Sad to see that, after just over 8 years of flying the free flag for a more enlightened America, Arthur Magazine is officially no more.
No more Arthur Radio, no more Arthur blog, no more Arthur anything. This is not a great surprise but a sad loss all the same.
You don’t need to be majoring in economics to realise that giving away a magazine every two months is not a viable business model but the fact that it was free was vital since it meant that the writers were not required to tailor articles to commercial interests.
Because I live in Italy, I was only able to pick up hard copies of the magazine when returning to the UK. I only managed to get four copies in all, from London’s
Rough Trade and from a funky record store in Brighton. Other stuff I grabbed online when it was available.
This was enough to recognise that it was a mag with its own voice and , during the ‘war on terror’ in particular , it was a valuable voice of reason and an antidote to the reactionary line taken by most of the mainstream press.
In pieces on music (notably free folk, noise and psychedelia) Arthur set its own agenda rather than jumping on the latest bandwagon. The
Arthur Store will remain active for an unspecified period and a link to some archive material is promised. Hopefully this will include
Erik Davis’ article about Joanna Newsom in Arthur 25 (June 2006) remains the best piece I have read about her .
Arthur magazine also released some fantastic CDs and DVDs under the imprint of their label Bastet. This include the essential 20 track disc – Golden Apples of the Sun selected by Devendra Banhart and first released in April 2004. This is still a definitive introduction to the more accessible sounds of New Weird America.
In announcing the death of the magazine, editor, Jay Babcock says : “Arthur has been unsustainable since March, 2007. I carried it on as long as I could, with the help of many, many, MANY folks, but enough is enough. Although it was a labor of love, Arthur was never meant to be a permanent, unfunded charity”.
It was good while it lasted.
Like this:
Like Loading...
