The Sigla Blog

Just as the paper demise of Mongrel and Foggy Notions has been announced (FN will still be online, but I’ll miss those free CDs), today State Magazine hits the shelves.

Declaration of interest: the recent London day of hell was to interview Goldfrapp for the magazine.

Apart from that I got my paws on it at Tuesday’s launch it and it looks very fine indeed. Lovely paper, slick design, wide variety of content, interesting ways of presenting it and lots of new contributors (always a good thing). The interweb’s beloved Nialler has done a fantastic job on the State website and has been slaving away alongside editors Phil Udell and John Walshe. Good work, people. Even if I hadn’t written a word for the mag and it just dropped out of the sky like a Marshall Stack that goes up to 11, it would still be a breath of fresh air - especially compared to its contemporaries. What’s in it? Here’s a taster.

Una likes what she sees and there’s a much beating of chests and pointing of fingers going on at Jim’s blog. No doubt there’ll be more verdicts online as people get a look at it over the next few days.

If you’re in (Dublin) town today, there are a few State-related launch gigs taking place at Tower Records on Wicklow Street. At 1pm Ham Sandwich will belt out a special covers set. At 3pm, Sarabeth Tucek (who plays Whelan’s later on) will play, rounding off with Carly Sings at 6pm.