When I heard that a new Ukrainian music magazine “Mixer” was coming out, I was pretty excited – finally Ukraine would have a local publication that would cover the  music scene professionally by knowledgeable writers. Of course I didn’t expect it to be anything really high-grade, but if made by people who really knew the subject, a Ukrainian magazine covering the music scene could really be something worth reading. However, when I finally got my hands on a copy of the first issue of the “Mixer,” which came out in April, I found that all my hopes were quite in vain.

The glossy magazine, with Madonna on the cover, contained just a fraction of information that might possibly be of interest to me. Most of the magazine’s contents were compilation articles and interviews obviously “borrowed” from more established and knowledgeable magazines. Moreover after coming across several factual mistakes, I had little faith left in the “Mixer” and even more minor things, such as photograph captions didn’t escape my attention - they were for the most part strikingly ill-suited.

Altogether, the “Mixer” looks like it was put together by enthusiastic students who only learned about music by watching videos on the M1 music channel.  But then what kind of a reader was the zine meant for? Those with above average knowledge of the worldwide music scene like myself can find nothing useful in the “Mixer,” while readers who only listen to absolute hits such as “Crazy Frog” and Okean Elzy would hardly care to read about music at all, unless it’s gossip about celebrity artists. But in that case they would prefer colorful tabloid magazines to the “Mixer.”

The second May issue of the “Mixer” has already come out, this time featuring U2 on the cover and I can only wish it the best of luck. Perhaps with some effort the “Mixer” could finally turn into Ukraine’s first music magazine, as it is already advertised.by Alexandra Matoshko, Kyiv Post Staff Writer