MD Web Log Archives

B's Weekly Obsessions
2007-12-03

I love working at a music magazine, for a couple reasons. There's the "music" aspect, natch. But there's also the "magazine" part. Truth be told, I'm a magazine junkie. At least once a week you can find me lurking among the mag racks at Borders or B&N, ogling over some obscure literary title, punk zine, or design annual. Over the years I've worked on a couple of my own zines too; I just find the process of producing one fascinating, and as a reader, the idea of discovering new bands, artists, and writers is kind of romantic to me. Anyway, I thought I'd use my blog this week to hip you to some of the music rags I've been poring over lately.

First off, I've subscribed for years to my perennially favorite music magazine, Mojo. Now, I'm as patriotic as the next guy–depending of course on your definition of "patriotism," though that's another discussion for another blog. But the Brits just seem to take their music journalism more seriously than we do here. Back in college my friends and I would devour Sounds and Melody Maker and NME, looking for stories on Echo & The Bunnymen, The Hoodoo Gurus, or whatever cool bands the American music publications never seemed to have an interest in covering. Mojo is unbeatable when it comes to well-researched historical pieces, particularly on cult figures from the '70s and '80s. I've only just cracked this month's issue, but I'm looking forward to spending some quality time digesting the feature on the original bad boys of the British Invasion, The Pretty Things. I'd be surprised if there weren't some cool bits about Keith Moon in there, and I've heard a lot about their equally madcap drummers, Viv Prince and Skip Alan. There are also short interviews with Ray Davies and Robert Wyatt (look for my interview with Robert in Caught In The Web in a couple weeks), and a story on Roy Harper. (Floyd and Zeppelin fans take note.) Speaking of the mighty, 75% re-formed Zep, that's the cover story of this issue. The included CD, titled Heavy Nuggets, is pretty rad too.

A magazine I only just became aware of, but that immediately rocked my world, is Beautiful/Decay. B/D began as a zine covering the graffiti scene, and has morphed into a pop-culture/design/music/lifestyle title. Though there are a couple cool music articles in there–including interviews with production/bass genius Bill Laswell and old-school Japanese psychedelic masters Acid Mothers Temple–it's the magazine's envelope-pushing design that knocks me out most. This month's issue is an explosion of trippy colors, fonts, and photos. Drummers, try this on for size: Next time you get a solo, think about interpreting the crazy "monsters as sculpture" of Pepe Mar, featured here. Inspiring and confounding stuff.

Finally, there's the current issue of Oxford American, a quarterly magazine that focuses on Southern US culture. This month it's their annual music issue, featuring a cover story on jazz legend Thelonious Monk. I went right to the piece on Betty Davis, ex-wife and funky muse to Miles Davis. (That's her on the cover of Filles de Kilimanjaro.) Perhaps just as importantly, the former Mademoiselle Mabry was the creator of three of the naaastiest funk albums ever, which feature, among other drummers, the legendary Greg Errico (Sly & The Family Stone) and Mike Clark (Herbie Hancock's Headhunters). There's also a story here on the making of Bob Dylan's Blonde On Blonde (with the great Kenny Buttrey and the less-familiar Sanford Konikoff on drums), a column on one of the most interesting new bands I've recently heard, Annuals, and a story about '60s garage band Zakary Thaks, featuring drummer Stan Moore. ZT's single "Bad Girl," which appears on the included CD, has completely slayed me for a long time, and might just do the same to you. Dig this description: "—wide-eyed Buddy Holly and Kinks fans—who happen to think drums are as important as guitars."

I'm hooked!