Another month, another Bandcamp Friday.
If you don’t know the drill: each month we assemble an all star cast of contributors to suggest how you might spend your hard earned cash on Bandcamp Friday to support labels and musicians. We’ve done this nearly every month, each time with a different set of folks recommending the albums. If you haven’t seen them all, check out the full archive here after looking at today’s offering. Humans are far superior to algorithms when it comes to music recommendation.
If you’re interested in participating in a future iteration of this series, get in touch.
Without further ado, the picks.
Charlemagne Lazarus Charlemagne is the founder and head of Deathbomb Arc, truly an institution in the world of experimental music. Their back catalog is a bounty of riches, and they’ve been steadily putting out some of the best albums of 2020. I’ve been partial to recent releases from Lauren Bousfield, Psychic Graveyard, OHYUNG and Dos Monos, but there’s far more to explore. Take the time to look through their catalog, and check out Charlemagne’s picks below.
THE BRAIN OST | PAUL ZAZA This maximalist energy feels more post-2010 than the sort of electronics that typically accompany 80’s new wave b-horror.
HAIL OF IRON | DARK MACHINE NATION I could love this for the cavernous gabber kicks alone, but combined with his style bending vocals, this is my favorite discovery of the year.
OTOHIME | TOIRET STATUS It is very difficult to make me say WTF after decades of listening to experimental music. Good job Toiret Status.
LIITAL | ABY NGANA DIOP Mbalax is the most exciting philosophy in percussion I’ve ever heard and this album has become the entry point for it. I highly recommend tracking down more recent examples of the genre as well.
STYGIAN BOUGH VOL 1 | BELL WITCH AND AERIAL RUIN I know nothing about metal or folk music, so I’m sure every deep fan will mock me for loving this. Oh well, its my go to for background music while I work lately.
GENTLY VEILED | SILENT CABIN A very romantic example of Dungeon Synth. Like an amorous wind.
SEROTONIN II | YEULE I feel like I’ve heard lots of attempts at doing a modern electronics
version of ‘Twin Peaks’ music and always scoffed at it. This though, is a fucking masterpiece.
AS MAGI | KINIT HER If you have fantasies about all the neighborhood cats meeting
together under the full moon and conducting rituals, this is going to satisfy an important need.
Manuel Lemus Manuel runs Citrus City Records, a Latinx operated tape label based in Richmond, Virginia and New York. Their release by Yalc123 (Yalc Nitsua Mailliw) has been a recent favorite at Undrcurrents HQ, but there are many more gems to be found in their back catalog. Explore the whole thing over on their Bandcamp page, and check out Manuel’s picks below
LIFE LIKE MOVING PICTURES | BEDBUG Another gem from the Boston based artist. Creating a beautiful sonic textures interwoven with their honest & gut wrenching lyrics. Helps me reflect and think about time passing, fading memories and loved ones. Available on cassette tape too so highly recommend folks getting this album by Dylan.
GHETTO KUMBE | GHETTO KUMBE Debut album from Afro-Colombiam trio Ghetto Kumbe. Crazy rhythmic drum patterns mixed with blissful synths. It’s been really cool seeing a wave of Afro-Futurism groups coming from Latin America, really pushing forward Latin American music to new levels.
SUNDRY ROCK SONG STOCK | YVES JARVIS Recommend everything Yves Jarvis has put out. The intimacy and layers they create really leave you wanting more and reflecting. They have a new album coming out and have shared singles “Victim”, “For Props” & “Semula”. Worthy of folks time.
Dwight and Liz Pavlovic Dwight and Liz Pavlovic live in Morgantown, WV and run Crash Symbols together. Another amazing label with a massive back catalog that’s worth getting lost in, I highly recommend both the Sea Moss and Frank Hurricane albums from last year. Dwight is a freelance writer and Liz is an artist, she works under the names Liz Pavlovic Design and Keep On Creepin’ On.
HUEREQUEQUE | HUEREQUEQUE We actually released one of these tracks on our last label compilation, Touched By an Angle #2, early in 2018. Most are a little on the older side, but still an awesome place to start with one of our favorite Estonian psych projects (and labels for that matter) –Dwight
ALTAR OF HARMONY | LUKE SCHNEIDER Ethereal (LOL jk, mostly). Otherworldly pedal steel soundscapes that swirl and hang like smoke. Soundtrack to the wooded wonderland that only exists in your dreams. Trippy bro! –Liz
BAROQUE CLASSICS (FOR ELECTRONIC OSCILLATORS) | PILGRIM TALK Is that a giant ant or a tiny dog? Who knows. I imagine Nick Hoffman trained a bunch of ants to perform this music using itty bitty oscillators. Reminds me a little of Wendy Carlos’ music for A Clockwork Orange. Rousseau described Baroque music as “that in which the harmony is confused, and loaded with modulations and dissonances” so I reckon that’s why it lends itself so well to an oscillator, tater. –Liz
DEMATERIALIZATIA: LIVE AT CAMP COSMIC | SPIRITCZUALIC ENHANCEMENT CENTER Great live set from an international ensemble we worked with not too long ago. Way funkier than our tape together but also a fun introduction to their live sound. Plus, it’s a good dollar value at 1.11€ for thirteen minutes of spicy jams. –Dwight
CRASH KLANG BANG THANG | VARIOUS ARTISTS Epic compilation from a still under-the-radar label in Brooklyn, Jollies. Very distinctive visual identity and an eclectic musical palette. “Enjoy your journey through the primordial soup and back!” Nice mix of more and less recognizable projects, on the comp and from the label generally. –Dwight
Greg Obis Greg is a member of the band Stuck and is the co-founder of Born Yesterday Records, one of the most consistent young labels around; anything in their slim discography is worth checking out. Their next release, Landowner’s sophomore effort Consultant, will go down as one of the best rock records of the year. Check out Greg’s picks below.
YEO-NEUN | OKKYUNG LEE This was a pick from Mariana Timony for one of the Bandcamp days this year. I have absolute faith in Mariana’s taste and she did not steer me wrong with this one. Really heart-wrenching compositions, beautifully and minimally orchestrated, and at times going completely off the rails into more open ended noise territory. The pieces are just so tightly wound, like they categorically define every flavor of anxiety that has wracked my brain during the pandemic. It feels really appropriate for this moment.
LOVE TOUCHED TIME AND TIME BEGAN TO SWEAT | POOL HOLOGRAPH I recently tweeted that 2017’s Transparent World was my favorite record from the 10’s Chicago Indie Rock scene. It seemed to touch on different things happening all across the local music community at that time while still being fiercely original. Very excited that they have a new record coming out. Wyatt Grant is a breed of true artist that I think is very rare in rock. His vision has always been inspiring to me. We’ve talked for a long time about starting a band. He just moved to North Carolina and I still think it needs to happen.
WIND SONGS | DANA GAVANSKI I haven’t bought this one yet and will likely be doing so on this bandcamp day. Was listening to Guy Garvey on BBC6 the other day and “At Last I Am Free” (originally by Chic) came on and I was very drawn to it. It reminds me of Mug Museum era Cate Le Bon, which I am very into. Excited to spend more time with this one. Bummed the LP’s are sold out!
TOTAL RESTRAINT | TOSSER I was pretty obsessed with this record right at the beginning of the pandemic. I had reached out to them about show advice in Washington DC leading up to a tour Stuck had planned last April, and just got very into their record in the process. Really scratches an itch for early Exploding In Sound stuff like Ovlov, Grass is Green, Speedy Ortiz, etc. One of my favorites of the year for sure.
THE INCESSANT | MEAT WAVE I wanted to choose at least one older record by a band that’s still active, and so I semi-randomly picked out this record out of Chicago punk rock canon. Chris Sutter’s singing style has always been a low key influence on my own singing in Stuck. Some of his lyrics give me chills, like “When I see the light, I know the dark is coming”. It feels like an aftershock from 90’s / 00’s Chicago’s noise rock that goes just as hard as everything before it. Truly a masterpiece of a record.
David Wilikofsky Finally, a few picks from yours truly. As always, feel free to head over to my Bandcamp profile for more suggestions
THINGS I NEVER SAID | OCEANATOR I wrote about this album for Post-Trash; the review was just published this morning. I’ll let you dig into my thoughts over there, but in the meantime let me just say this album rips. Elise Okusami writes songs that give me goosebumps every time I listen. Don’t sleep on this one, grab it now.
MUTHALAND | BBYMUTHA This magnum opus dropped last Friday, and I’m still digesting it. Initial thoughts: it’s production has the same haunted vibe as some of my favorite Memphis rap classics, and Bbymutha is one of the best rappers operating today. Enough said.
VANISH | JULIA REIDY I sometimes put this on at night, turn out all the lights and just look out at the city. Guitar, electronics and heavily processed vocals swirl together to create two otherworldly soundscapes.
KNOT | KNOT It turned out Krill was not forever, but from their ashes rose Knot. They’ve returned without missing a beat, still sounding fresh as ever. If you love Krill, you’ll love Knot. And if you don’t love Krill, what’s wrong with you?
HUNGER FOR A WAY OUT | SWEEPING PROMISES The description of this album references Kleenex/Liliput, which feels like a spot on RIYL (along with others bands of the same era like Delta 5, The Raincoats and Sporten Är Död). It has that same magical, slightly shambolic quality as classics by all of those bands. Highly recommended.
LONG HAIRED LOCUSTS | GODCASTER On the off chance you didn’t read my review from yesterday, read it now and then buy this album.