It’s back-slappin’ time!: Alistair Fitchett chucks some complements my way and makes me blush, though as he guesses my pop culture knowledge is sometimes at the expense of other parts of my cultural life: I sure as hell wish I read as many books as he does. Anyway, here’s a compliment right back: Tangents is the indie zine you can trust. Meaning: Alistair and his enviable cohort of writing aces have an eye for what’s actually worth hearing in the rough-and-tumble world of indie – I’ve never regretted checking out a band they’ve raved about (except for Baxendale!) and I will most certainly be keeping an ear out for the Life Without Buildings LP. What’s his secret? Well, though there are big big differences between the ‘Gents approach and FT (they’re about making an individual definition of Pop, we’re about having fun with what we’re given), the key similarity is that both ‘zines are into a range of stuff which stretches well beyond indie. In Tangents’ case that’s jazz and art and books, in our case it’s top 40 pop, but I think it gives them (and hopefully us) the perspective to filter ‘alternative’ music with a slightly finer sieve. Enough gushing, I think.