The new issue of Subbaculture hit the doormats of
discerning readers this morning with a welcome thwack and, as I probably say
each time, it’s the best one yet, packed with sounds and styles from the
street.
As ever, the writing and design is a class above your
average ‘zine and there’s plenty of substance in the articles too as they drift
to encompass various strands of thought and subject matter.
What continues to amaze is how each issue has so many “that’s me!” moments. Editor Mark Hynds and
contributors including Peter Jachimiak with uncanny regularity blow dust off teenage
memories and tie-in references which concur with my own tastes. Mark recalls
playground transactions involving the Quadrophenia
albums, I sold the soundtrack one at school to fund my new found interest in
Northern Soul; Mark also, in a piece about punk in Norwich, says his favourite
Jamie Reid artwork is the Nowhere buses image, a print of which hangs in my
hall; and on the same page, Peter revisits the Manic Street Preachers’ early New Art Riot EP and their first venture
into London wearing “mod-style jackets with prison arrows sewn on”, a period which
made as lasting an impression on me in my early 20s as discovering The Jam did as a kid.
On that theme, there’s a moving account of the relationship
between Paul and John Weller with reference to their working class roots; Kevin
Pearce tells a wonderful tale about the healing power of soul music; Tony
Beesley discusses his books covering mod and punk scenes, with a focus on
experiences outside London; Jason Disley provides a poem; the “gorgeous,
oblique shuffle” of Trojan records are reflected upon, and where else are you
gonna find a five-page spread charting the history of the Harrington jacket?
Copies are limited to 250 so, in keeping with Subbaculture’s ethos, look sharp…
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