Music Mags

Rambler

Awanturnik
So, if not the Wire, then what?

My subscription finishes in a month or two and I'm reading the mag less and less - I'm hardly giving time to the cover CDs these days. With the quality of mixes that are getting posted here and elsewhere at the moment I hardly have time in the day for listening as it is. I like the fact that the Wire exists, and that they give proper room to the artists they speak to; it's just that they don't seem to speak to any artists I want to hear about any more.

So where should my subscription money go? Recommend me some decent alternative magazines that cover similarly off-the-radar music to the Wire but aren't so po-faced about it. If there aren't any, the money's just going on Scotch.
 

stelfox

Beast of Burden
i read the new yorker for sasha's stuff and interesting, sparklingly well-written pieces about non-music things, uncut for my own reviews(!), i-D um... for my own stuff again... rwd for obvious reasons, vibe because it's the best-written, best-looking hip-hop magazine going and proof of the immense gulf in quality between US and British urban media, murderdog for matt sonzala's stuff, xxxl and spin for john caramanica, and spin also do nice, long reviews of things i don't care about by people who write really well, the nyt arts section online, baltimore city paper online since jess took over and i developed a taste for music from this citye, the wire when there's a piece by simon, phil or penman. i read a lot of other stuff, but these are things i check for regularly.
 
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big satan

HA-DO-KEN!
hail

sound projector
ptolemaic terrascope (when they actually manage to put an issue out)

these days i tend to read websites more than magazines
 

hurricane run

Well-known member
All the music mags suck. Aging fan boys (and girls) dribbling about 'pop' music . Much of the crud that fills the print and 'new' media is just pathetic hero worship whether it be jammer or neil young thats being 'discussed'. The wire is no different from the rest of the garbage; just a different set of totems for its consumers to identify with.
 

Rambler

Awanturnik
I just like reading, 's all.

Thanks for the tips. I should have known this already, but FACT looks about on the money for me.
 

ambrose

Well-known member
im waiting for a beautifully produced, high quality magazine like the wire or plan b/loose lips sink ships that actually covers dance music.

i think theyre called Grooves or de:bug or xlr8r, but theyre either in german or not available in this country. (nb have never read any of these 3)
 

3underscore

Well-known member
ambrose said:
im waiting for a beautifully produced, high quality magazine like the wire or plan b/loose lips sink ships that actually covers dance music.

i think theyre called Grooves or de:bug or xlr8r, but theyre either in german or not available in this country. (nb have never read any of these 3)

xlr8r looks good, I agree, but sadly never reaches these shores.

There is something good around the corner though - and from a very surprising source as well.
 

stelfox

Beast of Burden
hurricane run said:
All the music mags suck. Aging fan boys (and girls) dribbling about 'pop' music . Much of the crud that fills the print and 'new' media is just pathetic hero worship whether it be jammer or neil young thats being 'discussed'. The wire is no different from the rest of the garbage; just a different set of totems for its consumers to identify with.

why are you posting on this board? someone please ban this person


ambrose said:
im waiting for a beautifully produced, high quality magazine like the wire or plan b/loose lips sink ships that actually covers dance music.

i think theyre called Grooves or de:bug or xlr8r, but theyre either in german or not available in this country. (nb have never read any of these 3)

xlr8r could be great and certainly looks good. i'm not convinced of the quality of a lot of its writing these days, though. i love phil and heath's stuff and will always read anything by david katz, but they've always had an absolutely insane idea of what consitutes good hip-hop and veered way, way too far into that stodgy, worthy, true-school shite. now, i loved(d) jay dilla and think a lot of madlib productions are astonishing, but for the most part this seam of rap music is the most boring, least productive sea of crud possible. this sort of anti-pop "real music" aesthetic permeates quite a lot of the coverage they give other music, too, and that's not a good thing. a while ago i'd have said that i read blogs instead of magazines but i don't even do that any more, apart from about three of them, having totally fallen out of love/the loop with the medium.
 
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qwerty south

no use for a witticism
all print music mags seem to be p.r / trend-led .

all free music mags / papers are worth a read.

i will not pay money for 50% ad content.
 

jk_gabba

gabba survivor
I find most music magazines far to confined by there musical genre to be that interesting nowadays. This was probably always been the same, and its the reason I used to love The Wire, but there wilful intellectualising of music is just not an entertaining read, and for every article about grime or funkadelics back catalogue there's 12 about avant-garde music that its no doubt more fun to write about than listen too.. I prefer to occasionally buy more mainstream mags like the observer music mag or the NME, for the occasional bit of good writing and just to keep upto date on what records are coming out and of course the free mags as well.. ..
 

Dubquixote

Submariner
in the US the Fader has stepped in as the music mag of quality in recent years IMO, featuring long thoughtful stories, superb photography, and an open mind towards a wide variety of underground and non underground musics... www.thefader.com
 

mms

sometimes
ambrose said:
im waiting for a beautifully produced, high quality magazine like the wire or plan b/loose lips sink ships that actually covers dance music.

i think theyre called Grooves or de:bug or xlr8r, but theyre either in german or not available in this country. (nb have never read any of these 3)


grooves is a mag that covers music in germany - debug is a kind of dance music nme for germany.
xlr8r is american and great , there is an american mag called grooves as well which is kinda po faced idm mag, and a little bit patronising and stiff, but with wicked gear reviews.
plan b covers some dance music, out of all the mags plan b are the ones worth parting with cash for i think, some of the reviews etc are dead pretentious, but the energy and enthusiasim comes across really well ,plus they have a nice design element , even though i know i would never really want to listen to alot of the records.
 

stelfox

Beast of Burden
seahorsegenius said:
Can't go wrong with The Fader. They cover everything.


the thing is that the fader is pretty compromised by being owned by the cornerstone promotions people and for writing about people on their own books. still, they got some good writers and they do cover good things and it looks fabulous.
 
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