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Introducing Plan B

autopilot disengaged

13:03 / 13.04.04

hey barbie buddies...

as some of you may know, i'm now writing for Plan B, the spanky new mag from the survivors of the team that brought you outsider bible Careless Talk Costs Lives.

if CTCL was dedicated primarily to covering bands that might not be mentioned anywhere else, this new edition is more concerned with chasing innovation, excitement and etc wherever it's to be found. so, no more indie ghetto.

go forth and check out the site: Plan B
also: join the forum and populate it with ideas, questions, whatever. also: respond to my thread about musicbloggers, 'cause i'm running dry.

thank you for yr co-operation.

15:17 / 13.04.04

Are they taking submissions? Do they maybe want to stop being so incredably cute that I want to hug them when they send my mailing-list shouts? Does this mean there'l be black people in the new mag?

17:46 / 13.04.04

Yes. Music by people who aren't white would be good.

18:07 / 13.04.04

Obviously I'm already aboard the Plan B bandwagon, sitting on the back playing a banjo as it heads North..

I fear that for the most part they're too busy/lazy to read unsolicited submissions, and the former CTCL gang consists of enough good writers to fill a magazine five times the size, so probably no joy there sadly in less you're doing something absolutely messianically magnificent. Or are one of their pals.

As for "the indie ghetto", I doubt if you'd get Everett True to leave if you burned it to the ground.. but as a fellow resident, I don't particularly care either way.

I'm sure it'll be another amazing magazine and I look forward to sending them the cash for my subscription.

autopilot disengaged

18:44 / 13.04.04

seriously: i wdn't hype this if i cdn't see it coming together the way it is - when i was writing for CTCL, it was nice and everything, but i didn't ever feel part of its central thrust, or mission, or whatever (it's true that i was a much more peripheral figure then than i hopefully shd be now...)

but let me give you PROOF of my words:

at this very mo, i'm knocking up website-only reviews of Westside Connection (Ice Cube's gangsta-in-amber project) and Madvillain, will be covering Miss Kittin and Felix's new records (which may well get a prominent space) for the launch issue, as well as RJD2, and an article on Crunk (Southern synth-swamp hip-hop).

you can expect to see !!!, automato, wylie, grime... plus, there'll be the afore-mentioned attempt to connect to the joycore world of bloggers sitting alongside pirate radio and zine sections.

we're also hoping to devote a sizable number of pages (read: not token) to general other media - film, books, video games etc.

weirdly, ET's kind of taking a back seat right now - remember CTCL was his pet project... think he got a lot out of his system with that - and at this point, he's really allowing the writers that came up last year a lot of leeway to determine the new mag's direction. seriously: it's really exciting, and he shd be saluted for doing it.

again, i'd really suggest getting over to the Plan B boards and getting involved.

18:54 / 13.04.04

You are the new Miss AMP.

Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!

20:17 / 13.04.04

Quick: woop!

10:12 / 14.04.04

What stuff did you write for CTCL, Autopilot?

All you're saying about Plan B sounds good I think - especially coverage of films and books - I think that's a well good idea.

autopilot disengaged

10:33 / 14.04.04

oh, various stuff - usually under the names 'kicking_k' or 'scott kane'... couple of others, too, but nothing massively exciting. i'm certainly getting a hell of a lot more opportunity to *shine* in the B.

to be honest, i kind of opted out of CTCL toward the end... seemed to be stuck reviewing the most obscure of the obscure, and stopped turning in copy as a result. lucky they were willing to give me a second chance, really.

now: am word-count-killin', deadline-racin' MACHINE.

whether the extra-culture stuff will be adequately represented in the trial issue put out this summer is questionable - has been difficult to make all the necessary contacts in time (so if anyone has any tips...) but it will establish itself by the time we launch proper.

oh - there may well be a link to the Barb on the B site very soon, if not already. i think i may also mention it in my column, also.

oh, and pin - i've met miss AMP and she needs no relacement just yet.

02:01 / 15.04.04

we're also hoping to devote a sizable number of pages (read: not token) to general other media - film, books, video games etc.

i dig that, but do we really need more magazine coverage of computer games? most people buy mags by console brand, and there are already a couple of really good ones independent of machine type... i fear that the mag may be spreading itself thinly over ground already deeply covered.

that aside, sounds cool.

i'll buy if i see.

autopilot disengaged

19:13 / 15.04.04

from what i hear, the video game coverage is not gonna be the kind of thing you read in the video game press. from what i hear, there's some kind of manifesto involved, and everything...

17:53 / 07.06.04

***bump, if you will.***

The debut issue of Plan B is out next week.

Its featured artists include Chicks On Speed, Kaito, Von Bondies, Lightning Bolt, Spektrum, !!!, The Pastels, New Black, Gravy Train!!!, The Cribs, Sunn O))), OOIOO, The Mountain Goats, Graham Coxon, Cocorosie, The Saints...and many more.

There's an article from Neil Kulkarni about cleaning out his chimney.
There's an article from Ian Svenonius raving about his favourite board game.
There's a rant from Peter Bagge that'll get us in trouble with the FBI.

There's a brand new media section, wittily entitled Media - where you can read about our favourite Outsider Art, including Olympia WA postcard creator Stella Marrs, Japanese horrorcore, children's books illustrators, Charles Schulz (all right, it's not *entirely* Outsider Art!), pirate radio and blogs.

There's a front section entitled The Void - starring Thurston Moore, Jeffrey Lewis, Erase Errata and Rammellzee.

There is superlative photography, courtesy of Sarah Bowles and her ace team.
There are superlative illustrations, courtesy of Andrew Clare and his ace team.

And it all costs £2.95 from your local store. Nice.

Or order direct, post-free, from www.planbmag.com/order

Cheers, Everett True (Editor-In-Chief)

And if none of those things make you want to run out and buy it, yr. a fool frankly. (I don't work for them (yet!) by the way.)