art imitates life imitating art in the barrel nut issue #9!

May 20, 2014 at 8:02 pm | Posted in art, no audience underground, not bloody music | 2 Comments
Tags: aqua dentata, eddie nuttall, gary simmons, hiroshima yeah!, idwal fisher, mark ritchie, mark wharton, no audience underground, the bald heads of noise, the barrel nut, visual art, zines

Comrades, castaways, fellow members of the gutter elite! Radio Free Midwich proudly boasts of finding issue number 9 of The Barrel Nut stuffed down the back of art’s sofa: a momentary delight for those of heightened aesthetic awareness but sorely limited attention span.

We begin strong with two pages of pavement photography from Eddie Nuttall of Aqua Dentata. He is a contemporary master of the well-tempered drone – each piece by him a comfortably warm iceberg – and his visual art has a similar austere intensity. Here he proves, alas, that the streets of London are not paved with gold but instead awash with suspiciously milky discharge…

The centrefold contains another hilarious four panel gag strip from Uncle Mark Wharton of the essential Idwal Fisher blog. This time the bald heads of noise enjoy a night in the pub doing what they like best: talking bollocks about music whilst quaffing the ale. That’s you that is – just show this to your partner and they will nod in rueful recognition.

Finally, we have a tag team effort from the brothers of Hiroshima Yeah! fanzine. Gary Simmons provides a photograph of life literally imitating art – and what life! What art! – whilst Mark Ritchie follows it with some sage advice for the working stiff presented in compelling collage form.

Cracking stuff, I’m sure you’ll agree.  For anyone new to this party (you’ll have to refill the chip-‘n’-dip, I’m afraid) here’s some reheated explanatory blurb:

The Barrel Nut is a microzine – a single sided, single sheet of A4 paper cleverly folded to make an eight panel, A7 pamphlet. Paper copies will be distributed to anyone who wants one, or who has expressed an interest in the past. I’ll bring some to gigs I attend and a bunch will be passed around by those with a similar love of the post.

Should you be so inclined then you are very welcome to download and print out your own. Links to the latest issue in jpeg and pdf formats are below (you’ll need to trim the print-out a bit down one edge to make it fold properly). Some more context, assembly instructions and previous issues can be found on The Barrel Nut’s own page (tabbed above).

Should you wish to contribute artwork then I would be very grateful indeed. Submissions need to look OK when reproduced as a black and white photocopy and be 7cm by 10cm in size (or scalable to roughly those dimensions). Good quality scans attached to an email are fine, originals sent in the post ideal. Please get in touch.

As ever, I’m proud to bring this to your attention. Contributors and subscribers will be receiving copies in the post in due course. Links to downloadable versions below, as promised.

I shall finish by repeating my customary plea: leaving aside a dwindling stockpile of stuff by the regulars I am in need of submissions for future issues. If you like this little project then please feel free to send me something.

The Barrel Nut issue #9 as a pdf file

The Barrel Nut issue #9 as a jpeg file