratboys

Ride

Saint Etienne

(Sandy) Alex G

Slow Dancer

Sufjan Stevens

Trailer Trash Tracys

Wavves

Wooden Wand

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News

Self-Portrait: Tori Amos



Interviews

Algiers on “The Underside of Power”

Alvvays on “Antisocialites” - The Full Q&A Interview

Alvvays on “Antisocialites”

Ariel Pink vs. Slowdive

Beach House on Their B-Sides and Rarities Collection

Bedouine

Big Thief on “Capacity”

Broken Social Scene on “Hug of Thunder”

Girl Ray

Grizzly Bear on “Painted Ruins” - The Under the Radar Cover Story Bonus Q&A

Grizzly Bear on “Painted Ruins” - The Under the Radar Cover Story

Japanese Breakfast on “Soft Sounds From Another Planet”

Jon Bernthal on “Pilgrimage” and “The Punisher”

Kevin Morby on “City Music”

Kirin J Callinan on “Bravado”

Michael Winterbottom on “The Trip to Spain” and Wolf Alice

Midnight Sister

Phoenix on “Ti Amo”

Protest: EMA on Embracing Automation

Ride on “Weather Diaries”

Saint Etienne on “Home Counties” - The Extended Q&A Interview

Saint Etienne on “Home Counties”

Self-Portrait: Tori Amos

The Dears on “Times Infinity Volume Two”

The End: Waxahatchee on Endings and Death

The National on “Sleep Well Beast”

The War on Drugs - Adam Granduciel on Recording “A Deeper Understanding”

The War on Drugs on “A Deeper Understanding”

This Is the Kit

Willie J Healey



Reviews

A Deeper Understanding

A Fever Dream

Antisocialites

Beast Epic

Born on a Gangster Star and Quazarz vs. The Jealous Machines

Cage Tropical

Content

Cost of Living

Earl Grey

Eucalyptus

Every Country’s Sun

Exile in the Outer Ring

Goodnight Rhonda Lee

Hippopotamus

Ingrid Goes West

In This Corner of the World

My Pretty Vampire

Okovi

Orc

Painted Ruins

Paranormal

Person to Person

Pilgrimage

Sleep Well Beast

Stranger in the Alps

TCFC

The Customer is Always Wrong

The Echo of Pleasure

The Punishment of Luxury

To the Bone

Universal High

