Angry Violist #5.5
Emma, Cambridge – http://angryviolist.wordpress.com
Angry Violist is one of my favourite UK zines – Emma writes
about classical music and esoteric musical ideas in a fairly accessible way,
and I feel as if I’ve enriched my mind somewhat after delving into her writing. This particular issue was created in 24
hours, so it’s a little shorter and messier than other issues, and is rather
more personal and opinionated. The zine
opens with a fascinating piece on the hierarchy of music, sound and noise, and
how these 3 intertwine, illustrated with a detailed Venn diagram (who doesn’t
enjoy a good Venn diagram?). We also
read about the discipline of acoustic violin/viola/cello playing, and “the
wilderness of exceptionally loud and distorted noises” that emerge when you
hook your instrument up to an amplifier.
My favourite piece was about the joy and vulnerability of making music
with other musicians, and the danger of comparing yourself to other
musicians. The layout is messy and
cut-and-paste, though the focus of the zine is the words rather than the
visuals. I adore this zine series - Emma
strikes me as a knowledgeable musician, and her zines are always so vibrant and
engrossing!
Girlzone #2: In
Your Dreams
Edited by Charlotte Cullen, Huddersfield – http://project-babe.tumblr.com
This lovely half-sized compzine is all about girly
sleepovers, an empowering practice of female bonding and exploration that are
“an important part of any adolescent adventure”. We read tips for good sleepovers, how to
build a fort, nail art ideas, a list of perfect sleepover films, and tales of
sleepovers gone wrong. There are also
pieces of artwork dotted throughout, and the centrefold is a big pink Ouija
board! Printed in colour and bound with
pink and green cotton thread, it’s a cute, quirky zine (though unfortunately
due to the way it’s been printed, it’s a bit difficult to read in places). Highly recommended!
Light of My Life:
Adventures in Low-power Lighting #1
Flo, Leeds – http://ledfantasticblog.wordpress.com
Flo, Leeds – http://ledfantasticblog.wordpress.com
Light of My Life is a cool half-sized zine all about LEDs,
created by Flo while on an electrical apprenticeship. It’s packed full of info about LEDs,
including the advantages of using them over other types of lighting (namely,
you save around 92% energy!), how and where to work with them, and how to make
a 12-volt LED circuit. There’s also a
list of things Flo loves about their apprenticeship. It’s a short zine with a nice cut and paste
look, and Flo’s enthusiasm for their work is really lovely to read.
Agua Pura: A Month
on the US/Mexico Border
Kathleen, Leeds - agua.pura.zineATgmail.com
Kathleen, author of perzine ‘Scratch that Itch’, wrote this
zine all about her experiences working as a paramedic providing humanitarian
aid on the US/Mexico border. Every year,
thousands of people from central America walk for days through the searing heat
of the desert to cross the US/Mexico border, pushed to do so by “economic
imperative, systematic violence and family ties”. Kathleen writes much about the experiences of
the travellers – the exhaustion and terror, dehydration and frequent deaths
along the way, the US Border Patrol’s overzealous hunting of travellers using
helicopters, drones, ATVs and dogs, and Kathleen’s struggle to emotionally detach
herself from the events in the desert. We
also read about her personal experiences there – her colleagues, rattlesnakes, finding
a dying traveller at the side of the road and being legally unable to drive him
to get help, and hearing that a friend of hers died by his own hand while she
was away. The layout is nice – mostly black
text on white background, with illustrations, comic strips, and some
handwritten sections. I also love the
blue ink on the cover and centrefold. A
very well-written and thoughtful story.
Her Kind #1
Amy Isme, England - herkindAToutlook.com
I picked this zine up for free at a riot grrrl night in
Coventry called REVOLT, and it’s actually one of the best British zines I’ve
read for ages! Her Kind is a half-sized
perzine that features themes of queerness, sisterhood, illustration, erotica,
feminism, and body acceptance. It’s
quite disjointed, featuring lots of little things rather than any extended
pieces – lots of illustrated quotes on the topic of eroticism and lesbianism, a
sexy piece of erotic fiction (AKA “the one-handed read”), an illustration of
her heroine Delphine Seyrig, an open letter to Amy’s school bullies, and some awesome
feminist-themed illustrations! The zine
closes with a passionate piece on the power and wonder of the cunt – I adore
the whole thing, but especially the image of a turned-on cunt widening “as if
trying to hook itself around the furthest-away stars in the galaxy, travelling
further & further up into space, making all of the infinite BLACKNESS throb
& throb”. Such beautiful
imagery! Her Kind is intelligent, accepting, and affirming – it’s the kind of zine I wish I could copy and give
out to everyone I know!
No comments:
Post a Comment