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Undermining, Not Underlining

April 7, 2021 · 1 Comment

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Discovery vs. Intention → What a fun conversation between Brian Eno and Stewart Brand, promoting We Are As Gods, a new documentary on Brand’s fascinating life. The first half uses Eno’s soundtrack contribution as a topic launching pad. The conversation touches on the intersection of film scoring with ambient music, how multi-track recording brought music closer to painting, and how endless options are making us all permanent curators. My favorite part comes at 17:00 when Brand asks Eno to differentiate, in terms of the creative process, discovery from intention: 

I think the thing that decides that is whether you’ve got a deadline or not (laughs). The most important element in my working life, a lot of the time, is a deadline. The reason it’s important is it makes you realize you’ve got to stop pissing around. You have to finally decide on something. Whether I finish something or not completely depends on whether [a piece of music] has a destination and a deadline.

Eno goes on to describe his fabled archive of half-finished music — “6790 pieces … I noticed today” — most of which is created through discovery, i.e., “pissing around.” Then, when he gets an assignment (a destination with a deadline), he pulls something relevant to the project from the archive and finishes it. That’s an inspiring process and one I’d love to replicate. 

I wonder how much time Eno spends “pissing around” and building this archive. I imagine an ideal would be one or two hours a day. And I’m curious how he decides on and enforces self-imposed deadlines to move his own projects forward.

Oh, and this quote in the video from Eno is a keeper: “What I like better than underlining is undermining.”

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Etcetera → Seth Godin’s advice on how to make your Zoom calls better. Now I want a beam splitter. ❋ This 2015 compilation is a psychedelic overview of On-U Sound’s post-punk dub: Trevor Jackson Presents: Science Fiction Dancehall Classics. ❋ Writer Ernest Wilkins explains why he’s joining the parade of newsletter publishers leaving Substack. This part is especially eye-opening: “I’ve lost anywhere between $400 and $1100 in churned subscriber revenue due to paid subscribers not wanting to give money to this platform anymore. I need it to be clear that for the two years on Substack before this, I had a 0% subscriber churn rate.” ❋ I’m excited about this forthcoming documentary on ‘sound activist’ Matthew Herbert, A Symphony of Noise. ❋ Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine in The New York Times: “My nieces and nephews — they would complain to me, ‘Why are you so purposely obscure? You know, it seems stupid.'”

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Rachika Nayar – Our Hands Against The Dusk → I’ve been delightfully obsessed with Rachika Nayar‘s debut album over the past couple of weeks. The Brooklyn-based artist (in both visuals and sound) has accomplished some heavy-lifting with Our Hands Against The Dusk — the album is unabashedly experimental and uncompromising but somehow remains accessible and, yes, beautiful. Guitar is the main instrument throughout, but it’s looped, processed, and sometimes ‘glitched’ into unfamiliarity. The opening track, “The Trembling of Glass,” is an introductory window to Nayar’s technique, with layers of texture and manipulation swept away in the last half to reveal a bare acoustic motif. It hooked me in straight away.

Interviewed in Magnetic, Nayar explains her method: 

I see one aspect of my process on this album as tearing up an instrumental sample into a million pieces and then putting those fragments through cycles of recombination … these processes feel to me like exploring a single idea through multiple and multiplying perspectives — seeing one thing in all its different realities and selves. 

When one listens closely, there are many opportunities to identify what Nayar is up to, but her execution is nuanced and organic, despite the music’s inherent digitalness. One hears these ‘million pieces’ as a whole, as guitars ring with hopeful tones on “New Strands” and pianos and cellos combine and intertwine on “No Future.” The effect is mesmerizing — dancing somewhere between music that’s ambient, experimental, and influenced by modern classical — but, most of all, it’s affecting. The emotion that went into creating this album is anything but disguised. 

Our Hands Against The Dusk is the most impressive debut I’ve heard in a while. Don’t hesitate to open your ears and heart to it.

Filed Under: From The Notebook, Listening, Watching Tagged With: Brian Eno, Documentary, Experimental Music, Matthew Herbert, My Bloody Valentine, Rachika Nayar, Seth Godin, Stewart Brand, Substack

kevin shields in the new york times

March 31, 2021 · Leave a Comment

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Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine granted The New York Times a rare interview, published today, on the occasion of signing a deal with Domino Music. The back catalog is included, and the 2013 album m b v appeared on streaming platforms for the first time. That’s good, because everyone pretty much forgot about m b v, probably because it was never streaming (sad but true).

Kev also promises two new ‘back-to-back’ albums, a promise I’ll take with a grain of salt. There’s also this bit that gave me a chuckle:

“My nieces and nephews — they would complain to me, because when they would try and show their friends, they can’t find it anywhere,” Shields said. “They’re like, ‘Why are you so purposely obscure? You know, it seems stupid.’ That kind of stuff that made me think, ‘Yeah, I guess my perception of the world isn’t the world.’ There’s a whole world out there I know nothing about.”

Filed Under: MEMORA8ILIA Tagged With: Domino Music, My Bloody Valentine, New York Times

This Place is Gonna Explode in Flames

February 3, 2021 · Leave a Comment

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Marc Weidenbaum posted his answers to a ‘concert questionnaire’ yesterday on his (highly recommended) Disquiet blog. I assume this questionnaire is one of those things passed around on Facebook, friends tagged, and so on. While reading Marc’s answers, I started coming up with my own. Remembering was pleasant and wistful, with us all missing concerts and chances to find new favorite bands and experiences. I thought I’d share my answers-at-this-moment here in the notebook.

Last Concert → Sadly, I was being a homebody and didn’t go to many concerts just before the pandemic (if only we had all known, right?). I saw some local band or DJ a week before lockdown — it escapes me who it was. All I remember is during the show a friend offered my wife a job that she ended up taking. But the last concert-concert was probably Dale Watson in Brooklyn during Mondo NYC. That show was one big party, raucous out the wazoo, and, in retrospect, a pretty good send-off before a year without concerts.

Worst Concert → Surprisingly, I’d say Massive Attack in 1991 at SOBs in New York, their US debut. There was a ton of hype, and I was very excited, but the performance was meandering, mostly instrumental, and strange, not too different from a bad DJ set. I left midway through. A decade later, I read an interview where Massive Attack was asked what their worst show was, and they named this one. It turned out their vocalist (Shara Nelson?) bailed out a day or two before. They didn’t know what to do and were nervously winging it. 

Loudest Concert → My Bloody Valentine in San Francisco on the last reunion tour. I took my earplugs out for a few minutes during the ‘holocaust’ section of “You Made Me Realise” to experience it raw. I’m glad I survived. The venue — an old aircraft hanger — may have had something to do with the volume as I saw them again the next night in Los Angeles. L.A. was still loud but not “this place is gonna explode in flames any minute” loud like it was in S.F.

Seen the Most → Besides the bands I toured with, probably Sonic Youth, who I saw about four times starting with the Daydream Nation Tour. However, they might be tied with Alex Chilton. My favorite Sonic Youth show? When they opened for Neil Young at our local basketball arena. The size of the venue did wonders for the band’s squall. 

Most Surprising → There was no opening band listed for that My Bloody Valentine concert in San Francisco. While waiting for the show to begin, a rumor started to go through the crowd that Sonic Boom, formerly of Spacemen 3, would be opening. Exciting, yes, but Sonic Boom’s solo work at the time was mainly droning (but good) ambient type stuff. Then the crew set up Sonic Boom’s gear, which included a full drum kit, bass amp, a second guitar amp … curious. That didn’t look like ambient music. Then Sonic took the stage with a band and immediately launched into Spacemen 3’s “Revolution.” Hey, what?!? And then the band proceeded to play a 45 minute set of nothing but Spacemen 3 songs. Now that’s what I call a surprise. And it seems like it was a one-off as Sonic Boom was nowhere to be found the next night in Los Angeles.

Best Concert → There are many vying for this slot. Zeena Parkins at Timucua White House would also go under the ‘quietest concert’ category if there were one. The Butthole Surfers in Houston in 1988 (with The Flaming Lips), which was definitely the most life-changing concert. I wrote about that here. Pylon and Public Enemy, the couple of times I saw them both (separately!) in 1990. And, as an unexpected callback to the top of this list, Massive Attack in the mid-2010s. They were so good I was speechless for about an hour after the show.

Next Concert → Who knows. I had tickets to see Kraftwerk play so close to my house I could have taken a long walk to the venue. The pandemic said no. And Terry Riley was set to play Timucua a few months ago. Fingers crossed that these get rescheduled. 

Wish I Could Have Seen → I had a chance to get in a car with some friends and go see Hüsker Dü in New Orleans. One of those friends had a college radio show that night and needed someone to sub. As much as I loved Hüsker Dü at the time, I loved being on the radio more, so I stayed in Ruston, LA, and filled in on his show. My thinking was that I’d catch Hüsker Dü the next time around. They broke up a few months later.

Filed Under: From The Notebook, Musical Moments Tagged With: Alex Chilton, Butthole Surfers, Dale Watson, Hüsker Dü, Live Music, Marc Weidenbaum, Massive Attack, My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Boom, Sonic Youth, Spacemen 3

A Boy Can Dream

December 15, 2020 · Leave a Comment

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Will 2021’s New Music Hold Out For Tours? → One positive thing we can say about 2020, it didn’t lack for great music. Here’s MusicREDEF’s compilation of various 2020′ best of’ lists as proof. For the most part, it didn’t particularly seem like anyone deprived us of their new music this year. In the superstar category, where the absence of touring is a significant detriment on release strategy, artists embracing lockdown life — like Taylor Swift and Charli XCX — prospered. On the other hand, business-as-usual releases from the likes of Lady Gaga and Childish Gambino seemed here and forgotten. 

I think, at first, the uncertainty of the times actually ended up pushing artists to keep the releases flowing. If you remember, there was a time when acts figured they’d be on tour by the summer, and everything would be hunky-dory. There was a feeling that if bands all held their albums for a few months, then there’d be a glut of releases when the time came to tour. So, bombs away. And credit to Dua Lipa for being one of the first to jump in the water, with an end-of-March high-profile album release during the early throes of pandemic panic. Future Nostalgia ended doing quite well for her, giving other acts the nudge they needed. But, most still believed they’d tour in the summer or fall.

2020’s uncertainty is giving way to 2021’s certainty. That certainty is that there likely won’t be any major tours for another year, at the earliest. For that reason, we might see fewer big releases next year or a planned glut of releases (preceding an excess of tours) in early 2022. Here’s Larry Fitzmaurice in the Last Donut of the Night newsletter:

Let’s put visibility aside for a moment (especially when, in the age of social media, it takes a lot to translate that into something you can make a living off of) and talk about the big problem with releasing new music and not touring behind it: No touring means no income, since an increasingly scarce number of musicians can afford to make and release music without touring to recoup the cost of, well, making and releasing music.

Smaller and mid-sized bands are more nimble and can do things that big acts can’t, like book short-notice regional tours and vary the types of venues they play. But there’s also the audience problem — will people be ready to attend concerts before the end of next year? Right now, I’m doubtful. I don’t know if I’ll be comfortable going out until I’m absolutely sure I’m not putting myself and my loved ones in danger. With all the vaccine good news, I hope we can all safely put aside these reservations before we ring in another year. If not, we’ll need all the great new music we can get.

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Apple TV Was Making a Show About Gawker. Then Tim Cook Found Out → I have mixed feelings on this story: 

Mr. Cook, according to two people briefed on the email, was surprised to learn that his company was making a show about Gawker, which had humiliated the company at various times and famously outed him, back in 2008, as gay. He expressed a distinctly negative view toward Gawker, the people said. Apple proceeded to kill the project. 

Several episodes were already in the can, so this wasn’t a small decision. And reportedly, there are other things that Cook (and Apple) object to in Apple TV+’s programming. Unsurprisingly, too much violence and nudity (the reason Cook killed a Dr. Dre biopic despite Dre’s involvement with Apple) or religious controversies (crucifixes were removed from Servant) are on the list. But then, supposedly, a scene was excised from a show because the script called for damaging an iPhone. Oh, and no one in a program can disparage China.

That all sounds dicey. But, in a way, I don’t mind the leader of a content platform setting guidelines based on personal convictions that influence the company’s vision. Most platforms are solely profit-driven and have no content guidelines at all (besides the legally enforced ones). Society’s present mess is partly because platforms try to please everyone, even if everyone includes those spreading dangerous misinformation, bullying, and filth. I’m not saying Cook’s personal views and convictions inspire all his policies (unless he really does love China), but I’d like to see more CEOs express convictions that act as constraints on their companies. I think, in this case, saying ‘no’ to Gawker applies.

Of course, there’s the chilling effect. Will studios take chances when having to navigate a CEO’s personality? On the other hand, could this become the differentiation that we miss in platforms? Like radio stations programming by loose definitions of genre, video streamers become separated by content that follows corporate vision. There will always be platforms that take more risks (that’s a corporate vision in itself), complimenting those that want to remain ‘family-friendly.’ Why not?

I admit what I’m proposing is naïve. Reed Hastings pulling an episode of Patriot Act off Netflix because it criticizes Saudi Arabia is not what we want more of. But if Twitter and Facebook suddenly decided that misinformation, hate-speech, and harassment weren’t allowed because it was against what Zuckerberg and Dorsey believed in — I’d enthusiastically welcome that. They are private companies, after all, and can do what they want if they wanted to. 

I know, I know. Just let me enjoy my fantasy for at least a few minutes.

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Elijah Knutsen – Music For Vending Machines 1 → Elijah Knutsen, who gave us the exquisite Blue Sun Daydream album a couple of months ago, is back with Music For Vending Machines 1. Elijah refers to this first-in-a-series as “a miniaturized listening experience … much like something purchased from a vending machine.” The three songs, each clocking in at an average length of nine-and-a-half minutes, note a particular noise in their titles: “Air Conditioner Sound,” “Vending Machine Sound,” and “Purple Wisteria Tree Sound.” Those titles are red herrings as these ‘sounds’ are spacious, melodic, and far from mechanical or ordinary. “Vending Machine Sound” in particular gives our ears a visceral variety — layers of mesmerizing, shimmering tones fade into a chorus of voices and footsteps. And then those noises succumb to warm bendy chords alternating in the stereo field, like an interim track on that lost mid-90s My Bloody Valentine album. As with his previous Blue Sun Daydream, Elijah Knutsen’s self-described “micro-release”1It’s still longer than most early Van Halen albums btw. is a gorgeous-sounding diversion, transporting and soothing the listener within its sonic world.

Filed Under: Commentary, From The Notebook, Listening Tagged With: Ambient Music, Apple, Best-Of Lists, Charlie XCX, Content Platforms, Dr. Dre, Dua Lipa, Elijah Knutsen, Lady Gaga, My Bloody Valentine, Netflix, Release Strategy, Taylor Swift, Tim Cook

8sided.blog

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8sided.blog is a digital zine about sound, culture, and what Andrew Weatherall once referred to as 'the punk rock dream'.

It's also the online home of Michael Donaldson, a slightly jaded but surprisingly optimistic fellow who's haunted the music industry for longer than he cares to admit. A former Q-Burns Abstract Message.

"More than machinery, we need humanity."
 
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