Back in the early ’80s there was a local ‘zine out of Chicago called Matter. These days, it’s mostly known as the rag that featured Steve Albini as a contributor. Seeing as how I was a wee, wee lad (as in, less than a year old) during this era, it would have been hard for me to know anything about the ‘zine. Alas, leave it to fellow blogger (and great friend to Swan Fungus) Old Man Neill to help us all in our quest to uncover what exactly was printed in that ‘zine. A few weeks ago I received an e-mail from Mr. Neill asking me if I wanted a couple of old issues of Matter, and lo-and-behold they showed up at my doorstep just a couple days later! Both issues were in good condition — not bad considering their age. While I was home last week, I scanned the majority of the issues, and I’ll be hosting them forever (or until I’m asked to remove them) so that you can read the articles and interviews and columns and record reviews for yourself.
In this issue, Albini penned an article called “Husker Du? Only Their Hairdresser Knows For Sure”, Jim Cross submitted an almost interview with New Order, Albini interviewed UB40, someone wrote an article called “Johnny Thunders: Not Dead Yet”, and many new (circa 9/83) records were reviewed. Lastly, there’s a good installment of Albini’s “Tired Of Ugly Fat” column.
Please enjoy. And if you have any old copies of Matter collecting dust in your apartment, send ’em on over and I’ll share them with the people.
