8Sided Blog

the scene celebrates itself

  • 8sided About
  • memora8ilia

What Am I Doing Now? (September 2019 Recap)

09.18.2019 by M Donaldson // 1 Comment

Sunrise on Lake Holden

It’s been an eventful summer. First of all, I got married. I’ve been with Caroline for 15 years, so it doesn’t seem like that big of a deal but, okay, it’s a big deal. But we did the courthouse rather than any sort of ceremony. And then we threw a party for 20 of our closest friends and family and surprised them with the news. That was fun.

I’m asked, “does it feel different now that you’re married?” and I say, “yes, it does.”

“Really? What’s changed?”

“Now, everyone asks if things feel different.”

I’ve also moved away from consulting though I’m still open to help out artists and projects that inspire me. I’m updating my ‘About Me’ page to help explain this. I’ve decided that I can be more helpful through this blog, so I’m redirecting my focus here. The goal will be 3-5 pieces posted a week, eventually increasing the frequency to daily. I’m also plotting the long-promised newsletter. Cool things are afoot.

My friend Craig Snyder has come on board with 8DSync to help expand the roster. Craig’s knowledge of the industry is vast, and he’s already helped us make huge gains. Through Craig, we’ve added John Brodeur (check out Bird Streets, his latest project) and Swampmeat Family Band to our publishing posse. And I also brought on the full catalog of Scotland’s The Little Kicks, a terrific band I’ve known for a while. All three of these acts will have new albums at the beginning of 2020, and I’ll drop an exciting announcement related to all of this soon.

The 8D Industries label took the summer off but is revving up for the end of the year. More Ghost Than Man follows up last year’s release with So Soon The Dark. This mini-album is a soundtrack to a wild sci-fi short film which MGTM’s Terry Grant wrote, directed, starred in, did set design, voice-overs … okay, he did everything. It’s ambitious, and the film is crazy. And crazy good. Expect all of that to appear right before Halloween. And in early 2020 we’re expecting new music from Monta At Odds, San Mateo, and (hopefully) Q-Burns Abstract Message.

Last week I returned from Americanafest in Nashville. Technically, I didn’t go to the conference, but that didn’t stop me from meeting some wonderful people who were also in town. And it’s always a joy to spend some time in Nashville. In October, I’ll be in New York City for a couple of days of MondoNYC. Reach out if you’ll be there.

Daniel Johnston died. I love to root for underdogs, and he was a champion underdog. I briefly wrote about him last January. Please read some more articles about him here.

I forgot something, I know it. But I plan to shorten the time between these /now updates, so I’ll get to it next time. Surely.

Quick recommendations:

  • Long Day’s Journey Into Night
  • Tade Thompson’s Rosewater
  • Jenny Odell’s How To Do Nothing
  • Tim Maughan’s Infinite Detail
  • Seth Godin and Brian Koppleman have another amazing chat
  • Succession (I’m late to this but boy am I enjoying it)
  • a 6-hour+ (!) reissue of The Solid Doctor’s How About Some More Ether
  • Jogging House
  • Unexplained Sounds Group
  • all the music in my #Worktones series

Categories // From The Notebook Tags // 8D Industries, Americanafest, Burd Streets, Caroline, Craig Snyder, Daniel Johnston, John Brodeur, MondoNYC, More Ghost Than Man, now, Swampmeat Family Band, The Little Kicks

8sided.blog

 
 
 
 
 
 
8sided.blog is an online admiration of modernist sound and niche culture. We believe in the inherent optimism of creating art as a form of resistance and aim to broadcast those who experiment not just in name but also through action.

It's also the online home of Michael Donaldson, a curious fellow trying his best within the limits of his time. He once competed under the name Q-Burns Abstract Message and was the widely disputed king of sandcastles until his voluntary exile from the music industry.

"More than machinery, we need humanity."

Learn More →

featured

The Children…’s Blues is a Primal Yowl

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.

Vaughan Oliver’s Invitation to Decode

A remarkable album cover is an invitation to decode, or as Vaughan Oliver said, “[it] should work as an entrance door that invites you to cross it.”

The Soundabout

The invention of The Walkman and how listening technologies affect people’s perception of music and the spaces around them.

Mastodon

Mastodon logo

Listening

If you dig 8sided.blog
you're gonna dig-dug the
Spotlight On Podcast

Check it out!

Exploring

Roll The Dice

For a random blog post

Click here

or for something cool to listen to
(refresh this page for another selection)

Linking

Blogroll
A Closer Listen
Austin Kleon
Atlas Minor
blissblog
Craig Mod
Disquiet
feuilleton
Headpone Commute
Jay Springett
Kottke
Metafilter
One Foot Tsunami
1000 Cuts
1001 Other Albums
Parenthetical Recluse
Robin Sloan
Seth Godin
The Creative Independent
The Red Hand Files
The Tonearm
Sonic Wasteland
Things Magazine
Warren Ellis LTD
 
TRANSLATE with x
English
Arabic Hebrew Polish
Bulgarian Hindi Portuguese
Catalan Hmong Daw Romanian
Chinese Simplified Hungarian Russian
Chinese Traditional Indonesian Slovak
Czech Italian Slovenian
Danish Japanese Spanish
Dutch Klingon Swedish
English Korean Thai
Estonian Latvian Turkish
Finnish Lithuanian Ukrainian
French Malay Urdu
German Maltese Vietnamese
Greek Norwegian Welsh
Haitian Creole Persian
TRANSLATE with
COPY THE URL BELOW
Back
EMBED THE SNIPPET BELOW IN YOUR SITE
Enable collaborative features and customize widget: Bing Webmaster Portal
Back
Newsroll
Dada Drummer
Deep Voices
Dense Discovery
Dirt
Erratic Aesthetic
First Floor
Flaming Hydra
Futurism Restated
Garbage Day
Herb Sundays
Kneeling Bus
Orbital Operations
Sasha Frere-Jones
The Browser
The Honest Broker
The Maven Game
The Voice of Energy
Today In Tabs
Tone Glow
Why Is This Interesting?
 
TRANSLATE with x
English
Arabic Hebrew Polish
Bulgarian Hindi Portuguese
Catalan Hmong Daw Romanian
Chinese Simplified Hungarian Russian
Chinese Traditional Indonesian Slovak
Czech Italian Slovenian
Danish Japanese Spanish
Dutch Klingon Swedish
English Korean Thai
Estonian Latvian Turkish
Finnish Lithuanian Ukrainian
French Malay Urdu
German Maltese Vietnamese
Greek Norwegian Welsh
Haitian Creole Persian
TRANSLATE with
COPY THE URL BELOW
Back
EMBED THE SNIPPET BELOW IN YOUR SITE
Enable collaborative features and customize widget: Bing Webmaster Portal
Back

ACT

Support Ukraine
+
Ideas for Taking Action
+
Climate Action Resources
+
Carbon Dots
+
LGBTQ+ Education Resources
+
National Network of Abortion Funds
+
Animal Save Movement
+
Plant Based Treaty
+
The Opt Out Project
+
Trustworthy Media
+
Union of Musicians and Allied Workers

Here's what I'm doing

/now

Copyright © 2025 · 8D Industries, LLC · Log in