Out now: Article, Gentle, Meat, Nice

Four very different magCulture favourites currently have new issues in the stores.

Article is mainly distributed free in the north of England, though some copies make their way to London. The issue looks at the effect of the recession on the previously booming northern cities of Liverpool, Leeds and Manchester, an interview with Peter Saville highlighting the latter. There’s also a look at other local zines including Preston is My Paris. I met the guys behind it, Alisdair and Ben, a while back and they come to publishing with no experience of design or writing. Sometimes their naivety shows but more often than not it brings a fresh outlook. Worth tracking down and supporting (you can but it online).

The Gentlewoman returns for its third outing with a photo of a vacant-looking Adele smoking a cigarette on the cover (shock!) and a lovely pale turquoise background tint. Inside you sense the magazine coming to terms with itself, stripping away some of the more oblique humour and being more direct in explaining itself. The content is divided into four chapters, starting with ‘Modernisms’, a series of brief interviews with the likes of Janet Street Porter, Vanessa Bruno and Margot Henderson. Chapter two is the features– Adele, Fatimo Bhuto, plastic surgeon Dr Frances Prenna Jones and Sarah, the woman behind Parisian concept store Colette. Three is fashion, including a gorgeous set of close-ups of textile colourings shot by Marius W Hansen and a set on the backs of evening dresses by Jason Evans. Chapter four is ‘Etcetera’, lists and advice relating to the rest of the issue: the Bhutto family tree, Janet Street Porter’s favourite walks, definitions of mini/midi/maxi length skirts. This is the issue with which The Gentlewoman has become itself – a confident, grown-up magazine containing great editorial choices.

Meatpaper continues to find fresh ideas on meat. This fourteenth issue looks at the visual representation of meat, with a look at the weird art of Mark Ryden (bookish paintings of characters with meat), an interview with a sushi chef about the visual appeal of raw fish flesh, and a look at the work of Franc Renandez (the man who created Lady gaga’s meat dress).

The fifth issue of It’s Nice That has shaken up the format of the previous four issues, with a slightly more coherent running order and simpler design. This has left it feeling slightly flat in terms of visual character, but the content remains a strong as ever. As well as edited highlights of design, illustration and photographic work from the ITN blog, there are interviews with and pieces about Scott King, Rob Ryan, Matt Pyke and Erwin Wurm.