Austin Trunick

Interview: Filmmaker Noah Baumbach on Frances Ha: Writer and...

Sat, 18 May 2013 10:25:16 -0400

Interview: Filmmaker Noah Baumbach on Frances Ha:

Writer and director Noah Baumbach is an admitted overachiever. By the ripe old age of 26 he’d already broken out on the indie scene with his acclaimed 1995 debut feature, Kicking and Screaming. He’d follow it up two years later withMr. Jealousy, and then go on to write and direct the Academy Award-nominated The Squid and the Whale in 2005, Margot at the Wedding in 2007,and Greenberg in 2010. (He was also a co-writer for Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and Fantastic Mr. Fox.)

Read the full interview here.

Interview: Katie Crutchfield of Waxahatchee Only in her early...

Tue, 14 May 2013 12:10:57 -0400

Interview: Katie Crutchfield of Waxahatchee

Only in her early 20s, Katie Crutchfield is already a road-tested indie rock veteran. She’s been forming bands, recording albums, and touring the country with her twin sister, Allison, since they were in high school. The siblings’ best-known vehicle—the punk band P.S. Eliot—split on friendly terms in 2011, when the sisters decided it was time to go off in their own musical directions. Katie now records under the name Waxahatchee, while Allison went on to form the energetic rock act Swearin’. The sisters currently share a house with their bandmates in Philadelphia.

“We don’t really play an active role in each other’s music, but we definitely give each other feedback and listen to each other’s demos,” says Katie. “I live with three-quarters of Swearin’, so I’m always hearing them practice and hearing their demos, hopping on board when they go to play a show in New York or something. Keith, my boyfriend, is also in Swearin’, and he plays drums in Waxahatchee. At times it sort of feels like we’re all in one band, just playing different songs, and that we’re tied together.”

Read the full interview here.

Interview: Filmmaker Henry-Alex Rubin on his new...

Wed, 01 May 2013 10:54:29 -0400

Interview: Filmmaker Henry-Alex Rubin on his new film, Disconnect.

Filmmaker Henry-Alex Rubin was nominated for an Academy Award in 2005 for Murderball, his documentary about quadriplegic rugby players. As a highly lauded commercial director, he creates campaigns whose distinctive style often makes them feel more like short documentary films than advertisements.

Disconnect, his fiction filmmaking debut, is now in theaters. Jason Bateman, Alexander Skarsgård, and Frank Grillo lead a strong ensemble cast in a series of interwoven stories, connected by the consequences of misused technology. Pertinent and moving, Disconnect isn’t a warning against the dangers of our digital age, but a bittersweet parable about how failures to communicate ruin our relationships.

Read the full interview here.

Film Review: Disconnect An always-on-the-phone father finds...

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 10:45:39 -0400

Film Review: Disconnect

An always-on-the-phone father finds himself unable to relate to his family. A young, grieving couple has their identities stolen, and embarks on a vigilante-style quest to find and punish the thief. An investigative journalist blows the lid off an underage sex cam ring. A pair of teenage bullies catfish a classmate over Facebook, with tragic consequences. Henry Alex Rubin’s Disconnect has a lot to say about the way our society connects with one another in this digital age. While there’s none of it that hasn’t been said before, the film pulls it off with committed performances from its actors.

Full review here.

Ranked: Orange Juice I ranked the Glasgow band’s albums...

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 15:42:35 -0400

Ranked: Orange Juice

I ranked the Glasgow band’s albums from most essential to least for Under the Radar.

Album Review - The Flaming Lips: The Terror The music included...

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 20:39:36 -0400

Album Review - The Flaming Lips: The Terror

The music included on The Terror is as nightmarish as its name would suggest. It’s an apocalyptic mélange of groaning synthesizers, plodding drums, and garbled, ghostly vocals. There are lyrics about pain, death, and loneliness; there’s a whole lot of industrial clanging and blurts of static. The Terror feels scary, ugly, bloated, and obtuse; it’s a record that’s intentionally no fun at all. Whatever high the band is on now-be it narcotic or be it natural—we’re not sure we want any part of it.

Full album review here.

Album Review - OMD: English Electric Some bands run a cosmic...

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 07:26:14 -0400

Album Review - OMD: English Electric

Some bands run a cosmic treadmill trying to keep pace with current trends; others are content to keep mining the formulas that brought on their biggest successes. This “classic lineup” of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark-on hiatus from 1986-2006-seemed fine to pick up right where they left off.

Full album review here.

Interview: Robert Redford on The Company You Keep Director,...

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 11:06:53 -0400

Interview: Robert Redford on The Company You Keep

Director, actor, and activist Robert Redford has achieved more in his 50-year career than most individuals could ever hope for. He’s starred in many classic films, from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Stingto The Way We Were and Three Days of the Condor. As a filmmaker he’s directed nine movies, winning an Academy Award for 1980’s Ordinary People. He’s the founder of Sundance—the Film Festival, the Institute, and Channel—and a respected environmental spokesman. At 76 years old, he hasn’t even begun to slow down.

His latest directorial effort, The Company You Keep, focuses on a young beat reporter who uncovers a news story that winds up capturing the attention of the entire nation.

“Obviously I’m fascinated by journalism,” says Redford. “I’ve made journalism the point of some of the films that I’ve made. I might put a critical eye on journalism, occasionally, but fundamentally I’m such a supporter of it. I think journalism is so important. So, I put a keen eye—not a negative eye, but a keen eye—on the role of journalism, and the way journalism is changed by the times we’re living in.”

Read the full interview here.

Interview: Ryan Gosling, Eva Mendes, and Derek Cianfrance on The...

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 14:51:32 -0400

Interview: Ryan Gosling, Eva Mendes, and Derek Cianfrance on The Place Beyond the Pines

Some years ago, film star Ryan Gosling confided with director Derek Cianfrance about a plan he had to pull off the perfect bank robbery. The two turned that discussion into the first part of a three-section film about fathers and the legacies they pass on to their sons. The Place Beyond the Pines, in theaters this week, also stars Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes, Ray Liotta, Dane Dehaan, and Emory Cohen. In the film, Gosling plays a tattooed motorcyclist who resorts to robbing banks to provide for his newborn child.

Full feature here.

I didn’t realize just how ridiculously packed the new...

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 14:29:05 -0400

I didn’t realize just how ridiculously packed the new Under the Radar was until my copy arrived this week. There are features on Suede, Phoenix, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Flaming Lips, The Knife, Camera Obscura, Devendra Banhart, Local Natives, and that’s barely scratching it. Just nuts. I have features in there on CHVRCHES, Girls Names, and The Child of Lov, plus a bunch of album and film reviews. As always, stoked to be part of it, but even more stoked to read everyone else’s articles.

Check out the full details here.

Film Review: The Place Beyond the Pines Derek...

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 14:26:21 -0400

Film Review: The Place Beyond the Pines

Derek Cianfrance’s (Blue Valentine) second feature is a sweeping, far-fetched drama set in the seedy underbelly of Schenectady, NY: a place surprisingly packed with dirty cops, dirty politicians, and dirty carnies.

Full review here.

Live Review: CHVRCHES and Dan Croll at Mercury Lounge,...

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 13:03:15 -0400

Live Review: CHVRCHES and Dan Croll at Mercury Lounge, 5/18/13

Liverpool’s Dan Croll survived the SXSW performance maelstrom only to pop up to a horribly snowy and cold New York City for a pair of back-to-back shows with CHVRCHES.

Full review here.

Game Review: Omerta: City of Gangsters Atlantic City, for the...

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 13:53:24 -0400

Game Review: Omerta: City of Gangsters

Atlantic City, for the early half of the 20th century, was regarded as America’s Playground. Before it devolved a slightly dirtier, East Coast version of Vegas, the City by the Sea was the place for Americans from any walk of life to cut loose and enjoy some decadence. Atlantic City reached the height of its notoriety during Prohibition, when the lines between politician and gangster were blurred enough to allow vice to operate freely along the resort’s famous boardwalk. During those years, Atlantic City was one of the seats of power for America’s organized crime syndicates.

Now, from German publisher Kalypso Media, publishers of sim games Tropico and Port Royale, comes Omerta: City of Gangsters, in which players battle it out with competing gangsters for their own slice of the underworld pie.

Full review here.

Album Review: Depeche Mode - Delta Machine Delta Machine is the...

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 16:41:38 -0400

Album Review: Depeche Mode - Delta Machine

Delta Machine is the latest in a long line of records that’ll really impress on an expensive stereo system. From the dark synth pulses that open “Welcome to My World,” all signs point to this being the band at their most dramatic and enticingly mopey.

Full album review here.

Album Review: Suede - Bloodsports After an 11-year dearth of...

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 12:11:57 -0400

Album Review: Suede - Bloodsports

After an 11-year dearth of new material, Britpop’s pompous progenitors are back from what we’d long feared might be the musical hereafter. And thankfully, Suede aren’t re-uniting under false pretenses and with fresh faces: this is a full return of the band’s longest-lived lineup. Bloodsports is the sort of comeback record that any band returning after a decade-long hiatus can only hope for: Suede is back, without the least hint of dust or deterioration.

Full album review here.

Album Review: David Bowie - The Next Day We’re only a few...

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 15:10:03 -0400

Album Review: David Bowie - The Next Day

We’re only a few months in, and 2013 has already been an outstanding year for long-reclusive artists to crawl out from their hiding places. Unlike My Bloody Valentine’s similar release of m b v, rumors hadn’t even existed of a new David Bowie record before The Next Day’s announcement on the artist’s 66th birthday. After a decade of fan speculation that Bowie might be done or—worse—dying, it seems our fears were for naught and our patience has been rewarded.

Full album review here.

Album Review: Mister Lies - Mowgli After breaking out in early...

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 07:11:34 -0500

Album Review: Mister Lies - Mowgli

After breaking out in early 2012 with a pair of buzzed-over EPs, 20-year-old Chicago-based producer Nick Zanca sequestered himself in his family’s Vermont lake cottage to record his debut full-length. That seclusion can be heard and felt in the record’s dark rhythms and muffled vocals, which give off a persistent air of loneliness. Mowgli is a record defined by its striking, downbeat atmosphere.

Full album review here.

Album Review: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Push the Sky...

Sat, 16 Feb 2013 09:53:47 -0500

Album Review: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Push the Sky Away

Push the Sky Away, Nick Cave’s 15th studio album with the Bad Seeds, is steeped in a calm, restrained atmosphere. It could hardly be further removed from the raucous Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! or the wacked-out, sleazy garage rock Grinderman, which should please the Cave apostles who prefer his music stay morose.

Full album review here.

Newsreaders stars Mather Zickel (Reno 911!, Rachel Getting...

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 14:51:53 -0500

Newsreaders stars Mather Zickel (Reno 911!, Rachel Getting Married) as Louis La Fonda, a TV journalist with impeccable hair and questionable motives. As host of the fictional news magazine, he has a habit of getting far too involved in the increasingly bizarre issues under investigation.

Read the full interview here.

Tegan Quin goes track-by-track breaking down the various...

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 16:29:54 -0500

Tegan Quin goes track-by-track breaking down the various inspirations for the songs on Tegan and Sara’s newest album, Heartthrob, for Under the Radar Magazine.

Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five