Nothing's Better: Arthur, Skyscraper, Signal to Noise, Wax Poetics, Wire

Find all of these and read them - or you won't be able to in the future.

Arthur (http://www.arthurmag.com)

Despite taking a printing hiatus more than once, Arthur remains one of the few widely distributed, free publications that covers odd music in an in-depth manner. Thurston Moore and Byron Coley contribute a column delving into new noise acts, but at the same time the publication is just as likely to feature an article about eating mushrooms, or the comic artist Wally Wood.

Each issue features a drastically different cover based upon the content. It’s TOC and columns, though remain basically unchanged from issue to issue.

The rag’s recently become a web-based publication, but plans to return to print have been discussed publicly.

Skyscraper (http://www.skyscrapermagazine.com)

Skyscraper featured a crew of untrained, slacker writers more intent in getting to interview bands that no one cared about more than making a dollar. It’s now web-based as well.

The feature writing in Skyscraper didn’t possess a specific bent as the tone shifted from piece to piece. There weren’t ever Q/A formatted pieces, opting instead for longer form analysis, which occasionally devolved into self-important droning on.

Holding it all together was a sparse design approach featuring only photographs of bands alongside the writing. Its review section, instead of including an image of every album cover, only include a single band photo atop each page.

Signal to Noise (http://signaltonoisemagazine.org)

Printed quarterly, Signal to Noise doesn’t really have wide commercial appeal, so it’s curious as to why and how the mag appears in Borders as well as Barnes and Noble across the country.

It’s not a glossy rag and doesn’t incorporate photography too well into its layout – the covers are mostly pretty boring as well. But to combat its plain appearance the mag features in-depth features and interviews with folks like Paul Metzger, Andrew Hill and guys behind Siltbreeze Records.

Even with the exhaustive features, the review section still comprises at least a quarter of the publication.

Wax Poetics (http://www.waxpoetics.com)

Wax Poetics is similar in great many ways to Alarm. Neither is a traditional sized publication – coming in a bit smaller than normal. But what each lacks in normalcy, they make up in content.

There are few publications that cover reggae and treat it with any sort of historicity. (The Beat does, but it’s hideous and run by hippies). Wax Poetics covers re-issues and throws in the back story to enrich it all.

The layout and design of the rag are distinctly tied to the images used. Each cover is a close up photo of whatever singer/rapper/musico makes up the main feature. Inside, entire pages of any story might be given up to pictures – old and new. It almost feels like an art book, whatever that might be, but has content of a scholarly journal written if it was written in the spare time of geeks, record collectors and fanatics with advanced degrees.

Wire (http://www.thewire.co.uk)

The only foreign publication listed here, Wire features more electronic stuff than anything other publication previously mentioned. It’s not all completely obscure – Wolf Eyes might crop up ever once in a while. But the design is cold, if still appealing, which matches some of the noise for noise’s sake that gets featured here.

The best thing about this rag is the “Invisible Jukebox” piece that’s included in each issue. Some random music dude, producer, performer or otherwise is sat down in-front of a stereo as a few unannounced records are tossed on. The job of the interviewee is to name the tune and explain how he or she figured it out.