My daddy was a TV, my mommy was a magazine

[venta]

My previous post reminds me: I don't actually like lists of things as a form of entertainment. Which therefore poses the question "What on earth am I doing with a subscription to Q magazine?"

If you've never picked up a copy of Q, you perhaps won't know that it has some form of OCD relating to lists. Every issue... we reveal the top 20 songwriters! The top 100 songs of all time! 300 albums you must listen to before you DIE! 25 greatest gigs!

Et cetera. By the time you've added in their monthly charts, their double page spread on the 50 recommended downloads for this month, the list of top lists of all time... it's a complete fillerfest and there's barely half a page left for any actual content.

However, here's my dilemma... I read Vox magazine for years, until it packed in, and then started reading Q when I'm sure it wasn't so list-centric. But looking around the shelves, I simply don't see anything particularly appealing to replace my monthly Q.

Does anyone have any recommendations for good music magazines ? Select's packed in these days, and Mojo scares me by being far too grown up and worthy. There's a wealth of classical music magazines of varying qualities, but I'd like something that covers a more rock/pop/indie sort of area.

Comments

[erming.livejournal.com]

The only magazine I get is Orkus (and cos I'm a masochist and trying to learn German I get the proper rather than the English version). This has the benefits of a free cd per issue that the English version doesn't have.

Actually that reminds me I really must get round to listening to some of the cds.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Is it any good ? I think it's a bit of a narrow spectrum of musical types for me, but I'm curious. Kaleidoscope and Meltdown always made me want to poke the editors in the eye[*] and I never got round to listening to the cover discs either, which isn't a good sign :)

[*] Only I didn't, because Natasha was far too scary and tall Meltdown man always seems so nice and friendly even if he needs a good proofreader.

[erming.livejournal.com]

Probably a little too narrow for you, but I like it as it covers bands that are massive in Europe (that I get to see at festivals) and often sound a lot better than the scene bands in the uk.

It is a little fawning over the artists, and indeed from reading the English one a couple of times I've been puzzled as to what style of music it is, but I like it. Luckily the German one usually has a sample on the cd. However production standards are way way higher than Meltdown or Kaleidoscope (and being a music magazine it doesn't tend to have a 3 page feature of a new lipstick that Meltdown tended towards).

Mike was always friendly (and indeed I knew a couple of people who used to write for Kaleidoscope). Went off it as once Frankie got involved it became very bleepy. Natasha is ok, but I braved the far scarier prospect of going to Ressurection Records to buy the thing (scarier as I always walk out a lot poorer than when I walked in).