the scene celebrates itself
First Encounter, Manhattan, 1991 CMJ Music Festival: My status as a college radio music director was an excuse for attending, but I was also looking for opportunities to promote the shoegazey band in which I was a guitarist. Our singer, also my girlfriend at the time (not advisable), joined me. We heard about a live ‘A R [ ]
A tale of many protests: Steve McQueen, a filmmaker not shy of raising thorny topics, has curated a photography exhibition titled Resistance. Ths show, on display at the Turner Contemporary in Southeast England, showcases 100 years of protest in the UK stating with 1903 s suffrage protests to those in 2003 reacting against the Iraq War. [ ]
This post was originally intended for the actual friends I share on Facebook, not necessarily the ‘added friends’ who I don’t know in real life. Over the decades, I’ve made many worldwide acquaintances; sadly, my only link to some is as a Facebook connection. This screed is about deleting my Facebook account, which means forever [ ]
Hakobune s guitar is processed like one hundred Guthries, ringing with reverb abandon as chords stretch into warm, elongated vibrations. The 2019 album Rain Studies is a full-spectrum affair; it alternately plays and washes away intruding sounds. Its CTwins-spirit is best transmitted on Tenkyuu, which sounds like muting everything but a single guitar track on Victorialand s [ ]
It s easy to get distracted by the number 23. Not only are we told it s everywhere by thinkers as prestigious as Robert Anton Wilson and Jim Carrey, but those two digits look and feel special. How about a 23rd album? Perhaps that s magical in some way (especially if the KLF ever got there), but to [ ]
The songs on The Children...'s A Sudden Craving are delightfully ominous, spurring a complexity in their deep darkness—a reflection, rather than a warning, of what comes after those three dots. It might be those spooky movie kids with glowing eyes, or it could just be something chasing childhood's innocence down a night's cityscape. Let's find out.
In an extensive interview, Joseph Branciforte discusses LP2, his remarkable album with vocalist Theo Bleckmann, how a pleasing result always beats out creative process, and the high-fidelity ethos of his Greyfade imprint.
Eyesore! That s the chant around these parts. My right eye (previously) was pierced with lasers the other day in preparation for next week s big surgical procedure. Tiny little holes. Visually, I don t quite notice—my eyesight in that eye was rotten to begin with—but there is a dull throb around the eyeball that s making things a [ ]
I have some curatorial notes today. Memora8ilia, the filing cabinet for 8sided.blog, is presently hosted on Tumblr. I m in the process of moving it to a self-hosted site, at which point I ll get more active with it. I m not necessarily moving it off Tumblr due to recent controversies. However, that does serve as a reminder [ ]
I should talk about my podcast work. It s going well! My main gig is the Spotlight On podcast, hosted by music industry vet and erudite interviewer Lawrence Peryer (LP). Several months ago, I was promoted (I suppose that’s the word—it’s a two-man operation) from editor to full-on producer/manager of the show. That means I’m handling [ ]
Today, I m listening to Im Fünfminutentakt, an album by the enigmatic act Fred und Luna released last April. In playful press releases, Fred und Luna are purported to be moon-based explorers observing and commenting on Earthly activities through the language of music. This set-up, along with a synthesized and intentional retro sound that those same [ ]
This morning, I took a photo of the sunrise over my backyard lake. I used to do this almost every day—my sunrise diary. But I also used to get up a lot earlier. These days, I m in bed until 7:30-ish, which is seriously sleeping in compared to my routine a few months back. These aches [ ]
There s nothing here, and it s like I ve tumbled into an invisible thicket. I call this blog danger, loosely defined as an inescapable aura of demise in the face of consistency. Can I bring a date to the relaunch? Because that s what I m promising—a blog anew, updated and worthy of apprehensive glances. I could go into [ ]
The songs on SYMBOL's I Am Humble and Powerful evoke both clashing hues and colors that beautifully bleed into each other.
Breath Versus Beats is a geological sound adventure formed by three elements: Simon Berz, Toshinori Kondo, and Bill Laswell.
We don't need any more dystopias (fictional or otherwise), but Alex Lopes's gentle approach to the year 3023 offers a mirror-angled lens on another way to tell the story. The piano remains among the rubble, it seems, evoking centuries-distant memories.
I have nothing that coherent (i.e., reassuring) to say about Songtradr s acquisition of Bandcamp. There s an opinion that Songtradr appears to be a better fit for what Bandcamp does than Epic Games. I m not so sure. Songtradr is interested in exploiting art ( exploiting is used here factually, not judgmentally) rather than creating art. One could [ ]
Today, the final musicREDEF newsletter with Matty Karas as curator was sent out. I ve read this newsletter for several years — it s been a morning coffee companion — and though the curated links to breaking and notable music stories are the main draw for most, Matty s commentary always brought the newsletter to the forefront of [ ]
You may be familiar with a derisive term said in film circles: homework movies. This phrase refers to influential achievements in cinema that one doesn t necessarily enjoy but are requirements for students of film history. Your mileage may vary here; some consider Citizen Kane the most obvious example of a homework movie, but I find it [ ]
My eyes are a mess. You probably already know this. Funny thing: I ve only been admitted to a hospital once — at the age of 12, I stabbed my leg with a knife while building a tree fort on Christmas Eve — and still have all my organs. That includes my tonsils, my appendix, and even my [ ]