The Just Joans

Name: The Just Joans
Website: https://www.thejustjoans.co.uk/
bandcamp collection: 

recommendations:

Witching Waves

Name: Witching Waves

Website: http://shop.specialistsubjectrecords.co.uk/products/636329-witching-waves-persistence-lp-cd

bandcamp collection: 

Homecomings

Name: Homecomings
Website: http://homecomings.jp/
bandcamp collection:


recommendations

Carsmile Steve

Name: CarsmileSteve
Website: https://twitter.com/carsmilesteve
bandcamp collection: https://bandcamp.com/carsmilesteve

recommendations:




So, I've been listening to a lot of Very Loud music on bandcamp recently, mainly due to a bunch of wrestling-adjacent zinesters from America who keep recommending stuff on twitter that ends up in my wishlist. As usual, I'm a complete dilettante when it comes to this stuff, absolutely not claiming any deep knowledge at all into these scenes, but hey, it's never stopped me liking music before!

SØØN are Hawaiian femme-fronted hardcore and this is GET ØUT from what appears to be their first long-player, WHAT THE FUCK DID WE DØ TØ THE EARTH (long-player being relative here, 12 tracks in a shade under 15 minutes). I'm not sure if "Ø" is a legitimate letter in the Hawaiian alphabet, but I am sure that they make a bloody racket and don't hang about whilst they do it!

It seems that LARMA are somewhat of a Swedish Hardcore Supergroup, according to their bio. To me, there's definitely a line back to '77 (carefully avoiding the p-word) here, there's even, almost, gtr solos, or, at least, hints of where they should be. Apparently this is KANGPUNK which, I am assured by wikipedia, traces its roots back through Discharge to Motorhead and Buzzcocks, so there we go. Avståndets Psykologi is "Psychology of Distance".

VITAL FORCE (and, please, please, click through and have a look at the cover for this split release) are Russian and what I'd call Proper Metal, and yet they still zip through this in just under three minutes. I particularly like the pointy guitar bits.

Funny how sometimes you can picture exactly where you were when you first heard a particular song, isn't it? For FINAL STRUGGLE OF SELVES by TOMB MOLD (!T!O!M!B! !M!O!L!D!), I was listening to Nathan's always excellent Hot Dog Days Radio (which doesn't often go *this* hard) whilst walking down Holdenhurst Road in Bournemouth, my only ever visit to the town, walking past slightly sad looking student bars at ten in the morning...

I had quite a bit of difficulty picking a track from the CLOUD RAT album because it's banger after banger (the weird goth-piano opener excepted), but I think ROSEMARY is as good a choice as any! Hard grindcore stuff but not the overly guttural vocals that sometimes get A Bit Much...

I mean, you can't argue with a band called WEAPONIZED FLESH, can you? I wish I still made actual real mixtapes because a 53 second song called FUCK XMAS FEAR would be just the thing for that tricky end of side one gap. The rest of the EP is actually great, it's just this made me do a proper laugh out loud the first time I heard it, for which I do not apologise.  Feels like it might sneak into the lower reaches of a mid-90s Festive Fifty.

Also, I'm going to cheat and recommend Something Entirely Different as well, viz The North East Ska Jazz Orchestra, brought to my attention from Robert Newsome's excellent Navigator column, where he jumps from tag to tag around the world of Bandcamp. Italian Big Band Ska for the win! Would sound perfect on the West Holts field at Glastonbury, about half three on a sunny Saturday afternoon, I can smell the suntan lotion and taste the perry (but you can see why it doesn't fit in with the other six!).

Marianthi

we're back to normal after that indietracks interlude - hi to anyone new who popped by over the weekend

Name: Marianthi
Website: hmmm, don't really have one anymore - twitter handle maybe? @rainforatime and @skepwordsmusic
Bandcamp collection: https://bandcamp.com/rainforatime

recommendations:

indietracks virtual merch tent - Sunday, Main Stage

this weekend should have been Indietracks, a celebration of independent, creative and DIY pop music, taking place at a steam railway in the Derbyshire countryside.

over the next few days Carry On Bandcamping will be your one-stop-shop for the bands that were due to play the 2020 festival, and the labels that were to have tables in the merch tent - and keep an eye on the hashtag #IndietracksMerchTent for any announcements

i hope you have been enjoying this year's virtual festival, Indietracks At Home

indietracks virtual merch tent - Sunday, Indoor Stage

and SUDS' website, and shop is here

indietracks virtual merch tent - Sunday, Church Stage

indietracks virtual merch tent - Sunday, Train

and Pete Green's website is here

indietracks virtual merch tent - Saturday, Main Stage

this weekend should have been Indietracks, a celebration of independent, creative and DIY pop music, taking place at a steam railway in the Derbyshire countryside.

over the next few days Carry On Bandcamping will be your one-stop-shop for the bands that were due to play the 2020 festival, and the labels that were to have tables in the merch tent - and keep an eye on the hashtag #IndietracksMerchTent for any announcements

and you can find out more about this year's virtual festival, Indietracks At Home, here

indietracks virtual merch tent - Saturday, Indoor Stage

Josie Long's Website

indietracks virtual merch tent - Saturday, Church Stage

indietracks virtual merch tent - Saturday, Train

indietracks virtual merch tent - Friday, Main Stage

this weekend should have been Indietracks, a celebration of independent, creative and DIY pop music, taking place at a steam railway in the Derbyshire countryside.

over the next few days Carry On Bandcamping will be your one-stop-shop for the bands that were due to play the 2020 festival, and the labels that were to have tables in the merch tent - and keep an eye on the hashtag #IndietracksMerchTent for any announcements

and you can enjoy this year's virtual festival here: Indietracks At Home

indietracks virtual merch tent - the links

Indietracks at home
Indietracks at home T-Shirts
Midland Railway Gift Set

the labels:

Breaking Down Recordings
Elefant
Fika
Fortuna POP!
How Does It Feel To Be Loved?
Specialist Subject
wiaiwya

the stalls:

Sew Singular
Greenfinch Naturals

the bands:

Adults
Alice Hubble 
All Girls Arson Club
Bad Moves
Breakup Haircut
Broken Chanter
Captain Handsome
Charmpit
Chemtrails 
Emma Kupa
En Attendant Ana
Enids
Erica Freas
Ex-Void
Fortitude Valley
Francesca's Word Salad
Fresh
Gutts
Hailey Beavis
Homecomings
Instant Bin 
Jonathan Kinsman
Josie Long
Los Campesinos!
Martha Ffion
Mayshe-Mayshe
Megaflora
Melby
Nadia Javed
Nervus
Oh Peas!
Otis Mensah
Pet Crow
Pete Green
Pip Blom
Rozi Plain
Shopping
Shypig
Soot Sprite
SUDS
The Just Joans
The Pink Pound
The School
Throw like a girl!
th'sheridans
Tigercats
Upset Stomach
Witching Waves
Whyte Horses

indietracks virtual merch tent - Specialist Subject

this weekend should have been Indietracks, a celebration of independent, creative and DIY pop music, taking place at a steam railway in the Derbyshire countryside.

over the next few days Carry On Bandcamping will be your one-stop-shop for the bands that were due to play the 2020 festival, and the labels that were to have tables in the merch tent - and keep an eye on the hashtag #IndietracksMerchTent for any announcements

and you can find out more about this year's virtual festival, Indietracks At Home, here

next up - Specialist Subject who are kindly giving you a 20% discount if you use the code "indietracks" when you buy from the Bandcamp page
twt @specialistsub
ig @specialistsubject
https://shop.specialistsubjectrecords.co.uk/

indietracks virtual merch tent - Breaking Down Recordings

this weekend should have been Indietracks, a celebration of independent, creative and DIY pop music, taking place at a steam railway in the Derbyshire countryside.

over the next few days Carry On Bandcamping will be your one-stop-shop for the bands that were due to play the 2020 festival, and the labels that were to have tables in the merch tent - and keep an eye on the hashtag #IndietracksMerchTent for any announcements

and you can find out more about this year's virtual festival, Indietracks At Home, here

label name - BREAKING DOWN RECORDS
twitter - N/A
website - WWW.BREAKINGDOWNRECORDINGS.COM
https://www.facebook.com/breakingdownrecordings/

indietracks virtual merch tent - Fika

this weekend should have been Indietracks, a celebration of independent, creative and DIY pop music, taking place at a steam railway in the Derbyshire countryside.

over the next few days Carry On Bandcamping will be your one-stop-shop for the bands that were due to play the 2020 festival, and the labels that were to have tables in the merch tent - and keep an eye on the hashtag #IndietracksMerchTent for any announcements

and you can find out more about this year's virtual festival, Indietracks At Home, here

today's merch table label is Fika, who have also released the latest from Emma Kupa and the Just Joans, but more on that later

indietracks virtual merch tent - wiaiwya

this weekend should have been Indietracks, a celebration of independent, creative and DIY pop music, taking place at a steam railway in the Derbyshire countryside.

over the next few days Carry On Bandcamping will be your one-stop-shop for the bands that were due to play the 2020 festival, and the labels that were to have tables in the merch tent - and keep an eye on the hashtag #IndietracksMerchTent for any announcements

and you can find out more about this year's virtual festival, Indietracks At Home, here

first up is me!... wiaiwya... and you can use the discount code "indietracks" for 10% off anything you buy from the wiaiwya bandcamp page for the next week (until 28 July) - here are some new releases and a couple of things that are very close to selling out:

Dr. Craig Hamilton, doctor in popular music studies

Name: Dr. Craig Hamilton
Website: https://www.popmusicresearch.org/
bandcamp collection:

about Harkive:

Global listening habits explored in a time of pandemic and live music shutdown

Global research project Harkive returns 21st July 2020 to explore music listening in a time of pandemic.

The annual online music listening research project Harkive returns on Tuesday 21 July 2020 to take another look at the popular music listening experiences from around the world.

Now in its eighth year, Harkive will once again invite music fans to describe how, where and why they listen to music across a single day as the project continues to chart the everyday popular music experience of ordinary listeners.

This year, however, the everyday is far from ordinary as the world is gripped by a global health crisis. In addition, the ensuing lockdown has led to an abrupt suspension of the live music offering, potentially driving fans to reconnect with artists, songs, albums, playlists and live recordings of concerts and performances online.

“In previous years, Harkive has shown how people integrate music and technology into their everyday routine such as the commute to work, or the gym workout”, says Harkive founder Dr Craig Hamilton, research fellow at Birmingham City University, “This year, many of those familiar routines have been altered. It will be fascinating to see how music plays a role in peoples’ new reality, and how music finds a place in busy households, where it has to compete with other media forms.”

Since launching in 2013 the project has collected over 13,000 unique stories from around the globe. That figure is set to grow again on 21st July, and amongst the stories of pandemic listening this year, the project also expects to see reflections from fans on their pre-COVID listening, thanks to the recently launched MyHarkive web app.

Dr Hamilton continues, saying, “The MyHarkive app allows people who have taken part in previous years to revisit their stories. I wanted people to be able to look back at the way they used technologies in 2013, or to look back at the music they were sharing in 2017. I think those stories will take on an extra significance this year as people compare them to their 2020 experience.”

The MyHarkive web app is available at: https://popmusicresearch.online/myharkive/. Visitors enter the social media username they posted from in previous years and are presented with a timeline visualisation of their past posts, even showing them the time of day they posted. A database view also allows users to read their past text, and follow links to music they shared.

●     In previous year the project has featured extensively across BBC Radio, with pre-recorded packages and live interviews airing on BBC 4 Today Programme, 5Live Drive, The World Service, BBC Radio Scotland and BBC local radio. The project has also received coverage from a diverse range of online and print media outlets, including NME, Popjustice, The 405, Hypebot and LouderThanWar. In each year the project has run the #harkive hashtag has been a top trending topic on UK Twitter.
●     Harkive was developed by Dr. Craig Hamilton, a research fellow in the Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research at Birmingham City University.  His research explores contemporary popular music reception practices and the role of digital, data and Internet technologies on the business and cultural environments of music consumption. Prior to entering academia, Craig spent 20 years working in the music industries, in retail, the live sector and in digital distribution, as well as working as a musician and songwriter, most notably recording two BBC Radio 1 sessions for the late John Peel.
Music lovers will be able to contribute their stories on Tuesday 21 July, either by posting to social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr using the #harkive hashtag, or by emailing the project directly. A full list of available methods can be found on the project website www.harkive.org

recommendations:



This is a mixed bag in terms of genres, but probably a pretty good indication what my favourite kinds of music are. Kosmischer Laufer is dreamy Krautrock and presented as the official music of the East German Olympic training programme from the early 1970s, something I’m prepared to suspend my disbelief about. Swampmeat Family Band are a garage/country outfit from here in Birmingham. My own band, Independent Country (https://independentcountry.bandcamp.com), play with them regularly and they are just great. The new album, Muck!, is their best one yet. Another Brummie is James Summerfield, who is just an incredible songwriter who over the last 15 years or so has released a bunch of great records. I’m convinced that - one day - the world is going to come around to my way of thinking on this. Posthuman scratches my acid house itch with his Bandcamp releases, but also makes great playlists of new and old Acid elsewhere online. The Memory Band are one of my very favourites – a mixture of folk, field recordings, and found sounds played by a rolling cast of insultingly talented musicians. And talking of insultingly talented, Dorian Wood is simply a one-off. An incredible singer who makes beautiful records.

Pete Fowler

Name: Pete Fowler
Website: https://petefowler.tumblr.com
Link to complete bandcamp collection: https://bandcamp.com/petefowler

recommendations:

Pictish Trail

Name: PICTISH TRAIL
Website: http://lostmap.bandcamp.com / http://pictishtrail.co.uk
Link to complete bandcamp collection: https://bandcamp.com/lostmap

recommendations:

Jiří Špičák from FullMoonZine

Name: Jiří Špičák
Website: https://www.fullmoonzine.cz/
Bandcamp collection: https://bandcamp.com/jspicak


recommendations:
 

James from Crywank

Name: Crywank (James Crywank)
Website:
Bandcamp Collection:

recommendations:

Alicia Hyman from Jeanines

after a short post-Bandcamp Friday break the blog is BACK!

Name: Alicia Hyman
Website: jeanines.bandcamp.com
Your Bandcamp collection : https://bandcamp.com/aliciajeanine

recommendations

Neil Mason, Commissioning Editor, Electronic Sound

happy Bandcamp Friday!... I hope you've been finding the recommendations as exciting as I have - today's come from Neil at Electronic Sound - I cannot recommend the magazine enough, and you should definitely subscribe if you have any cash left after supporting all the bands and labels he has recommended (there's a 50 track playlist FULL of stuff you'll probably want to get on Bandcamp!)

Name: Neil Mason, Commissioning Editor, Electronic Sound
Website: electronicsound.co.uk
Bandcamp Collection:

recommendations

and here’s a bonus playlist!

Electronic Sound Track Of The Day: A tune a day, for the first 50 days of lockdown, curated by Electronic Sound magazine. Support featured artists via Bandcamp, support independent publishing at electronicsound.co.uk

Black Devil Disco Club
https://www.facebook.com/blackdevildiscoclub/
Bernard Fevre, a French library music composer, released an album in 1978 called ‘Black Devil Disco Club’ which is an absolute corker. Could have been made this year. What he has made this year is an album called ‘Lucifer Is A Flower’, which is ridiculously good fun. Since his rediscovery by Aphex Twin’s Rephlex label, who reissued said ‘Black Devil Disco Club’ in 2004 after finding it at a car boot sale, Bernard has released a bunch of new stuff on Lo Recordings. It’s all good if mutant disco is your thing. He says this is going to be his last BDDC album. Let’s hope not. There’s also really great Creep Show/John Grant remix of ‘Synth Is Not Love’, which is well worth seeking out.

Benge
https://memetune.net/
Ben “Benge” Edwards is the glue that holds so much independent electronic music together these days. He has a wild collection of vintage analogue synths in his studio, a Bond villain house on the edge of Dartmoor, and everyone from John Grant to Blancmange swears by his production skills, for good reason. This track is from the follow-up to his ‘20 Systems’ album where he made 20 tracks using a different vintage synth for each track. Here he tackles the rich history of modular systems in the same way. ‘1979 - Roland 100M’ features, wait for it, the Roland System 100M, as used by The Human League, Vince Clark, Orbital and The BBC Radiophonic Workshop among others. Synth geeks should look up Hans Zimmer’s 100m. It’s a total beast.  

The Home Current
https://thehomecurrent-cis.bandcamp.com/
I’ve lost count of the number of albums Luxembourg-based producer/DJ Martin Jensen has released recently. Prolific doesn’t even begin to cut it. Martin does a delicious line in future-retro 90s floorfillers. There’s a bunch of artists making work like this, call it post-rave if you need a label, Lo-Five, Andrew Bunting spring to mind. This is a bit of a double whammy entry as ‘On The Subject Of Appropriate Band Names’ is taken from the brilliant Castles In Space compilation, ‘The Isolation Tapes’, which is a who’s who of the current independent electronic music scene, a C86 of synthy love if you like. The physical version sold out in a blink, but the digital version is very much worth snapping up.

Kelly Lee Owens
https://www.kellyleeowens.com
Delayed from May, and now due out at the end of August, Kelly Lee Owens’ second album, ‘Inner Song’, on the excellent Smalltown Supersound label, is a real step up in class from her 2017 self-titled debut. Good as her debut was, I’ve had this one on heavy rotation and it’s a real showstopper. Favourite track at the moment is ‘On’, where her gentle vocal gives way to a delicious techno wigout, a la Jon Hopkins (who she’s also worked with). It’s one of the best tracks I’ve heard all year. Oh, and the album opens with a cover of Radiohead’s ‘Arpeggi’. Totally nails how a Radiohead cover should be.  

Hattie Cooke
https://www.facebook.com/hattiecookemusic/
Hattie Cooke is really interesting. Discovered her last year when she released her ‘Sleepers’ album on the cassette label Spun Out Of Control. Dig around and you discover she’s a Brighton-based singer/songwriter who stumbled quite by accident on the tape soundtrack scene. ‘Sleepers’ is a real stunner, Electronic Sound called it a “an enjoyably dark and woozy musical journey”, which it is. There’s a new track, ‘I Get By’ (on the Castles In Space compilation, see The Home Current entry, above), where she mixes the synths with her singer/songwriter side and very much comes up smelling of roses. Really hope her work continues down this route as she seems to be building quite a head of steam in our world.    

Kate Arnold

Name: Kate Arnold
Website: https://katearnolduk.bandcamp.com/
https://katearnoldmusic.com/
Bandcamp Collection:

recommendations



Summer by Hurtling

Sometimes I think I'm bored of guitars but then Jen Macro makes them interesting again and I want to mosh and headbang and stick my head inside a speaker.



Yungpawel by Ed Dowie

Ed Dowie's album 'The Uncle Sold' was released a couple of years ago but even now hardly a week goes by when I don't play it. Strange and uplifting.



Laurus (live) by Jo Quail

Hoping that including the live recording of this will give some small sense of how electrifying Jo Quail's live-looping cello performances are. If you don't know her work I urge you to investigate further.



Beehive Heart by Thomas Truax

Some have described instrument inventor Thomas Truax as a mad genius. He is not mad. The way he has achieved these sounds is incredible enough, and then he throws in brilliant lyrics like this.



Tilarids by Lindy-Fay Hella

The gorgeous and slightly frightening sound of immense dark spaces, from Norway.



Dustbin Man by Stephen Evens
Written before The Current Situation happened but becoming more relevant by the day. A flawless pop tune that rocks

DJ Bongoboy & MC Zirconium from Project Moonbase

Name: DJ Bongoboy & MC Zirconium
Website: http://www.projectmoonbase.com/
https://projectmoonbase.bandcamp.com/
https://open.spotify.com/user/projectmoonbase?si=3cUTywWPTPG2UwBWZ-Ir8A

theme tune!



recommendations

Andrew Tuttle

Name: Andrew Tuttle
Website: http://andrewtuttle.com.au
Bandcamp Collection: https://bandcamp.com/tuttythumbsup

recommendations



Notes: Musically I fit into an international musical community as much I do a domestic one, but I wanted to share some Australian music I’ve bought on bandcamp.

Lawrence is one of my favourite sound artists and is a never-ending source of inspiration and guidance to me. His new album is really beautiful and more minimal than the last few. Looking forward to hearing and feeling it loud and immersive when concerts are a thing again.

Gordon Koang is a South Sudanese pop star who moved to Australia on a refugee visa a few years back. He writes great songs and is so joyous live. I saw him play on my birthday last year and my face hurt from smiling so much. In great news, Gordon’s now got his permanent residency and his new album is out in a few months.

I work with Alana in my day job, she’s also one of my favourite Australian ‘classic’ songwriters. This is a great chooglin’ song and I’m excited for her debut album when it’s out.

Adam McFillin is a close friend, our musical paths have woven into each other for a decade and a half now. I thought he’d finished up with his Brain Drain project, but I’m gleefully wrong with this new album.

Fia Fiell aka Carolyn Schofield makes absolutely beautiful synth music. Both this and her full-length LP All In The Same Room are absolutely recommended.

I was a massive fan of Darren Cross’ band Gerling when I was in my formative musical years, so his take on solo instrumental guitar was always going to be interesting for me. Absolutely worth checking out his instrumental and vocal solo releases – as well as hitting the wayback machine and delving into his 00s band work.

Estella Adeyeri from Big Joanie / Decolonise Fest

Name: Estella Adeyeri
Website: https://linktr.ee/EstellaAdeyeri
Bandcamp Collection: https://bandcamp.com/estellaadeyeri

recommendations:



Meet Me @ The Altar - Bigger Than Me
This is a brilliant EP of pure pop punk/emo hits, and it's easy to see why fans think they'd fit in perfectly on a label like Fueled By Ramen. I listen to 'Sane' on the regular.

Steffi - Girlhood
It's a joy to listen to the music Steph's created on her own! This is a cool EP, different to what we've made in Big Joanie, and you can hear the influences of Steph's favourite artists like Throwing Muses. I love 'Nowhere'.

Jessica Ashman - Just Feel
This is a great experimental track created by Jess during lockdown, in the wake of the cruel and unjust murder of George Floyd by law enforcement. All proceeds from it are going to the UK QTIBIPOC Hardship fund.

NNAMDÏ - Black Plight
I bought this on recommendation last Bandcamp Day and I'm really glad I did - again it addresses the racial injustice thrust into the spotlight after George Floyd, set to a soundtrack of jagged guitar lines, heavy, cathartic drumming, and lyrics that expose the harsh truths of America in 2020.

Nekra - Demo 2017
This is still one of my favourites in my collection and I will continue to add it to lists until the next Nekra release. It's a short dose of thrilling hardcore from an awesome band.

No Home - Fucking Hell
Okay I don't actually own this yet because I'm waiting for Bandcamp day to buy it! I do have all of No Home's previous releases though. This album really expands upon their penchant for genre-defying, hypnotic music making - and it's awesome to hear additional synths and electronic sounds morphing tracks from my familiar expectations, having heard some of them live. At the moment 'A B- In This Economy' is my fave but that might change as I spend more time with this brilliant record!