Steampunk Magazine

Steampunk Magazine is a magazine celebrating the steampunk aesthetic with fiction, art and articles. It’s available as a free PDF download, or in print direct from the publisher for $3.00 an issue. Very cool stuff.

Articles in the first two issues include:

  • An interview with Michael Moorcock,
  • A ‘how-to’ article on “electrolytic etching,”
  • An article on the environmental impact of coal,
  • How to build a Pennyfarthing bicycle.
  • “Steam Gear” fashion guide

    …and tons of fiction.

    Before the age of homogenization and micro-machinery, before the tyrannous efficiency of internal combustion and the domestication of electricity, lived beautiful, monstrous machines that lived and breathed and exploded unexpectedly at inconvenient moments. It was a time where art and craft were united, where unique wonders were invented and forgotten, and punks roamed the streets, living in squats and fighting against despotic governance through wit, will and wile.

    Even if we had to make it all up.

  • Friday Music

    This week’s installment:

    The lead single from The White Stripes’ new album is getting airplay, although since I don’t listen to the radio that much, I didn’t hear it until we were coming back from the airport on Wednesday. I LOVE THIS. It sounds a bit like Jack White actually amped a hurdy-gurdy, which wouldn’t surprise me a bit. This is the radio edit — apparently the album version will be longer. This song contains one of the best lyrics I’ve ever heard: “Well Americans, What — Nothing better to do? Why dont’cha kick yourself out, you’re an immigrant, too. Who’s using who – what shall we do? You can’t be a Pimp and a Prostitute, too.” Wow. The White Stripes – “Icky Thump (edit).”

    Ever since posting M.I.A.’s “Hit That.” a few weeks back, I’ve been digging into her past catalog. I’m a big fan of this particular track — which, depressingly enough, MTV refused to play in America, because it contains the lyric “like PLO I don’t surrender.” Bling and Bitches, of course, still get MTV’s approval. M.I.A. – “Sunshowers.”

    Prince is releasing his new single exclusively via Verizon Wireless. Yes, it’s only available on cellphones. He’s hoping to use the gimmick to build awareness of the track — which is from an album that is currently lacking a label or a release date. Naturally, the track has found its way online: Prince – “Guitar.”

    More “baroque pop” from Patrick Wolf. The more I hear, the more I like. Patrick Wolf – “Paris.”

    Some TV-theme nostalgia for the children of the 70s — not only the theme to one of the better detective shows of the period, but a smoking-hot bit of funk from an unexpected source: Sammy Davis, Jr. – “Baretta’s Theme (Eye on The Sparrow)”

    Sol Seppy is a new singer-songwriter based in NYC (born and raised in the UK), who does a combination of pop, folk and electronic music. This particular track sends chills up my spine. Sol Seppy – “Move.”

    Enjoy.