A look at Dublin’s underground experimental and pop scenes

A translated interview with Álvaro Solar of Chilean garage rock quartet Protistas

Singer-guitarist Sarah Cronin is a dynamic visual artist herself. She is responsible for the dreamy artwork that adorns the band’s album covers and show posters, providing a visual identity that’s at times just as important as their dreamy indie-pop sound.

On a perfect day, Marling is just like anyone else. It’s the weekend. She picks up the papers at the corner store, makes breakfast with her flatmates, takes a walk in the park and ends the night with friends in the pub. Describing this to me, the born and raised Brit gives the impression she’s much more interested in living her life than wondering how she can sound more like Nick Drake, or where her music lies in comparison to Noah and the Whale.

A conversation with Philip Seymour Hoffman after his show at Big Fung Loft in Boston’s Chinatown on April 16, 2010.

Worcester, MA natives, Golden Girls, have been tearin’ up the local music scene with their grungy, yet wild jams. A quartet led simultaneously by Ben and Andy, Golden Girls offers something lacking from most local acts, evident during their live sets. They’re kind of a love-it-or-hate-it type of band, but it doesn’t take much to notice where I stand on the issue.

I was raised in a very small town on Lake Huron in Canada. Coming from an environment of vast farm lands and a constantly shifting shoreline was extremely formative for me creatively. I never had television when I was a kid, so I spent a lot of time in the woods, in the water, or in a book. My grandpa drew crude comics in the style of Mad Magazine, my mom owned a clothing store, and my dad ran a restaurant. Everybody around me was always making something, or promoting aesthetics in some way. I attribute my need to be an artist to my family, and to the natural landscape I was born into.

Arbutus Records sprouted from Lab Synthèse, a popular loft space that Montreal’s indie scene flocked to, not only for it’s BYOB and inexistent smoking rules, but because the bands that were playing were their friends. And the bands weren’t just their friends–they were damn good. It was a magical time for people who experienced the energy of Synthèse. It became a sort of love-fest community of support, nourishment, and good times. Unfortunately, due to some hefty fines from the Quebec police, the loft shut down in November of 2009. To our relief, Arbutus Records maintains that vibrant Montreal energy that was so unique to Synthèse.

I want to paint the effluvium which exists in peripheral. Although, these forms will never become more knowable through illustration, they turn a partly recognizable notation of the original experience.

“Gordon Bennett” is cockney slang used to express feelings of frustration and/or anger, and translates loosely to something like, “God Damnit!” As a child, this bit of slang always amused me since my Gordon Bennett–my father–is probably the kindest, most temperate man I know.