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Issue 2 in brief:
• Sound artist Israel Martínez discusses his work amid Mexico’s War on Drugs. A profound interview on the power of sound art.
• Mark Fisher. An interview with the music writer and acclaimed author of Capitalist Realism and Ghosts of My Life on music and culture today, Popular Modernism, time wars, music and Neoliberalism and the borrowed phrase, “the slow cancellation of the future.” Editor’s pick.
• Editorial on Spectatorship (Part 1). Read opinion, stories and revelations on what it means to be a spectator today [and yesterday] from Katie Alice Greer (Priests), Dan Deacon, Mark Andersen (Positive Force DC), Kim Gordon (Essay reproduction) and Ian MacKaye (Q & A format).
• Decoder. Dan Barrow with a deep read in the form of an essay to reactivate the Burroughs-inspired and nearly-forgotten punk film for 2015 and beyond.
• Dadabots. A presentation of open-source algorithms which search, remix and post music throughout the Soundcloud community as told through a correspondence with the musician-hackers.
• The Photography of Sebastian Mayer. A presentation from the accomplished German photographer.
• An Anthology of Recording Music, Volume 1. A new on-going section presents a wide variety of artists relating the situational boundaries of composing one song before presenting it to the band or entering the recording studio. Read personal accounts from C Spencer Yeh, James Hoff, Julia McFarlane (Twerps), Jane Penny (TOPS), Sadie Dupuis (Speedy Ortiz), Ben Chasny (Six Organs of Admittance), Benoît Pioulard, Greg Saunier (Deerhoof) and more.
• Visual Essay: Hundebiss. An invitational spread by the Italian imprint. Exclusive to the print edition. 

In more detail: Our second issue begins with a profound and inspiring conversation with Israel Martínez, a remarkable sound artist whose work is recorded amid Mexico’s on-going Narcowars. Since 2010, the Mexican sound artist has been reflecting, recording, documenting and exhibiting the symbolic, personal, financial, legal, civic and human costs of Mexico’s War on Drugs. Martinez’ sound and installation work has been exhibited around the world and select works are in two of Latin America’s most notable art collections. This is Martínez first substantial interview in English and includes material printed for the first time. Samples of sound work by Martínez accompany the conversation in our App edition and will be posted online soon. In the editor’s letter of our first issue, the words “seemingly cancelled times” were used to gesture towards an interview which has been on our mind for some time. We present a straight-forward, long-form, radical interview with the music writer, culture theorist and teacher, Mark Fisher. Fisher has garnered praise for Capitalist Realism and Ghosts of My Life as one can read in an accolade from 2014: “After the brilliance of Capitalist Realism, Ghosts Of My Life confirms Mark Fisher’s role as our greatest and most trusted navigator of these times out of joint, through all their frissons and ruptures, among all their apparitions and spectres, past, present and future. — David Peace, author of the Red Riding Quartet and Red or Dead.” The interview discusses music and mainstream culture, Popular Modernism, post-punk, “lost futures,” the intersections of music and politics and the borrowed phrase, “the slow cancellation of the future.” Fisher elaborates on select excerpts from his writing in addition to his personal life and career as a writer in this “life with music.” Our second commissioned editorial presents revelations on spectatorship in live music through our own original route, by exploring a supposed space between how we look at artists on stage and how they look back at us. Read exclusive and original stories and opinions from Katie Alice Greer (“We’re very strategic in how we operate and create”), Dan Deacon (“The internet is not the problem. Mid-size venues are disappearing”), Mark Andersen (That’s the revolution in punk, if there is one”) and Ian MacKaye (“That’s the point for the record company, but it shouldn’t be the point for the band”) with the exception of a contribution from Kim Gordon, a reproduction of “I’m really scared when I kill in my dreams” (1983) and this issue’s object of interest. As a conversation starter, habituated and transcendent acts and moments of performance and watching are shared and discussed over 60 immersive pages. Anonymous and previously unpublished photography from the Fugazi Live Series Archive accompanies the text. The next 20 pages are dedicated to the photography of accomplished German photographer Sebastian Mayer, who has photographed several music magazine covers over a decade. A friend of the magazine, Mayer shares encounters with the likes of Iggy Pop, EYE Yamataka, Pansonic, Matthew Herbert, Carsten Nicolai, Ryuichi Sakamoto and more from some of Berlin’s heyday. Our new on-going section, An Anthology of Recording Music, Volume 1, presents first hand accounts of artists’ headspace before entering a studio to record a song. This free-form collection listens for boundaries of writing and recording one particular song. A wide variety of scenarios of cultural production are revealed as the following notable artists discuss one song: C Spencer Yeh, James Hoff, Julia McFarlane (Twerps), Jane Penny (TOPS), Sadie Dupuis (Speedy Ortiz), Ben Chasny (Six Organs of Admittance), Benoît Pioulard, Greg Saunier (Deerhoof) and more. As algorithms increasingly play a role in our life with music, this issue profiles the on-going and open-source Dadabots project initiated by two computer programmers and musicians. An exclusive to the magazine, the interview presents a portrait of these non-human bot “musicians” which explore and present the intriguing possibilities of generative music and autonomy across social media platforms. To close, a commissioned essay by writer, poet and critic Dan Barrow on an almost-forgotten punk & new wave film, Decoder (released in West Germany in 1984). Barrow’s essay profoundly reads and contextualizes the film, reactivating it for 2015 and beyond. The essay is accompanied by rare photography from the film’s production. The last pages of Issue 2 present another new on-going section for HIGHWAY: an invitational visual essay in which over 10 pages of editorial space are given over to the Italian imprint, Hundebiss to present [a distilled] visual manifestation of the label’s vision. The visual essay is exclusive to the print edition so get a print copy in our store.

Where to Buy

USA

Printed Matter
195 10th Avenue
New York, NY 10011
https://printedmatter.org
(Contact for US Distribution)

ArtBook at MoMA PS1
22-25 Jackson Avenue
Long Island City, NY 11101
https://momaps1.org/about/bookstore/

Rough Trade NYC
64 North 9th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11249
https://www.roughtradenyc.com/

Consumer Research Center/bookshop Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts Harvard University
24 Quincy Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
https://ccva.fas.harvard.edu/consumer-research-center-bookshop

Other Music
15 East 4th Street
New York, NY 10003
www.othermusic.com

Som Records
1843 14th Street
NW Washington, DC 20009
www.somrecordsdc.com

Smash! Records
2314 18th Street
Washington, DC 20009
www.smashrecords.com

Potter’s House
1658 Columbia Road
NW Washington, DC 20009
https://pottershousedc.org/

Upshur Street Books
843 Upshur Street
NW Washington, DC 20011

Atomic Books
3620 Falls Rd,
Baltimore, MD 21211
https://atomicbooks.com

Feeding Tube Records
221 Pine St #141,
Florence, MA 01062
https://feedingtuberecords.com/

Ooga Booga
| Los Angeles, CA 943 N
Broadway STE 203,
Los Angeles, CA 90012
https://oogaboogastore.com/

Quimby’s Books | Chicago,
IL 1854 W North Ave, Chicago,
IL 60622
https://www.quimbys.com/

Appreciation Society | Savannah,
GA 106 E 40th St, Savannah, GA 31401
https://www.appreciation-society.com/

Young Blood Boutique | Atlanta,
GA 777 Memorial Drive SE Suite A104A,
Atlanta, GA 30316
https://youngbloodboutique.com/

Europe 

Motto | Berlin (EU Distribution)
Skalitzer Str. 68, 10997 Berlin, Germany
http://www.mottodistribution.com/site/

Colette | Paris
213 Rue St Honoré, 75001 Paris, France
https://www.colette.fr/

1LDK | Paris
16 Rue de la Sourdière, 75001
Paris, France
http://1ldkshop.com/

Rough Trade Records
East 91 Brick Lane, London, E1 6QL
https://www.roughtrade.com/

Rough Trade Records West 130
Talbot Road, London, W11 1JA
https://www.roughtrade.com/

Do You Read Me?!
Auguststraße 28, 10117 Berlin, Germany
https://doyoureadme.de/

Asia & Oceania (TBA)

On the App Store

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About

HIGHWAY is an intermittent publication about life with music and sound. The print and iOS editions are pocket-sized companions to the musicians, writers, artists, thinkers, documentarians, storytellers and objects we encounter.

Today, there are readers and listeners with a new curiosity into how these subjects and objects practice, converse, resonate and are remembered in the international worlds of music and sound.

HIGHWAY is for them.

Updates

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Glen E. Friedman Live Talk at The DC Punk Archive | October 25, 2015

Since the release of our first issue, in which iconic photographer Glen E. Friedman featured in a lengthy interview, the magazine has been steadily working to set up a live talk event with the photographer in Washington.

Updates

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"Press...Release..." | July 21, 2016 | Berlin

Join us for an evening conversation with photographers Joe Dilworth and Sebastian Mayer. Readers will know that a selection of images and anecdotes from each photographer’s ‘life with music’ featured in the first and second issues of the magazine, and together with artist, photographer, professor & critic Allison Wade, we’ll gather in Berlin for a talk show at Smaragd.

Here’s what they’re saying:

“Refreshingly eclectic”

— mono.kultur

“…full of thoughtful, critical essays on listening, watching, performing, and making music in both written and visual form.”

—ArtBook at MoMA PS1

“It’s take on music is smart and unexpected.”

—ArtWorks, NEA

“Excellent music journalism…It’s a pity I am no longer a commuter: this is one of those perfect-sized books for long train rides. You read an article, stare out of the window and then read the next. The big question is: where to get this?”

—Frans de Waard

“The format is very clever, truly pocket-sized and a nice selection of articles…With that, you can potentially do wonders.”

— Alessandro Ludovico

“The format is fantastic. I haven’t been able to safely tuck a magazine into my pocket for many a year. And the contents are great, most of the pieces are bite-sized and really well done. Can’t wait for the next issue.”

— Byron Coley

“Small, but mighty.”

— Bandwith, WAMU 88.9 FM

Selections

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Oren Ambarchi

An ongoing effort with Jim O’Rourke and Keiji Haino, together one of the most vibrant trios active, was the subject of a recent correspondence.

Selections

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Plural Machine Self-Manifest

Kraftwerk Performing “Die Roboter” on Rockpop on ZDF Television, March 29, 1978.

Selections

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Publicity | Mathew Dryhurst

“SCATTERSHOT PRACTICE.”

Selections

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Voice Studies

“The human voice is the organ of the soul.” —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Products

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Issue 2

• 220 pages (A6) 

• Offset printed & perfect bound, matte-coated art paper 

• Click here for full list of contents 

• Very few copies remaining

Products

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Issue 1

• 250 pp (A6)  

• Offset & perfect bound, matte-coated art paper 

• Click here for full list of contents 

• Very few copies remaining

Products

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Issue 1 + 2 Bundle

• Both issues at a discount as we move the final copies of Issue #1. 

• Offset & perfect bound, matte-coated art paper 

• Very few copies remaining!

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HIGHWAY is an intermittent publication about life with music and sound. The print and iOS and Android editions are pocket-sized companions to the musicians, writers, artists, thinkers.

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