I've fallen way behind on blogging this past month due to internet connection difficulties and some other life stuff...but I'm back up and running now, and I thought I'd compile another list of juicy Bandcamp Friday recommendations for you all. I decided to mostly concentrate on small low-key bands and artists this time. They're the ones who really need our support and attention.
We all know at this point that Bandcamp isn't perfect... but they're still BY FAR the best digital music platform to directly support independent artists.
P.S I'm making a separate blog post for instrumental ambient/drone recommendations. Please check that out too if you're into that type of music.
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Sooner - Days and Nights (2022)
GENRE : power pop, indie rock, post-hardcore, dream pop
RECORD LABEL : Good Eye Records
Sooner are a shoegaze-tinged alternative rock band from Brooklyn, New York. Their new album is a wonderful mix of jangly power pop, dreamy emo rock and ethereal dream pop. The songs are powerful and energetic, yet pensive and beautiful. Great stuff.
Stream/Download the album here :
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Yasmin Williams - Urban Driftwood (2021)
GENRE : instrumental, folk, acoustic, kalimba
RECORD LABEL : Spinster Sounds
Here's some breathtaking intricate rich acoustic guitar music to soothe your aching spirit. Yasmin Williams utilizes various guitar techniques such as fingerpicking, lap tapping and percussive hits to create an unorthodox yet soulful sound. She's the most interesting solo guitarist I've heard in a while. Go and sit somewhere out in nature and let this album be your delightful soundtrack.
If you're a fan of the more stripped down acoustic work of Mark Kozelek (Sun Kil Moon, Red House Painters), then you'll love this. I reckon if Kozelek had an extra pair of hands and someone duct-taped his big mouth shut, this would be the kind of music he'd come out with.
Stream/Download the album here :
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Vollam - Mirror EP (2021)
GENRE : shoegaze, ambient, post-rock, slowcore
RECORD LABEL : SomewhereCold Records
Here's some super-slow, dark, sleepy shoegaze from Texan band Vollam for you to sink into. The 5 songs that comprise their debut EP are heavy yet tranquil, depressing yet comforting, noisy yet melodic...a wonderful treat for fans of shoegaze, post-rock and ambient music alike. Another glorious release from SomewhereCold Records.
Stream/Download the album here :
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Deva Grace - Vocivos (2022)
GENRE : synth pop, electronic, chillwave, witch house
RECORD LABEL : Furious Hooves
Mesmerizing psychedelic synth pop that shimmers and swells and engulfs you from beginning to end. Glistening sparkly ethereal atmospheres and Deva's beautiful silky dream voice will elevate you and transport you to a higher plane...far beyond the boundaries of our ordinary mundane existence.
Song titles like 'Ego Death' and 'Mycelia' instantly convinced me that I was in for a surreal and otherwordly listening experience, and that's exactly what it was. Great album. Go get it.
Stream/Download the album here...
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ASkySoBlack - Autumn In The Water (2022)
GENRE : emo, screamo, post-hardcore, metalcore, alternative rock
RECORD LABEL : New Morality Zine
The awesome new EP from Philadelphia post-hardcore band ASkySoBlack. Their music is dark, heavy, atmospheric and beautiful - a glorious and seamless mixture of 00's emo/screamo/post-hardcore, 90's alt-rock and melodic metalcore, with some dreamy shoegaze elements thrown in there. This EP is a wonderful little blast that's all over before you know it.
Fans of bands like Deftones, Hum, Finch, Basement, & Waterdown will likely dig this. If you like it, check out their debut EP 'What Is Yet To Come?'. I'm not sure which one I personally prefer, but they're both definitely worth a spin.
Stream/Download the album here :
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Mila Webb - Lucky Nights (2022)
GENRE : folk pop, psych folk, indie rock
RECORD LABEL : Perpetual Doom
Mila Webb is the sixth child of legendary singer-songwriter Jimmy Webb, and this is her debut EP as a solo artist. It's a delicious slab of dreamy wistful 70s-tinged psychedelic folk pop. Her songs speak of love and longing, and the desire to know one's place in the big bad world by diving deeply inwards. This EP is lethargic and sad, yet beautiful and captivating...it makes me feel like I'm drifting helplessly through a tunnel of misty old memories, wondering if I'll ever emerge from the other end.
The 70's style production on this EP is gorgeous too. There's so much clarity on all the individual instruments, and so much space for the notes and melodies to breathe... yet it retains a certain amount of rawness, which complements the feel of the songs perfectly. I love it.
Stream/Download the album here...
Vapour Night - Snow Fled (2015)
GENRE : shoegaze, dream pop, noise rock, dark ambient, electronica
RECORD LABEL : Dead Forest Records
Vapour Night is a Scottish shoegaze/noise pop music project, and this album is a long dark winter journey into the abyss. The songs are dark, melancholy and lonely...yet sweeping and beautiful.
There's lots going on in this album - dark post-punky guitars, bittersweet dream pop, ferocious noise rock, cold ambience, mournful electronica, sheer walls of glorious noise, and haunting vocals. Highly recommended.
Stream/Download the album here...
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Le Morte d'Abby - Is This Machine Recording? (2021)
GENRE : experimental, lo-fi electronica, EDM
RECORD LABEL : self-released
How can something be nauseating and beautiful at the same time? I don't have the answer to that, but this album by Le Morte d'Abby proves that such an absurdity exists. It's an album of warped lo-fi instrumental electro-pop songs that makes you want to chill out and puke at the same time. Brilliant stuff.
Stream/Download the album here...
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Abronia - The Whole of Each Eye (2020)
GENRE : psychedelic rock, prog rock, kosmiche, experimental, krautrock
RECORD LABEL : Cardinal Fuzz / Feeding Tube
Abronia are a unique psychedelic prog-rock sextet from Portland, Oregon. They make big brooding (sometimes thunderous) 60s/70s-influenced kosmiche art rock using heavily-reverbed/tremolo'd electric guitars, sweeping atmospheric pedal steel guitar, jazz-infused tenor saxophone, brooding basslines and monstrous drums, over which drifts the haunting soaring vocals.
In their sound I hear elements of bands like The Black Angels, Popol Vuh, Jefferson Airplane, Nico, Shiva's Headband, etc...but the way they combine these elements, along with their particular delivery of the overall sound is very unique and refreshing.
This music makes me think of some sort of giant ominous shadow monster, slowly making its way across vast desert plains, devouring everything in its path. Great stuff.
Stream/Download the album here...
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Mt Fog - Guide To The Unusual (2021)
GENRE : folktronica, electronica, synth pop, dark pop, art pop
RECORD LABEL : Self-Released / Ghost Mountain Records
And last but not least - here's some beautiful foggy synth pop from ''forest folktronica'' artist Mt Fog (a.k.a Carolyn B). This is a wonderful album, and not just for its fogginess... it's a mystical journey through strange twisted fragmented dreamscapes, leaving the listener unsure of whether they're going to emerge from the other side or not...
The music itself is fairly minimalistic synth-driven pop, but it's powerful and atmospheric...and pretty theatrical. Carolyn B's voice is so haunting and beautiful. It soars like a strange bird over her own magical dream world. The whole album is like a breath of foggy mountain air. Fog songs likes Mt Fog.
Stream/Download the album here...
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