Best and worst specialist music magazines...Irish or otherwise (1 Viewer)

[coast to coast]

"It's all noise"

Thats what my dad says about everything I listen to!

 

[coast to coast]

Oh and anyone starting a magazine - make a list of journalism clichés that are banned from your magazine, things like "angular guitars" and so on.

No star ratings.

Interviews about how the album/single/tour was made/put together rather than the usual garbaiste:
"Who'd be playing at your dream festival?"
"Fuck you."

Also, free music makes people buy magazines.

and so on.


My two cents.

 

[Gambra]

Ok, cliches going out the window are as follows:

Scores out of ten
Any and all "quirky" questions, like asking bands shite like "Paper of plastic?" and hoping they run with it
An film review that mentions something has been "imbided" with anything will be first against the wall
"Funny" spine things (quotes, obscure references or pictures that need 12 issues of the mags spines to see properly etc)

 

[Gambra]

Having picture captions other than band/artist and photographers name (esp nothing thats trying to be funny)

 

[coast to coast]

I think with some thought a good list of avoidable clichés is imaginable:

The conception that any year is "a good year for music" - it probably just means you liked a lot of records you happen to have at hand when asked.

 

[Gambra]

Top records/films/games etc of the year are ok though

 

[coast to coast]

Randomly listing a load of artists (I've done this - it's lazy) when describing how a band sounds just cos you read them in the press release. If you're gonna compare music at least be precise and name the song or part of the song it reminds you of.

I think Jim O'Rourke did something like that when he said his album Insignificance was "Southern rock" to see how many people reviewing it would repeat it. I could be making that up however....

 

[coast to coast]

Top records/films/games etc of the year are ok though

Yes. Definitely acceptable. But you have to make sure you point out that they are the magazine's favourites rather than the "best" records of the year.

 

[coast to coast]

January issue highlights a load of band who the magazine thinks won't be big next year but deserve a random shout out anyway.

 

[Gambra]

January issue highlights a load of band who the magazine thinks won't be big next year but deserve a random shout out anyway.

Ahahaha, now thats a runner! The December issue will be "Proved Us Wrong" when each and everyone of them become HUGE worldwide

 

[nlgbbbblth]

home to the shelves tonight, so. i seem to remember that zappa letter.

218 - Alice Coltrane. Can't find the issue.
246 - Wilco. Checked letters page - no joy.

any luck?

 

[billygannon]

So should we have a meeting about the "Rim" or is everyone too scattered about?

I live in Cambridgeshire in England and work in London. I live on a train.

The tag line needs to be "tongue in cheek".

 

[Richie]

Mojo and Foggy Notions are the only music mags I regularly buy, at the moment.. The only things they can really do better than the online sites, MP3 blogs and so forth are the in-depth longer articles, interviews etc.. Mojo is usually well-written and researched (as opposed to an obvious rehash of old sources like some of the others seem to get by on), the downside being that you're always guaranteed yet another large feature on the tired core circle of 60s & 70s 'classic rock' Beatles\Stones\Hendrix\Floyd\etc feature in every issue. Foggy Notions is nice to look at and seem to always cover at least a couple of pretty good bands per issue (as long as you're into modern indie, electronica etc), I know people always seem to point out that it's very obviously written by fans of the artists concerned, sycophantic or whatever, but to be honest I'd rather read somebody writing about a band they love than one they're indifferent about or dislike. I've only checked out the Wire a couple of times, felt a bit like a cryptic crossword for obscure music geeks, but maybe I just don't have enough patience. Haven't looked at Q since it went downhill in the late 90s really.. I remember Select being pretty good when that was around.

 

[quasiquasi]

218 - Alice Coltrane. Can't find the issue.
246 - Wilco. Checked letters page - no joy.

any luck?

There was a Humour in Music feature in Issue 256 (June 2005) - is that the only one they've done? It did have a bit about Zappa, but in the next issue (Jamie Lidell cover) a Gary from New Zealand has a letter complaining about "the Wire's continuous Zappa bashing" and giving a sentence-by-sentence rebuttal of the HiM piece. Can't find anything else...

Don't have the Alice Coltrane issue here with me either.

 

[Scientician 0.8]

I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned Guardian Review on Fridays but it's fairly good. I love the Jazz, World Etc. reviews and features even though I'd never think to buy half the music.

Ok this is gonna hafta defo be an interwebberian affair, we've got a Limerick correspondent, an Ingerland correspondent, a Swords (the nu-Seattle) correspondent and whoever else wants to get on this bandwagon.


Another cliche, let's not use the term "x open their Irish account with a gig in the spirit store". No one's allowed say that Ireland punches above its weight in the international music scene.

 

[Mitchum]

218 - Alice Coltrane. Can't find the issue.
246 - Wilco. Checked letters page - no joy.

any luck?

*blush*

I'll go see the folks this weekend and dig out the issues. It's been a while.

'Karl Sweeney, via e-mail' if you're at a loose end and wanna check issues c. June-July 2005(?) for the latter. I'm pretty sure Wilco were on the cover. Might have been Alvin Lucier/feature on Damo Suzuki in it. I remember buying it in Eason's and shaking prior to heading down to Kilkenny for a friend's stag do. Maybe Ghost were on the cover...I can't remember.

This is all a bit of nothing.

 

[Mitchum]

Mojo and Foggy Notions are the only music mags I regularly buy, at the moment.. The only things they can really do better than the online sites, MP3 blogs and so forth are the in-depth longer articles, interviews etc.. Mojo is usually well-written and researched (as opposed to an obvious rehash of old sources like some of the others seem to get by on), the downside being that you're always guaranteed yet another large feature on the tired core circle of 60s & 70s 'classic rock' Beatles\Stones\Hendrix\Floyd\etc feature in every issue. Foggy Notions is nice to look at and seem to always cover at least a couple of pretty good bands per issue (as long as you're into modern indie, electronica etc), I know people always seem to point out that it's very obviously written by fans of the artists concerned, sycophantic or whatever, but to be honest I'd rather read somebody writing about a band they love than one they're indifferent about or dislike. I've only checked out the Wire a couple of times, felt a bit like a cryptic crossword for obscure music geeks, but maybe I just don't have enough patience. Haven't looked at Q since it went downhill in the late 90s really.. I remember Select being pretty good when that was around.

Can't fault the look and free(?)/cover-mounted cds with Foggy Notions but when I read it it just comes across as Pravda for whatever gig Foggy Notions are putting on. And why not. There's not enough critical analysis of records though-therefore why trust a review? Fair enough though- the way people discover music is changing. Downloading mp3s before buying a record is much easier and well...nearly a foregone conclusion. Still, Foggy Notions-a specialist magazine for Foggy Notion concerts.

Mojo? Well not bought it in a while. Necrophilia innit. Still I reckon their target audience is the Thirtysomething bloke with mortgage/kids who buys threefers in HMV when he gets a pay-related bonus.

Cynical, moi?

 

[Scientician 0.8]

Mitchum, we need you in the editorial department.

 

[quasiquasi]

I've been reading the Wire for something like 9 years, and it's still the most interesting music resource I know. At the beginning I had no idea who most of the musicians in the magazine were, and I couldn't even imagine what they might sound like (Pavement and Sonic Youth were the bands I liked then that "nobody else" did)...but a lot of the music sounded exciting (whatever it might actually sound like) and looking at the contents of the first few issues I bought I can see that they got me into Parliament/Funkadelic, Herbie Hancock and GYBE, all of whom tranformed my ideas about what music could be like. Even now I still find a couple of new artists and albums to check out in every issue, the Jukebox and Primers are always good, and the writing can be exceptional. Robert Wyatt interview in the latest issue was very good.

 

[quasiquasi]

'Karl Sweeney, via e-mail' if you're at a loose end and wanna check issues c. June-July 2005(?) for the latter.

Don't see it in April-October 2005, not going to dig out the rest now. Why are we doing this again? It's not like we're checking up on your claim that your letters were published. Or is it?