Mike McGonigal is a music nerd of the highest order, and is one of those rare individuals who has used this obsessive love to amazing ends. From 1984 to 1995, he was the publisher and main contributor to Chemical Imbalance, a ‘zine that covered everything from raw jazz to comics to surrealist literature. The best issues of the magazine featured exclusive 7″ singles or CDs with rare and unreleased tracks by some of the best in the indie and outsider art world.
He has extended this idea to his work with Yeti, a quarterly publication that draws in interviews with musicians, essays and studies about music and the creative process, and some incredible drawings and artwork. And, of course, each edition comes with a wisely curated CD of material from artists featured in the issue and from the dustier corners of the music world.
If that weren’t enough, McGonigal’s Yeti Publishing has released books featuring the art and music of Tara Jane O’Neil and collected essays by the great Luc Sante, and will soon be unleashing the oral history of Galaxie 500 (something which he previewed in an abbreviated version last year on Pitchfork).
Now that we’ve established the man’s bona fides, I encourage you to check into yet another venture, this one specifically aimed at the vinyl enthusiasts among us. Called Social Music Record Club, this subscription series offers up 10 pieces of wax (nine 12″s and one 7″) for one small price. And the work he has collected for this…positively breathtaking.
Sir Richard Bishop
The first batch features an LP of instrumentals by guitarist Sir Richard Bishop, a collection of Jamaican gospel from the ’60s & ’70s, and a split 7″ of Christmas songs done by the great New Zealand pop group The Bats and Chicago’s sonic explorers Califone. Batch #2 boasts a collaboration between Grouper and guitarist Ilyas Ahmed, an experimental effort by Ty Segall, and some brutally fun garage rock from Jacuzzi Boys. It’s a massive collection that also offers up some wicked cool bragging rights: these and all the selections in this club are only available to subscribers.
And, for pity’s sake, he’s not stopping there either. He’s got a jaw-dropping list of releases in the works for the next couple of years. I recommend you get over to the SMRC website and see for yourself.
