Bandcamp Friday Shopping List : Valentine’s Day Edition
Happy Bandcamp Friday! This is technically the winter edition, but in order to chase away the post-blizzard blues I’m going to make it all about love – whether it’s music about traditional love, music I love, or music exploing self-love and self-discovery. Some of it’s new, but I’m also picking things I’ve bought over the last few Bandcamp Fridays that make me feel. This music is all good for the heart.
Bandcamp allows listeners and music lovers to directly support artists by waiving their (already relatively small) fee every first Friday of the month. All sales directly benefit the artists, so don’t hestitate.
Allison Russell – By Your Side / Landslide
Allison Russell, of Our Native Daughters and Birds of Chicago and named an Artist to Watch by Rolling Stone has covered two of the most beautiful love songs of all time. Russell says of Sade’s classic, “An endlessly expansive and inclusive song of love – it could be the love between lovers, the love of a parent for a child, the love for an elder who is not long for this world…It feels like it has always existed and always will – it feels like an expression of our collective unconscious – it comforts me and invokes a melancholy yearning all at once. I was singing this one to my seven-year-old daughter, Ida, like a lullaby.” The Montreal-born Russell then painstakingly translated Stevie Nicks’s “Landslide,” noting that she had to take a bit of poetic license with the vocabulary while trying to remain completely faithful to its meaning. Russell’s voice breathes new life into these classics.
Sunblinders – Live at Arlene’s Grocery
This freeform threesome teamed up in a Queens, NY basement to create psycheelic, experimental rock tunes with a hint of jazz. Featuring groovy bass lines, dizzying guitar solos, and cohesive drums pulling it together, Mike Horn (Goldkey, FloodWaves), Eric Lense (Hugo, FloodWaves) and Jeff Saltzberg (Jam the Radar) played their debut show on January 19th, 2021 as a livestream relief show for beloved NYC venue, Arlene’s Grocery. They were able to raise over $1400 for Arlene’s, and decided to release the audio for Bandcamp Friday after much demand. Sure can’t wait to see these guys, hopefully at this very spot, in the near future.
Golden Brown Discography
Colorado’s Golden Brown makes music that’s so intricate and gorgeous, it’s nearly impossible to imagine that only one person is responsible for the sublime sounds. Stefan Beck makes instrumental music that positively breathes and vibrates, truly a body of work comprised of love songs to both the unseen and the natural world. The entire discography is available for under $10, but the music is priceless. Beck also premiered a new song, “Gems,” earlier this week, tantalizing the listener with the promise of more new music to come.
D’orjay The Singing Shaman – New Kind of Outlaw
Shout out to the amazing publication, Country Queer, for highlighting amazing artists. This is where I first heard of the enchanting singer, songwriter and poet who shared a hilarious tale of how she taught herself to expand her vocal range. She is actually a real and trained shaman, her experience lending authenticity and mysticism to the music. The songs are exquisite, her voice is compelling and powerful, and listening to it will provide some medicine you may not have known you needed. The title track calls upon contemporaries and predecessors and reminds us that country music is Black.
Emma Swift – Blonde on the Tracks
An album borne of love, Emma Swift’s reimagining of eight Bob Dylan songs is so sweet and fresh, offering new insight into the depths of these timeless songs. True to the form of the originals but expansive and intimate, Swift worked with Wilco’s Pat Sansone as producer and multi-instrumentalist and Robyn Hitchcock to pour pure emotion into each of these eight tunes. “Sooner or Later” and “You’re a Big Girl Now” are a few highlights, where Swift takes true ownership of the words, highlighting their universal sentiments.
Thanya Iyer – KIND
This lovely album celebrating self love is relatable and real. KIND addresses healing, cultural identity, and disability and blends jazz, folk, and electronic flair to create a collaborative work of community and self-discovery. To celebrate the six-month anniversary of the album’s release, Iyer and friends are hosting a raffle to raise funds for Sovereign Likhts’amisyu Village, a land reclamation project. Two bundles that’ll be given away feature KIND on vinyl, CD, and cassette, a thanya shirt, stickers, and some other self-care goodies like soap and tea. Sounds like a perfect gift to show yourself some love with and to share!
Fell from the Tree – Enough
It isn’t electronic indie pop artist Fell From the Tree’s first record, but it is a pivotal moment. The album came out and Hannah did too – the last of a four-album cycle before she sheds the Fell From the Tree moniker, an arc that traces Hannah’s path from wanting to hide to finally wanting to be seen. Enough documents transitioning during the pandemic, and her personal journey of self-acceptance. As Hannah says, “The closet feels safer until it’s suffocating.”
Dougie Poole – The Freelancer’s Blues
While this album topped many 2020 best of lists, I unfortunately didn’t hear it until ’21, but it’s right up my alley. New, weird country – deep and dark, loads of fuzz, and relatable subject matter. Walking through a grey, sludgey Manhattan with “Los Angeles” in my headphones hit the right spot one day and I’ve had this album on repeat ever since. “Natural Touch” is a modern-day love song bemoaning the pitfalls of online dating in New York City, and “The Who’s Who of Who Cares” discusses that familiar line many of us New York City cowfolk know all too well.
Steve Gunn – Unseen Acoustic
It’s no secret that I adore Steve Gunn’s music. This EP of acoustic versions of songs from his most recent album, The Unseen in Between, came out a while ago now, but I’ve been returning to it quite a bit lately. These stripped down versions, now heard the way they were written, showcase the subtlety and beauty of the lyrics and Steve’s filigreed playing.
Kacey Johansing – No Better Time
Kacey’s 2020 album was one of my favorites of the year, glistening and brilliant in musicianship, and vulnerable and earnest in lyrical content. No Better Time explores how one can welcome and let love in when their past is full of trauma. “All of Me” is “about self-acceptance and learning how to love one’s own body, while existing in a culture of narrow and distorted beauty standards for women,” according to Johansing, and the psychedelic “Time Lapse Flower” expresses love and reverence for nature, and the course of a flower blooming, paralleling with the blossoming of a relationship. The whole album is a gorgeous, swooning soundtrack and celebration of all types of love.
Son of Buzzi – Fluss
The prolific and mysterious Zurich guitar project’s latest effort is a lovely and clear collection of “sound collages” and field recordings. The shadowy “Blind Joey Death” blends bedroom meanderings and the sound of the river Limmat captured on New Year’s Eve. Typically, live shows feature a visual element, but this album paints a vivid picture itself.
Yasmin Williams – Urban Driftwood
The world has been completely taken by the innovative, entrancing guitar playing of Yasmin Williams. The 24-year-old started playing guitar after beating Guitar Hero 2 on the expert level in 8th grade, incorporating the lap-tapping she’d learned from the game with fingerstyle. Williams uses all limbs to record her percussive and shimmering sounds, tapping the fret board with her left hand and plucking a kalimba with her right, keeping time with her feet encased in tap shoes, her whole being a vessel for the gilded music that emanates forth.
Flower Room Records – Arrangement 2
This bouquet of songs by the Maine-based label showcasing the range of the ambient and experimental label’s artists and offerings. The majority of Flower Room releases are deeply meditative and tranquil, making for a perfect soundtrack to a self-care session. This sampler is a great starting point for those unfamiliar with the label.
Other things I haven’t heard yet but am excited to buy!
Red River Dialect – Broken Stay Open Demos
Ryley Walker and Kikagaku Moyo – Deep Fried Grandeur
Drew Gardner – S/T
The Modern Folk – Primitive Future/ Lyran Group
Thanks for reading and supporting artists. I love you!
