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What's the equivalent of the fanzine/flexi combo which so delighted us in the late 1980s? Probably a fanzine with a download "attached", which is what you get from "the Fugazi-channeling" Horse Party, if you're happy to give them your address.
They insist they will turn up at your house and demand toasts and other breakfast goods. But you do get a free zine, and a free download of Inbetween.
Which sounds like this:
Arriving on Flickr a few hours ago was a slew of scans from Propaganda, which is described as a "Goth fanzine". I've not come across it before, and it looks like I missed out.
There's much to enjoy there - and some surprises, like the idea of a Goth zine giving space to Curiosity Killed The Cat (or The Duran Poet Society, to give them their full name), but one of the highlights is this interview with Fuzzbox.
It is a thing of beauty, and a thing of importance: you need a copy of GirlGangZine.
Why?
Let's let them tell you:
ncludes exclusive interviews with GRASS WIDOW, JESS SCOTT (BRILLIANT COLORS), SUPER WILD HORSES, CASSIE RAMONE (VIVIAN GIRLS, THE BABIES), EMMA GAZE & VERITY SUSMAN (ELECTRELANE), MARNIE STERN, TAVI GEVINSON, KHAELA MARICICH (THE BLOW), LISA SCHONBERG (EXPLODE INTO COLORS, STLS), KARIN DREIJER ANDERSSON (FEVER RAY, THE KNIFE), LIV WILLARS (SHEBANG MAGAZINE), ZOLA JESUS, KATE NASH
Somewhere up in the loft, I've got a copy of The End, the fanzine put together by The Farm. I can read the rest now, should I wish to, as there's a book gathering all 20 issues together. And there's bit and pieces from the title on that site, too.
Amazon are aware of the title, but don't have any right now.
Any chance of a perfect-bound collection of the run of Debris, do you think?
There's a new edition of Talk About The Passion out, and this one is online-only. Which might be part of a convoluted plot to turn the whole thing into an iPad native app behind a mandated paywall; you'd have to ask Charles Arthur about that.
What we do know is that it's got some lovely bits in it - Saint Etienne, Earl Brutus and a loving memorial bit on Frank Sidebottom. And other odds and ends, too. Download it now. Go on.
There's a fifty per cent chance that you are. In which case, you might want to sharpen your pens as the International Girl Gang Underground is looking for contributions:
THE INTERNATIONAL GIRL GANG UNDERGROUND compilation zine aims to document and dissect how Riot Grrrl's legacy has manifested twenty years later, as well as provide guidance for those who want to transform "revolution girl style now!" into "REVOLUTION GIRL STYLE FOREVER!"
If Riot Grrrl doesn't resonate with you or your cause, that's okay! We also want to know about all the do-it-yourself, grassroots music movements currently being run by women/girls/trans/genderqueer/queer folks today.
There's been some excellent stuff in the Guardian this week. First up, Karen Ablaze was invited by The Cribs to write about fanzines, which gave me the same excited chill I used to get when the A4 stamped, self-addressed envelope arrived from Leeds with the latest Ablaze in it:
Claire Circuit, the scene queen of Leeds electronica, sums up why the internet hasn't killed the fanzine star: "Good, meaty, enjoyable music writing never translates well to the screen. Sometimes it's just the way the lines scan on the big screen, or maybe it's the links littered through the text, always tempting you away from the page you're on." As the co-ordinator of Cops And Robbers, a long-running listings 'zine and website serving Leeds' legendary DIY gig scene, she utilises both paper pamphlets and a strong online forum. "People pick it up in the pub, read it, discuss it, pass it around," while last minute changes can be posted to the site any time. "There's still room for the tangible and the physical," she argues. "I like the idea of all of us leaving behind evidence of the great things we are creating now. I'd rather not leave a legacy solely consisting of Facebook photo albums and 404 'Page not found' messages."
This Almighty Pop fnazine has just published issue 5 - only 18 years after issue 4. Presumably the photocopier at the newsagents round the corner had broken.
Issue five features The Wave Pictures and comes with a CD-R (the 21st century version of a flexi disc).
We're expecting Trout Fishing In Leytonstone to publish a new edition next.
And, while we're at it: Caramel Distro is a small UK based fanzine distro house, for all your fanzine needs. It's not all about computers, you know.
No, seriously, it was nice to see a passionate piece about Fanzines in The Times yesterday, especially since it mentioned - for the first time in the proper newspapers - the triumvirate of Adventures In Bereznik, Trout Fishing In Leytonstone and the marvelous Are You Scared To Get Happy? It's by Bob Stanley, too.
Hmmm. I wonder why The Times should feel empathy with people producing a publication that exists solely to channel the views of the owner of that publication?
