That being Paste magazine and Joe Pernice, Tracks magazine and Billy Corgan. Read on...

Paste magazine has a great feature about Joe Pernice on its web site (and one assumes it's in the most recent issue or perhaps the last), and the entire thing is available online. The magazine has proven to be surprisingly meaty in the couple of issue I have picked up, so it's likely this one is worth getting, too. Either way, fans of Pernice's music would do well to read this piece by Geoffrey Himes, because it lays out his history and thoughts on the progression of his music more completely than anything else I've seen. He discusses the transition from the Scud Mountain Boys to the Pernice Brothers, his parting of the ways with Sub Pop and his realization that his songs are driven not by strings and flowery arrangements, but by strong melodies.

The piece is joined online by several others of note, including profiles of Robbie Fulks and Stephen Malkmus. Paste seemed destined to fade quickly like other "adult" music mags like the stultifyingly boring Tracks, but despite an awful name, it really seems to have legs. Rather than focus on adults who buy a handful of CDs each year by providing dumbed-down pieces and obvious interviews (like Tracks), Paste offers insightful articles about a wide variety of artists. This is clearly a magazine for people who no longer have time to stay abreast of every release from the hundreds of indie labels out there, and provides a helpful filter that highlights the best of what's out there for the discerning fan with plenty of disposable income. That said, I'm still not a subscriber (good as it is, it's way too pricey just yet), but it's the best American music mag I've found since Harp debuted a few years back.

Billy Corgan is on the cover of this month's Paste, coincidentally enough (not really... in the absence of any supserstar releases so far this summer, Corgan's as close as they come and seems poised for the full-court press of coverage). Corgan took out full page ads in the Chicago Tribune and Sun Times yesterday saying that he wants his band back. As I recall, no one took if from him. Then again, there hasn't exactly been a flood of people asking him to bring it back, either.