I
just picked up a few cool music zines at my local zine outlet
that I really liked. All of them kicked ass on the major Rolling
Alternative Spin option with their fashion ads, but the one
that really stood above all the others was Stop Breathing. The
graphic design was really good and so was the editorial on R.E.M.,
Jim O'Rourke, Cat Power, Red House Painters, Pedro The Lion
and more. The subjects alone, not being the usual pop-punk,
hardcore or emo suspects, elevated this zine from most. I mean
when's the last time you saw R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe in a zine??
But what really blew me away was that every single piece, every
single word, was written by editor Trevor Kelley. Over the course
of 100 or so pages, the passion for his subjects never wavers.
I stayed up the better part of the night when I bought this,
reading music writing of a kind that’s all too rare in
most mainstream music journalism. One of the best music zines
I've ever read. <stopbreathing@earthlink.net> This is the second issue of Sound
Collector I've seen and I really like this zine. Editorially,
they really cover some different ground although the indie/art
rock leanings are pretty obvious. Number seven has pieces on
Ted Leo, The Shins, Radar Brothers, The Microphones, El Guapo,
Sasha Frere Jones, Thinking Fellers Union and lots more. It
also comes with a bonus CD with tracks from some of the bands
in the mag. The design is first rate; clean but fun and progressive.
This
issue is printed with a dark blue ink and a four color center
section. <info@soundcollector.com> I finally got a copy of Chunklet, a pretty infamous
zine that I'd somehow never seen. Issue #16 features the Shit
List, a list of bands that suck ass, at least in someone's eyes.
So that means pretty much all bands. This is kind of like the
Enquirer for the indie scene with a sense of humor. If you're
sick of the preciousness of a lot of music zine writing, you'll
like this. There's also some cool articles like The Life and
Death of Bob Crane, The Theremin and Andy Kaufman's Television
Appearances. The design is really, really nicely done and it's
180 pages of fat reading. A bargain at $6.95 <henry@chunklet.com> Last
but not least is Norcal's own DIW mag, published straight outta
Modesto. (also the home to Norcal's finest, Grandaddy) I hadn't
seen DIW in a while, but issue #3.4 kicked ass with a features
on The Breeders, Jim O'Rourke, Mates Of State, and a very cool
article on recording studios. Some of the graphic design is
a bit dense and hard to read, especially over colored backgrounds,
but I guess that's the price you pay for so much good content.
<www.diwmagazine.com>.
-JB
I
just picked up a few cool music zines at my local zine outlet
that I really liked. All of them kicked ass on the major Rolling
Alternative Spin option with their fashion ads, but the one
that really stood above all the others was Stop Breathing. The
graphic design was really good and so was the editorial on R.E.M.,
Jim O'Rourke, Cat Power, Red House Painters, Pedro The Lion
and more. The subjects alone, not being the usual pop-punk,
hardcore or emo suspects, elevated this zine from most. I mean
when's the last time you saw R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe in a zine??
But what really blew me away was that every single piece, every
single word, was written by editor Trevor Kelley. Over the course
of 100 or so pages, the passion for his subjects never wavers.
I stayed up the better part of the night when I bought this,
reading music writing of a kind that’s all too rare in
most mainstream music journalism. One of the best music zines
I've ever read. <
Sound
Collector I've seen and I really like this zine. Editorially,
they really cover some different ground although the indie/art
rock leanings are pretty obvious. Number seven has pieces on
Ted Leo, The Shins, Radar Brothers, The Microphones, El Guapo,
Sasha Frere Jones, Thinking Fellers Union and lots more. It
also comes with a bonus CD with tracks from some of the bands
in the mag. The design is first rate; clean but fun and progressive.
This
issue is printed with a dark blue ink and a four color center
section. <
Last
but not least is Norcal's own DIW mag, published straight outta
Modesto. (also the home to Norcal's finest, Grandaddy) I hadn't
seen DIW in a while, but issue #3.4 kicked ass with a features
on The Breeders, Jim O'Rourke, Mates Of State, and a very cool
article on recording studios. Some of the graphic design is
a bit dense and hard to read, especially over colored backgrounds,
but I guess that's the price you pay for so much good content.
<