the wire magazine co uk - thoughts

i'm new to this shambolic and addicting website. it's refreshing to have such a wide range of thought and insightful taste buds, as i have been relying on web magazines for a long time. (pfork and dusted, mostly. i am a huge fan of Saidthegramophone.)

being OCD and unable to make intuitive, preferential decisions, i have devised a system of random music selection to give me surprises...... i bring up a group of lists (i love lists) and use a random number generator to select an album from the list. my favorite one to do this with is The Wire's "Rewind"-- i'd be interested in reading the magazine regularly but the price for a US subscription is ridiculous. anyway, i like the divisions between the main top 50 and avant-rock/dub/beats/global/jazz/composition/etc. i know this is strange and sort of a cheap way to avoid proclaiming individualized opinions on things, but i am more interested in learning and understanding diverse sounds than i am in determining what i like and dislike........

anyway (again), since this site seems to be populated by a lot of knowledgeable and opinionated people (reminding me, at times, of walking encyclopedias), i was interested in hearing what you all have to say about The Wire magazine, its year-end lists, its strengths and weaknesses.......... or some other resources i can use with a similar approach to music discussion-- actually less about discussion (of things i am very badly informed about) than about helping me discover new/innovative/"important"/bizarre music.

as of now, the music i personally identify with most are of the sensitive-indie-generally-sad-but-hopeful variety (i will honestly say that Carissa's Wierd saved my high school existence)--- typically mainstream-media-friendly artists like Sigur Ros, Mountain Goats, Beirut, Francois Virot, Elliott Smith, Bon Iver, Neutral Milk Hotel, and (yes, i am an indoctrinated PFM slave from the Pacific NW) Fleet Foxes............ but i know that this is quite a narrow selection to devote my passionate side to. i would really like to get into more forward-thinking stuff, as well as some other, less-hyped artists like the ones i've mentioned (the latter of which would be greatly appreciated).

tmi tmi tmi i am sorry i just can't stop blabbing!!!!! anyway thank you all.

http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/MD/What_the_Fuck.mp3

uh oh

what??? oh no!! ???

okay, nevermind i am scared because i am a freak. i sorry. ctrl+z ctrl+z

Yes.

Go listen to every album mentioned on the best ov metal 2008 thread.

ha ha okay. actually medication and a nap and an overnight self-censorship tape might be more helpful. but if i'm looking for another hyperactive cataclysm then i'll fight my wussbag nature and heed your advice.

Or you could just, y'know, download some of the albums. Not post about how you're a "wussbag" and listen to some fucking music.

welcome to ilx!

"download the albums ... listen to some fucking music"

i'm doing that anyway! it's just a funny thought, me listening to metal, that's all.

"welcome"

thanks man. i have nothing else to do right now but troll my own thread while the snow keeps me indoors... but i am reading all these other threads for inspiration, although i have nothing to add to them. right now i'm wondering why i never got into the Kinks and why i haven't listened to Can or Stereolab in a really long time...

fuck i clicked "suggest ban" on myself 3 times because i thought it was an "edit" button.

Your first lesson--there is no "edit" button here my friend.

hulloo, kraemlin.
interesting name, where's it from?

mo' the wire-talk on ilm, in case you're interested & haven't yet used the search button much:

Feast your eyes on this: The Wire Magazine 20th Anniversary box set!

pitchfork = the wire?!

The Wire magazine Top Records of 2007

oh awesome thank you! um the name ... i don't know. i wish there was a cool story behind it, but i've just used it for a long time because it's simple and never taken by someone else.

WIRE's adventures in modern music fest is having its 10th anniversary in Chicago and honestly I don't know if I want to go to any of these shows.

Do I?

Adventures in Modern Music 2012
10-03 Nguzunguzu, R. Stevie Moore, Sao Paulo Underground, Christina Vantzou
10-04 Demdike Stare, Vattnet Viskar, Andy Stott, Natural Information Society
10-05 Supreme Cuts, Shit & Shine, Duane Pitre, Tatsuya Nakatani & Vanessa Skantze
10-06 Traxman, Sylvain Chauveau, Biosphere, Hallock Hill
10-07 Micachu & The Shapes, Holy Other, Lee Noble, Joseph Van Wissem

Didn't know where to post this either -- is there a more frequently used Wire thread?

those sound great! i'd be more likely to go if they were all on one bill together, as like a weekend festival dealie.

(also if i lived in chicago.)

That's kind of what it is -- the festival takes over the Empty Bottle for all of those nights. If I only went to one show of the Oct 5-6-7 group, which one should it be?

Honestly none of this sounds familiar to me whatsoever. Clearly I am not a subscriber.

If I only went to one show of the Oct 5-6-7 group, which one should it be?

hard to say; all the shows have someone i'd be interested in seeing. maybe the 5th?

i'll have to do a little research and figure it out. usually these shows are really civilized and don't sell out (afaik), so there's a minute or two to think about it. thanks!

Nguzunguzu are ilm faves, i never listened to them but 'people i trust' seem to like them.

all the shows have someone i'd be interested in

to put it more negatively, most of the lineups for these shows over the years have frustratingly spread the acts I'd like to see across each night. So, imo, Nguzunguzu, Demdike Stare, Andy Stott, and Traxman would make a good, if kind of intense show, but individually I don't know which night I'd recommend.

that's a better way of saying what i wanted to say. i'm not truly excited about any one night; i wish all the artists i want to see (nguzunguzu, demdike, duane pitre, biosphere, r. stevie moore) were playing together.

Yeah, I kind of feel the same way about those line-ups. They all have someone strong, but together I'm not sure what I'd go for. Probably one of the first two.

The line-ups are kind of a mess, aren't they? I'd guess relatively few people will be in the mood to hear Traxman and Sylvain Chauveau on the same evening.

I'm a subscriber btw and only know about half the names.

ok this makes me feel better! i was wondering if i was just bleh about it or what.
also they are not offering festival passes, so you have to buy tix for each show separately.

Oh man, I'd love to see the stuff on the 4th but I can't really take more days off in early october.

consider weekend show? i'm willing to gamble on something i don't know well if i have good company!

Hmm! I will think on this, if I am not totally broke

if you decide to go, you know where to find me! will accompany.

Ha these evenings are a jumble! First night looks great though

Here's the things i know about:
Nguzunguzu - Dancey stuff built out of cheap synth sounds bent into exotic textures, think Night Slugs or Rustie or something
R. Stevie Moore - emil.y music
Sao Paulo Underground - trumpet dude from the Chicago Underground Duo playing with three brazilian guys, so kind of Tortoise flavoured samba stuff
Christina Vantzou - was in the Dead Texan, this is similar Stars of The Lid-y ambient neo-classical hoohah
Demdike Stare - dark synthy collage music, hypnotic and intense with a very 70s spooky sort of vibe
Andy Stott - very slow, heavy and deeply corroded dance music with a dub/techno/ early industrial feel to it
Traxman - footwork guy, funny in the context of this night's bill
Sylvain Chauveau - ambient neo-classical
Biosphere - ambient techno, this guy was one of the early masters of this
Hallock Hill - ambient guitar/electronics, maybe comparable to Mountains
Micachu & The Shapes - i love Micachu but she gives ilx the hives in general. clattery diy pop, maybe a bit like tune-yards but without the horrid singing
Lee Noble - analog synth psych-drone wibble
Joseph Van Wissem - Lutes! he's done stuff with james blackshaw, haven't heard his solo stuff though

Edit:

Sylvain Chauveau - ambient neo-classical piano bloke (not so nuts about him, all a bit too nice for my liking)

'Fly Like a Horse' by Sylvain Chauveau = absolute banger

Since I can't go on 3rd or 4th, these seem to be my best options considering my preferences
10-06 Traxman, Sylvain Chauveau, Biosphere, Hallock Hill
10-07 Micachu & The Shapes, Holy Other, Lee Noble, Joseph Van Wissem (would prob skip Micachu but I'll give anyone a chance if it's inconvenient not to)

Many thanks for the guidance.

These bills are batshit, why can't we ever have this in NYC :(

Just googled Duane Pitre and this is gorgeous:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnDc7I8qzH4

Tatsuya Nakatani

He's great. Amazing percussionist. Do not miss.

Gotta cosign the Tatsuya Nakatani recommendation. He does an amazingly energetic take on extended techniques whilst also playing a "kit" (that is, using drumsticks and lots of other stuff to get crazy on snare/kick/toms/cymbals, such as blowing through the holes of symbols, sticking stuff on top of the drums to alter hits, rubbing drum heads etc.). He does this in an fun, unpretentious and really animated way. He ALSO does this super-cool gong shit, like he has as many as 5 gongs or so onstage which he bows or hits with mallets, and that shit fucking levitated the room I was in right the fuck into the atmoshphere. Go see him, just a really rewarding set of sounds, and a super humble, nice guy.

Duane Pitre = just-intonation inspired compositions featuring electric guitars tuned in j.i. and then other instruments as well. Think he was once a professional skateboarder too, interesting guy.

GONGS. Go see the gong-man, that sounds awesome.

xp haha I was about to suggest you were thinking of Duane Peters but no, he shared a career with his nearly-namesake. fair play

Yeah, if you like gongs you will not be disappointed by Tatsuya.

Tbh I love gongs.

i totally fucked up and did not go to any of these nights (i couldn't go thurs b/c of work but every other day i just gave up or had other plans)
apparently i was not the only one -- attendance was low. apparently the lineups are a mess on purpose, but this approach seems to have backfired.
since this is the 10th and last year, i guess chicago doesn't deserve this festival anyway.

but this made me lol

At one point I was stuck standing behind a couple who were practically glued together, dancing and making out as if no one else were around—which actually made me way more uncomfortable than the horror-movie clips Demdike Stare projected onstage.

http://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2012/10/08/sights-and-sounds-from-the-final-adventures-in-modern-music-festival

:(

I was thinking about going but the timing was just not good. There's a possibility of me being in Chicago sometime in the next couple months, though.

also lol @ that couple

Just opened the new issue to see that they printed the list I submitted! Mine's the 'Shiftwork 15' if anyone's interested.

Awesome Dwight! Will check it out. I actually think a record I am on is reviewed in this issue as well (which is certainly a first), so I will be buying this one for sure. The record is a 7" called "The Secret Museum of Kind Men", so I imagine it will be in the "Size Matters" column. Hopefully it doesn't get slammed ...

anybody going to the albert hall 2nite?

Yikes that review

Considered driving for Demdike, Abrams, but circumstances prevailed.

I actually think a record I am on is reviewed in this issue as well (which is certainly a first), so I will be buying this one for sure. The record is a 7" called "The Secret Museum of Kind Men", so I imagine it will be in the "Size Matters" column. Hopefully it doesn't get slammed ...

you see its revelations like this that make me love ILM that little bit more.

this place is so full of properly talented people who either write, make, or just soak up as much music as possible.

bravo grandavis .. hope the exposure helps you get to the next level whether thats another 7", album deal, or even a few local gigs.

i saw dy's list! didn't see that 7" review though :(

this was the november issue with the brotzmann cover btw

got a youtube link for your stuff grandavis?

ha, i'm just catching up with the 'flying lotus' issue, grandavis' 7" is in there. what's your involvement if i may ask?

Hey folks, thanks for the encouragement/interest. I play guitar on both tracks, but not the leads, which are played by Colin Langenus of USAisaMonster(defunct)/Colin L Orchestra. My other friend Matthew put out the record, which will hopefully be part of a series of 7"s from different bands. I still haven't read the review by the way, I don't think this issue is out in the U.S. yet (Josephine Foster issue is on the racks right now I think).

Will see if there is a youtube for it, not sure if there is.

Extremely positive review in by Byron C: "The quality of their squalling distortions will be balm to many ears. One can only hope there will be many more instalments." Now I want to hear this!

Just found the Aquarius Records review, which has streams of both songs:

songs at the bottom of the review

Sorry to hijack the thread, was just a strange confluence of a couple of ILMers potentially in the same issue (which I guess we aren't, one issue apart, but still cool). Just started buying the Wire again after a brief hiatus as well.

Ahh shit, the songs get cut off before the end, apologies. Thought they were streaming the whole things. Sorry about that (and for posting more about the record).

Alright, apparently there is a soundcloud page with both songs in full available for streaming/downloading (free of course). As a couple folks showed interest feel OK posting here, but please ignore everyone else.

I went down to smiths but it was still the old flying lotus cover copy they had.

I don't think the new one's in the shops till the end of the week or early next week, they only got their copies from the printer on Monday I think (they tweeted a pic of the cover).

ahh ok,thanks. Maybe subscribers get their copy this week

I wish...

It was hilarious trying to order Peter Brotzmann records out of Impulse! Records in Hamilton back in the late seventies. Usually you waited for the old Union Street HMV Glasgow branch to have a clearance sale and suddenly there'd they all be for 99p each. Machine Gun, Fuck de Boer, Nipples...

i got my subscription copy yesterday and usually see it in the shops a couple of days later so it must be imminent. xp

It usually comes out on a Thursday but sometimes its late and obviously its late again this time. It could easily be out in Glasgow/London etc

Marcello- impulse in hamilton , was it owned then by a much younger Jim?

Can't remember who owned it except it definitely wasn't Billy Sloan.

Thats over 10 years it must be gone now. The bigger one in Motherwell closed too.

No one could get to the Motherwell one because of the roadworks. The Hamilton one is now an Oxfam, I think.

Weird, I was trying to remember the layout of Virgin on Union Street just the other day (for no real reason), talking mid eighties, Jazz was on the 2nd floor?

that was the one with the ticket shop in the 90s? i liked that shop. used to be great having so many record shops in the 1 area.

didn't virgin have the jazz dept. in a separate (sound proofed) room?

we should probably take the all our yesterdays over to Rolling Ayrshire/Lanarkshire Thread 2011

oh god now i'll be thinking about the layout of 80s Virgin on Union Street for the rest of the day

we're discussing it on the other thread.

new duane pitre record

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gvOcVyFO5c

just got on to 'feel free', it's nice

subscribers now get access to every single back issue online (it only went back to 2006 before)!

it's been a real "down the rabbit hole" experience for sure

yeah seriously! I bought a couple of 90s editions fron snooper's paradise in brighton before and have wanted to read more from that era ever since. Loving the jazz era stuff too.

has the hip hop column been dropped?

subscribers now get access to every single back issue online

holy shit, getting really tempted right now

ooh how much is it?

has the hip hop column been dropped?

― the Shearer of simulated snowsex etc. (Dwight Yorke), Monday, August 12, 2013 6:04 PM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I sorta hope so. I don't check The Wire for reviews of contemporary hip-hop any more than I check National Review for vegan smoothie recipes

welp, $92 true american dollars for the physical magazine + digital access

a subscription to just the digital stuff is about $46 tough cowboy bucks

thanks, hoss

it's possible if someone wanted to read a few things here or there my login details could become available

or you could pay the ridiculously small price for a few decades' worth of stuff

well yeah, I mean only to tease it as an appetizer here

yeah $46 isn't bad for decades of stuff i've never read
i agree

oh ok sorry, tbh the issue I'm reading from 91 I've had the urge to c&p from just about every page I've read!

and by c&p I mean transcribe

mb i should do this and get rid of the massive pile of magazines under my coffee table

I'm moving house and thinking I should do "this" and get rid of the massive piles of magazines / cds / vinyl I don't need. Is it time?

Is there a thread for anxiety about getting rid of physical copies of media for internet versions?

The best thing about the online archive is you can save the pages as PDFs if you're the hoarding type.

I'm a subscriber who has never considered braving the digital archive. But now I'm thinking I ought to. Is it relatively user friendly? I should disclose that I'm one of those stodgy luddites who likes to hold the actual magazine...

yes it is

It's pretty easy, the iPad version even easier

The best thing about the online archive is you can save the pages as PDFs if you're the hoarding type.
ok now you are speaking my language
$46 cowboy bucks is sounding better by the minute

If I start un-hoarding magazines I may have a few years' worth to unload

sick

Is there an online Spin archive, Whiney? I would be down for that.

http://thewire.co.uk/img/scale/460/558/2013/08/13/cover355-2.jpg

don't think their design is as strong as it used to be, the last few covers have been rubbish

I like that cover tbh

I irl lol'd when BROTZ MANN! arrived on my doorstep tho

Brötzmann cover was good, he almost looked like something out of one of his own woodcuts in that. Kind of like Miles on the cover of Tutu too.

Not nuts about all that white space on this new one though and is that really the strongest photo you could take of that bunch of people?

Would like to echo the upthread enthusiasm for Duane Pitre btw, his records are beautiful things

I like the new layout. But I am a big fan of white space.

is that really the strongest photo you could take of that bunch of people?

student tour group, thinking of going to uni

Is there an online Spin archive, Whiney? I would be down for that.

― carlos danger zone (mh), Tuesday, August 13, 2013 1:55 AM (16 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/SPIN.html?id=xfEjLof28w8C&redir_esc=y

thanks!

The Wire was an excellent magazine about 13 years ago, when it was a genuinely eclectic mish mash of musical genres. Now you have flavour of the month asswipe electronica half-wits, those guys who have just discovered the faust tapes for the first time and feel like they have made an archaeological find. I fell out of this space years ago when I found out that most if not all of the experimental records (or indeed bands) touted by the so called thinking press are only touted because they pay for advertising space. Old trick. Shite.
I buy TONS of music, new and old but wouldn't dream of wasting my money on some architect who seeks to win phoney prizes with phoney academic institutions for making records that sound like exploding cement mixers.

Spare me from the misery of another record by boring intellectual half-wits, baseball headed men, mobile telephone wielding arts council lackeys, loveys, doveys, southern bastard art grants, norman foster designed concert building types, ex-flour mills full of boring norwegians (with apologies to all non-boring norwegians) and people who sleep in darkened bedrooms listening to other peoples music and commenting on what they do or don't like.
...knitting circle.

― markspybey, Sunday, May 14, 2006 7:50 PM

pangaea on z*s: "this is sick."

think he means "old"

brotzmann issue will always have a place in my heart because they printed my reader's chart. awww.

baseball headed men, mobile telephone wielding arts council lackeys, loveys, doveys, southern bastard art grants, norman foster designed concert building types, ex-flour mills full of boring norwegians (with apologies to all non-boring norwegians) and people who sleep in darkened bedrooms listening to other peoples music and commenting on what they do or don't like.

I'm not sure I know what ANY of these things mean.

Would like to echo the upthread enthusiasm for Duane Pitre btw, his records are beautiful things

― i'll be your mraz (NickB), Tuesday, August 13, 2013 1:16 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Seeing him in about two hours! I'd like to report back - is there a more appropriate thread? Digging the one record of his I own, planning on buying another if he has some for sale tonight....

Bristol's New School, eh? There's a feature piece I won't be reading.

is that really the strongest photo you could take of that bunch of people

haha this is such a part of the wire's aesthetic tho!!

ILM - THE MAGAZINE

http://thewire.co.uk/img/scale/460/558/images/artists/weller_paul/originals/COVER116.jpg
http://thewire.co.uk/img/scale/460/561/images/artists/new_order/originals/COVER115.jpg
http://thewire.co.uk/img/scale/460/560/images/artists/cocteau_twins/originals/COVER117.jpg
http://thewire.co.uk/img/scale/460/563/images/artists/bjork/originals/COVER114.jpg
http://thewire.co.uk/img/scale/460/562/images/artists/cave_nick/originals/COVER123.jpg
http://thewire.co.uk/img/scale/460/560/images/artists/costello_elvis/originals/COVER121.jpg

Eh, that's not entirely fair. To ILM, I mean. There's been more discussion about hip-hop on ILM in the last hour than in the Wire's entire print run.

I'm not sure any kind of statement's been made by posting those covers... is it?

Chuck Eddy has an article in that Paul Weller issue.
Oh and tarfumes, an ilxor was editor during the timeframe of those issues :)

The Wire 327, May 2011 (excerpt 326) pic.twitter.com/aY0sTzOhzB

— Marty Punkhouser (@NoChorus) April 19, 2021

:)

Ha. That’s great

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/may/16/40-years-of-the-wire-magazine-music-intelligent-elitist-outsider?

it me

That's right

40 years. Yikes!

i still feel like a newbie wire reader yet realise i have been a subscriber for 28 years. yikes indeed!

i supposedly have every issue back to no.1 tho when i boxed them all up recently there were three missing! i hope they turn up as i box everything else up (or unbox it)

I used to avidly buy it until maybe 2010. Easily the best magazine I ever bought and I still have about 100-200 issues with a lot of key pieces in them.

It's really interesting (or maybe not) the Wire has survived the fact that you can get a lot of writing on music (experimental or otherwise) for free now. I am not talking about blogging either. That story isn't talked about v much in the article, how have they navigated the world since 2008, or named the financial crash at all.

I sold a copy of the first issue of the Wire to Thurston Moore when I was working at the Notting Hill Exchange. For five English pounds iirc

When the Wire moved away from its strict jazz remit it felt a bit like it was taking up some of the slack from Forced Exposure, which featured ppl like Keiji Haino, Richard Youngs etc in its last issue - all 'Wire acts' slightly later on, and then Byron Coley got a monthly column in the Wire.

I would be interested to pick up an issue and see whether the approach isn't just 'MOJO for John Cage fans'. Like, a lot of it was like that, and my reaction is very much 'don't give a fuck give it to me', living in that parallel universe is great for a while but let's not pretend we aren't reproducing it xp

i don't feel it ever was but even if it was, it is currently in a different universe from being MOJO for John Cage fans.

Yeah, the style of writing is pretty different from what I've read of MOJO, plus it focuses *a lot* on new music, cover features aside.

My main criticism has always been that too often it makes boring music sound interesting, but I guess that's an issue with process-based musics in general (I say this as someone who does art/noise projects myself).

Anyway, happy birthday The Wire, I don't know what I'd be without you!

I think it was often as a whole too in thrall of the music itself without ever establishing a more critical stance of some of the goings on. Like it was just enough that it was covering something that's marginalised.

If I ever get to re-reading the issues I might revisit these impressions.

But yes I've not read enough of MOJO myself so maybe this shorthand might be giving it more of a kicking than it needs to.

I have over 25 years of Wire Mag issues lined up under the bookshelves next to me.

It's always been love/hate for me. On the one hand, intoxicating writing that often doesn't reflect the music (always the perils of writing about music?), and on the other hand often a snooty elitism to the reviews which can grate.
I think the in the last few years their deliberate shift to inclusivity - far more female reviewers and writers in general - has been to its betterment. Although there's at times now a bit too much effusiveness to some reviews, but still a good critical approach by and large.

The website (which I guess is the subject of this thread) is a weird'un for sure. It's so hard to follow - no useful RSS feed, not sure how else to keep up? I visit when I remember, and there can be real gems there. I wish it was less of a shambles though.

The website is just a kind of repository for odds and ends, plus an announcement when there's a new issue. If you get a digital subscription, though, every issue has been scanned or uploaded, which is invaluable for research or just to see what counted as "Wire music" in a given era.

There been a lot of new blood brought in and a younger and more diverse staff lately. I’ve been reading since the late 90s and found a shift to fewer “think pieces” and from polemical, theory laden and occasionally insufferable (ahem, Ben Watson) to more readable.

I always loved the Wire as a form of education, opening up paths to scenes you never knew about.

With some more potentially demanding music or styles, it's great to read a well-written piece on someone or something before you tried to tackle it. The Primers were great for that.

The CD reviews section, not so much. When part of my circle started getting reviewed in the magazine, our tongue-in-cheek conversations ran thus -

"oh hey we got a review in this month's Wire'
'nice one, did they mention the music?
'nope'
'brilliant!'

Yup, so very much agreed Maresn3st! That can be so frustrating.

That has... not been my experience with reading the album reviews, maybe I'm just reading the wrong ones. Feels like lots of thoughtful reviews.

Well, with a caveat as it was a bit disingenuous, this would have been the late 90s.

the wire in 2022 is VERY different to how it was 20+ years ago.

Yeah the reviews are way better ham they used to be. Also they haven’t invented a fake movement or genre in years! (I think “hypnogogic pop” was the last one).

hypnogogic pop is very real im dreaming abt it now

Been buying it every month for 25 years now. Subscribing for over a decade, I think? Find the access to the archive a brilliant part of the subscription. I like a mag with lots of good reviews.

lol, it was from googling "hypnogogic pop" that I first ever encountered an ilx thread

hypnogogic pop is bad again

there seemed to be an inflection point from "this is an interesting genre/grouping that someone used for an article" to "how dare a writer think they can group things together and attempt to coin a phrase!"

tbf maybe "hypnogogic pop" was the egregious overreach but I'm doubtful

my one attempt at this was MEROVINGIAN POP, in a 1988 piece on lawrence and felt

i had just read holy blood holy grail, if it had taken off i'd be dan brown and not on this thread

(i had a thesis and everything, it was very extremely solid)

I still like illbient

There was also “New Weird America” for beardy freak folk freak out stuff.

ok but that was conjured into inevitable existence by greil's book

as is the old normie america i guess

Also they haven’t invented a fake movement or genre in years!

Coinciding with the lessening influence of D@v!d K33n@n perhaps?

I'll confess I never had much of a problem with the inventing movements/genres thing. "hypnogogic pop" might indeed have been absurd, but there was something surprising about how indie was recuperating a set of previously despised 80s pop sounds. New Weird America didn't stick but, iirc, that's only b/c "freak folk" took off instead, which is way worse imo; "free folk" was in the air too but I can't remember if that was a Wire coinage or not

revive made me consider resubscribing but oh boy that is not financially feasible in Canada

I think I rediscovered Wire in 94 after neglecting it for a few years. Think it was something I foun don a shelf in Easons when I had a longish bus trip ahead of me to get out to Maynooth.

THink I've been picking it up regularly nearly ever since. Need to actually read it through a bit more thoroughly. Been too busy reading books recently to get right through it . BUt do enjoy some of it still.

Was conscious back when i rediscovered i that I had mnissed several years. May even have a few really early ones. Maybe even #1 with teh collar cut as an old copy that was no longer current given away by some shop on that basis.

I think my problem with hypnagogic Pop was the C*** who invented it

For large parts of my life, it's been incredibly important to me. That said, I only buy the end of year issue now. And I don't even devour that like I used to. It's good they've lasted, though.

I'll confess I never had much of a problem with the inventing movements/genres thing. I'm very much the same but U don't think I ever really got my head round what exactly "hypnogogic pop" was, and didn't have that much desire to do anything to remedy that.

D@v!d K33n@n's influence perhaps diminished now due to his energy being focussed on his books?

Need to actually read it through a bit more thoroughly.

I often have it sitting there unopened for several days after it arrives before reading it but I do still generally very much enjoy it once I start on an issue. the current Phew issue was an exception. She rules!

If cost is an issue, you can subscribe electronic-only

extraneous U in this sentence - I'm very much the same but U don't think I ever really got my head round what exactly "hypnogogic pop" was, and didn't have that much desire to do anything to remedy that.

I gave up my physical subscription, The Exact Editions one is all I have now, it's great, I can look up every article about every artist they've written about

I got rid of most of the print copies I had but saved the January issues

I loved reading David Keenan

hypnogogic pop, new weird america, england's hidden reverse were all pretty great concepts

really liked the article about Jandek in the February 2014 issue

really liked the article about Jandek in the February 2014 issue

I can look up every article about every artist they've written about

it's good that everything is archived but the search function is actually p terrible: the text being searched is uncorrected OTC so if it's delivered a typo (which is quite often given the typographical and layout variations it's handling) then it will just overlook what yr searching for and it's a slog to hunt for stuff from the mid-90s to the mid-00s bcz you have to plough through the years before or after (depneding if you use "oldest first" or "newest first")

I caught a webinar last year talking about setting up technology that allows 16th & 17th century documents from Mesoamerica to be scanned and searched which sounds interesting in itself. Presumably going to make searching things taht are in a more recognisable print easier.
I also remember Mike Stax saying that when he was doing PDF's of earl;y Ugly THings it was the first time they had been scanned and the technology at the time didn't need him to have processed copies of any of the magazines. Like they would just be presumably typed out and copied to print without a text file or whatever being made. Like wow pre major computer/internet times. But I guess he is a much smaller operation than a magazine like The Wire would be even in early stages.
Still assuming that technology is developing that is going to make things like that easier

My issue with DK's genre names were just that they weren't good names, like they weren't "catchy" like "freak folk" (vs. New Weird America) or "chillwave" (vs. hypnagogic pop). My co-worker met him once (I think?) and it was a ... unique interaction involving the London School of Economics.

Is dub still the only Caribbean music they consider "Wire" music?

TBF I think it was Tony Herrington who came up with New Weird America - maybe not the catchiest genre name, but it's a useful concept, particularly when considered in relation to Greil Marcus's Old Weird America.