Interesting

April 14, 2002 8:09 AM

Interesting online magazines. Not as popular or commercial as say Salon but interesting reads from a less mainstream perspective. With so many options and so much variety, it’s difficult to stake your claim. What are some of your favorite online magazines?
posted by lostbyanecho (19 comments total)

R4NT
posted by Dav0xor at 9:22 AM on April 14, 2002

Sweet Fancy Moses for sure.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 9:44 AM on April 14, 2002

Gadfly used to be a limited-feature edition of their print magazine, but a year ago switched to a web-only presence. They're still adding material from their back catalog to the archives section. Here's a nice Frank Zappa appreciation from 1999.
posted by nikzhowz at 9:55 AM on April 14, 2002

I love Born.
posted by iconomy at 10:19 AM on April 14, 2002

I recommend PopMatters.
posted by Rebis at 10:25 AM on April 14, 2002

The Jesus issue of Gwyneth just came out.

Their last issue, Teen Sex, was pretty awesome too.

Also, American Homebody, with their "What's that bug?" section that identifies readers insects is always great.
posted by RJ Reynolds at 10:38 AM on April 14, 2002

Common Place. By no means "hip" or "edgy" (it's about everyday life in Colonial America, fer crissakes), but damn if I don't find nearly every article interesting and informative.
posted by arco at 11:50 AM on April 14, 2002

I like Flak Magazine.
posted by markpasc at 12:48 PM on April 14, 2002

Not sure if this is really a magzaine or not, but Irritus isn't too bad.
posted by Denial of Service at 1:05 PM on April 14, 2002

Vice.
posted by ryanshepard at 2:11 PM on April 14, 2002

whet
posted by kickingtheground at 2:59 PM on April 14, 2002

Perfect Sound Forever is terrific.

BTW, I absolutely loved that "Death to False Metal" article in Actionman. I've been meaning to write something like that for years and some bastard beat me to it. Rats!
posted by jonmc at 5:00 PM on April 14, 2002

Private Eye

And I agree, perfect sound forever is excellent.
posted by emf at 5:16 PM on April 14, 2002

Check out Pitchfork for the best indie news and reviews around. (although they do, IMHO, tend to be a little over-critical, their reviews are the most intelligent I've ever read, and really go a long way towards establishing their subjects as serious art. Their coverage of the IDM scene is particularly excellent.)
posted by tweebiscuit at 6:59 PM on April 14, 2002

Recently I was talking to a friend of mine who's in the local music scene here in north Texas. We theorized that one of the reasons why it's hard for any one band to succeed in the area is because there's too many club venues to play in. However were there too few then it would be harder to get on the stage, as there'd be fewer stages to get on, but the audience seems spread out. Any given weekend there's more people in Deep Ellum walking between clubs than there are people actually sitting in any given club. Too much selection. Ten years ago there were not as many venues and only one or two of them were particularly noteworthy. If one could get a Friday or Saturday night at Club Clearview or Club Dada, it was a major feather in one's cap. Today, it's just another day at the office, from a musician's point of view. Very few audience members seem to remember any particular band in this area the next morning with their hangovers.

What does this have to do with online magazines? Everything. There's far too many. Part of the problem with the dotcom industry, which caused it to buckle last year, was too many people each with their own respective dreams wanting to stake their claim on the virtual landscape, but there's not enough room for a bunch of small online magazines. Not if any one of them wants to stand the test of time, and have the world beat a path to their door.
posted by ZachsMind at 7:48 PM on April 14, 2002

I have to warn of a self link here, but it's content relevant... I run OpeningBands.com and we're kind of a local scenezine but our content should have appeal to just about anyone.. or.. so I'd like to think :-) The thing is, we're not in it looking to make a living, it's volunteer run and just something fun to do... So, I can't even imagine us competing with Salon.com or the likes...
posted by twiggy at 7:54 PM on April 14, 2002

Fantastic reading, folks, thanks. Gee, there are some talented people around.
posted by emf at 5:03 AM on April 15, 2002

I used to spend a lot of time on Ironminds. But now that they've gone on to form the currently-on-haitus New York Metropolis, a lot of their best talent has moved on to Nine Planets Magazine. Ironminds's archives still have some really great material, though.
posted by Sinner at 7:07 AM on April 15, 2002

"Answer Me!" remains one of the edgiest pieces out, in print or online. I'd link directly to the site, but the last time I did, the post was ripped down in a matter of minutes.

A little to edgy for prime time.

You'll just have to find the site for yourself; issue 4 available complete in .pdf format.
posted by Perigee at 7:45 AM on April 15, 2002