A periodical imbalance

Something's gone wrong with my monthly music magazine deliveries. No doubt due to some competitive marketing wheeze, my copies of Uncut and Mojo are arriving by post in the same week, within a couple of days of each other. This has led to some serious congestion.

If I recall correctly, they used to be spaced about a fortnight apart; the latest issue of one arrived just as the last minor record review of the other was read one last time and the issue replaced in the periodical pile in the porcelain throne room.

Mojo was initially released as a grown-ups' music magazine, in contrast to the market defining Q - aimed at the 50 Quid Bloke. Q, in keeping with the often red top front page, has deteriorated to a scandal sheet. Mojo continues to plough a more mature, if occasionally rather dry, furrow.

Uncut certainly leads the field, and not just because it covers music genres which are usually within my tastes. The standard of journalism is very high (Chris Roberts, Stephen Dalton, Barney Hoskyns spring to mind - there are others). There is excellent coverage of movies and DVDs too. Moreover, Uncut is one of the few magazines I have found which offers readable, unsnobby reviews of contemporary fiction.

Honorable mention also goes to Paste magazine, which comes from the States every couple of months. It has a very different style, not neccessarily transatlantic, which I am just getting into. Recent issues have had a CD and a DVD - I'm not sure that this is a good thing.

Mind you, last month it blotted its copybook by arriving in the same 3 day period as Uncut and Mojo. Too much of a good thing...