hey guys, got a few new zines and books available, as well as some cds;

a network of friends #3 (a5 - £1)
an ‘omnibus’ zine with articles and interviews lifted from gadgie, headwound, toilet paper, initonit, ripping thrash plus more.

and then one day: sketchbook (a6ish - £2)
an absolutely gorgeous one-hundred document of fine comic art. ryan claytor’s engrossing, engaging everyday tales recounts his move from his small town to the hustle and bustle of san diego city living and the ensuing chaos. i cannot recommend this enough

doris book; an anthology 1991 – 2001 (£4)
a 320-odd page book collating doris #1-#19. this gets me thinking, writing and dreaming each time i dip my toes into it.

drat! #2 (a5 – 50p)
local zine with some interviews including meet me in st. louis, anamanaguchi, and murder by death with some good reviews and an article on the perfect mixtape

facial disobedience #5 (a5 – 50p)
centred around a bundle on interviews with assembled southampton zine and band folks with a brief tour diary and scavenger hunt highlights to the side, this is short, sweet and rather charming.

gadgie #21/ripping thrash #23 split (a5 – 50p)
on the gadgie side, there’s the usual array of anecdotes on his upbringing, his beloved middlesborough fc and indian queen in boston as well as a decent interview with ace thrashers patient zero and reviews. top drawer. the ripping thrash side contains a fascinatingly extended interview with an tasmanian zine distro-er and many more reviews on global diy thrash/grind/crust/punk, so pen and foreign currency at the ready!

headwound #16 (a4 - £1)
unashamedly punk-as-fuck with rants, reviews and interviews with bands you’ve never heard of. nevertheless, they provide much more insightful and astute answers then you will ever find between the pages of rocksound and all that shit. nicely laid-out and not a hairs-width of space left, this is cracking.

headwound #18 (a4 - £1)
more of the same awesome art, rants, reviews and interviews with whole in the head, kismet hc, filthpact and others i’m ignorant of. still a fucking good read, mind.

morgenmuffel #15 (a5 – 60p)
at last, one of my favourite zines ever is finally in the brass buttons! box. isy documents her life in comic book form, touching on her work at the brighton cowley club and anarchist teapot with more personal entries. the drawings are wonderful, illustrating her stories perfectly and her sense of humour is wonderous.

the perfect mixtape segue #2: brutal honest tea (a6 – 50p)
joe co-runs ‘microcosm publishing’, perhaps the biggest name in the zine scene and this is him reflecting on whether trying to be self-sufficient on your diy projects is indeed the right way to go. crises, self-reflection, not knowing where to turn are all felt within these 16 pages.

the perfect mixtape segue #3: fixing the plumbing (a6 – 50p)
finding his friends having accidental babies more frequent, joe attempts to now fall foul of the same situation by having a vasectomy. Plenty of details about seeking out a vasectomy, the actual surgery, and the reasons why. It's probing and personal and has the usual slice of life reality.

the perfect mixtape segue #4: a month on the road with $100 and a t-shirt (a6 – 50p)
hand drawn maps, photos and travelling anecdotes from the road, makes me want to organise a ‘zines and bands on tour’ affair. great stuff as always from joe.

postcards (a5 - £1)
a simple idea touching on the postsecret idea; a zine sends out a hundred blank postcards to a hundred folks who fill them anything and send them back. those that were sent back were printed in this zine! a fabulous idea with some funny and poignant entries.

riddler (a5ish - 50p) helen and co's music zine with wicked band interviews covering a plethora of indie and experimental stuff, columns and wonderful artwork.

rum lad #1/scared of bees #1 (a5-50p)
popping their fanzine cherry on the rum lad side is steve providing us with some fantastic art (he did the brass buttons flyer thing on the front of this too!) alongside some tales of his job as a hospital porter. the scared of bees side is a really positive bunch of short stories touching on village life, urban exploration and the loss of a friend.

sink or swim; the disease of more (a5 – 50p)
this canadian perzine’s chaotic layout mirrors the tragedy and hopefulness oozing from the authors’ every pore. reading this first time is like downing a bottle of vodka before breakfast with its hard-hitting, brutal and incredibly honest.

spat back #3 (a6 – 50p)
gorgeous little cut ‘n’ paste affair with craft tips, cooking recipes and many posi vibes in her other writings.

university #1 (a5 – 50p)
drunken tales, broken hearts, friendships formed, enemies gained, lectures missed; one student from edinburgh uni recounts her first year at university

the walnut tree #3 (a5 – 50p)
the thickest one yet with more stories including an epic trip to germany for the world cup, irreverent games tales, a trip to paris recounted any many more bits and pieces.

as well as zines and books, i have a couple of cds available to purchase!

hop along queen ansleis : freshman year (16 tracks - £4)
gorgeous female-fronted acoustic folk featuring frances and an array of tambourines, bells, rainmakers, and other accompaniment.

ultimate sound compilation (17 tracks – free!)
an admirable showcase of the half-decent alternative music scene we have around north-east hampshire and further afield. featuring ace tracks from push to fire, guns or knives, the pluto and more.

check the site for the rest of 'em at www.myspace.com/buttonsmadefrombrass

thanks!