It’s a ritualistic thing – filling your bag with flyers, promo packs and b-grade free press from the front of the record store on your way out after a shop. It makes for one-time entertainment on the tube ride home, but generally it’s pretty crappy and inapplicable unless you already know the coverage inside out.
I literally cheered for joy then, discovering Trap Magazine on the journey back the other night. Focusing on bass music culture this is exactly what the fracturing scene needs. Their tag-line ‘at the beating heart of the bass-music generation’ is a nice summation of the way they seem to work.
A quick glance at the credit’s page reads like a who’s who of the top influences in the scene and some of our favorite photographers of the moment. And whilst Shook! mag’s laid claim as the underground bible of this generation, I’m yet to see street press done to the calibre of Trap.
In fact 99% of what I pay for isn’t done this well. Especially considering the increasingly cannibalisation of the once underground bass culture. This is especially true in the majority of press covering the scene being young and keen to impress. An example pops to mind. At least 2 out of the 5 reviewers who hailed Shank as the best thing ever and future of film making never even saw it. Probably didn’t even watch the trailer.
Not that I’ve seen it myself – it might in fact BE the best thing ever – but that’s not the point. Long-story short, Trap reads like the all-inclusive, unpretentious genuine article, done by experienced heads with no one to impress and well-earned opinions.
It’s very early days, so we’ll have to see where it goes (and if it can survive in this climate!) but I’m quite excited about this new venture. The first issue (collectors don’t sleep on #1) covers Deadboy, D Double E, Outlook Festival and a load more and ‘is available right now in record shops and the ‘right’ other shops in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Bath and Brighton, with Leeds, Nottingham and Sheffield being hit next week‘.
For those who’ve missed out on the physical, or just want to check it out now, there’s a pdf preview below.