Straight No Chaser was an influential British music magazine, based in London, which covered various forms of black music and electronic music.
The magazine was started by music lover, journalist, and general clubgoer Paul Bradshaw, to cover the emerging black music scene that he saw expanding in London and the UK around the time house music hit British shores in a big way around Summer 1988.
It was published in the UK and distributed for sale across the whole country, much of Europe, metropolitan areas of the US and other countries, from address 43B Coronet Street, Shoreditch, London, N1 6HD. It also had a slightly differing version that was published and distributed for sale separately in Japan. Starting out life being published quarterly, it moved to 5 times a year on its second volume, however the actual amount of issues released would fluctuate year on year and it didn't have a regular release date, so regular purchasers of the magazine often had to keep an eye out for its release when it happened. Very occasionally a covermount CD or tape was also included with the magazine, sometimes either only for a limited amount of copies or for its initial print run for that issue, but other times only for sale on the Japanese edition.
The Magazine Tuned To The Freedom PrincipleThe Magazine Of World Jazz JiveInterplanetary Sounds: Ancient To FutureContent and themes
SNC magazines' slogan was Interplanetary Sounds: Ancient To Future, which basically meant it covered Jazz music at the center, with other black music's from around the world—especially soulful electronic music—forming the core of its focus. While most of the magazine contained charts from eminent DJ's on the scene (including a regular chart from Bradshaw's DJ friend Gilles Peterson) or articles on underground music scenes around the world, it also had an eye on contemporary artwork, and underground fashionable trends in and outside various music communities usually not generally well-known about outside of the worlds' big urban centres (London, Paris, Tokyo, New York, San Francisco, et al.).
The magazine was often compared with the US magazine publication Wax Poetics which came along later, and could be argued copied Straight No Chaser's style in some design and content ways.
The magazine had 92 issues, released across two volumes of 46 issues in each: the first volume from 1988 to 1998, the second from 1998 to the last edition in 2007.
Photo cover artists featured on the first volume issues:
1 (1988, Summer): Lennie Tristano2 (1988, Autumn): The Jazz Renegades (ft. Julian Joseph)3 (1989, Spring): no one (ft. Reggae Philharmonic Orchestra)4 (1989, Summer): Youssou N'Dour5 (1989, Autumn): Cassandra Wilson6 (1989, Winter): Branford Marsalis7 (1990, Spring): Courtney Pine8 (1990, Summer): Anita Baker9 (1990, Autumn): Brenda Fassie10 (1990, Winter): Baaba Maal11 (1991, Spring): Cleveland Watkiss12 (1991, Summer): Greg Osby13 (1991, Autumn): Carleen Anderson (Young Disciples)14 (1991, Winter): A Tribe Called Quest15 (1992, Spring): Brand New Heavies16 (1992, Spring-Summer): Omar17 (1992, Summer): Galliano18 (1992, Autumn): MC Solaar19 (1992, Winter): John Coltrane20 (1993, Spring): Tom Waits21 (1993, Spring-Summer): various (Fifth Anniversary Issue)22 (1993, Summer): Jazzmatazz (Guru, Donald Byrd)23 (1993, Autumn): Apache Indian24 (1993, Winter): Cassandra Wilson25 (1994, Spring): Meshell Ndegeocello26 (1994, Spring-Summer): Carleen Anderson27 (1994, Summer): Dr John, Omar28 (1994, Autumn): MC Solaar29 (1994, Winter): Herbie Hancock30 (1995, Spring): Flora Purim31 (1995, Spring-Summer): no one (features a Sidewinder vol.3: South Africa '95 – Collisions & Collusions pull-out)32 (1995, Summer): Steve Williamson (Outside, Cleveland Watkiss, 4hero)33 (1995, Autumn): Kemistry & Storm (included covermount CD, a B&W Music sampler titled South Africa '95 with no track listing on the CD or magazine, a promo for the vinyl only 3xLP album by Outernational Meltdown – South Africa Outernational Meltdown)34 (1995, Winter): Leftfield35 (1996, Spring): Courtney Pine, Cassandra Wilson36 (1996, Spring-Summer): Valerie Etienne37 (1996, Summer): Carlinhos Brown38 (1996, Autumn): Palm Skin Productions39 (1996, Winter): A Guy Called Gerald40 (1997, Spring): Jhelisa41 (1997, Spring-Summer): Roni Size42 (1997, Spring): United Future Organization43 (1997, Autumn): Beth Orton44 (1997, Winter): 4hero45 (1998, Spring): David Byrne46 (1998, Spring-Summer): SizzlaPhoto cover artists featured on the second volume issues:
1 (1998, Summer): Talvin Singh (included covermount CD, a Palm Pictures label sampler)2 (1998, Autumn): Busi Mhlongo3 (1998, Winter): Alison David4 (1999, Spring): Femi Kuti5 (1999, Summer): Underground Resistance6 (1999, Summer): Nitin Sawhney7 (1999, Autumn): Rahsaan Roland Kirk8 (1999, Winter): Nikki Yeoh9 (2000, Spring): Joseph Jarman (Art Ensemble Of Chicago)10 (2000, Spring-Summer): Fabio11 (2000, Summer): Doze Green12 (2000, Autumn): Wookie13 (2000, Winter): Roni Size+Reprazent14 (2001, Spring): Skitz15 (2001, Spring-Summer): Spacek16 (2001, Summer): Osunlade17 (2001, Autumn): Ursula Rucker18 (2001, Winter): 4hero19 (2002, Spring): Seu Jorge20 (2002, Spring-Summer): Cinematic Orchestra21 (2002, Summer): DJ Jazzy Jeff22 (2002, Autumn): Madlib23 (2002, Winter): Donnie (née Donnie Johnson)24 (2003, Spring): Jeff Mills25 (2003, Summer): Amp Fiddler26 (2003, Summer): Roy Hargrove27 (2003, Autumn): Two Banks of Four28 (2003, Winter): no one (two illustrated dancers, in relation to Puerto Rico's Candela Art and Music Festival article)29 (2004, Spring): Dani Siciliano30 (2004, Spring-Summer): Afoxé Filhos De Gandhi (Brasil 04 issue)31 (2004, Summer): Theo Parrish32 (2004, Autumn): Björk33 (2004, Winter): Sa-Ra Creative Partners34 (2005, Spring): Róisín Murphy35 (2005, Spring-Summer): Saul Williams36 (2005, Summer): Dwight Trible & Life Force37 (2005, Autumn): Meshell Ndegeocello38 (2005, Winter): Soil & "Pimp" Sessions39 (2006, Spring): Jhelisa40 (2006, Spring-Summer): Marc Mac41 (2006, Summer): Gilles Peterson, Milton Nascimento42 (2006, Autumn): Rza43 (2006, Winter): Georgia Anne Muldrow44 (2007, Spring): Cinematic Orchestra45 (2007, Spring-Summer): Tawiah46 (2007, Summer): no one (titled: The Final Issue: Tuned To The Freedom Principle – Life, Love & Unity)For various reasons, not least the spread of the internet and declining magazine sales, plus the changing affects in the general music culture from vinyl and CD collecting to more digital downloading, Bradshaw decided to shut the magazine down in 2007 with the last issue being number 46 from volume 2, the Summer edition released around August that year.
No digital versions (pdf, ePub, or similar, format) of the magazine were ever released, and there have so far been no plans to reissue them as such. Paul Bradshaw is currently in the processes of producing the last couple of issues leading to issue 100 in 2017.
