Don’t wanna read?  Click the album cover to go listen: 

Greetings everyone, Octopodian and “normal human” alike!

Yeah that’s right, I used scare quotes.  What even is a normal human, anyway?  I’m calling you out.  Provide evidence of your normality and humanity or else risk being categorized as something questionably other.

I’ve roused from the sweet silent slumber of blogging hiatus to bring you fresh news!  There have been developments on the music front I must share.  How could there not be?  It’s been a couple years since I posted an update (sorry about that).

Let’s see, where to start…

The big news for folks interested in my toodley-tunes is that all my projects are now available for FREE on their respective Bandcamp sites.  Not only can you still stream anything (and read along with the lyrics) right there on the Bandcamp player without having to download or install any apps, but now you can download the original music for your very own without signing up for anything or paying a single cent!  Unless bandwidth becomes a problem, this will continue indefinitely.

And let’s be real here—bandwidth won’t be a problem unless I win the popularity lottery.  But as the saying goes, you can’t win if you don’t play.  My obscurity adds to your benefit:  imagine the cred you’ll get when you talk about the recording artist you follow who releases albums in several genres and publishes books, too?  And the material isn’t even dismally horrible!  Or so my closest, ego-coddling friends tell me.

Additionally, hardcopy CD prices have been slashed in half.  Most of them are just $5 (the Enantiodrome EP is only $3) plus a modest flat rate for shipping.  These are full-length LPs, people.  This is not a drill.  And there are bundles available, so check out the bands!  If you’re feeling it, reach out and let me know what you think.  I would warm my heart to find out that some of my work made it into your regular spins.  Likewise it would give me a great guffaw to hear that you thought it was so bad, you had to listen to other music immediately just to get the remnants of it out of your ears.

For those of you who have followed my work…

Mother’s Mistakes has changed status to inactive, due to the passing of my very good friend Frank, who made up the other half of that project.  The two full-length albums we completed together are available and will continue to be.  I’m very proud of them and I know he was too.  Since the release of Seldom Reached and Never Kept, he and I had put work into a pair of albums, one featuring each of us.  As a Biscuit Bend product, his album will be available to interested parties who inquire after it.  If there is interest, I could set up a streaming service for Frank’s music.  Let me know if that piques your interest.

The album I composed as a partner-piece in our final endeavor is now available as the latest album under the Orphic Elegy name.  The official release date is April 1, 2020.  It is titled After Sunset, and is available for free download and streaming at the Orphic Elegy Bandcamp.  If you like it, consider buying a hardcopy for only $5.  Who else can give you such value?

On the horizon…

Outnumber the Living’s album is complete will be made available some time this year.  I’m really excited to put this record out—it’s my first full length metal record engineered entirely on my own.  The fellows really put in their best and it shows.  It seriously rips.  Er, wait…slaps?  It slaps.

The Daybloom album is fiiiiinally in its last throes of production.  I am able to dedicate a lot of time to it this spring and will get it out of my basement and into your ears soon.  Kate and I are currently discussing the hardcopy design.

My second book is not far from being complete.  The writing is mostly complete and has been for a while, as it is a collection of short stories I have composed over the years.  But, since many of these pieces have been sitting for some time, I am giving them a final revision before putting them into print.  The cover art is done.  I plan to record an audiobook version soon, and I expect to get this whole thing released mid-2020.

As always, The Octopode will be the first place to find updates and links to new available works, previews, etc.  Thanks for checking out this post and have a damned good day!

-ML