Muzik - not the answer to your problems... (Muzik)

Name: Sugar Matty O

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Product:	Muzik
Date:	15/08/01 (24 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Still pretty essential if you need a clubbers bible

Disadvantages: Just looks so bare in places, Ridiculous amounts of industry back-slapping evident, Almost pricing itself out of the market

Muzik magazine used to be one of the few dance music publications that didn't care about what its competitors either thought of them or were doing at the same time, making it essential reading for those wanting well reasoned argument with knowledgable personality interactions and a shoot from the hip 'call a spade a spade' mentality within its reviews section. However, what was a priority buy month after month has quickly relegated itself back amongst the flood of also rans as a degree of commercial conformance in parallel to a ill-produced makeover, making it worthy of becoming a toilet accessory if nothing else (either reading it or using it diffrently altogether).

For a start, Muzik seems to base itself around an elite set of prominent dance music figures so unsubtly featured on rotation its criminal. Eg, Armand Van Helden seems to grace the hallowed pages every other month, and there's always room for Paul Oakenfold to tell everyone how his boring trance is still the future of dance music. Every release reviewed seems to be a must buy as well - not so long ago crap releases were in equal measure alongside those of genuine quality, yet it seems the music industry has perfected the art of...well, being perfect. The aforementioned makeover dramatically cut column inches at the expense of depth and substance that used to be the linchpin of Muzik's agenda, resulting in bitty features that look like they've been strategically under-worded just so they can fill the page sufficiently. Ugly white space that used to give a home to incisive comment and topical rhetoric just stays blank while its writers foam at the mouth in telling the audience how many pills they knocked back the other night, when E's were safe and what have you. At least their drug stance is as open-minded/vacant as the rest of the publications in its genre. Oddly enough this downward turn seems to have coincided with the inclusion of cover CD's which Muzik never
used to dabbled with...and I haven't even mentioned the obligatory price hike yet.

Rather than opting for unearthing new talent on its covers Muzik either regurgitates former cover shoots or something you're just as likely to find in Smash Hits. While undoubtedly it still retains its dry wit in places, Muzik at the moment goes against Madonna's lyric in that it hardly makes the people come together, instead driving its readers away for as long as its self-indulgence ensues...

Summary: