I love it for its million reviews at the back of the mag. This issue is notable for its promotion of some of today's shittiest bands. There's a 7 or 8 page interview of Interpol- my pick for the squarest, gayest uncool band in the past 10 or 15 years or so to gain recognition. They're total garbage; the perfect unemotional pretentious drool for accidentally hanging yourself while you're jacking off. There are other predictable props for crap bands (The Walkmen, Arcade Fire, e.g.) who are standard bullshit for the industry. At some point you just gotta sell what's already being sold. It's understandable. You gotta sell your product if you wanna remain in business, but, the countless reviews at the back of the mag are what makes Under The Radar priceless and greatly appreciated. The over the radar shit of wannabes is the standard nauseating fare.

You may be right. When I was channeling Bukowski through my Ouija board he said Interpol, though.

limp wrist.

I was about to say "only because Machine Gun Fellatio broke up" but then I remembered seeing this on FB this morning:


And I like The Walkmen. I guess that makes me suck or something.

Probably not the best example. You have to give them credit for "Pussy Cats" Starring the Walkmen.

Interpol kindof has their own special category. Very few artists can write a lifetime supply of some of the worst lyrics ever in just one record and they're keeping them coming, too.

No. I think he meant for them to be unlikable characters. Not sure if that means he really sucks or he's a genius but I hate The Rules of Attraction and Less Than Zero. They remind me of everything unappealing about my generation. He writes about empty, pretentious, dreamless, disaffected rich people, so, he's fit for writing Interpol's bio. I grew up through the 80s, I don't need to relive that nightmare. I mentioned Bukowski because I feel like I am channeling him when I write diatribes about how shi$$y everything is like a mean old drunk. He was way over-rated. A lot of his stuff is complete garbage, but, I can't help but find some appeal in his aesthetic; the lo-fi underdog who sees right through you (which of course wasn't always the case). Some of my faves are Mrs. Dalloway, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Light in August, The Secret Agent- the "classic" shi$ you tend to see on a syllabus. But I grew up with Kurt Vonnegut and still return to him. I can really get into heady stuff like Dostoyevsky, Henry James and William Faulkner, but, it's Vonnegut who makes me realize how enjoyable and engaging good, simple writing can be made to read. You can get through his novels in one night. I think Poe would have liked that. I pretty much read everything he published since I was a kid. I dig Thomas Pynchon, too; writing in code. I rip him and T.S. Eliot off every chance I get. And John Cheever's short stories are indispensable.