Dirk van den Heuvel (dirkv@groovedis.com)
Fri, 21 Jan 2000 14:03:03 -0600
I definitely agree that many of the UK mags (MixMag, Muzik, etc) have gone
crazy with their "club culture" coverage at the expense of the music. DJ
magazine seems to still be vital despite it's endless equipment ads due to
it's timely publishing schedule of every other week and excellent columns
and charts. To me the features and whatever else is in there are gravy.
Jockey Slut is pretty good too, but due to it's bimonthly nature it's not as
timely as I'd like. SNC is of course essential reading no matter when it
comes out and still lives up to it's title as the "bible" for acid jazz and
jazz dance music. Miles Ahead is very good too, even if it's publishing
schedule seems somewhat flaky. They had some nice pieces on this whole house
not house scene in their last issue.
Dirk van den Heuvel (dirkv@groovedis.com)
Groove Distribution
http://www.groovedis.com
Your Guide To The Underground
-----Original Message-----
From: Brock @ Motormouthmedia [mailto:bmotor@pacbell.net]
Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2000 9:04 PM
To: Leslie
Cc: acid jazz
Subject: music press
----------
>From: Leslie <icehouse@redshift.com>
>To: "Brock @ Motormouthmedia" <bmotor@pacbell.net>
>Subject: Re: music writing...
>Date: Fri, Jan 21, 2000, 9:59 AM
> Beside Straight No Chaser, I have read Muzik, Mixmag, Q, Jockey Sluts,
> Downbeat, you name the periodical and I have probably perused it's pages
at
> one time or another. Many of these mags tend to lose their focus on the
music
> and in the case of rags like Mixmag and Muzik, seem more interested on the
> gratuitous sex, the over-the-top drug abuse and the beautiful but
> scantily-clad "folks" at the big commercial clubs in the UK. Downbeat has
been
> consistent over the years but it does'nt seem to be very favourably
disposed
> to AcidJazz.
Leslie and the rest of ya -
I'd always bemoaned the same lack of coverage in UK mags, and over the past
years that I've read Mixmag etc. it seems like you can literally chart the
downward spiral into crap coverage and more t&a photos and Miss Moneypenny
ads than ever before. Eventually I gave up on these mags, realizing that
mags like Straight No Chaser, XLR8R, The Wire, and others were actually true
to the music, as opposed to their advertisers.
It wasn't until I had a conversation with Mixmaster Morris when he was out
here in LA a month or so ago that I realized how truly bad the whole UK
press scene is. Apparently Pete Tong now owns Mixmag UK, and a lot of the
major clubs are owned/run by superstar DJ's - Home, the big new club in
London, is apparently owned by Paul Oakenfold. So you've got this
incestuous circle where the press, superclubs, and larger dance labels are
all in the same little boys' club and if you don't support what they're
pushing (i.e. chart house/prog trance), you're out of the game. Morris is a
prime example - he used to write a column for Mixmag (best thing in there!),
but after a few scathing indictments of the whole Ibiza clique in print the
major advertisers put enough pressure on the editors to yank his column and
he's out on the street.
It seems like it's all b/c of the commercialization of the scene over there,
and I can't help but think the same thing will eventually happen stateside.
So I wouldn't really trust many mags that were running on that kind of game
anyway. IMHO, the truest, most cutting-edge info that's out there nowadays
is found on lists like this and various web 'zines/review sites - sources
that aren't tainted by this whole cycle of hype and blatant self-promotion.
My 0.02...Brock
PS Some sites worth checking (not all a/j but solid):
www.hyperreal.org
www.dublab.com
www.urbansounds.com
http://techno.ca/cognition/home.htm
www.deephousenetwork.com/frameset_home.html
www.pitchforkmedia.com
www.sonik.demon.nl/forcefield/forcefield.html
http://ad.techno.org/
www.groovesmag.com
www.techno.ca/communication/lists/tech-house/
Lots more out there, seek and ye shall find...
______________
Brock Phillips
Motormouthmedia
2525 Hyperion Ave.
Suite One
Los Angeles, CA 90027
fon 323.662.3865
fax 323.662.3844
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