Bandcamp Fridays have been a great way to celebrate independent music and support artists directly since the beginning of the pandemic. New Noise has been celebrating this (nearly) monthly occasion with a list of recs about as often as the platform has been waiving their fees on the first of the month.
Now, recent news about the acquisition of the company by Epic Games has shrouded the future shape and direction of Bandcamp in some amount of uncertainty. Some fear that the business will lose its commitment to supporting artists and interfere with said artists’ ability to connect with fans and maintain an audience. These developments have yet to be seen, though.
Whatever the future of the company holds, but right now (as in today), it is still a great way to purchase music online. Especially today, when 100 percent of the purchase price will go directly to the artist. So, why not pick up some fresh tunes? Presumably, you know what you want already and there are a few hundred albums on your wishlist that you should probably just pull the trigger on already. But in case you need some additional recommendations, might we suggest …
Combo Chimbita – IRÉ (Anti-)
It’s always a joy to be immersed in the mystic adventures of Brooklyn-based, Porto Rican heritage and Afro-Caribbean rock ensemble Combo Chimbita. While their previous 2019 album Ahomale flexed the might of their punk rock muscle, the band have progressed to more enlightened terrain on IRÉ.
On this album, they have embraced more abstract and psychedelic notions of their sound as both an expansion and refinement of their identity and capabilities. The title IRÉ reflects the tensions and complements that flow between revolution and divine inspiration. It is a dialogue that guides the methodical and hypnotic “Babalawo,” the dramatic soulful undertow of “Memoria,” and further finds clarity and transcendence through the clear clarion sweep of singer Carolina Oliveros’s vocals on tracks like the tropical futurist “La Perla” and the adamant and forceful “Yo Me Lo Merezco.”
Dreamer Isioma – Goodnight Dreamer (Self-Released)
Defiant and singularly talented Chicago guitarist Dreamer (Serena) Isioma presents a smart and introspective new style of guitar funk and R’nB on their debut LP Goodnight Dreamer. Equal parts Prince, Anderson .Paak, Chic, Blondie, Fela Kuti, Rihanna, and James Brown, the album cuts a circuitous route through the pantheon of rock history, becoming more sleek and indomitable with each era it splashes through.
Goodnight Dreamer is like a skipping stone that repels against the surface of the water without loss of momentum, leaving in its wake intricate, intersecting rings of visionary, playful perfection. They show off their talent for body-moving tunes on “I’m So Done With You”—a sparse, heartbreaking disco-rock roller—before loosening up for “HUH?” which cartwheels around and through the dividing lines of deep house and ’90s R’nB- cross-pollinating the sounds of these eras in a stunningly layered pattern- and finally, bringing it down a notch and settling into the vulnerable, pleading tones of sincerity dripping soul on “The Chase.”
Pure Wrath – Hymn To The Woeful Hearts (Debemur Morti Productions)
Pure Wrath is a single-member, atmospheric black metal project led by Januaryo “Ryo” Hardy and based out of Indonesia. Hymn To The Woeful Hearts is his third album and tells a story that is very close to heart and home. The album follows a mother’s struggle to survive during the conflagration of the mass killing campaign that took place in Indonesia under the dictatorship of Suharto, a world-historical tragedy that claimed the lives of over a million innocent people between 1965 and 1966.
The woe and anguish of the album are astonishingly palatable, powerfully conveying an overwhelming sense of pain and fury. The clean production and symphonic elements give weight and consequence to depictions of incalculable horror, rooted in well-documented events of unimaginable cruelty. Hopefully, the beauty and anger of Hymn To The Woeful Hearts will lead to a better knowledge of these events they depict as well as understanding their causes which lead them to occur. Two necessary developments if we are to ensure that nothing like these mass murders ever occurs again.
Conway the Machine – God Don’t Make Mistakes (Shady Records)
Buffalo rapper Conway the Machine brings it on God Don’t Make Mistakes. The album is heavy with clout from features by Rick Ross, T.I., 7xvethegenius, and Lil Wayne, and production by Hit-Boy, The Alchemist, among others. It would have been easy for Conway to flex merely by riding the talents of his collaborators, but he is far from playing a backseat role here. Instead, he’s got both hands on the wheel and the accelerator punched all the way to the floor.
Conway’s relaxed, nimble, and bold flow bristles with restraint and authority as he offers contemplation on past mistakes and the violence that has shaped his life (including being shot in the neck in the shoulder in 2012, leading to partial facial paralysis). His verses don’t glorify his pain or the lifestyle that nearly killed him, but instead, wrestle with the knowledge of consequences in the hopes of learning how to walk a new path and to leave behind the twisted ruins of his former self. It’s a dank and gritty-ass album that goes to dark places in the hope of finding some guiding light.
Kill Alters – Armed To The Teeth L.M.O.M.M. (Hausu Mountain Records)
Starting as a way to piece together home recordings made by Bonnie Baxter’s mother in a way that made sense to her, Kill Alters still are that in a lot of ways. But they have also evolved into one of the more daring and tonally ambitious digital hardcore groups currently torturing electronics for the sake of their art on this side of the digital divide. Bonnie’s mother makes several cameo appearances on the group’s debut LP Armed To The Teeth L.M.O.M.M., sometimes talking to her daughter, sometimes in conversation with unidentified others, but always accompanied by a perilous and intoxicating cocktail of psyche-shattering distortion and dissonance.
Tracks like “Dissect Me” resembles an aural vivisection, while “Slow Heat” sounds like Tortioushead pureed with fermented fruit in a gas-powered blender, and the acid-tongued house of the cunningly smooth “Cesspit” winks flirtatiously with some kind of consolation with the listener before shifting gears and shaking you like a can of paint. Bonnie is joined in her mendacious mischief-making by Machine Girl roboticist Matt Stephenson and percussive assailant Hisham Bharoocha (Black Dice, Lightning Bolt), both of whom help bring this electric-homunculus fully to life with abstract fire and peerless ferocity. There can be only one Kill Alters.
Poorly Drawn House – Home Doesn’t Have Four Walls (Candlepin Records)
Poorly Drawn House are a three-person group out of South Carolina who take an abundantly cautious approach to slowcore, one that feels ponderous in its urgency and forgiving in its acceptance of the chaos of inertia. Their debut LP Home Doesn’t Have Four Walls captures a lost sensibility of indie rock, exhibiting a determined self-direction and an orientation that prizes faithfulness to one’s vision above all else.
The guitars are sparse and articulate. The vocals are delivered in a whistful whisper. And the drum work presses up against you in soft gusts, like the warm breath of someone sleeping next to you. It’s a radically quiet album that won’t apologize for the volume and potency of its discreet and tactful profile.
Vulcan Tyrant – Vulcanocide (Horror Pain Gore Death Productions)
Rotterdam’s Vulcan Tyrant are a two-man hoard ready to ravage your ears with an incredibly filthy and repugnant barrage of locked-groove black metal. Despite having been around since 2005, Vulcanocide has the distinctive (dis)honor of being their debut LP. The guitars sound like they were assembled from salvaged motorcycle parts—sometimes roaring, sometimes shrieking, but always sounding like they are on the verge of overheating and burning a hole through the floor.
The drums are similarly damaged, often resembling a bent piece of metal being aggressively and purposefully abused. And then there are the vocals, which are wet, guttural, and streaked with anguish—resembling Athenar if you turned him inside out. All of these elements have an enhanced impact due to the gnarly production, which is as corroded sounding as it gets, leading to the impression that the masters for these songs had been recovered from the glove compartment of the shell of an exploded sedan. Vulcan Tyrant is not easy on the ears, but through their nervy brawn, these bastards will earn your allegiance.
Summer 2000 – John Krasinski (Larry Records)
We’re still a few months out from the carefree days of summer, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t bask in the warm glow of Summer 2000’s John Krasinski LP. Named for that one dude whose face is now burned into the back of your eyeballs after binging the Office during the initial weeks of the pandemic (just me?), the album is the first LP from the one-person (hyper)emo project.
The album is essentially a full synthesis of all of the tendencies of the genre’s most recent (5th wave?) phase. On paper, this sounds like it should be a mess, but in reality, it works quite well. JK is a dynamic and fun album that totally colors outside the lines but is still is able to make a masterpiece. It does so with overlapping crunch acoustics, abundant twinkle chords, heartfelt croons, and a scattering of skramzy howls. All of this is then rinsed and freshened to perfection with a bath of Atom and his Package-inspired interludes. This project has promise!
Fatamorgana – Ahora Aquí, Todavía No (La Vida Es Un Mus Discos)
Barcelona duo Fatamorgana introduce a surprising ratio of warmth into their resonate, space-aged new wave on their second LP Ahora Aquí, Todavía No. Synth-driven punk is usually glacial, dismal, and alien in nature, but through the nimble optimism of their performances, Fatamorgana integrates a novel influx of humanity that portrays a dazzlingly hopeful vision of the future.
“El Rincón Del Ojo” have a yearning motorik engine at its core, one that will prime you for the plush intimacy and intrigue of “All The People,” the aloof frolic of the oaky house beat wrapped “Are We Even,” and the robo-balletic swoon of “The Next Level.” Climb aboard Fatamorgana’s sonic starcruiser and let them take you to the final frontier of sound.
That’s it! Thanks for reading chief!
