Category: Zine Reviews

Posted on: December 10, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Altar #7

Altar #7 / $4 / 1:00 / 68M / http://www.altarmagazine.com / Altar Magazine is ending with this issue. The magazine is joining forces with Clamor, which will be a great thing considering that Altar and Clamor both had issues with previous issues that the other magazine could conceivably work well with. This is one of the most solid endings that a magazine can have. The writing in this issue is…

Posted on: December 9, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Doris #23

Doris #23 / $1.50 / 1:00 / 36M / Cindy, POB 1734, Asheville, NC 28802 / http://www.microcosmpublishing.com /  This is the first issue of Doris that I’ve ever been able to read. I’ve heard so many things about the zine, and it ranked really high when I put together the zine ranking system a fewyears back. I can understand why so many individuals liked it. Doris is a blend of…

Posted on: December 9, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Dog in Space #7

Dog in Space #7 / Half-Sized / 40 Pages / Dog in Space c/o Jess, 4007 Dorcas Drive, Nashville, TN 37215 / [email protected] / http://www.livejournal.com/~lulabydisection/ Another fun issue by Jess, but for some reason ey created #7 before eir created #6. This time, we are given a lot of information about the impending move to college (MTSU) and eir’s mother’s reaction to that. We are also given a list of…

Posted on: December 9, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Alt.Culture.Guide #3

Alt.Culture.Guide #3 / $13 / 2:45 / 268M / http:/www.mondogordo.com / This is a huge magazine. When someone looks at the 268 page count, pay attention to the fact that these pages are nearly the size of a normal piece of paper. The font is not large, but it is not small to the point that it is sightist; what I’m trying to say is that there is a lot…

Posted on: December 9, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

alco-beat #13

This is the only zine that I have read with its thirteenth issue that doesn’t mention the significance of the number at least once. No, forget that, the two editors of the magazine have much more important and fun things to do with their time, and I believe the magazine does better as a result of that. Having articles about old school education films and the most fun roller coasters…

Posted on: December 8, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Alco-beat #6

Alco-beat #6 A5/28 Pages, published irregularly from Bowling Green, Ohio. This magazine makes me feel giddy. The writing is so much better in Alco-Beat then pretty much any magazine that I have reviewed for NeuFutur. Articles in this magazine go all across the board in subject matter, but are for the most part tied together by the intelligent style of writing and the humour on each page. How can you…

Posted on: December 8, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Alarm #13

Alarm #13 – Full Size/108 Pages[Burnt Zine] $5 / No Trade / Full-Size / 108 Pages / [email protected] / http://www.alarmpress.com / Alarm Press, PO Box 200069 / Boston, MA 02120 For a magazine that is so glossy (with a color insert in the middle of the zine), there is absolutely nothing in the content department. Seriously, there are three opinion pieces, about 10 interviews with bands and individuals, 1 short…

Posted on: December 7, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 1

Agitprop Vol. 2

Agitprop Vol. 2 / :20 / 28M / [email protected] / This zine is a very informative look at resisting the system, and it covers much of the “Health and Safety at Militant Actions” booklet, often down to the “T”. I’m not sure which came first, but the “copyleft” present in the zine really makes the question a moot one. Some of the stories are funny, like “Brussel Sprouts and the…

Posted on: December 7, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Afunctional #1

Afunctional #1 / June / Half-Sized / 20 Pages / [email protected] / http://afunctional.tripod.com / 2 East Franklin Ave. #11 , Minneapolis MN, 5504 / This zine is a real-life representation of all those “independent” publication that magazines like Artnews fondly recall, although no one has ever heard of them. I hadn’t heard of Afunctional until AMC 2003, where Gerald Prokop was tabling. This issue is very carefully done, with a…

Posted on: December 6, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Above Suspicion #1

First off, this zine is fabulous. I don’t know exactly how old Ashley is, but I have pinned her down into being older than 15.  This is another of the zines that I really like because it is written from a totally different perspective than about 90% of the zines being written out there today. This is not a zine that focuses on all what is politically correct, or whatever…

Posted on: December 6, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

ABC No Rio – Enter The Nineties: Poets, Punks, Politics

ABC No Rio – Enter The Nineties: Poets, Punks, Politics / Free (Any Donation is good) / 1:15 / 44M / [email protected] / Vikki c/o ABC No Rio, 156 Rivington Street, New York, NY 10002 This issue of the ABC No Rio zine (I hesitate to call it “Tell Me About The First Time” as the tone is much different between that series an this one, even though both were…

Posted on: December 5, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Rocks and Blows #1

Rocks and Blows #1 / $1 / 24M / :15 / [email protected] / I hate reviewing older issues of a zine than the one I’ve reviewed already, but Rocks and Blows is that good. All four of the pieces in this issue of “Rocks and Blows are done by David, and even if the subject matter (the stories of a former junkie) does not interest you, the talent and amazing…

Posted on: December 5, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 1

Mostly Harmless #2

Mostly Harmless #2 / $? / 32M / 1:00 / http://www.mostlyharmlessmagazine.com / So, I have bad news. Mostly Harmless Magazine is no more. I had thought I reviewed this zine when I first received it back in February or March of 2006, but I stuck it in a pile after reading it and forgot about it. This issue has a tremendous amount of writing, and this amount increases dramatically when…

Posted on: December 4, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Blurt #4 / Gullible #27

Blurt #4 / Gullible #27 / $1 ($2PPD) / 48M / Lew Houston, 135 Wapwallopen Rd, Nescopeck, PA 18635 / The split is about traveling and drinking. I am familiar with the work of Lew (Blurt!), but I have not familiarized myself with Chris (Gullible). Chris is linked more with the whole band dynamic, where Lew comes off as an individual that has been afflicted with wanderlust. I must say…

Posted on: December 4, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 1

Wendy Magazine #8: The Jesus Issue

Wendy Magazine #8: The Jesus Issue / $1 / 24M / :30 / http://www.wendymagazine.com / Reviewed 10 March 2007 This is my first time reading Wendy Magazine, and I have to say that this is some of the weirdest shit that I’ve read. I watch gross and weird Youtube videos, I can dig randomness (Nobody Can Eat 50 Eggs, You Idiot!), but Wendy Magazine goes far beyond my levels of…

Posted on: December 3, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Wendy Magazine #7

Wendy Magazine #7 / $1 / 24M / :25 / http://www.wendymagazine.com / I guess that I take too long reviewing zines sometimes. Or, I tend to grab zines from the free table that individuals have hoarded for a year or so before moving on to another set of zines. Anyways, this issue of Wendy still has the same quirky humor that was present in the last issue reviewed. This time,…

Posted on: December 3, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Art Effects: Decade Performance Era & ABC No Rio

Art Effects: Decade Performance Era & ABC No Rio / $? / 28M / :30 / I believe that this is the last issue that I have concerning the history of ABC No Rio. This piece reads a little more formally at points than other issues, but don’t let an image of academic papers cloud one’s judgment. There is an extended dialogue between the deities Dionysus and Kali, that frame…

Posted on: November 22, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

The Die Vol.3, No.1

The Die Vol.3, No.1 / :30 / 12L / Red Roach Press, PO Box 764, College Park, MD 20740 / [email protected] / The Die is the closest thing to a serious journal that I read, and yet it skillfully defies the tedium and dry writing of that form of art time and time again. This time, a few key subjects are broached: the removal of solitude in the age of…

Posted on: November 22, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

The Die Vol 2 Issue 3

The Die Vol 2 Issue 3 / Free / 11×14 / 12 Pages / Red Roach Press, PO Box 764, College Park, MD 20740 / [email protected] / http://www.redroachpress.tripod.com / I signed up for The Die a few months ago, and haven’t really had time to read any of Joe’s zines until this period. However, I should be kicking myself, as The Die is one of the better-written reads I’ve had…

Posted on: November 12, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Fader #49

Fader #49 / 1:30 / 180M / http://www.thefader.com / Fader has their ears to the ground when it comes to the cutting edge of independent music. This time around, they cover such soon to be superstars as Jah Cure, Simian Mobile Disco, and Band of Horses. There are a lot of advertisements in this issue, that is true, but after individuals get into the actual magazine, the amount of different…