Music Zines Are Back! It’s A Throwback Media Revival
Not only are cassettes reemerging from the underground (as I’ve discussed here and here), butzines are also making their presence felt beyond local shops. One edited music zine in an edition of 500 recently made a mainstream media appearance, as growing interest in low tech and high touch media reminds us that there are alternatives to mainstream digital culture.
“David Shapiro”, a pseudonym for the blogger-in-chief at Pitchfork Reviews Reviews, recently released “The World’s First Perfect Zine” at the rather exorbitant price of $12. I think it’s a music zine since the content creators are musicians and writers who often write about music,though David doesn’t make that clear. However, he is well known for blogging about music reviews.
His blog Pitchfork Reviews Reviews, where he reviews Pitchfork reviews (great concept), was included in a NY Times piece about Pitchfork last year. A recent release party for The World’s First Perfect Zine got coverage in both Fast Company and a mention in another NY Times piece about zines’ “resurgence among the web-savvy.”