Straight no Chaser last issue

inVrs

one of my favourite papers is going to shut down soon. last issue will drop in september. a real loss if you ask me. anyone else feelin SNC on here?

Aser

I dig some of it, alas I don't think SNC appeals to the Strutter crowd.

tis a shame though, but I kinda saw it coming.

Young_Phonics

damn, that's a real bummer. Was it too niche? Did they not try and adapt? I can't say I've bought too many issues.

piedpiper

they were definitely too niche. I enjoyed the graphic design and a part of the stories, but the reviews and hypes of certain acts/music genres have been to me in most of the cases. I also had the impression that the quality deteriorated in recent years. However, it was a well done music magazine and I liked to read it at the record shop.

kwality

I liked it but it always seemed pretty light weight to me - like they had GZA in it a few issues ago and didn't really ask him anything different than what a much "fluffier" magazine would've. Still, the design was a great and it's a shame to see another good magazine go down the tubes.

Young_Phonics

I liked it but it always seemed pretty light weight to me - like they had GZA in it a few issues ago and didn't really ask him anything different than what a much "fluffier" magazine would've.

damn, this sounds like a shitty mag then. They should of become a graphics magazine then.

mrmatthew

I always enjoyed this mag.
Sad to see it go.
Punk Planet is also going belly up, too.

Wel..there's always Redbook.

wescoasia

That's unfortunate. My fave part of the zine was their DJ top ten lists section. Picked up on a lot of dope nujazz/house/brokenbeat titles from renown DJs who contributed lists each issue, like Gilles, Kyoto Jazz Massive, Rich Medina, Spinna, etc. They covered a good mix of world, funk, and soul musicians, besides the newer shit, too.

DJ_NevilleC

RIP. I used to love the Chaser. When I first started DJing around 1990 I read their DJ charts religiously. They turned me on to loads of jazz, soul, reggae, and acid jazz that I never would have heard on the radio here in DC. The current 12"s on their lists would become my want lists for trips to Satellite and Vinylmania in New York (and Atlanta) and Modern Music in Baltimore.
My only complaint about the reviews was that they never reviewed a record they didn't like. I also thought their top ten lists got a bit stale over the years (same DJ's, Gilles Peterson getting two lists, etc.).
I loved the graphics but it did make it a bitch to read sometimes. Great paper stock though.

TNG

Really glad this thread is here as it's a debate I've wanted to have outside our office walls for the last year. While we've all seen a number of magazine's go the way of the ghost in the last few years, I have to wonder if there is a point or future for paper magazines. With more and more people getting their news online, it makes sense that the GP would also gravitate towards the medium for their cultural needs. Here's a great case:

Magnet, once an indie rock bible published six times a year, now a quarterly made up of lists (which seem to be the new constant) and interviews with whatever big indie twats they could get. With the internet's instant access to new music, the magazine was sure to suffer in the wake of new-indie icons like Pitchfork. How they're still in business is an absolute mystery, though by bookstore source says they tear more overs off and order less of every issue.

I'm not sure I know the equivalent for SNC, but I'm sure that our new instantaneous information reality played a part. Whether or not their content was stale, they served an audience, and we have to wonder where that audience is being served now.

The big question: Outside of the dentist's office, do we need magazines? How many do you subscribe to? How many do you pick up every issue at the news stand? Do you look both ways and then sign up for that free subscription to EW offered at Best Buy? Or are you strictly into Gawker and tvshowsondvd.com?

DB_Cooper

new-indie icons like Pitchfork.

Pitchfork has a way of inciting my basest, most violent urges. It literally makes me want to smash my monitor and stab people with the glass shards. Preferably the writers for Pitchfork.

Do we need magazines? How many do you subscribe to?

I think there will always be a place for magazines that offer mid-length, in-depth articles, because most people don't want to read a piece of that length off a computer monitor. Similarly, there will always be a place for books for the same reason. Newspapers? Now that's a dying medium.

Jonny_Paycheck

Yeah - I haven't subscribed to a music mag in a minute now but I still hold a subscription to the New Yorker that, with effort, gets read cover to cover through the course of one week on the crapper.

Unless a mag is stepping to that level of writing, I can't see paying for it. There are enough amature pundits on the internet, and I'm just as capable of lugging my laptop to the bathroom.

Flomotion

I've taken several magazines online and you can maintain healthy audiences for both your print and digital versions of the title - the rise of one shouldn't sound the death knell for the other. In fact, they should boost each other if the content is right. People will continue to want magazines - it's a different experience and offers a sensory, tactile element you don't get online.

Aser

I used to be a music/design magazine whore, but now I'm down to one subscription, the new yorker.

It's just too much clutter, a big waste of paper to be honest. I do miss my subscription to Saveur even though I never read it cover to cover.

Swifty is behind the art direction of SNC, and also the man behind the gorgeous sleeves for Especial Records.

lord234

The big question: Outside of the dentist's office, do we need magazines?

OF COURSE WE DO!

I will prefer magazines to the net.....
















and besides, i can't take my laptop to the toilet.....

DJ_NevilleC

When I worked for a daily newspaper a few years ago we worried about staying current with cable news being everywhere. By the time the newspapers hit the stands in the morning your big story was old news and cable had moved on to the next story.
One of SNC's niches was turning people on to current (or future) music and if you're a monthly or a quarterly magazine you better have something else to offer (good in-depth articles, great photos, something) or you're old news.
BTW I used to subscribe to lots of magazines, now I only get two - The New Yorker and Playboy, The only other magazines I buy regularly are Wax Poetics and Mojo. Vanity Fair has some great articles from time to time but has become too much of a celebrity journal for my tastes (the TomKat baby issue was the last straw).
I will peek at People and Us at the supermarket or at a doctor's office.

TNG

Neville hit it on the head perfectly. How can any magazine that is trying to keep up with ever developing culture really contribute on a monthly/bi-monthly/quarterly basis? By the time your story on DJ Lunchbreak has run he's already OD'd and in rehab.

hans_db

How can any magazine that is trying to keep up with ever developing culture really contribute on a monthly/bi-monthly/quarterly basis?

by bringing in-depth interviews, label specials, whatever..
these mags receive albums months in advance so surely they must be able to come up with something distinctive. i never hardly read full or +1 page articles online to be honest.. and magazines are still perfect for the garden, couch, trams & bus, ...

i started spending my mag-money on waxpoetics some ten to twelve WP-issues ago, got to make choices..

kwality

I'm a magazine junky, so there'll always be a place for them in my bookshelf, but I do notice I'm becoming a lot more discerning. Wax Po is a given, then I have a selection of music/audio nerd mags that I buy if they tickle me. The thing that I've noticed is that alot of mags are dealing with the onslaught of the net by actually dumbing down what they do, or throttling their content to drive you to their site. I'm not a fan of either, and can see that magazines that thrive will probably become more niche and indepth than ever before, albeit with smaller distribution.

TNG

[quote magazines that thrive will probably become more niche and indepth than ever before, albeit with smaller distribution.
This is the future of the record business as well.

white_tea

Cosign -- magazines just have to provide more in-depth or insightful coverage. Not what or when, but WHY. I just spent a good portion of my evening reading a few New Yorker magazines, which never disappoints.

I recently subscribed to Cook's Illustrated.



I just heard that Raygun went out of business.

diane_diane

i didn't love everything they put out but i think it's a definite loss.

good news for the fans:

"Initially, we plan to step up and extend our interactive web presence - which to our shame we've pretty much neglected (apart from Chris T's tremendous efforts on the Chaser Myspace!). The aim is to continue to maintain our unique and ongoing relationship with that wealth of global talent consistently producing music both in those home studios and live onstage.
This will coincide with the Chaser crew raiding our substantial archive.
Firstly, we will negotiate to produce a visually chunky, slamming, globally distributed book that reflects the journey so far. Secondly, the archive will fuel a serious exhibition of graffix, photography and illustration.
Personally, I can't wait to see this done - we know that it will blow people's minds from Rio to Tokyo.
And then... we'd like to do the Chaser "specials". What format they will take?
I really don't know but, more than likely they will be limited editions, deep 'n' phunky, sold via the web and selected hip outlets and highly collectable. However, don't expect us to vanish into a mist of retro pre-occupations. While we will always celebrate our roots into the past, where as Sun Ra said, "History is his story, Mystery is my story!", we remain essentially committed to working with those people around the world actively creating those bright moments that make for a better world."

http://www.straightnochaser.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4629

tonyphrone

Print is Dead unfortunately.

(thank god for Wax poetic )

Danno3000

End of an era!

All you need to is look at Chasers from the late 80s and early 90s to see how influential it once was. Even in the mid-90s it was still a taste maker and broke so much good music new and old. Those top 10 charts were brilliant--DJs from all over the place trying to one-up each other with the raer and the super new. Of course the Internet has largely supplanted the need for any printed DJ charts and the quality of Chaser's writing steadily deteriorated. Still, one of the most personally meaningful reviews 'si, para usted' got was Chaser's as I grew up musically with that mag.

Aser, Saveur? Come on! There's only one food mag and it's Art of Eating. PS: I'll call you tomorrow.

sticky_dojah

Print is Dead unfortunately.

I don't like laptops in the toiletroom