Obtaining the Code -- Five Necessary Reads for Underground Electronic Music Needs

By Aaron Johnston

1. IMMERSE

Mathew F. Riley and Leigh Neville, the brains behind Music From The Empty Quarter, are back! Their new editorial haunt covers the same genres--isolationist, ambient, jungle, experimental, dub, jazz, noise and industrial among others--but Immerse is better if only because it benefits from the experience gained from MFTEQ. The journalism is hard-hitting, and Mathew is probably the most ruthless penmen alive. If something is good, every justification is detailed. If it’s shite, it’s always decapitated for good reason.

Beyond integrity, Immerse reviews target those who enjoy being affected by music; influenced, inspired, maligned, etc. It’s a heady publication for heady people that your average pop monger probably won’t gain much from reading. Recent interviews with Witchman, Alter Ego and T Power shed more than just discographical light on artists whose releases often haven’t made it to the States yet. With that, the only negative about reading Immerse comes with having to spend so much cash for all of the pricey import artists that they feature.

While the design and layout is often overly artistic and sometimes confusing, it’s difficult to slay someone for overachieving. On the whole, I can’t think of a better source for underground experimental electronic news.

(Immerse, 106 Plover Way, London SE16 1TZ. United Kingdom - URL)

2. THE WIRE

Not unlike Immerse, The Wire also delves into commercially taboo subjects. It would be difficult to better describe a magazine that places artists like Photek, Can, Panasonic and Autechre on their cover. The focus here isn’t so much on revealing new artists, but rather providing more mainstream-style coverage of them. The writing is polished, crisp and fraught with British wit, and their references are less obscure than those used by Riley and Neville. This undoubtedly opens The Wire up to a broader demographic.

Design and layout--which are oddly the most "overlooked" aspects of magazines--is deftly handled here. Sure, sacrifices have been made--artistic abandon and visual eccentricity to name but a few--but the "boring" minimalism only highlights the brilliant writing. Easy to read pages, clear distinctions between content and advertisements, and efficient use of space are never bad. In most cases, these refinements determine the difference between fly-by-night publications and veterans. Seeing how The Wire are currently [May 1997] on issue 159, the advantage seems clear.

Overall, The Wire provides enough underground content to keep esoteric elitists very happy. On the flipside, newbie readers who don’t know the difference between Coil and Recoil should gain a better understanding of who’s who.

(The Wire, 45-46 Poland Street. London W1V 3DF United Kingdom - URL)

3. CULTURE SHOCK

Computers have begun hazing the distinction between fanzines and magazines and publications like Culture Shock--with its pro layout, intelligent scribing and in-depthness--are thriving because of it. Their focus is on the electro and EBM genres and artists influenced by industrial supergroups like Skinny Puppy, Front 242 and Front Line Assembly. Likewise, the look and feel of the magazine is very dark and, as with Immerse, requires some prior knowledge of the music.

In terms of originality, no one beats Culture Shock. Most other industrial magazines cover a wider range of styles and grant the underground electro and EBM scenes only minimal coverage. Yes, the upper echelon of bands--like X Marks The Pedwalk, Numb and Leather Strip--get great publicity, but the undercurrent artists--Abscess, Evil’s Toy and Covenant to name a few--receive almost none. Culture Shock tips the scales nicely.

They do have their ups and downs. The coverage could be broader. As with larger magazine’s ignorance of electro, ignoring popular artists and related genres still creates a void. The font size is also very small and can be intimidating. Rating the reviews could provide more incentive for readers to hunt through the typeface stew.

What Culture Shock does right far overshadows these few areas of speculative improvement, though.

(Culture Shock, 218 Prospect Ave, Suite 2A. Hackensack, NJ 07601 - URL)

4. XLR8R

XLR8R covers electronica; jungle, trance, techno, house and even people who sample the kitchen sink. But that’s not where they stop. Where many similar magazines draw separations between the music and its culture, XLR8R unites the two. They don’t merely connect raves and drug use with "techno" music, they break the shit down into specifics. "Community" is the keyword here, and while the writing is sometimes very elitist, ostracizing willing newbies is never an apparent goal.

XLR8R’s music coverage is superb and part of the review section is broken down by unique electronica subgenres. This not only relieves some of the hassle for fans of a particular style, it also sites examples for the aforementioned newbies. Recent articles include a feature on UK drum and bass pioneers, Springheel Jack, a summary of Scottish house music, scene reports from various U.S. cities, and much more.

As with Immerse, XLR8R’s presentation of the magazine borders on artistic excess. The layout is often very inefficient and a truncated edition could easily present the same information with fewer costly pages. Oh well.

What else should we expect from an American-centric electronica magazine? Not much.

(XLR8R, 1388 Haight St. Suite 105, San Francisco, CA 94117 - URL)

5. ALTERNATIVE PRESS

While being far from an exclusively electronic read, AP covers almost everything--imports and rarities included. Their BPM section is the spot for electronica scribing, but some reviews are also placed in the main section. The writers are knowledgeable and witty, and their references are easy to comprehend. A detached industrial column, "Genocyber," is also included for you rivetheads (I write it if that matters).

Even though their electronica content shares space with rock coverage, AP’s advantage is distribution. If you live in a smaller town or suburb, finding a copy of Immerse, The Wire or Culture Shock will by difficult. AP has distribution throughout the United States so you’ll probably have more luck finding them.

(AP, 6516 Detroit, Ave. Suite 5. Cleveland, OH 44102 - URL)