Copper Press Issue #12: You Ain't No Kinda Man if You Ain't Got Land $4.00 (includes CD) For more information visit CopperPress.com or write to: Copper Press PO Box 1601 Acme, Michigan 49610

The writing retains this professionalism -- the 18 pieces are all interview-based articles, tailored, but not limited, to an indie rock crowd. Each author, inevitably a fan of the interviewee, does his or her best to sum up their work before giving a prose or scripted account of the interview. This format does get tiresome, despite the multitude of writers and styles, but the wide variety of subjects, including occasional non-musicians, helps to make it easier going.

Concerning the standard indie rock fare, I was rather excited to read about Guided by Voices and Songs: Ohia; both had suitable intros to bring non-fans up to speed, followed by, in the former piece, pertinent questioning about what it means to sell out and, in the latter, a discussion of the band's loose, semi-improvisational recording techniques. There were also plenty of articles that piqued my interest concerning bands I hadn't heard of. Specifically, The Roots of Orchis come across as an experienced and somber act who liken their slow, subtle compositions to gently walking through city streets.

The magazine's focus happens to be on modern punk acts, but the two most educating articles this time around are about genre-bending composer John Wolf Brennan, whose influences range from John Cage to Bach, Erik Satie and beond, and solo guitarist Joe Morris. Both articles include a bit of history and some lessons on necessary lingo in order to make the material more accessible to readers with limited background in such music.

Also noticeable are the pieces on snowboarder Lukas Huffman and painter Chris Silva. The former, though a tad dull due to its limited subject matter, is still an enjoyable jump from one subculture to another, and the latter is about a modern painter with a raw and emotional, almost street-based style, also including a few noteworthy prints of his work.

The bands on the accompanying CD seem to correlate more to the advertisers in the zine than the articles. I found this a little disappointing; you can read so much about new music before you simply have to hear it, and upon completing the zine I would've been quite psyched to hear all the bands I'd just read about. The disc has a more limited range than the zine, focusing on dirty and gritty post-punk bands that play around with song structures, tempos and levels of obtrusion. It plays like a soundtrack for a philosophy-major's dirty apartment -- clothes are thrown around, the smell of stale coffee abounds, there's even some floss in the bathroom that's been reused for two weeks, but perhaps the fact that the shaggy-haired student in the corner is reading Plato redeems his lifestyle just a bit.

Many of the bands use math-rock to jump from one punk-inflected emotion to another, like paranoia to anger. Any moments of beauty -- and there are plenty, such as the melodic weaving of Eyes of Autumn's "Creating Waves Bigger Than Ourselves" and Anaset's "Solarize", or Winfred E. Eye's slow and twangy, steel guitar-led "Keep the Bed Warm" -- are appropriately covered by a thick layer of dust.

With the exception of the repetitive article format and a comparatively slim variety of styles on the disc, Copper Press covers its bases. They're already up to issue 12, and the format is pretty down pat and professional, which is a lot more than most other zines have going for them.

-- Josh Kazman