Sound judgment

Sound Collector editor-publisher Laris Kreslins is a man of the past. So why do I look forward to each future issue more eagerly than the last?

As the rest of the world seems to be streaming toward an ever more ephemeral, digitalized future, Kreslins seems like one of music publishing's most inspired Luddites, thanks to a zine that has become progressively more substantial. The hot pink-print Issue 8, for instance, is bound in heavy coated stock, includes a CD of music, and relegates ads to the rear. Lengthy, varied, genre-flouting features look at Eric Dolphy, former NAM member Mike Donovan of Dial Records, the "bass liberation movement," Lou Reed-touring cellist Jane Scarpantoni, organizing your music collection, Portland, Ore.'s second annual Rock and Roll Camp for Girls, music writer Richard Meltzer, Sun City Girls, and composer Steffan Basho-Junghans, and the issue is bookended by pieces on Grandmaster Flash and DJ culture by, respectively, Bay Guardian contributor Jeff Chang and onetime "Sassy-iest boy in America" and current Scene Creamers member Ian Svenonius.

In short, it's a downright embarrassment of riches – and like other seriously lush and booklike magazines such as Wax Poetics and Copper Press, it makes a case for earnest, intellectually curious yet stylistically playful and sophisticated zines that resemble lit journals more than lad mags or the cut-and-paste xeroxed and stapled creations I've known, loved, and put together myself. These built-to-last pubs are gently breaking open our assumptions about the disposability of culture, the accelerated pace of trend cycles, and the planned obsolescence of the pop music industry machine.

"We thought other publications, especially mainstream music pubs, don't respect the music enough, and that's why we decided we wanted to change it up," Kreslins says. "But it's also a very organic thing, and I knew I wanted a perfect balance, a compact publication. I like the idea that Sound Collector sticks around, and it has an incredibly long shelf life."

Chatting over the phone from his parents' basement – the headquarters of his publishing company, Lime, in Gaithersburg, Md. – Kreslins, 28, says he started the zine in 1997, in the miasma of aimlessness that can descend after college graduation. He wasn't sure what to do with his life, but with a history degree in hand, a job at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, a zine titled D in his high school past, and a hankering for the good old days of independent publishing, he followed the urge to fill a void he felt existed at the newsstand.

"I wanted to specifically deal with the creative process of music and sound," he explains. "I was sick and tired of reading pieces that focused on personality, and I wanted more about the creative process that was accessible, a magazine with an open structure where we could print any kind of articles or interviews, and there were no limitations on articles, no word limits. If people wanted to do graphs or charts, I'd accept them – as long as the writer could express some sort of passion, I was into it, even if they weren't the most accomplished writer."

Many miscalculations later, including extremely off advertising and distribution projections, Kreslins says the 4,000-circulation Sound Collector is still technically losing money, though by not as much as it has in the past (Kreslins loses between $2,000 and $3,000 an issue). In the positive margin, however, the process of putting together the magazine, with associate editor Fred Cisterna, continues to be an education.

For example, Kreslins occasionally tries to play assigning editor and ask specific contributors to write on certain subjects. Those writers rarely swallow the topics whole. "They'd say, 'Aahhh, I'm really into this instead,' and that way the whole process becomes a discovery for me as well," says the former Zinestand developer for music-retailing Web site Insound. "We're not know-it-all editors who are total music nerds – we're into discovery. If you came to me, I wouldn't be able to name full lineups and discographies – I wouldn't be able to do that, though a lot of people expect that because of the way Sound Collector is perceived."

In addition to a planned film magazine, to be edited by Village Voice writer Ed Halter, Kreslins recently began Arthur Magazine, a free newsprint culture magazine with Sound Collector contributor Jay Babcock, and Sound Collector Audio Review, another newsprint pub and one that has taken on the task of reviewing, at feature-length, every album ever released. Looks like Kreslins has the rest of his life spoken for.

Laris Kreslins's favorite zines

Wax Poetics ("I love what they do. I'm actually jealous – they've taken it to the next level, and they're a little more focused with the type of content that they're dealing with.")

Creased Comics ("One-panel nonsense comics that are pretty amazing.")

Wire

Broken Wrist Project

Mojo

Loud Paper

Philadelphia Independent

Aug. 8

Bronx Belying their seemingly obvious handle, the Bronx bunker down in L.A. where they push a frantic brand of garage punk. The quartet's mean little rock machine generates such a righteous urgency that they've earned every right to cover the Saints' "Private Affair" on their new EP, Bats!, put out by the Explosions' label, Tarantulas. The Kinison and the Mean Reds also play. 9 p.m., Cafe du Nord, 2170 Market, S.F. $10. (415) 861-5016.

Aug. 8-9

'Anticon Weekend' The Oakland hip-hop-electronic-folk heads take over the Hemlock and live it up in honor of Why?'s new record, Oaklandazulasylum. Doseone, Fog's Andrew Broder, and Alias dive in on the first night, while the Pedestrian and Jel join Why? and Broder to finish off the next. 10 p.m., Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk, S.F. $6. (415) 923-0923. (Also Why? celebrates their record release with the Moore Brothers, Nedelle, and Crime in Choir Aug. 17, 7:30 p.m., Ramp, 2236 Parker, Berk. $6. 510-527-2563.)

Aug. 9

Tyde Come on in – the water's fine. Jingle-jangle Cali mornings meet Smiths-y '80s Britpop in brothers Darren and Brent Rademaker, Ann Do, Ric Menck, and Benjamin Knight's follow-up to last year's Once, titled – what else? – Twice (Rough Trade). Consider this the ebullient, propulsive counterpart to Brent Rademaker's baby side project, Beachwood Sparks. Minnesota threesome Party of One work a twitchy, minimal rock that spazzes out on the borderland between punk and glam. The Peninsula popsters of the Orange Peels and Court and Spark's MC Taylor also perform. 9:30 p.m., Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., S.F. $7-$8. (415) 474-0365.

Aug. 11

Greg Osby Four If only we could all walk in Greg Osby's black-and-white creepers. The compelling recent Blue Note album St. Louis Shoes tracks the adventuresome but never too far gone alto sax player and former M-Base Collective member's movements as he returns to his hometown musical roots and stylishly ties together boplike explorations and '20s-style swing, transmogrifying nearly ossified standards like "Summertime," which he turns inside out and shatters. The one-night stand here includes Megumi Yonezawa on piano, Eric McPherson on drums, and Matt Brewer on bass. 8 and 10 p.m., Yoshi's, 510 Embarcadero West, Oakl. $8-$16. (510) 238-9200.

Aug. 12 and 14

Pansy Division Attention queercore corps: Pansy Division are back in the haus and up to their old tricks, purveying a downright power-pop new album, Total Entertainment! (Alternative Tentacles), produced by King Missile's Chris Xefos. It's their first release in about five years. Aug. 12, 6 p.m., Amoeba Music, 1855 Haight, S.F. Free. (415) 831-1200. With Harold Ray Live in Concert Aug. 14, 9 p.m., Cafe du Nord, 2170 Market, S.F. $7. (415) 861-5016.

Aug. 13

Vue After being trumpeted as the best San Francisco band, by a publication based on the other side of the country, the vogue-ish garage rockers of Vue finally surface, accompanied by honking huge expectations and a recent EP, Babies Are for Petting (RCA). The Cuts also perform. 9:30 p.m., Cafe du Nord, 2170 Market, S.F. $7. (415) 861-5016.

Aug. 13-14

Places Miles away from her last release, The Autopilot Knows You Best (Absolutely Kosher), the Places' Amy Annelle strips down to the folk bones of her music, singing about the dispossessed, down-and-out, and broken-down with an intimate, slightly cockeyed beauty. Aug. 13, 10 p.m., Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk, S.F. $6. (415) 923-0923. Aug. 14, 9:30 p.m., Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck, Berk. $8. (510) 841-2082.

Aug. 15

Drive-By Truckers Southern rock sultans the Drive-By Truckers are so close to becoming rock deities that all they need to do is start dating Winona, Gwyneth, or Cameron to complete the transformation. Somehow, though, that scenario seems unlikely – these guys are scruffier, they have a way of telling a story that puts them in a class of their own, and oh yeah, they rock much harder than Justin does. 6:30 p.m., Amoeba Music, 1855 Haight, S.F. Free. (415) 831-1200. With Minibar 9 p.m., Great American Music Hall, 859 O'Farrell, S.F. $13. (415) 885-0750.

Aug. 22

Gloryholes Northwestern bad boys the Gloryholes specialize in a particularly pulverizing, snot-encased brand of thrash-garage, fronted by former Secret Six-er Doug White and hammered home with cheery Bradleys-style album art by Peter Bagge on their last album, Want a Divorce. Midnight Thunder Express and SLA also play. 10 p.m., Parkside, 1600 17th St., S.F. Call for price. (415) 503-0393.

Aug. 23