I'D RATHER BE FAT THAN BE CONFUSED #4
Great indiepop zine supporting lots of true alternative bands. Not many contact addresses printed, but Ben does admit to this in the intro, saying that he uses search engines to find info on bands rather than typing in addresses, and "that's my excuse and I'm sticking by it". People with no internet access will have a hard time getting in touch with the bands, but I guess these days most people who read zines probably do have access to the internet.
Includes interviews with Big Eyes, Phil at Jonathon Whiskey/Norman Records, I Am The World Trade Center, Dear Nora, Call And Response and Of Montreal, articles on The Chemistry Experiment, Dressy Bessy and Track & Field, and music and zine reviews. Comes with a free split CDR of Trilemma (melancholic, lo-fi indiepop) and The Radiator Experts (upbeat lo-fi pop band; sometimes they sound kind of powerpoppy but with quirky bits, other times they do a less noisy summery pop thing. This excellently named band are much poppier now than they used to be; this is some of the best stuff I've heard from them!)
All this for just £2 + A5 SAE from Ben Sharpe, 2 Greenland Crescent, Chilwell, Nottingham NG9 5LB.

I'D RATHER BE FAT THAN BE CONFUSED #5
Current issue of one of my favourite zines around right now. Has the standard cut n' paste fanzine layout, but the content is so good that it hardly matters that the layout could belong to practically any fanzine. The musical bias is towards indiepop but other genres also get a look in. Has interviews with Airport Girl, Bearsuit, Fortdax, Jet Johnson, Homescience, Printed Circuit and Track & Field, articles on Bis and the Love Peace & Poetry compilation series, and lots of reviews including Foxgloves, The Tyde, Big Eyes, Lazarus Clamp, Static Waves, Groove Criminals, Scout Niblett, Dobosky, Trilemma, By Coastal Cafe, Ladytron, Edson, The Association, The Strawberry Alarm Clock, The Aislers Set and more. Not many contact details printed though - ok if you've already heard of the bands and know how to get their music, or if you're on the internet and can just do a search, but people without internet access, especially those new to indie music, might have a job finding out more about many of the bands in here.
Comes with a free CDR EP starring First Aid Manual and September Fell From The Sky. The first track by FAM is electronica combining poppy, weird and sinister elements, and the second is quirky electronica meets metal. SFFTS' first track mixes an indiepop tune with something more off-kilter, and samples some quiz show or another. The next track is an instrumental piece that's essentially post-rock, but with elements of melancholic indiepop, noisepop and even actual rock, in the twiddly guitar soloing that comes in part way through. Contact Ben at irbftbc@fsmail.net

POP ART #7.5
You may recognise Sid Stovold from Who Moved The Ground?, Inter, or his current band Wherewithal. He also runs Departure Records, and with Karina Fraser, writes Pop Art zine. This mini issue (a double sided A4 sheet folded up to A7) is a stopgap whilst they put issue 8 together. Includes bits of cut n' paste underground art, and a handful of music reviews which vary between the enthusiastic and the brutal - basically depending on whether they like the stuff or not. Music covered tends to be punk and the more noisy/powerful side of indie, but there is the occasional exception to this. For more info contact sidstovold@aol.com

BUTTERFLY CRUSH #4 & #5
Two recent issues of this recommended indiepop/post-rock/electronic music zine. #4 has the cut n' paste layout of past issues, whilst #5 has a neater word processed layout which is a touch easier on the eye. #4 has interviews with Trilemma and The Vichy Government, an article on Princess Superstar, and reviews of Debaser, The Feline Dream, Mean Red Spiders, The Mist Beets and more. Zine reviews too. #5 interviews The Mist Beets and Elefant Records, and has articles and reviews of Language of Flowers, Future Bible Heroes, Azure Ray, Bunnyhug, Camera Obscura, The Duds, The Psychedelic Breakfast, Simpatico, Son of Shrimp and more. Each issue is £1.30 inc p+p or £1 + A5 SAE (payment to P Millar) from 12 Glenarm Square, Belfast BT10 0FD, Northern Ireland. Further info from butterflycrushzine@hotmail.com

BLACK VELVET #35
The *other* long-running fanzine from Redditch! I've heard of Black Velvet for years, but never got in touch before because from what I'd heard, I figured it would be too based around mainstream rock for my personal taste. Whilst there is a lot of that in here, Black Velvet is also unafraid to explore the underground - still in rather a rock vein, but hey, that's not a problem, there are lots of decent rock-oriented bands in the underground. There is one thing that does grate somewhat and that is that there are no addresses, not even internet addresses, printed in most of the reviews. Whilst many of the bands in here are big names and therefore have their music freely available in shops, this is not always the case, and without an address you may have trouble tracking down some of the more obscure releases mentioned in here. On the plus side, there are demo and fanzine reviews which do include contact details.
Black Velvet is a professionally printed zine with a full colour cover and a team of writers. Bands/artists featured in this issue are Taking Back Sunday, The Reunion Show, Queen Adreena, Hell is for Heroes, Finch, Midtown, JJ72, Sebastian Bach, Phluid and Jesse James, plus a large article on Manic Street Preachers and a whole bunch of reviews. Whilst much of the music covered isn't really my thing, or I know little about, looking at the zine objectively I can recognise it as a really good publication for fans of rock, punk and glam. Send £2.50 inc p+p to Shari, 336 Birchfield Road, Webheath, Redditch, Worcs B97 4NG, or for further info email shari@blackvelvetmagazine.com

HAPPINESS RUNS #1
Mini-zine from Greece, written mainly in Greek, so I can't tell you what it says, but it looks to be a good zine for Greek-speaking indiepop fans. Has stuff on The Pastels, Metro, Jumprope, Next Time Passions and other bits. Even if you don't speak Greek, there's still a reason to get this zine, as it comes with a 3" compilation CDR featuring Metro, Niza, The Crooner, Jumprope, The Penelopes, Next Time Passions, and another band that's supposed to be The Sweetest Ache but definitely isn't. Unfortunately the tracks seem not to be in the order as listed on the cover, and it's possible that some of the aforementioned bands aren't actually on here, as The Sweetest Ache aren't. Therefore I'm not sure which some of these tracks are, but the songs I have here sound like this: indiepop with bossanova and jazz touches; twee summery pop; cute pop sounding very like River; cute pop with added old synths, samples and 70s-ish bits; jangly indiepop - again quite twee; ditto; and ditto again.
The Sweetest Ache's I Remember Caroline, a real blast from the past from their 1992 7" on Watercolour, is listed on the cover but unfortunately does not actually appear. The brand of pop showcased on this CD is very much on the sugary side, there's nothing here for fans of the more hard-edged kind of indie music, but it's worth checking out as an introduction to the cutie scene.
Contact Sotiris - ordinary_joe@mailbox.gr


VIVA SPARKY #9
16 page A5 zine with some writings in English and some in Welsh. Welsh speakers will get the most out of this as the Welsh articles (assorted reviews and an interview with Richard Griffiths of The Afternoons) are not translated into English - although there is the occasional English sentence in the interview. The music covered is varied, from indie to extreme noise to hip-hop. Some bands featured are Micawba, Pan Demla, The Conformist, Morose, Merzbow, Moon, OKOK Society and Sesar A. Enquiries to vivasparky@aol.com

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