magazines

[midas]

witch magazine do you use for reference?
In my days, 15 years ago my help in choosin
records was melody maker, (uk)
I use that and billboard when buying records.
of course living in Iceland i bougt most if
not all my records without ever hearing them
first.

now day is easy with the internet,
in fact i dont buy any records (cds) no more,

do you recomend any sites that review new
music, dance music that is.

i use billboard and allmusic.com

the amatour dj,
midas, sippin n´surfin, my favorate vaste of time

happy new year,

[Masdefi]

I too would like to know some good magazine to read from disco & funky music from 70s & 80s. At the moment I have no ideas. Any help?

[K-Bee]

Music Mags. Well for me there is only one that really counts:

Blues & Soul - the british publication has been a very important part of my life ever since I started collecting records.

It is one of the best black music reference sources you'll ever find - believe me. Today it's mostly RnB / Hip-Hop but the old issues from the 70's & 80's are awesome if you cand find them 2nd hand or on your public library.

www.bluesandsoul.com

[Nano]

In my youth I read local rock mags, which mostly rewrote articles from the British press (think NME), I guess. Around 1990 and due to local economic reasons, foreign mags were cheaper and I got hooked on Vox (also British) from 1991 to 1995; I'd say in the 1993-94 period it was a great read, with some very good writers (like Lisa Verrico) and, most than anything, a whole lot of information on each issue: all music releases in a lot of genres, dossiers on things of the past, reccomendations by genre, etc. etc. Then, it was buyed by some other house and transformed in another imitation of the NME. A pity, because Vox had the model of "Q" magazine but better written and more modern. In those two years it was the mag that I wanted to read and would love to make.
After that I tried with others like Pulse!, Revolver, even dance magazines, but there's nothing like good ol' Vox. Of course I buyed Rolling Stone and Spin (even Vibe) from time to time, but I don't like that American idea of putting 5 big articles (of which maybe I'm interested in one or two) and only 4 pages of reviews. It only puts the mag at the service of the big labels, which are all over MTV anyway.
On recent years the web almost erased the local mags (in which I used to write) and then the economy crisis of 2001-02 prived us of buying the foreign mags (very expensive). So, for now it's RollingStone.com and AllMusic.com.
But it's important to browse a real magazine with your eyes and fingers. There's no other way to know about all the releases. A couple of weeks ago, I found in AllMusic that Prince had released another CD and I didn't know ****. And it was a year ago! Clearly his label is not interested in promoting him (this fact alone should crash Michael Jackson's claim against Sony).

[NickNack]

Not sure exactly what you're looking for but maybe check out DJ Times. It was originally created to assist the mobile DJ's in the industry but it has broadened it's scope over the years.

It's a monthly subscription service (international) and always features articles on dj's/remixers, new equipment for clubs and mobiles, industry news, tips on things from simple music recording to cd burning and music mastering. There's also a 'feedback' section where jocks can write in with their questions or problems and get professional assistance. Also has a 'new grooves' section for the latest releases along with a 'top 50' crossover chart. The chart is compiled from record pools across the United States. You can always find some goodies in between the ever-present pop stars: Madonna, Whitney, Christina... you know who I mean.

DJ TIMES
25 WILLOWDALE AVENUE
PORT WASHINGTON, NEW YORK, USA 11050
(516) 767-2500
www.djtimes.com

[Giovanni]

In the disco years, I read regularly the Disco column on Billboard and I still have all its famous charts Marky is posting here and there.
Since the mid 70s, I've been a subscriber of BLACK MUSIC, a very beautiful UK monthly that died in the early 80's.
I've also been a subscriber of BLUES & SOUL, another good UK weekly magazine, but I stopped my subscription when I left djng in '86. I still have entire years of this magazine.

I know tha nowdays exist lots of disco oriented mags, often with sample CDs (Mixmag etc.), but i refer myself to internet sites, even because I'm not so interested in new releases, so I can buy those later. When djing, I HAD to be always up to date since a record that was 2 months old was considered surpassed