Happy Bandcamp Friday once again! What is Bandcamp Friday, you ask? Bandcamp Friday is the first Fridays of every month where Bandcamp waives their normal fee so that more money goes directly to the artist. That means it’s the best day of the month for you to support independent artists. Here’s just a small sampling of some of the artists you can support today when your money goes even farther.
Street Fruit
Street Fruit are a punk band from Los Angeles, California.
They released a new album called Beneath the Screen towards the end of last year. It’s currently streaming on their Bandcamp where you can also order the album on cassette.
The album kicks off with “Call It Beauty” which features light, jangly punk guitars and a fun hook. There’s even, surprisingly enough, a killer guitar solo in this pop-punk song. Then the album’s title track has a touch of ‘50s/’60s pop to it, something that has had a profound influence on the entire punk genre. Then “Body Cam” slows things way down and gets really earnest and soulful.
“Promises #13” is built on some really fun, bare-bones blues licks. The album closes out on “Mic Spit,” which starts out with a funky, almost psychedelic sound and it just gets trippier as the song goes on. It’s really interesting how many different and disperate genres this band incorporates into their punk sound.
You can follow Street Fruit on Instagram for future updates.
Hearts and Rockets // Skink Tank
Hearts and Rockets and Skink Tank are a pair of pop punk bands from Melbourne, Australia.
They put out a split seven-inch late last year with their singles “Clown Town” and “Aires Season.” It’s currently streaming on both band’s Bandcamp pages, where you can also order the split on vinyl.
Hearts and Rockets’ “Clown Town” has a sophisticated pop sensibility. It’s a bouncy tune that’s enhanced by the simple yet infectious guitar riff that, when combined with the shouty vocals, becomes reminiscent of Le Tigre. Then Skink Tank’s “Aires Season” is a little more garage rock with some fun distortion and a solid backbeat. They’re two tracks that are different enough that they contrast nicely, but not so different that they don’t sound like they belong on the split.
Both Hearts and Rockets and Skink Tank recently put out videos for their tracks off the record. You can follow Hearts and Rockets on Facebook and Skink Tank on Facebook and Instagram for future updates.
Waking Dreams
Waking Dreams are an indie pop duo from Berlin, Germany with elements of post punk, synth pop, and more.
This band recently dropped a new album calling Sliding Lines. It’s currently streaming on their Bandcamp where you can also order the album on CD and vinyl.
The record starts off with “For You,” which has an ‘80’s post punk style to it with its synth and pulsing bass. “Glance” then becomes slower, more sultry, more soulful, but when you get to the chorus, it turns from dark and atmospheric to bright and hopeful. “Best Of” could almost be plucked out of an old Depeche Mode or Duran Duran. The vocal performance on that track is also outstanding. Speaking of outstanding vocal performances, the album’s single, “Not So,” has a fantastic bass lines and the synths add a lot, but the vocals are really what carry this outstanding song. Finally, “Tell” ends the album with an solidly powerful beat that sounds like something from the Talking Heads’ rhythm section.
You can follow Waking Dreams on Facebook for future updates.
Oracle’s Eye
Oracle’s Eye are a neoclassical symphonic mathcore band from India who say they’re the first of their kind (and they’re probably right).
The band recently released a digital single called “A Savior’s Dream.” It’s currently streaming on their Bandcamp.
Clocking in at about 11 minutes in length, “A Savior’s Dream” lives up to the band’s promise of neoclassical symphonic mathcore. It’s definitely all of those things and more. It’s a huge, epic that finds the similarities between metal and classical music and fuses them together into something really original. The song is a real journey, as they describe it as the second song in a complex concept series called The Cognitive Octet which will feature eight total songs about different aspects of the human state of mind.
You can follow them on Facebook and Instagram to keep up with The Cognitive Octet going forward.
Shodan
Shodan are a death metal band from Wroclaw, Poland.
Their new album None Shall Prevail drops today on Time to Kill Records. It’s streaming on their Bandcamp where you can also order the album on CD.
Kicking off with “Tamed in Unison,” the track alternates between death metal riffs and classic metal guitar, sometimes even playing the two over each other. Then the classic metal seems to take over at the end with some really wild solos. “Despair Snares” follows a similar pattern of alternating between death metal and classic metal elements. Their beats also get really mathy throughout this whole album.
There’s a certain immediacy to “Ethos” as the guitars come in with some determined solos and the drums fire off like a machine gun. The album closes on its title track as the opening riffs are just all over the place and the beat is mathy as hell. It just gets more chaotic as things go on, but it’s a delightfully fun chaos, and a great way to end an album.
You can follow Shodan on Facebook for future updates.
Tiffy
Tiffy is the solo project of multi-instrumentalist Tiffany Sammy from Boston, Massachusetts. She describes her music as fuzz pop and soft punk.
Tiffy released her new single “Social Sliding” this week, and it’s available to stream and purchase on her Bandcamp.
The single starts out with some bizarre electronic elements and fuzzy guitars before moving into a steady punk beat. The term “soft punk” is appropriate because, while it’s heavily chord-based, the guitars are often jangly and undistorted. When they do get distorted, it’s not by much. There’s something haunting about this vocal performance as well.
Follow Tiffy on Facebook and Instagram for more updates.
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There’s plenty more band to check out and support this Bandcamp Friday. Please do your part to support independent artists like these.
