Hey welcome to Freebasing Bandcamp! Here's where I'll take you through some of my favorite discoveries, friends, and generally underlooked gems on bandcamp. These links are roughly in order of how much I like these records from best to still good.
Well oh welly! It was another bandcamp friday recently and that got me thinking I should start a music diary on my deep dives into bandcamp! So this week the debut album of Godcaster was released. Godcaster is a space wizard glam opera of a band from Philly that manages to make that the coolest thing you've ever seen. They've got a lot of that Sparks glam but-make-it-pastiche vibe, a little bit of that No Wave-y jagged noise Arto Lindsay edge, more vibe changes than a prog album and a very defined visual aesthetic. Oh but to go on a tangent WHAT AN AESTHETIC. Lots of cultist/outsider art band artwork, the gibson moderne that looks so alien in the cape wearing singers hand, the COSTUMES - their flutist is an award winning fashion designer who's now with adidas if I recall correctly, etc.
Long Haired Locusts does something that most DIY bands can't do on a debut. It captures what makes their live shows so good. In Godcaster's case: the brief and blisteringly fast improvisational scale exercises (Christ in Capsule Form), their schoolboyish sense of humor (Don't Make Stevie Wonder Wonder and Sexy Heffer), their NOISE (Apparition of the Virgin Mary in My Neighborhood - which the breakdown of which is the greatest argument to why the jetsons should have been scored by a glam band), and their ability to creep up into just a banging pop song (All the Feral Girls in the Universe). Godcaster doesn't have much to prove after this and they'll only get louder from here.
Linking to their bandcamp page here. Let me know if y'all would be interested to read more of these.
NEW ECONOMY MUSIC TAPE! HIGH ENERGY TECHO BASE TO MOVE THE HUMAN RACE! So begins one of the most eclectic tapes in recent Los Angeles DIY memory. Economy Music is minimal synth punk classist callout dirtbaggery. Decked out with a synthesizer housed in a Little Caesars pizza box, two roland drum machines, stolen bird scooters, air conditioning equipment and the most Ween guitar tone this side of The Pod, Economy Music go off in socialist rants with the crazy free association of a Qanon thread. It's not for everyone - at just over 50 minutes there's not quite enough to keep skeptics at bay (there's just enough young adults screaming at the fact their parents won't get a divorce even though they probably should that a good fifteen minutes could be lobbed off) but if you can vibe with it there's so much to win you over. Some highlights include:
International Smoked Salmon Conspiracy - a short heart beat quickening, ironic conspiracy theory about inflation (those synth stabs are addicting!!).
Papa - a classy Rolling Stones pastiche about your very own problematic baby boomer.
Cars - a we live in a society rant about private transportation wrapped in disney pixar rule 34 erotica
Corn - A raucous sped up joy division song turned into an ode for corn.
Officer Chugg - A voyeuristic look at the most pathetic cop in history.
I'm not guaranteeing a masterpiece for you but if you're into eggpunk, or Ween, hell even Residents, this is one of the most quotable DIY releases in recent memory. There's even a Steven Segal cover. So buy that shit now you dumb motherfucker.
i'm commenting to say i approve of this idea and will try to keep tabs on this thread from time to time. i've discovered so many great albums on bandcamp....
Been choking on bad air here which has put me out of action for a bit. Starting up again today.
i hear you. been smoky skies for the past week here too. thankfully, the closest wildfire to our place was 9 miles out and put out in two or three days, and hopefully, these rains clear everything out tonight.
Well I'm back! Right out the gate I've got a trio with a masterful vision. It's Banny Grove! One of those "it" bands right now in west coast college radio, they've just come out with their southwestern odyssey, Dust World. Based in the middle of nowhere in the mojave desert, they journey spreading a particular sunday morning cartoon glam pop all wrapped in an optimistic cult vibe. There's an "aw shucks gang, the world sucks, I'm sorry you don't have insurance, neither do I, let's hug each other and sway to the beat of this sampler" vibe that already felt pertinent when these songs were written and played live last year but feel downright necessary now. This optimism is special though as it doesn't negate an anger at the state of things here, it just wants to take a deep breath and sit in the moment and smile. On the lead single, So Happy So Good, Louise, the vocalist, recalls scattered memories of feeling grateful on a bike ride to work that explodes into a healthy plea of compassion. There's a thinness and smallness here, provided in equal parts by Peter's skeletal guitar work but then aided by Louise's thin voice that gives my the feeling it's all coming through the tiniest wires. And then there's the adlibs. The adlibs that cut through the humbleness of the work with such a ridiculous genuineness I can't help but laugh "ohhhhh brother let me tie your shoes!" Other highlights include Malibu's little breakdowns where the singer begs to look like a barbie doll. The guitar melody on Piece of Mine. When Standard Lives launches into an entirely different key on the chorus. Anyway check it out, they're on their own label, Nicey Music and work as a non profit, consistently giving back to their community.
Been listening a lot to Christina Schneider lately. Current partner of Kevin from Of Montreal and one of the greatest talents to come off of OSR Tapes (along with Chris Weisman, Blanche Blanche Blanche and Palberta). Though her focus is currently on her band Locate S,1 I've been digging on her solo release from a few years back Violence Etcetera. It's a really enigmatic tascam 8 track album that channels a lot of 60's influence. Lots of comfort in danger here. The staccato, nearly dubby bass, is a persistent frenemy and the guitar here is this beautiful little swirl that has this Marc Ribot edge I cannot escape. Some highlights here include all of Click Hendrix ("he told me where to plug it in, I'm comfortable now" - one of those little moment stopping vocal whispers), the title track (promises of Violence never have seemed so fruitful) and Rebecca Rom Frank's poetic delivery on Oranges. For fans of The Raincoats and Mitski and Joni Mitchell.
Let's Eat some Cheap Meat! Great snazzy post punk ep released last week with members of R. Clown, Prized Pig and Old Maybe. Obsessed with the vocalists nasally delivery ("the last time we kissed we were in my room and you were masturbating while we napped") and the bass tones they generate here (was slightly convinced they were using a synth till the third track).
Feel the need to shill out for Wendy Eisenberg’s new album. They are a songwriter who has always struck me as pleasant enough. Very virtuosic guitar player does free improvisational stuff and bangs out a quality record or two every year. Not to peg Eisenberg as one thing, they’ve always been capable of more (the John Zorn record proves as much) and Auto, Eisenberg’s label debut for Ba Da Bing, proves I should have been paying much stronger attention. The element of collaboration really makes this record go in directions I’d never expect. Spinning guitar gives way to short bursts of Deerhoof esque rock breakdowns or ambient synth stabs.
Eisenberg’s not taken seriously enough either as a guitar player. They are the only westerner I’ve ever heard capable of playing in the same realm of noise Keiji Haino. And their sweet and lilting voice really disguises the warped nature of some of these tunes - the lingering anxiety of assault in Centreville or how to grow in Give it A Year. This album is liberating and monk like and I’d love it if y’all gave it a shot.
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