The Day Will Come

With the announcement that we would be making a magazine months behind us, some of you might be wondering “well, where the hell is it?”

And indeed, work on the magazine did not always go as smoothly, due to various reasons, but you will be glad to know that the speed of the process has increased dramatically over the past weeks.

Previously, I agreed with a friend that he would design the magazine, but my specific desires for the magazine’s aesthetic made this a difficult working method, in the sense that I spent too much time trying to communicate things that I am perhaps not that good at communicating.

So now I have taken it upon myself to design the entire magazine (save for the cover art, but I will reveal more on that at a later time), and although this means I spend every weekend with gruelling amounts of work, both writing and designing, at least we are moving into a direction where I can say more concrete things about the album.

Firstly, about 20 pages are ready for print, with another 20 pages of work lined up that only has to be provided with a layout and converted to the right format. Seeing as the magazine will be anywhere between 50-70 pages big, this means we are more or less halfway in terms of workload. But seeing as the editing is now going faster, and three other people are helping me with the content, the second half should not take so long. As of yet, I cannot name a concrete release date, but I would say the earliest possibility is next June. This would be a special date as well, as it marks the 3-year existence of the website.

The preoccupation I and my fellow editors have with the magazine unfortunately means that the website will receive very little in the way of updates during the next 2 months. I suggest you follow our Facebook page if you want to stay up-to-date on our progress. I will also post excerpts, pictures and other stuff there that will give you an idea of what we are doing.

To give you an idea of what the magazine is going to be like, here is what I can say about it at this point. As said, the magazine will be between 50-70 pages long, printed in full colour [1] on A4 paper, with black text on white background, perfectly legible. The initial stock will be extremely limited (maybe 50 copies), but I will print more once it has been sold out. I will do my best to keep the price reasonable, selling the magazine at cost price at the most, but probably cutting a loss, and I will ship worldwide. Whether or not the magazine will be sold at overseas distros depends on the interest on their behalf.

In terms of actual content, most of it will be reviews like on the website. The style will be familiar, but developed further in terms of its analytical angle, so expect a lot of philosophical/cultural/societal/religious contextualisation. In this sense, our latest writings are a good indication of what is yet to come. Needless to say, if you like reviews to just focus on telling you whether you should buy an album, I do not recommend this magazine.

The same goes for people who prefer magazines with a large amount of interviews. Currently, the amount of interviews lined up for the upcoming issue is 0. I will probably do more interviews in subsequent issues (if God is willing).

But for now I am more interested in reviving the review as a respectable form of writing. We have some excellent contributions lined up that will do exactly this. My inner Calvinist prevents me from commenting on my own work, but I do not exaggerate when I say that three of the finest music reviewers out there are currently working with me on this magazine, so it will be something special.

As for exclusivity: some of the reviews have already been featured on the website, but will also be in the printed edition because I felt they deserved that. Rest assured that most of the content will be exclusive to the magazine, though.

That’s all for now. Thanks for sticking with us and for supporting small haven over these years. I hope you get in touch with us once the magazine is out.

For further comments, inquiries or contributions: blackivorytower AT gmail DOT com

[1] I do not exclude the possibility of also making a cheaper black-and-white edition at one point for wholesale purposes.