Live: State.ie vs Richter Collective at the Mercantile

You know what the recession has been good for? Free gigs. You know what else is really great? State.ie. These days it's head and shoulders above Hot Press when it comes to music news, interviews, reviews, and insights. Great news is that they've teamed up with the Richter Collective to put on a free gig in the Mercantile (O'Brien's Bar) on Dame Street in Dublin tomorrow (Friday) night. It starts at 8.30, oh, and did I say, free in!

The three excellent bands playing on the night are:
Jogging
We Cut Corners
Enemies

It's going to be mega!

Watch We Cut Corners 'Go Easy':

Read: State Magazine Issue 11

Available online here:
http://www.state.ie/blog/state-issue-11-read-it-here/

I miss the print version. It entertained me on public transport. Damn recession.

News: State Magazine RIP

The death knell has come. Ireland's best contemporary music publication State Magazine will no longer be released in physical form. This is sad, sad news, as it was so much better than Hot Press. That and I never got the chance to do a guest article for them!

State will continue its online role, so that is a huge bonus. However, my bus journeys to and from work will never be the same. The magazine will still be available in online format, so at least that's something.

Full information:
http://www.state.ie/blog/state-issue-10-an-announcement/

We wish the guys the best of luck with the online endeavours.

Free State Today

Let's party like it's 1921. We have a free State. Well, a free copy of State Magazine. The former pay-for-reading magazine is free from today.

You can either view it online for free, or pick up an actual copy from their list of stockists here:
http://www.state.ie/blog/stockists/
or read it online here:
http://www.state.ie/blog/state-issue-7-the-details/


I won't be doing anything for the rest of the day so!

News: State Magazine to go Free

Lots of rumours have gone around recently about the future of State Magazine, however the real truth has finally come to light. The magazine that features the wonderful insights of our good friend Nialler, is due to follow in the footsteps of Analogue, and be available free of charge.

Now this is great news for the music lover, but what will it mean for the magazine itself? Will they still be able to afford the same great writing team? Or will those writers move on to newer pastures? Well, we'll just have to wait and see. But hopefully this free magazine will continue to exist. Because it's an excellent alternative to Hot Press, and something which is badly needed in this country. Although I must say I do prefer The Ticket in The Irish Times, but that's just me.

Their own blog has this to say:
"State is heading down a similar route. We’re taking a month to continue rearranging the furniture and when we return at the beginning of next month State will be available to pick up in a venue, bar, cafe, shop, whatever near you for free. And if you can’t get one yet we’ll post you one for the price of a stamp. Aside from the price, what else will change? Well, nothing really. State Magazine will still bring you the best in music writing on the best music around, from the well known to the stuff that you really ought to know about."

Hopefully things do remain the same. But free magazines/newspapers tend to have more advertisments in them, and the lack of a cover charge can often mean some redundancies. But as with everything else, we'll just have to wait and see...

Also, Dave from http://toofamoustogetfullydressed.blogspot.com/ has said that the name should change to "Free State". Genius.