Hello Friends.
I am so deeply and utterly humbled by these 2 recent reviews from 'true readers' not some fancy papered magazine or ultra hip blog..my goal is to create community of folks like us by doing my zine, I think we are all together off to a great start!...I am sharing these purely to help anyone decide if they either would want to participate in future zines, or purchase one. With all the face-on-the-floor humility here are two:
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AN EMAIL FROM A READER:
I just want to start by saying that I read through SR#2 more thoroughly, and although I do really appreciate that you value/respect my opinion enough to prepare yourself for potential negative judgements, I didn't find one fucking thing wrong with it. There were parts that could have been Xeroxed a little clearer, as to be more legible, but as far as actual content is concerned, I think you ought to give yourself a huge congratulation, because I have NEVER seen anything grow, improve, mutuate, transform, and spiral out of control (in a good way) so fast! The fact that you went from 4 pages to 24 in two fuckin' issues is just impressive beyond belief. There are a lot of zines other friends/allies/pen-pals of mine have put together in the past, but they never hit 24 pages, and never made it past a couple of issues which were all pretty similar. Shrouded Recordings gets it totally correct whereas other, smaller zines can sometimes feel like too much of a circle-jerk or back-patting party. Your zine interviews people from all sorts of music, and a ton that I don't know about beforehand, so is already more interesting by way of diversity and good selection of subjects. So it's functioning, for me, like a way to open my eyes and ears to shit I'd normally not be exposed to. Awesome! However, it's governed by your own personal wide scope of taste, so you can go from an interview with The Rita to Column Of Heaven (I had no idea they were affiliated with The Endless Blockade- so cool!) but still finish each interview feeling refreshed and inspired by the dedication of the artist to his craft, and even moreso by your heartfelt, touching, and incredibly serious array of questions (in presenting which, I loved how you mixed up the order for different interviews- brilliant!). I actually made a point of having a couple of my friends who aren't very familiar with noise-industrial-whatever-related music, and they still had really glowing praises to speak of SR#2. They were taken aback at how personal, intimate, and JUST FUCKING REAL everything was. There's no hipster artsy-fartsy shit, no fucking tough-guy macho posturing, no shit-talking, no ass-kissing, no vague abstract meaningless drivel, just straight to the point little poems about the sounds on the releases. Beautiful!!!
But, as before, it's your reviews which seem to illuminate the rest of the magazine for me, personally. They would not be considered academically or professionally typical reviews, as they deal mostly with the sounds' effect on you, rather than the actual qualities and effectiveness of the sound itself. I strongly and warmly welcome this approach over the latter, as I sometimes tire of the lack of emotion or personal connection within overly-analytical record reviews. Furthermore, the language you use and style in which you write is very quick, stream-of-consciousness, and emotional. I constantly am in awe of how much appreciation and gratitude is apparent in your reviews, every time I'm reading one, I find myself striving to put the same emotional investment into my own absorption of relevant sounds and music. Your reviews come straight from the heart, and are all the better for it. I love them, and I hope to read even more in the coming issues.
Another Review:
Just finished reading Shrouded Recordings #2. This is such a great zine! Thank you so much for trading with me. I hope you enjoyed New Hearts New Bones #17. I really enjoyed all the questions you asked and the your descriptions of the tapes. It is really neat to hear about all these bands I haven't heard of yet, and what books they read/art they like. I made a list of cool stuff/bands to check out after reading your zine. So I think that is pretty awesome. Thanks again for trading. I look forward to your next zine!
.JPG)