Zum #12 P.O. Box 4449 Berkeley, CA 94704-0449 For further info, visit http://www.zumonline.com Zum is available from Insound.

Zum #12 marks a farewell of sorts for zinesters Yvonne and George Chen. In their opening editorial they explain that due to financial and time restrictions, they won't be continuing to put out a paper version of Zum. They've been doing it for over nine years, so that means they averaged slightly more than one publication a year. In zine terms, that's not bad, but a couple of months' worth of Splendid is roughly equivalent to one issue of Zum and I can't help wondering if the internet and web-based zines have contributed in some small measure to the downfall of hardcore DIYs like this. Yvonne and George even mention the fact that part of the reason they decided to quit the analog incarnation of Zum is to be able to spend more some working on their website (which is, ostensibly, less expensive and time consuming). There's also a Zum record label, which put out one of my recent favorites: Beans' Tired Snow EP.

Alright, so get to the content already! Besides the requisite Mogwai interview (which is actually pretty interesting and includes some napkin doodling by Mogwaian Stuart Braithwaite), Zum #12 contains an interesting interview with Sara Tanaka (who acted in the film Rushmore) and an unorthodox tour diary by Sweep the Leg Johnny's Steven M. Sostak. The Tanaka piece is cool because she's hardly famous and hence very genuine -- and, I must say, quite intelligent and charming. The article particularly focuses on what it's like to be an Asian-American actor. I find it fascinating to listen as Ms. Tanaka provides insight into how her Rushmore character, Margaret Yang, came to be.

I also like the Sweep the Leg Johnny tour diary. In reality, it's not a diary, but more of a list of stuff the band carries with them in their tour van. Items include Ric Flair dolls, a sign that says, "Meanest Man Contest" and baseball equipment. O.K., so maybe that list doesn't soud so exciting in and of itself; I guess it's the delivery that makes it amusing. And I like the way the tour diary wasn't really a tour diary.

Zum #12 also has interviews with Hood, DJ Disk, Mountain Goats, Phunckateck and Armatron, a real tour diary of The Aisler's Set in Japan, and articles about Vietnam and Thailand. There's a two-page piece extolling the virtues of wiffle ball -- strange, if not entirely interesting. The last half of the zine is filled with a dozen zine reviews, two video reviews and something like 250 CD reviews. As is to be expected, the music reviews are mostly out of date, but if you read them for critical insight rather than as a guide to recent music you'll be satisfied enough.

Zum is a good, solid zine. It's intelligent and well-formed and has all the eccentricity and individualism that make zines so rewarding. It's too bad that the Chens won't be able to do it anymore. But at least they're not giving up their record label (more Beans please!)...and if you yearn for the good old days of Zum, there's always the website. -- Noah Wane