How Modern Fanzines are Giving a Voice to Underrepresented Scenes
how-modern-fanzines-are-giving-a-voice-to-underrepresented-scenes
April 22, 2020
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# How Modern Fanzines are Giving a Voice to Underrepresented Scenes
It's safe to say the last few years haven't been great for music and
culture journalism. In 2018, German techno institution Groove
discontinued its print issue -- last year, the UK giant NME folded, as
well as Tinymixtapes and Drowned in Sound. Red Bull Music Academy and
its online magazine "The Daily" was put to rest by Red Bull at the end
of 2019, and earlier this year, FACT announced it would discontinue
written editorial features, focussing on audiovisual content instead.
While the number of larger heritage publications has declined in recent
years, fanzines, with their ability to capture stories from niche
vantage points, can be much more successful in addressing specific
subcultures.
> We aren't mining data, selling banner ads or trying to build a media
> company.
>
> Barbie Bertisch
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"We aren't mining data, selling banner ads or trying to build a media
company. We're writing love letters to our city, lifting up the talented
people here, and leaving behind a record for future generations," New
York's Barbie Bertisch says about the[ *Love Injection*][1] fanzine.
Fostering communities in niche scenes is why many have returned to using
fanzines as a new creative platforms for expressive and detailed
storytelling -- and it's exactly why Paul Raffaele and Barbie Bertisch,
two music fanatics based in Brooklyn, launched[ *Love Injection*][1] in
2015. Their ethos, Raffaele says, is "Music first, New York focused,
cheap, and widely accessible. \[It's about\] creating a time capsule, a
record of a community in New York at this time, and to encourage
off-screen reading. We want you to collect them, save them, pass them
on, and look back on them in 20 years." The couple, inspired by earlier
influential zines such as *Boys Own* (which is *still* going[
digitally][2] by the way), the Terry Farley-spearheaded[ *Faith*][3]
(which recently just announced it will be returning to print late 2020),
and the pivotal Under One Sky, looked to emulate this
particular brand of storytelling through their collections of
interviews, photo essays, illustrations, and poetry, that focus on the
characters that make New York special.
[1]: https://loveinjection.nyc/
[2]: https://www.boysownproductions.com/zine
[3]: https://www.faith.london/
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> ][1]{: style=" background:#FFFFFF; line-height:0; padding:0 0;
> text-align:center; text-decoration:none; width:100%;" target="_blank"}
> [Love Injection Issue 51: Q&A with @djvolvox Interview by
> @nick\_boyd\_\_ , Photos by @guarionex\_jr \| www.loveinjection.nyc or
> direct link in bio][1]{: style=" color:#000;
> font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal;
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> A post shared by [ Love Injection][2]{: style=" color:#c9c8cd;
> font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal;
> font-weight:normal; line-height:17px;" target="_blank"}
> (@loveinjection.nyc) on datetime="2019-10-18T16:47:15+00:00">Oct 18, 2019 at 9:47am PDT
> {: style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;"}
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"We like to starkly pair heritage with emerging," Bertisch says about
the zine's focus. "Some parts of New York nightlife have been
mythologized to death, but we are not here to retell the same tales over
and over. Instead, we seek the lesser-told accounts and don't just focus
on "club" music. We've featured stories about jazz royalty Alice
Coltrane, disco archivist and photography critic Vince Aletti, legendary
host and club owner Christina Visca, volunteer-run multi-disciplinary
non-profit[ 8 Ball Community][3], and have a forthcoming interview with
Roy Ayers we're excited to share."
Thanks to zines, print is by no means a dying commodity. "There is
definitely a rise in music-related zines," claims Marc Robbemond, a
specialist zine buyer at Amsterdam magazine store[ Athenaeum
Nieuwscentrum][4]. He insists that, within his scene, it's flourishing
due to the kind of slow journalism zines tend to employ, he continues,
as they "have longer interviews and features, and write from a specific
niche angle."[ *Vinyldyke*][5] and[ *Women in Sound*][6], for example,
are publications which take a strong feminist angle. "Zines are still a
perfect vehicle for activism," Robbemond says, "and there has been an
ongoing boom of feminist zines since the 2016 US election."
[1]: https://www.instagram.com/p/B3xEwRDF29p/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading
[2]: https://www.instagram.com/loveinjection.nyc/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading
[3]: https://8ballcommunity.club/
[4]: https://www.athenaeum.nl/magazines/
[5]: https://vinyldyke.wordpress.com/
[6]: https://www.womeninsound.com/
[Image: murmuar-1.png]
Feminist zines, along with independent publications that use their
narratives to focus on feminist issues, are definitely in abundance.
Along with those already credited, zines like [*Making Waves*][1],[
*SIREN*][2],[ *Pink Noise*][3],[ *Future Ethics*][4], and more recently[
*Murmurations*][5], address the gender imbalance within electronic music
journalism. *Murmurations*, which was released this year on
International's Women's Day, was put together by the Berlin-based
journalist, DJ Gigsta. The publication brings together a strong
selection of female music writers and DJs, including Steph Lee, Future
Ethics'[ Ursula Xanadu][6],[ Lisa Blanning][7], and many others, and
features bespoke design and illustrations by[ MaryLou][8]. "As a
researcher, I study the way in which journalists write about dance
music, and I was shocked by the amount of women writing about dance
music," she says about how the zine came together. The zine is much more
than a collection of experiences, but more acts as a platform for styles
of writing that one wouldn't tend to find on mainstream publications.
"When I asked people to contribute, I asked them to write something as
personal as possible," Gigsta further states. "It's more something that
you can write that you couldn't do anywhere else."
[1]: https://www.facebook.com/makingwaveszine/
[2]: https://sirenldn.bandcamp.com/
[3]: https://pinknoisezine.bigcartel.com/
[4]: https://futureethics.bandcamp.com/merch/future-ethics-zine
[5]: https://murmurationszine.bigcartel.com
[6]: https://twitter.com/ursulaxanadu
[7]: https://www.electronicbeats.net/author/lisa-blanning/
[8]: https://www.facebook.com/maryloudj
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> [Last january, @gigstab proposed me to write about my relation to
> radio. We\'ve been making zines. Murmurations is born. It\'s about
> dancing and writing, hearing and hoping. About searching, playing,
> producing from the margins. with words by the most amazing
> female/non-binary journalists/writers I know, Chal Ravens, Elissa
> Suckdog, Katia Mullova, Lisa Blanning, Scaarlet, Nono, Steph Lee,
> Susanna Li & Ursula Xanadu. curated by Nono, artworks by myself
> and all proceeds going to @\_aequa\_ equa ? #StayHome, take care
> !][1]{: style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif;
> font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal;
> line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;"
> target="_blank"}
> {: style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"}
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> A post shared by [ Marylou][2]{: style=" color:#c9c8cd;
> font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal;
> font-weight:normal; line-height:17px;" target="_blank"}
> (@oiseaudanseur) on datetime="2020-04-08T07:21:09+00:00">Apr 8, 2020 at 12:21am PDT
> {: style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;"}
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Zines and activism have always gone in hand, but it's not just the
stories they tell that make them special; it's also how they tell them.
Zines have come a long way in their design, and can nowadays take many
formats and use unique design styles, illustrations and imagery to
create truly distinctive products that make them not only highly
collectible but also fascinating and rich in imagery.
One of the growing trends within contemporary zine culture is the use of
Risograph printing, a bespoke style of stencil duplication that was
originally introduced in the 80s. One artist who's currently been using
this method is Berlin-based graphic designer,
Eloise Leigh, who recently used the technique on a zine she dedicated
to the work of Greek synth-pioneer Lena Platonos. While working on the
sleeve-designs for a series of re-issues of Platanos' work of Dark
Entries Records, Leigh became inspired to go and create her own[
tribute][3] to the artist. "She was the prime example of a female
musician who never got her due for being a genius, so I had to take this
beauty and get something else of hers out into the world," Leigh states.
[1]: https://www.instagram.com/p/B-thfX8gyMy/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading
[2]: https://www.instagram.com/oiseaudanseur/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading
[3]: https://newageraaage.bigcartel.com/product/lena-lepidoptera-a-lena-platonos-fanzine
[Image: butterfly.jpg]
The end result is a collage of artwork and poetry that uses Risograph
printing to help create a bespoke, vintage-looking product. By being
totally independent, and far from financially driven, zines also allow
the author to have total control. "In publishing you normally get
wrapped up in things like marketing and sales, stuff that ruins the
purity of you just trying to get your ideas out," Leigh explains. "The
power of zines is that you don't have that pressure to perform. It would
be nice to get enough support from them to make a living, but if that
were the motivation it would destroy it."
Along with more culturally themed zines, there are also a growing
selection of publications that are more strictly focused towards record
labels and their own particular stories, including Bristol bass music's
Hotline Records'[ *No Cold Callers*][1], and reissue label Efficient
Space's[ *Enthusiasms*][2]. The latter of which was put together by
label-head Michael Kucyk, is a multi-coloured pastiche of photos, essays
and interviews with some of the label's most vibrant characters. "I long
wanted to initiate a platform to present the photographs, artwork and
interview transcripts that sit unseen on the cloud, compiled with
various contributions from our label family," explains Kucyk. The
fanzine also provided Kucyk a way of getting his label's music and
stories heard, something which he admits is proving difficult within the
contemporary media landscape. "They're all getting swamped with hundreds
of releases a week, so it's easy to be overlooked," he says, referring
to mainstream music platforms. "A lot of it comes down to who you can
pay to pitch it, and we're just a modest operation from Australia,
\[although\] our local releases admittedly do get a lot of international
support. Our country has some curious characters, and that seems to be
appreciated."
[1]: https://rwdfwd.com/products/no-cold-callers-hotline-zine-strictly-hotline-mix-catalogue-dl/
[2]: https://efficientspace.bandcamp.com/merch/enthusiasms-issue-1
[Image: hand.png]
This independently self-funded scene is as volatile as the rest of the
market, especially in times of crisis. As independent publishers,
Raffaele and Bertisch, like all of the others listed here, are
responsible for their own costs, and production. As such, they've
decided to cease printing during the COVID-19 period, and instead
publish an online PDF issue that documents what's happening within their
scene, and how people can help. "Figuring out how to celebrate our fifth
anniversary was on our mind just a few weeks ago, but now we're focused
on doing whatever we can to make sure our friends don't go hungry and
homeless during this pandemic," states Bertisch, exemplifying once more
how important these community-driven publications are for our scene, and
why they're so important for us right now.
---
id: a3f834db-1def-4c2f-b0b9-76d8ccf71dc8
blueprint: article
title: 'How Modern Fanzines are Giving a Voice to Underrepresented Scenes'
date: 2020-04-22T17:37:25+02:00
wp_id: '185445'
slug: how-modern-fanzines-are-giving-a-voice-to-underrepresented-scenes
teaser_image: legacy/how-modern-fanzines-are-giving-a-voice-to-underrepresented-scenes/butterfly_color.png
contents:
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<p>It’s safe to say the last few years haven’t been great for music and culture journalism. In 2018, German techno institution Groove discontinued its print issue – last year, the UK giant NME folded, as well as Tinymixtapes and Drowned in Sound. Red Bull Music Academy and its online magazine “The Daily” was put to rest by Red Bull at the end of 2019, and earlier this year, FACT announced it would discontinue written editorial features, focussing on audiovisual content instead. </p><p>While the number of larger heritage publications has declined in recent years, fanzines, with their ability to capture stories from niche vantage points, can be much more successful in addressing specific subcultures. </p><blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
<p>We aren’t mining data, selling banner ads or trying to build a media company.</p>
<p><cite>Barbie Bertisch</cite></p></blockquote><p>“We aren’t mining data, selling banner ads or trying to build a media company. We’re writing love letters to our city, lifting up the talented people here, and leaving behind a record for future generations,” New York’s Barbie Bertisch says about the<a href="https://loveinjection.nyc/"> <em>Love Injection</em></a> fanzine.</p><p>Fostering communities in niche scenes is why many have returned to using fanzines as a new creative platforms for expressive and detailed storytelling – and it’s exactly why Paul Raffaele and Barbie Bertisch, two music fanatics based in Brooklyn, launched<a href="https://loveinjection.nyc/"> <em>Love Injection</em></a> in 2015. Their ethos, Raffaele says, is “Music first, New York focused, cheap, and widely accessible. [It’s about] creating a time capsule, a record of a community in New York at this time, and to encourage off-screen reading. We want you to collect them, save them, pass them on, and look back on them in 20 years.” The couple, inspired by earlier influential zines such as <em>Boys Own</em> (which is <em>still</em> going<a href="https://www.boysownproductions.com/zine"> digitally</a> by the way), the Terry Farley-spearheaded<a href="https://www.faith.london/"> <em>Faith</em></a> (which recently just announced it will be returning to print late 2020), and the pivotal <em>Under One Sky, </em>looked to emulate this particular brand of storytelling through their collections of interviews, photo essays, illustrations, and poetry, that focus on the characters that make New York special.</p>
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<p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B3xEwRDF29p/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_blank">Love Injection Issue 51: Q&A with @djvolvox Interview by @nick_boyd__ , Photos by @guarionex_jr | www.loveinjection.nyc or direct link in bio</a></p>
<p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/loveinjection.nyc/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px;" target="_blank"> Love Injection</a> (@loveinjection.nyc) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2019-10-18T16:47:15+00:00">Oct 18, 2019 at 9:47am PDT</time></p>
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</blockquote><script async src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script><p>“We like to starkly pair heritage with emerging,” Bertisch says about the zine’s focus. “Some parts of New York nightlife have been mythologized to death, but we are not here to retell the same tales over and over. Instead, we seek the lesser-told accounts and don’t just focus on “club” music. We’ve featured stories about jazz royalty Alice Coltrane, disco archivist and photography critic Vince Aletti, legendary host and club owner Christina Visca, volunteer-run multi-disciplinary non-profit<a href="https://8ballcommunity.club/"> 8 Ball Community</a>, and have a forthcoming interview with Roy Ayers we’re excited to share.”</p><p>Thanks to zines, print is by no means a dying commodity. “There is definitely a rise in music-related zines,” claims Marc Robbemond, a specialist zine buyer at Amsterdam magazine store<a href="https://www.athenaeum.nl/magazines/"> Athenaeum Nieuwscentrum</a>. He insists that, within his scene, it’s flourishing due to the kind of slow journalism zines tend to employ, he continues, as they “have longer interviews and features, and write from a specific niche angle.”<a href="https://vinyldyke.wordpress.com/"> <em>Vinyldyke</em></a> and<a href="https://www.womeninsound.com/"> <em>Women in Sound</em></a>, for example, are publications which take a strong feminist angle. “Zines are still a perfect vehicle for activism,” Robbemond says, “and there has been an ongoing boom of feminist zines since the 2016 US election.”</p>
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text: '<p>Feminist zines, along with independent publications that use their narratives to focus on feminist issues, are definitely in abundance. Along with those already credited, zines like <a href="https://www.facebook.com/makingwaveszine/"><em>Making Waves</em></a>,<a href="https://sirenldn.bandcamp.com/"> <em>SIREN</em></a>,<a href="https://pinknoisezine.bigcartel.com/"> <em>Pink Noise</em></a>,<a href="https://futureethics.bandcamp.com/merch/future-ethics-zine"> <em>Future Ethics</em></a>, and more recently<a href="https://murmurationszine.bigcartel.com"> <em>Murmurations</em></a>, address the gender imbalance within electronic music journalism. <em>Murmurations</em>, which was released this year on International’s Women’s Day, was put together by the Berlin-based journalist, DJ Gigsta. The publication brings together a strong selection of female music writers and DJs, including Steph Lee, Future Ethics’<a href="https://twitter.com/ursulaxanadu"> Ursula Xanadu</a>,<a href="https://www.electronicbeats.net/author/lisa-blanning/"> Lisa Blanning</a>, and many others, and features bespoke design and illustrations by<a href="https://www.facebook.com/maryloudj"> MaryLou</a>. “As a researcher, I study the way in which journalists write about dance music, and I was shocked by the amount of women writing about dance music,” she says about how the zine came together. The zine is much more than a collection of experiences, but more acts as a platform for styles of writing that one wouldn’t tend to find on mainstream publications. “When I asked people to contribute, I asked them to write something as personal as possible,” Gigsta further states. “It’s more something that you can write that you couldn’t do anywhere else.”</p>'
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<div style="display:block; height:50px; margin:0 auto 12px; width:50px;"><svg width="50px" height="50px" viewbox="0 0 60 60" version="1.1" xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><g stroke="none" stroke-width="1" fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"><g transform="translate(-511.000000, -20.000000)" fill="#000000"><g><path d="M556.869,30.41 C554.814,30.41 553.148,32.076 553.148,34.131 C553.148,36.186 554.814,37.852 556.869,37.852 C558.924,37.852 560.59,36.186 560.59,34.131 C560.59,32.076 558.924,30.41 556.869,30.41 M541,60.657 C535.114,60.657 530.342,55.887 530.342,50 C530.342,44.114 535.114,39.342 541,39.342 C546.887,39.342 551.658,44.114 551.658,50 C551.658,55.887 546.887,60.657 541,60.657 M541,33.886 C532.1,33.886 524.886,41.1 524.886,50 C524.886,58.899 532.1,66.113 541,66.113 C549.9,66.113 557.115,58.899 557.115,50 C557.115,41.1 549.9,33.886 541,33.886 M565.378,62.101 C565.244,65.022 564.756,66.606 564.346,67.663 C563.803,69.06 563.154,70.057 562.106,71.106 C561.058,72.155 560.06,72.803 558.662,73.347 C557.607,73.757 556.021,74.244 553.102,74.378 C549.944,74.521 548.997,74.552 541,74.552 C533.003,74.552 532.056,74.521 528.898,74.378 C525.979,74.244 524.393,73.757 523.338,73.347 C521.94,72.803 520.942,72.155 519.894,71.106 C518.846,70.057 518.197,69.06 517.654,67.663 C517.244,66.606 516.755,65.022 516.623,62.101 C516.479,58.943 516.448,57.996 516.448,50 C516.448,42.003 516.479,41.056 516.623,37.899 C516.755,34.978 517.244,33.391 517.654,32.338 C518.197,30.938 518.846,29.942 519.894,28.894 C520.942,27.846 521.94,27.196 523.338,26.654 C524.393,26.244 525.979,25.756 528.898,25.623 C532.057,25.479 533.004,25.448 541,25.448 C548.997,25.448 549.943,25.479 553.102,25.623 C556.021,25.756 557.607,26.244 558.662,26.654 C560.06,27.196 561.058,27.846 562.106,28.894 C563.154,29.942 563.803,30.938 564.346,32.338 C564.756,33.391 565.244,34.978 565.378,37.899 C565.522,41.056 565.552,42.003 565.552,50 C565.552,57.996 565.522,58.943 565.378,62.101 M570.82,37.631 C570.674,34.438 570.167,32.258 569.425,30.349 C568.659,28.377 567.633,26.702 565.965,25.035 C564.297,23.368 562.623,22.342 560.652,21.575 C558.743,20.834 556.562,20.326 553.369,20.18 C550.169,20.033 549.148,20 541,20 C532.853,20 531.831,20.033 528.631,20.18 C525.438,20.326 523.257,20.834 521.349,21.575 C519.376,22.342 517.703,23.368 516.035,25.035 C514.368,26.702 513.342,28.377 512.574,30.349 C511.834,32.258 511.326,34.438 511.181,37.631 C511.035,40.831 511,41.851 511,50 C511,58.147 511.035,59.17 511.181,62.369 C511.326,65.562 511.834,67.743 512.574,69.651 C513.342,71.625 514.368,73.296 516.035,74.965 C517.703,76.634 519.376,77.658 521.349,78.425 C523.257,79.167 525.438,79.673 528.631,79.82 C531.831,79.965 532.853,80.001 541,80.001 C549.148,80.001 550.169,79.965 553.369,79.82 C556.562,79.673 558.743,79.167 560.652,78.425 C562.623,77.658 564.297,76.634 565.965,74.965 C567.633,73.296 568.659,71.625 569.425,69.651 C570.167,67.743 570.674,65.562 570.82,62.369 C570.966,59.17 571,58.147 571,50 C571,41.851 570.966,40.831 570.82,37.631"></path></g></g></g></svg></div>
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<p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B-thfX8gyMy/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_blank">Last january, @gigstab proposed me to write about my relation to radio. We've been making zines. Murmurations is born. It's about dancing and writing, hearing and hoping. About searching, playing, producing from the margins. with words by the most amazing female/non-binary journalists/writers I know, Chal Ravens, Elissa Suckdog, Katia Mullova, Lisa Blanning, Scaarlet, Nono, Steph Lee, Susanna Li & Ursula Xanadu. curated by Nono, artworks by myself and all proceeds going to @_aequa_ equa ? #StayHome, take care !</a></p>
<p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/oiseaudanseur/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px;" target="_blank"> Marylou</a> (@oiseaudanseur) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2020-04-08T07:21:09+00:00">Apr 8, 2020 at 12:21am PDT</time></p>
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</blockquote><script async src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script><p>Zines and activism have always gone in hand, but it’s not just the stories they tell that make them special; it’s also how they tell them. Zines have come a long way in their design, and can nowadays take many formats and use unique design styles, illustrations and imagery to create truly distinctive products that make them not only highly collectible but also fascinating and rich in imagery.</p><p>One of the growing trends within contemporary zine culture is the use of Risograph printing, a bespoke style of stencil duplication that was originally introduced in the 80s. One artist who’s currently been using this method is Berlin-based graphic designer<s>,</s> Eloise Leigh, who recently used the technique on a zine she dedicated to the work of Greek synth-pioneer Lena Platonos. While working on the sleeve-designs for a series of re-issues of Platanos’ work of Dark Entries Records, Leigh became inspired to go and create her own<a href="https://newageraaage.bigcartel.com/product/lena-lepidoptera-a-lena-platonos-fanzine"> tribute</a> to the artist. “She was the prime example of a female musician who never got her due for being a genius, so I had to take this beauty and get something else of hers out into the world,” Leigh states.</p>
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text: '<p>The end result is a collage of artwork and poetry that uses Risograph printing to help create a bespoke, vintage-looking product. By being totally independent, and far from financially driven, zines also allow the author to have total control. “In publishing you normally get wrapped up in things like marketing and sales, stuff that ruins the purity of you just trying to get your ideas out,” Leigh explains. “The power of zines is that you don’t have that pressure to perform. It would be nice to get enough support from them to make a living, but if that were the motivation it would destroy it.”</p><p>Along with more culturally themed zines, there are also a growing selection of publications that are more strictly focused towards record labels and their own particular stories, including Bristol bass music’s Hotline Records’<a href="https://rwdfwd.com/products/no-cold-callers-hotline-zine-strictly-hotline-mix-catalogue-dl/"> <em>No Cold Callers</em></a>, and reissue label Efficient Space’s<a href="https://efficientspace.bandcamp.com/merch/enthusiasms-issue-1"> <em>Enthusiasms</em></a>. The latter of which was put together by label-head Michael Kucyk, is a multi-coloured pastiche of photos, essays and interviews with some of the label’s most vibrant characters. “I long wanted to initiate a platform to present the photographs, artwork and interview transcripts that sit unseen on the cloud, compiled with various contributions from our label family,” explains Kucyk. The fanzine also provided Kucyk a way of getting his label’s music and stories heard, something which he admits is proving difficult within the contemporary media landscape. “They’re all getting swamped with hundreds of releases a week, so it’s easy to be overlooked,” he says, referring to mainstream music platforms. “A lot of it comes down to who you can pay to pitch it, and we’re just a modest operation from Australia, [although] our local releases admittedly do get a lot of international support. Our country has some curious characters, and that seems to be appreciated.”</p>'
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text: '<p>This independently self-funded scene is as volatile as the rest of the market, especially in times of crisis. As independent publishers, Raffaele and Bertisch, like all of the others listed here, are responsible for their own costs, and production. As such, they’ve decided to cease printing during the COVID-19 period, and instead publish an online PDF issue that documents what’s happening within their scene, and how people can help. “Figuring out how to celebrate our fifth anniversary was on our mind just a few weeks ago, but now we’re focused on doing whatever we can to make sure our friends don’t go hungry and homeless during this pandemic,” states Bertisch, exemplifying once more how important these community-driven publications are for our scene, and why they’re so important for us right now. </p>'
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# How Modern Fanzines are Giving a Voice to Underrepresented Scenes It's safe to say the last few years haven't been great for music and culture journalism. In 2018, German techno institution Groove discontinued its print issue -- last year, the UK giant NME folded, as well as Tinymixtapes and D...
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> > Barbie Bertisch {: .wp-block-quote} "We aren't mining data, selling banner ads or trying to build a media company. We're writing love letters to our city, lifting up the talented people here, and leaving behind a record for future generations," New York's Barbie Bertisch says about th...
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We want you to collect them, save them, pass them on, and look back on them in 20 years." The couple, inspired by earlier influential zines such as *Boys Own* (which is *still* going[ digitally][2] by the way), the Terry Farley-spearheaded[ *Faith*][3] (which recently just announced it will be re...
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[1]: https://loveinjection.nyc/ [2]: https://www.boysownproductions.com/zine [3]: https://www.faith.london/ . > > [ > > > xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg" > xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> stroke-width="1" fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"> transform="...
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Instead, we seek the lesser-told accounts and don't just focus on "club" music. We've featured stories about jazz royalty Alice Coltrane, disco archivist and photography critic Vince Aletti, legendary host and club owner Christina Visca, volunteer-run multi-disciplinary non-profit[ 8 Ball Communi...
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He insists that, within his scene, it's flourishing due to the kind of slow journalism zines tend to employ, he continues, as they "have longer interviews and features, and write from a specific niche angle."[ *Vinyldyke*][5] and[ *Women in Sound*][6], for example, are publications which take a s...
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"When I asked people to contribute, I asked them to write something as personal as possible," Gigsta further states. "It's more something that you can write that you couldn't do anywhere else." . [1]: https://www.facebook.com/makingwaveszine/ [2]: https://sirenldn.bandcamp.com/ [3]: https://pink...
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"It's more something that you can write that you couldn't do anywhere else." . [1]: https://www.facebook.com/makingwaveszine/ [2]: https://sirenldn.bandcamp.com/ [3]: https://pinknoisezine.bigcartel.com/ [4]: https://futureethics.bandcamp.com/merch/future-ethics-zine [5]: https://murmurationszin...
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curated by Nono, artworks by myself > and all proceeds going to @\_aequa\_ equa . #StayHome, take care > !][1]{: style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; > font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; > line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" ...
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Zines and activism have always gone in hand, but it's not just the stories they tell that make them special; it's also how they tell them. Zines have come a long way in their design, and can nowadays take many formats and use unique design styles, illustrations and imagery to create truly distinc...
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