Magnet Magazine

Pros: Smart. Funny. High production quality. An incredible value.
Cons: Only covers indie-rock... but who minds that?

Magnet is great. Its focus combines the historical outlook of a rock-snob (a recent cover featured Steve Earle), while extensively covering today's "indie-rock" scene (the same issue contained an excellent article on the new Go-Betweens album,...

Pros: Reliable reviews, best, and ONLY coverage of indie rock in a glossy
Cons: Coverage too restrictive, sometimes champions mediocre talent (BRMC)

Anyone who thinks this independently published magazine with only music-related ads, no lifestyle marketing, and no half-naked women or cheesy pop stars on the cover, is mainstream, they on crack.

While the writers may be less experienced and polished than your average major newspaper or Rolling Stone hack, the content is refreshing in that it doesn't sacrifice thoughtful criticism for annoying, witty puns. How many tiny capsule reviews can you handle where the only goal seems to be to make the writer seem clever, instead of getting a sense of what the frigging music is like.

Magnet is all about the music. I often wish their tastes would stray more often beyond the indie rock confines. For that I have to branch out to Songlines, The Wire, Uncut, Terrorizer and webzines. Aside from the one shortcoming, Magnet is getting better at offering larger, well-researched features on things like the history of powerpop, shoegaze and college rock. Sort of the indie alternative to geezermag Mojo.