Has anybody read Paste Magazine (AAA, alt-country, indie)?
 

There was a brief review of the latest issue of this mag in this weekend's paper, and it sounded somewhat appealing. It seems to have been around for around 18-24 months. It covers AAA, alt-country, indie artists (e.g., Iron & Wine, Patty Griffin, Sarah McLachlan, Kathleen Edwards) and each issue includes a sampler CD.

Has anyone read the magazine? Is the writing any good? I read a couple things on their website (http://www.pastemagazine.com), and they were a little too fluff-y for my tastes, but maybe I picked the wrong things.

Whereas that Tracks magazine seemed geared towards 40-year-olds (e.g., the Sting interview), Paste seems geared toward 30-year-olds -- I'd be very interested in subscribing if the writing's good.

Thanks in advance.

The writing seems decent, at least on the one article I read, but the newsgathering seems sketchy. Case in point.

Honestly, I think that is a huge stretch, and not based on sound, approach or value. But that's not my main problem.

He writes about OTC as if they are still a band. "Fortunately, the Olivia Tremor Control continue to obsessively pursue tight, orchestrated excellence in an inherently loose and crappy studio environment." Wrong. Circulatory System and The Sunshine Fix (the two bands that rose from OTC's break-up) continue this tradition. I imagine that Curt Cloninger heard the re-issues, and since they aren't dressed up with extra tracks and liner notes like most re-issues he assumed that they are new releases.

Perhaps the rest of the magazine is good, but my initial opinion is that they aren't particularly concerned with fact-checking. And that always deducts at least one grade point, IMO, especially from a magazine that prints.

Here is the url of the article I read http://www.pastemagazine.com/action/..._id=418&page=1