Swan Fungus has charitably scanned the February 1984 issue of Chicago punk zine, Matter:

In this issue, the First Year Anniversary Issue, there is a Ruthless Records feature with segments related to Big Black, Effigies, Naked Raygun and Circle Seven (check out the they goofy inset photo of [Steve] Albini), an awesome piece called “1983’s Favorites Predict the Best Of 1984”, a story about Jonathan Richman, and an Albini-penned profile of Glenn Branca. There are also regular columns like “New Matter”, “Matters Of Fact”, and Albini’s “Tired Of Ugly Fat”. This issue is awesome.

It really is awesome. So cool to be able to travel back in time and check out such a clear snapshot of a scene that no longer exists. Jonathan Richman talking about Prince: “I usually don’t like synthesizer, but he can make the thing talk. But like, why’s he screaming so much about sex all the time?” Albini’s rant on poverty, Boy George (“Shit, that little fart doesn’t deserve the twenty-bucks-a-blowjob he’d probably be making on Carnaby Street if he weren’t such a good friend of Malcolm McLaren“), and Duran Duran (“those overfed Pillsbury Doughstars”) is classic.

If you like that, Swan Fungus has scanned and upped the September 1983 issue as well.

MP3: Naked Raygun – “Tojo” (courtesy of Touch and Go)