The new edition of State Magazine is out, but there’s some sad news. The new edition of State is out, but there’s some sad news.
The announcement of a new issue of State is usually a cause for celebration. In this case, our tenth issue is tinged with a certain sadness. This month is a little different to what’s gone before as there will be no printed version of this issue. It has been a real year of ups and downs for the magazine. We’ve had a ball in the last twelve months but circumstances beyond our control have interfered. We always felt the magazine was something which was sorely missing from the dialogue around music in Ireland, which judged Irish artists on the same criteria as international artists and treated music as the important cultural art it has become to us all.
Though State, as a magazine is in a better shape creatively in 2009 than it ever was, there are certain palpable economic circumstances which mean that the costs involved in printing a magazine of such high-quality (in our opinion, as that is our currency) have become even more difficult to meet. We have always been an entity in transition, learning as we went, incorporating that knowledge into making a deserved better product for music fans. Sadly though, State felt the cold, icy hands of the recession in the last two months. Advertising has become an increasingly difficult prospect for any industry which relies on it and the standards which we had set for ourselves were no longer achievable.
Fret not. Our plans for the future involve us shifting our focus wholly to State.ie, which will now become the hub of all our activity with reviews, interviews, mp3s, news and everything else in the navigation above. As a parting gift from State Magazine and as a way to pass the baton to state.ie, we offer up to you our tenth issue as a digital issue so you can see for yourself what would have looked amazing on paper. State remains free to all… (who have broadband internet access) and we will STILL BE producing a monthly digital issue every month to complement the website.
The last twelve months have brought the State team immense satisfaction in the making and production of the magazine and we hope to you too. We intend to continue as State.ie with the same team of writers and photographers with more joining us in the near future. We plan to produce a regular digital magazine. We’re sad for the printed version but we’re excited that we have (award-winning) State.ie to focus on now. State is a labour of love for us. It was never about advertising or making money. It was always about the tunes and artists which moved, and continue to move us and 2009 is no different so we turned to the sounds emanating from the brightest artists in Ireland today.
For our tenth issue we talked to Conor O Brien, a former member of The Immediate about Villagers, his new solo project which a lot of people are getting very excited about. We talked to the new waves of Irish from Adebisi Shank to Grand Pocket Orchestra, from Bats to Fighting With Wire, Cap Pas Cap to Kill Krinkle Club, from Dublin’s Heathers to Waterford’s Katie Kim, from the dubstep ragga of Prince Kong to the postal service-enthusiast electronica of Mail Order Messiahs. Where possible, we asked eminent photographers Richard Gilligan and Feargal Ward to shoot these bands along with people like Annie Mac and Sinead Ni Mhorda who are making (radio) waves for our issue.
There’s also interviews with Antony & The Johnsons, Dengue Fever, a look at the Autotune phenomenon, a focus on Limerick’s finest indie label Out On A Limb, Animal Collective, what Underworld means to Kara Manning and more. See you on the other side on State.ie in the future.
To read the lovely new digital issue of State, head straight to www.state.ie.
Tough times all round.
