Top 5 fanzines, past or present:
5 ties, 200 runner-ups.
1. Go Metric / Zisk
2. Barracuda / Girlyhead / Chinmusic
3. Snakepit / Rum Lad
4. Tight Pants / You Idiot
5. Genetic Disorder / Suburban Voice
Top 5 current albums, past or present:
Not fair to anyone. Here are some that, literally, at the top of my personal listening stack. (Separated from review stack and good-for-working stack.)
1. Tiltwheel, Hair Brained Scheme Addicts
2. Dillinger Four, Midwestern Songs of the Americas
3. Reigning Sound, Too Much Guitar
4. Superchunk, Majesty Shredding
5. Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Primary Colours
Top 5 current 45s, past or present:
These, I can never just play once and re-file. All of these want to be played two-three times in a row, even though it's bad for the vinyl.
1. Dillinger Four, Songs about Girlfriends and Bubblegum (Mutant Pop)
2. Hex Dispensers, My Love Is a Bat
3. Otis Redding, Shout Bamamlama
4. Toys That Kill, "Birds in Catsuits" side of their split with the Ragin' Hormones
5. Young Governor / Marvelous Darlings - pick a 7", any 7"
Top 5 rad things about running a print fanzine:
1. On its best days, it gives me a feeling of great joy.
2. Writers I respect prefer being in print vs. electronically.
3. The "slowness" of it. It's a long-vision format, both creatively and keeping it afloat.
4. Having it in the bathroom, above the toilet, and it's not weird.
5. Self-respect. I really like that I do this with my friends. It's tangible. I can hand it to anyone. I like stuff that feels real. Too many things are now abstract, pretending to be real, but are "real," like "friends" on social networks. Gives me the heebie-jeebies.
Top 5 not-so-rad things about running a print fanzine:
1. On its worst days, I want to just fucking stop doing it and be a janitor.
2. People telling you, in question form, "Isn't print dead?"
3. People mistaking electronic devices for paper, then doing their best for you to make the same mistake.
4. People telling you how you "should" do it.
5. Collections.