San Francisco-based XLR8R magazine keeps readers up to date on happenings in the world of DJs and dance music. Recent covers have featured acts from Justice to Sizzla, and XLR8R makes room in its pages for anybody who makes music with a beat.
The magazine is well designed and clean, but the style of the layouts can vary greatly from section to section. XLR8R will interest DJs and fans of all styles of music that might find their way into a club, and it does a good job of covering all aspects of a nightlife-centered culture, with articles on prominent graphic and clothing designers, reviews of music and music production equipment and a regular section with tips from the artists themselves.
XLR8R’s two main problems are its wonky title and its tendency to try to cover too much content in a single issue. An average copy of XLR8R contains around 110 pages and sometimes tries to tackle 150 pages worth of content. The result ends up feeling rushed and leaves some of the features underdeveloped, as if an artist could be summed up in the same space as a single album.
XLR8R looks into all aspects of nightlife, however briefly, and the staff is up on their stuff. It is easy on the eyes, and it’s not unreasonably bloated with ads. As for the name, it was a questionable decision to try to spell “accelerator” without any vowels – or to use the name at all.
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