is it worth re-subscribing to the wire mag?

If one thing is for sure, it's that music magazines will always have one group of people wishing they were as good as they were 5-10 years ago, and another group of people upset that they're not changing ENOUGH.

Dude, the picture of David Toop's writing desk that they ran was killer!! You could practically smell the ink on his ostrich quills.

I agree there should be more Reynolds - his post-punk book is due to be published in the spring, so maybe he'll have more time on his hands. Penman's iconoclasm is great - loved his review of Patti Smith's Trampin', saying it made the last REM album sound like Borbetomagus. Not strictly true, but funny.

I've only started reading the Wire in the past year, cos I've been getting into weirder sounds thanks to reviewing some experimental fests in Scotland but I do find it a bit dry and humourless. Even Stubbs isn't very funny in Wire.
I had serious beef with that stupid "riffs that heavy metal left out" piece" that seemed to think dumb physical riffs are ok until the Stooges and then the only way forward is trancey droney stuff. Now, I like a good trancey riff, but I like swaggering rock 'n roll too. This guy didn't like AC/DC or Sabbath. I bet he hasn't danced to a record in 20 years.
And I really don't get their Crowley obsession. Every other bloody article has a reference to magick. Bloody old goths. They take Current 93 seriously too! Dearie me.
Glad to see LCD on the cover at least. Reminds us they haven't all forgotten to dance.

Of course there is one exception, 'Ephiphanies', at the end of the mag. That addresses music on the psychological, personal level, and tells us a little about how a piece of music can change someone profoundly. 'Ephiphanies' is a great, great thing, I love this series.

wire vs any other uk mag => huge contrast in the language used. I found it v dry at first (though it did have ex- [music weekly writers] to bridge the gap). doesn't excuse the general dullness in the review section. and its not whether david stubbs is funny or not, he just seems to be wrong and there's the undercurrent of hatred for the mainstream, which ties in to that riff article (ok I haven't heard every single ac/dc album but how is it that playing variations on similar riffs isn't an act of repetition on par with 'sister ray' but the velvets had la monte young or something).

its not like you can have an epiphany every month but music mole has a point.

i've never subscribed to any music mag so its not an issue. just browse in the shop and make a choice.

good thing abt the wire is that it does cover non-beat music as well as some music that has got them (something that much of the music blogs don't care for) so I still get something out of it. otoh there's that search for the avant-ness in music that seems to miss lots of other things out...then there's just the lack of any 'ideas' articles.

Many of the reviews can sound quite interesting with their constant references to fluxus, noh theatre, avant frequencies etc etc, but tend to leave you thinking, yeah, but did you like it? Are they too avant to say, hang on, this is a bit boring innit?

I don't mind the academic approach when it's, say, Joy Press talking feminism and politics with Kathleen Hannah, but all too often it's awfully technical, even to someone who has classical training and has studied modernist composers (admittedly in a basic music history way).

I'm glad to say that not all their writers like Current 93. Neil Cooper hates em and said so in the Herald. Hurrah. (They really are my pet hate aren't they? I was dismayed to discover they have a song with Nick Cave on vocals that's actually quite good. Erk!)

Someone said Wire is a great resource for finding out about things, but you're best to ignore the arguments. But it's a shame it has to be that way.

do you find the mag really technical bcz someone like philip clark (one of the few ppl I'll actually read) really quite approachable, whether on his 'modern composition' column or in his reviews section.

current 93 are pretty gd to me but I only have a couple of things by them.

Wouldn't Wire be so much better if Stubbs resurrected Mr Agreeable, even for one month? He could have a field day with Stockhausen's polygamous life deep in some German forest. Or he could just call him a cunt* The letters page would be priceless.

*don't get me wrong, I quite like what I've heard of Stockhausen, esp Stimmung.

Yes but JESUS WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPT...

Hell f***** yeah, this pissed me off too.

I seriously haven't picked this mag up in two years, until I saw this cover story "In Praise of the Riff" so I gave it a shot. I mean, I like the groups this writer favored (like MC5, Stooges & Velvet Underground), but - like stew says - he disses totally Classic shit.

This was my favorite diss:
"Sweatloaf, The Butthole Surfers's mutant assault on Sabbath's "Sweet Leaf", was a genuinely psychedelic attempt to claim it back for the real freaks..."

C'mon!! What real freaks?

A friend who collects Current 93 made me a compilation as a way into their vast archive and it was a big help. Go straight to "Earth Covers Earth" and "The Inmost Light" and you'll get it. But it does stand or fall on how you feel about Tibet's voice/vision, and it's not for everyone.

I dunno, call me biased but I can't really think of a better music magazine. I mean what other magazine gave covers to Alvin Lucier AND Wolf Eyes last year? I just don't see anybody else out there with that kind of reach and range. As long as I can read Dave Tompkins on hip hop I am a happy man.

I'm sure Tibet helped get some of the acts at Instal on board (Baby Dee is on Durtro) and he was wandering around enjoying the acts with great enthusiasm, so can't knock him for that. But if you want to find out how Instal got Jandek to play read my interview with curator Barry Esson. (sorry for the shameless self-promotion, but I'm sure it'll be of interest to some people).
http://scotland.ideasfactory.com/music_sound/features/feature39.htm

I do like the hip-hop reviewer at Wire. His style and use of language are insane. It's just annoying that when it comes to features, they ignore everything except Anticon (nowt wrong with Anticon, but it's not all there is). They would argue that you can read about Outkast or the Neptunes anywhere, but it would be great to see those acts given a proper Wire musical analysis.

Totally agree with pheNAM about the REAL freaks. It just smacks of snobbery against metal fans. What makes Wire readers any freakier than stoner kids listening to Sabbath? Sure, Buttholes make the song deliciously evil, but it was a freaky song in the first place! How can he dismiss Sabbath while raving about an admittedly great cover of one of their finest songs? Unless he's more interested in the concept than the music itself. Which is a bullshit, almost academic attitude. The riff is exactly the same, it's just played a bit less sludgily. The weirdness comes from the satanic intro and Gibby Haynes screaming.

I agree with Drew that it's great that a magazine can put Wolf Eyes and Alvin Lucier on their cover and sell. It's not so much the artists covered, but the blinkered attitudes that are the problem.

Wire ran a Def Jux cover story at least a year before the rest of indie media started to pay attention to the label. I'm not going to go rummage around for my old issues now but they've given glowing reviews to Missy, Jadakiss, and a ton of other artists that are regulars on MTV, so you really can't say that they're purely obsessed with Anticon and nothing else.

Haven't picked it up in a while, mostly because Borders seems to have stopped selling it, the record store I go to for harder-to-find music always seems 2 or 3 months behind the current issue with what they've got for sale on the rack, and I just discovered that my library carries it. It'll be quite some time before I'm able to afford it again, but I'd definitely consider resubscribing in the future.

It totally comes off as snobbery. In my mind, metal fans are as freaky as any one else (but that's besides the point). I don't know what freaks the writer is thinking about.

If Wire wants to promote music within certain esoteric tastes, fine. But this seems to smack heavily of the dreaded "rockism" so often discussed on ILM.

Anyway, I seriously don't think they'll get anywhere trying to start some kind of war. Heh, I'm just laughing at the prospect.

I will still buy it now and then especially the wire tapper year end issues. Those cds are great.

It is too dry and humourless. I think they're probably over-compensating for some of the other awful UK music press trash though. I still think it's a very good magazine as Drew says, there needs to be an outlet for the more avant, for want of a better term - the only other places I really read about much of what they cover is ILM and the odd blog. I just think that it could obviously shake out a bit of the stuffiness and offer their take on some more well-known stuff, as most have suggested.

music mole OTM about the Epiphanies page, that's always pretty good and goes well beyond "OMG this is my fave band!".

People who release too many damn albums! Pt. 2 (Current 93)
Current 93's cover of "Jerusalem"
Current 93 - Crush, Kill, Destroy?