For the Handsome Family, upcoming album Honey Moon—a collection of love songs due April 14—is a startling left turn. The husband/wife duo of Brett and Rennie Sparks still deals in spectral bluegrass and noirish folk forms on its ninth album, but gone are the ghosts and murder ballads that had painted them into a gothic-Americana corner. (Trust us, the album is still plenty weird. Love is weird.) The Handsome Family is guest editing magnetmagazine.com this week. Read our Q&A with Brett and Rennie about Honey Moon and a host of other topics.
Rennie Sparks: Octopus blood is pale blue and is pumped by three hearts. They’re a lot smarter than you’d expect given their small brains, but they also have nerve clusters in their arms that scientists believe may help the octopus think. These strange creatures can, and often do, figure out how to get out of locked tanks in order to eat the other fish in aquariums. The octopus may wave its arms in rhythmic patterns that attract and hypnotize fish. Fishermen off the coast of Washington report seeing swarms of little fish frozen in the water as a giant octopus passes by. I’ve never seen an octopus in its natural environment, but I once lost a whole day watching the jellyfish slowly rise and fall inside a tank at our local aquarium, and so I imagine I would be helplessly enthralled should I ever encounter an octopus in my bathtub. A few waves of its graceful arms and I would gladly do its bidding.
They’re nobody’s buzz bands anymore. But since 1993, MAGNET has discovered and documented more great music than memory will allow. The groups may have broken up or the albums may be out of print, but this time, history is written by the losers. Here are some of the finest albums that time forgot but we remembered in issue #75, plus all-new additions to our list of Lost Classics.
The mid-’90s are often characterized as Sub Pop’s fallow period, a time when the label tried to shield itself from the post-grunge bust by diversifying its holdings. However, its most enduring acts from the era weren’t the ones with the most immediate pop appeal but those embodying a more caustic, confrontational ethos: Six Finger Satellite, Earth and, the most punishing of the bunch, North Dakota duo 
Brooklyn’s 
Brett Sparks: 
