Readyset...Aesthetic #001 CONTACT: Michael J. Byzewski P.O. Box 91 Madison, WI 53701-0091 michael@planetdesign.com Available at Insound.

I admit that it's been a while since I spent much time with paper-based 'zines. Still, there's something undeniably nice about holding the mail-torn, hand-stapled, photocopied thing in your hands, flippling through it, tossing it down somewhere and forgetting about it, discovering it again a few days later, reading a couple more pages, getting absorbed in an interview, sticking it under a table leg, and so on, something that today's e'zines just can't provide. So I'm quite happy that Splendid has started receiving paper 'zines for review.

Readyset...AESTHETIC is Michael Byzewski's new 'zine, based out of Madison Wisconsin. It's a pretty straightforward affair, with reviews, interviews, a comic, a few guest columns, some cool graphics, ads from indie record companies and more. Interviewees include C Average, 007 author Raymond Benson, Faraquet, Sweep the Leg Johnny and Bill Barbot. The Benson interview is the most interesting, even though the latest Bond movie really really sucked (Benson did the "novelisation" of the screenplay, but didn't write the actual script). The others are just sort of standard "what other bands have you been in?" interviews, although Byzewski asks some fun questions, like:

"Robots or mokeys? Who wins?"

Sweep the Leg Johhny's response:

"Robots that are clones of monkeys."

Hee. Chuck Klosterman contributes a pretty funny article on the Y2K problem, in which, among other things, he predicts that Canada will experience few Y2K problems "mostly because there are no computers in Canada."

The comic is by Lon Jerome, and is called "The Lord Works in Mysterious Ways." It's got a nice drawing of a really hairy guy and a not-so-hairy girl in their underwear, but other than that it's just so-so.

And then there are the reviews...wow! I count 80 of them. That's right, e-i-g-h-t-y. That's pretty good for a 'zine's first issue. It's mostly quirky-hip-alterna-rock from labels like Sub Pop, Sugar Free, Bloodshot, etc. The reviews are well written and honest, although they're pretty much all positive, which means that either Byzewski listens to an awful lot of music, or he just happens to like everything he listens to (Or doesn't print reviews of the stuff he doesn't like -- Ed.). Either way, he does a good job of expressing his enthusiasm for the music.

Overall I'd say that readyset...AESTHETIC is a good first shot at a 'zine, but that it could use a little more personality. Byzewski says that in the future he'd like to take the 'zine in a less traditional direction, and I think that's a great idea. Right now it's well made and designed, but not super adventurous or compelling. Still, it's a fun read, and I'm anxious to see how the next issue turns out.

Reviewed by Irving Bellemead