zine, [zeen] noun. 1. abbr. of fanzine; 2. any amateurly-published periodical. Oxford Reference

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Saturday, September 2, 2017

Node Pajomo 2.2




PJM, Contact: Post Office Box 2632, Bellingham WA 98227-2632, USA; Size: 8.5" x 5.5" Page count: 24

I'm not sure how many issues of Node Pajomo I've missed since the last one I received back in March 2013, so suffice it to say how glad I am that it's still going.

NP is an essential zine resource since not only does it feature zine reviews, but reviews of independently-released musical projects [genres like experimental, noise, ambient, folk, metal, etc] and even 'ephemera' that other zine review zines would not touch, since they could not be defined as 'zines' - what I mean here is, for example, single-page 'newsletters' like those Truman Bentley Jr. made [I wonder if Truman is still creating these? Truman! Wake up grab a brush and put on a little make-up! and please resume communication! I must know >>> How are your Self-Improvement lessons going?]

Node Pajomo also includes Mail Art Listings. It's good to know there are still people doing these through the post, because as PJM observes: "This used to be the core of the zine but the tantalizing glow of digital social media has changed the way that the majority of mail artists interact with each other..."

Finally I'll note PJM's appealing writing style, which is fresh and incisive, and perhaps best of all, is his readiness to challenge a zinester [see scanned page above] - quite rare in zinedom these days. Why does it seem impossible in 2017 to find a zine reviewer who is not terrified of saying something even remotely negative? Too nice. Too boring.

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