THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)
Fun Stuff => BAND => Topic started by: schimmy on 18 Mar 2007, 12:20
-
i find one of the hardest things about music is finding good journalism on the subject, and thus i find it hard to discover new bands. i regularly read pitchfork and cokemachineglow, and enjoy the style in which the reviews on said websites are written (but not necessarily the actual opinion of the article, but that doesn't bother me too much.)
however, i do not have access to the internet when i am traveling, and find the reading of printed material more enjoyable than the reading from a computer screen. the solution, as far as i can tell, is to find a music magazine/paper that i can buy either weekly or monthly. the problem with this is i have no idea where to start. the only music magazine i have ever read is Q, and the only music paper i have read is the NME, however, i find that both of these do not talk about the music that i am into (whereas pitchfork and cokemachineglow do) and when they do, it is only a couple of lines in the corner of a page.
what i want to know is what magazines/papers do you all read? how good are they? what sort of music do they talk about? any interesting features?
here's a few bands i listen to, so you can know what sort of magazine may suit me:
architecture in helsinki, band of horses, beck, belle and sebastian, brazilian girls, bright eyes, broken social scene, built to spill, casiotone for the painfully alone, clor, the decemberists, fugazi, grandaddy, iron and wine, islands, joanna newsome, the knife, kristeen young, the long blondes, modest mouse, the mountain goats, neutral milk hotel, the new pornographers (and neko's solo work), of montreal, pavement, the postal service, pulp, the shins, skyclad, sonic youth, spoon, sufjan stevens, the sugarplastic, ted leo and the pharmacists, the unicorns
-
Uncut seem to cover a few of them, but they're a bit of a poor man's Q, really. I mean I know Q's not perfect, but it's the best I've found really.
-
i had a look at uncut's website, but when i saw the cover of the latest issue (the who, guns n roses, the police, madness) i black-marked it. i hate magazines that write lengthy articles on old bands. i read magazines for news and reviews.
i'm on the plan b website at the moment and it looks to be very promising, i shall buy it next time i go into manchester, the only thing stopping me buying a copy off their website right now is they use paypal, which hates me, and doesn't let me buy stuff. i had a look at LLSS's website, but it has very little information on it, so i don't know about it. it looks like it'd be hard to track down a place that sells it, but if i do see it being sold, i'll definitely have a look. i had a brief look at ITM?'s website, and didn't see many bands that interested me, but again, i'd pick up a copy if i saw one.
thanks for the help, guys.
edit: i found a website that stocks plan b and have ordered the latest issue. excitement!
-
is it me, or do you know everyone in the british music industry?
-
I find that most international music magazines that make it over here are pretty rubbish. I enjoy the odd Uncut, but yeah, if you're not into long articles on music history then it wouldn't be for you. I could recommend maybe one or two NZ magazines, but that wouldn't be much use to you either, would it?
-
i don't know about nayone else but as a melbourninan i found our two free weekly magazines (beat and inpress) to be enough to setate me and most of the bigger one's that make you pay to read don't actually match the amount of information i will get from them, their only downfall being that because they're free they are funded by ads which is sometimes a good thing because most of the ads are for upcoming concerts....but that's just me and i don't know if there's an equivilent in teh US/UK
-
Q is by far my favourite, they don't seem to have double standards as much as NME, who ass lick a band one month and nominate for worst band at thier awards the next.
-
I agree with you Kang, but it's not really what the OP is asking for.
-
Filter runs a good piece every now and then. I picked up a good magazine in the Vancouver airport but I don't remember what it's called.
-
I really don't like Q. Mostly because I really don't like Oasis, and they seem to be on the cover for no reason every second month.
-
Honestly, last night was the first time i picked up a music magazine. It was Alternative Press, and they had Circa Survive on the cover. There's a bunch of the popular crap in there but upon further inspection i found some stuff mentioned on here (the Arcade Fire, Explosions in the Sky, etc.). I kind of liked it. It could deal less with mainstream though, that'd be cool.
-
I basically think that Alternative Press is one of the trashiest rags of trashy trash that ever trashshitassfuck'd
-
bought Plan B today on Tommy's glowing recommendation, and also because the website sold it pretty well. Had a quick scan so far and must say, it's probably one of the best music mags I've read in a while! And yes, it does smell fucking great.
I found one a wee while ago in HMV called 'Comes With a Smile', it was pretty good but I've not seen it since.
-
My copy of issue 19 of Plan B arrived today, and I am almost certainly going to try to get a subscription to the magazine at some point in the near future.
Reading through it, I discovered the following things:
It does indeed smell really good.
Kieron Gillen writes for it (I have read some of his other work, and liked it) so I am impressed.
It makes me feel good when the magazine says I should pretend I heard of Sally Shapiro first, when I have been listening to her music for a while.
There is are many articles on bands I like, and many reviews that interest me.
They do not give records scores, which is very good.
Overall: great.
-
I basically think that Alternative Press is one of the trashiest rags of trashy trash that ever trashshitassfuck'd
That's the reception i thought it'd get hahaha.
-
Paste Magazine, that's what it was called.
-
Yay for Plan B, been reading that since its inception, plus was a big fan of Carelesstalkcostslives and Looselipssinkships. Apparently there will be another issue of Looselips out at somepoint, when Steve Gullick has the money or time or something.
Another I can recomend is Satellite; three issues a year covering the American indie/hardcore/noise/folk underground, again reads like an enthusiastic zine and is pretty thick. I usually get my copy in Borders, its the only place I've found it so far.
-
Remember to smell it! Recycled paper has an incredible scent.
I used to work with most of those guys on another magazine, they are good people.
Was that Careless Talk Costs Lives? In one of those odd internet synchronicities my friend Will I'm watching Bad Boys 2 with right now used to write for that too. I do like Plan B, I just wish they'd review more things they dislike. They seem to cherry pick the things they enjoy the most, which is a nice way to do things, but I like at least a little bile in a magazine. It helps me to guage where reviewers are coming from if I know what they hate as well as adore. But having said that, I always finish reading it wanting to get a whole load of new records and with a nice seasidey, summery view of the world.
And it might smell nice, but not as nice as Reason To Believe used to.
-
i came across one called Skyscraper a while ago and i liked it quite a bit. lots of more in-depth interviews with the band, and they didn't all say the same thing like under the radar does :/ it had a nice mix of genres in it, as well as a good mix of obscure and better-known bands. plus it had a sampler in the back of it.
-
Paste Magazine, that's what it was called.
Indeed. Sampler CD every issue (that I've seen), well laid-out. This last issue has features on Arcade Fire, Modest Mouse, and Brandi Carlile, with smaller pieces on Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Bright Eyes, and a Leonard Cohen re-release. A good variety (the spice of life, remember?) of musicians reviewed; also has sections on books, movies, and video games.
-
Can't forget Yeti or Arthur Magazine.
-
Filter and Under The Radar are the best I've come across.
Harp's okay, sometimes.