published: 26 /
5 /
2023
Mark Rowland tries out Bandcamp’s ‘artist recommended’ function in ‘Bandcamp Explorer’.
Article
Bandcamp has a function that I suspect many people don’t use: ‘artist recommended’. It’s there in the Discover section, two along from ‘best-selling’ and ‘new arrivals’. The most recommended list is useless for our aims; inevitably, it’s populated with the best-known artists and releases. The ‘latest’ tab, however, is another story – it’s a platform for lesser known acts that have caught the ear of their peers. So let’s see what it has to offer.
I’ve tried to pick as varied a selection as possible, though it’s clear from a quick scan that alternative, metal and electronic acts have been getting a disproportionate number of recommendations recently. It is clear that quite a few are self-recommendations of side projects – I’ve tried not to include too many of these.
One of the first releases to really stand out is Vera Ellen’s ‘It’s Your Birthday’. Vera’s laid back indie pop very much fits in with her native New Zealand’s heritage of bands such as The Clean, The Chills and The Bats – indeed, her latest release, ‘Ideal Home Noise’ will be released on Flying Nun records. ‘It’s Your Birthday’ is a consistently pleasant listen, shifting between sparklingly upbeat pop and minimalist indie-folk. The title track, ‘YOU!’, ‘It’s Good, It’s Simple’ and ‘Godspeed’ are standouts.
Pennsylvania’s Greg Mendez offers up some lovely lowkey pop on his upcoming self-titled release. There’s a little of Elliott Smith to his style, at least his more upbeat moments, and certainly modern indie pop acts such as Alex G. Greg’s got a way with melody and toes that fine line between pathos and tunefulness. You can try out ‘Goodbye/Trouble’ from the album now.
The recommendation for Seattle’s Bad Optics describes them as “the dark Strokes”, which is accurate to an extent. Last year’s album ‘Pax Americana’ certainly uses similar chiming counter melodies and clear melodic lines, but they’re also quirkier and thrashier – you can hear Wipers, Dead Kennedys and B-52s in their sound as well. This release also toes a fine line, between dissonance and tunefulness, leaning more on the latter than the former. For those who like their punk angular, rapid fire and chanty, this one’s for you.
June McDoom’s ethereal folk incorporates unusual but affecting instrumentation on her self-titled EP. Alongside her quavering voice, and sparse guitar and piano, there are wibbling synths, pitch shifted samples and pounding gated drums that bring to mind 80s power ballads. Opener ‘Babe, You Light Me Up’ also incorporates reggae rhythms. It works a lot better than you’d expect.
‘The Origin of My Depression’, by Australian artist Uboa, is not an easy listen. It uses experimental and noise elements, and it's unsettling and (unsurprisingly) sad. But it’s also deeply personal, digging into Uboa’s mental health and gender dysphoria, at a time when discrimination against trans and gender-nonconforming people is at a worrying height. The album creates a sense of unease and anxiety in its loudest moments, such as ‘Lay Down and Rot’ and tense and melancholic in its quietest, such as ‘Detransitioning’ and ‘Epilation Joy’. It’s not an easy listen, but it’s certainly powerful.
Notable for its novelty is Sex God Sex; its path which gives us, an album technically by Kanagawa Japan’s Minoru Sato. I say technically because Sex God Sex is actually a machine created by Sato designed to create ‘heavy beats’, the product of 13 years’ work. It’s not quite a drum machine, at least not a traditional one, as its patterns are automatically generated. The four tracks are interesting curios of avant-garde composition/modern art, though its 40-minute second track is somewhat of an endurance test. Still, it has something.
Finally, let’s have some headbanging fun with Aberdeen, Scotland’s black/speed/thrash metal band Hellripper. ‘Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags’ is breakneck but not untuneful (for black metal, anyway), with some nice Maiden-like guitar lines and cheesily facemelting solos. There’s some nice chunky, grungy riffs here as well. The harsh vocals won’t be for everyone (that’s really where the black metal comes in), but Hellripper could easily act as a gateway for harder metal sounds.
Article Links:-
https://veraellen.bandcamp.com/album/i
https://gregmendez.bandcamp.com/album/
https://badoptics.bandcamp.com/album/p
https://junemcdoom.bandcamp.com/album/
https://minorusato.bandcamp.com/album/
https://minorusato.bandcamp.com/album/
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