Just curious...I don't read RS much these days but I do love Blender for CD reviews, artist interviews, etc...

Q


The best, hands down.

lilgish said:

I must have been living in the black hole. I thought Q was a magzine for homosexuals.

I quite like Uncut.

purplegypsy said:

Q

http://www.q4music.com/nav?page=q4music

TRON said:

Uncut did a great piece on Fleetwood Mac two years ago....

purplegypsy said:

They're just so extensive and thorough. I loved their piece on Bowie's Berlin period.

internet

GrayKing said:

I still like AMG, although they're not quite as consistent as they once were.

TRON said:

There too rock based. I'm not a huge pop fan, but I wanna know what's going on in every genre. Q is a populist rcok mag, like RS ought to be.

TRON said:

AMG has a weak interface.

lilgish said:

It is pretty terrible.

And Stephen Thomas Erlewine should be on probation for all those positive J-Lo reviews. **** to Rebirth, indeed.
[Edited 8/14/05 18:42pm]

VoicesCarry said:

Yeah, what's up with him lately? He used to be so trustworthy. I'd say 75% of the time I found myself agreeing with him. Especially when I first bought their book back in like '97 or whatever. I really don't know what to expect from him anymore.

lilgish said:

I don't buy Uncut for the "current events". I buy it for the specials.

VoicesCarry said:

Bet your bottom dollar that J.LO's next album is a greatest hits.
[Edited 8/14/05 18:49pm]

lilgish said:

That term being used very loosely, of course.

VoicesCarry said:

This Was Me...Back When People Cared

TRON said:

pitchfork media for indie/alternative crap, and these days, i look at the org and a couple of other music bulletin board sites for general/pop music news.

i'm not really a fan of music reviews these days. i don't believe in them as much as i used to, though sometimes i'll read them for entertainment, if the critics are particularly bitchy and unfairly scrutinizing or judgmental.

Wire.

lilgish said:

I used to buy this religiously but i stopped buying it after it went through what i saw as a bit of a dip in standards. They started throwing 4 or 5 star reviews round all the time, and the articles, columns & reviews got shorter and shorter, while the pictures got bigger. That said it was always the best all round music magazine, most balanced in its coverage.

I haven't read a copy for about a year, has it changed much? Maybe I should venture out and give it another try.

Anxiety said:

So many reviewers seem to latch onto hype much more easily nowadays. Its almost like they collectively sit round a table and decide, between all the music magazines, what angle they're going to take with each album. Certain artists will always get good reviews, yet when I listen to them, I can barely associate the sound coming out of my stereo to the words written by some reviewers about it. The last Coldplay & U2 albums i found distinctly underwhelming, yet the music press all gave them 5 stars.

The trouble with most music magazines is that they're afraid to give bad reviews to the big acts in case these "front cover acts" decide to withold the said mag an interview or photoshoot. I read old Q / Rolling Stone reviews and they were withering in their assesments of some records, you always felt that the reviewer was being honest about what they thought of the record. I do believe that there are very few reviewers out their that aren't working under severe editorial "guidance".

I don't buy any music mags regularly anymore. Uncut and Mojo are good when they're doing features on someone I like. The Uncut Stevie Wonder piece 2 months ago was brilliant.

CrozzaUK said:

well put.

purplegypsy said:

i like blender these days. i havent gotten a copy of rollingstone in years(prolly 99')blender borrows some from Q the uk music mag.but id go with them out of the two.

purplegypsy said:

Actually, this is a really cool topic for me and I would love to hear what everyone has to say. I live overseas now and sometimes it's so hard to keep up with what's "hot" at home. I was actually thinking to suscribe to some music mags at home recently, but with import prices being what they are, I wanna be sure to get more bang for my buck if I'm going to drop close to 50 euro (I think like 60 or 65 U.S. $$$) on a subscrition....