Now Playing: Bandcamp Friday Purchases

What is Bandcamp Friday? Well, Bandcamp is a website where independent (and yes, some established artists) can sell their music directly to their fans, though typically the website takes a cut for storage and administrative costs. But since 2020, on the first Friday of select months, Bandcamp foregos their cut, so bands make even more money.

Really, Bandcamp explains it themselves fairly well on their website:

On the first Friday of the month since March of 2020, we’ve waived our revenue share to help support artists on Bandcamp. Since then,
more than a million fans have paid artists and labels over $100 million USD (if you’re one of them, thank you).

I love to support independent music/artists, so this is something I look forward to each time they do it. I usually end up discovering a lot of new music as well, so it’s a real win-win.

This is what I am listening to now because these are the purchases I made during this month’s Bandcamp Friday.

Black Nail Cabaret Chrysanthemum {Deluxe Edition}

This is a pre-order for this Hungarian synthpop band’s new album releasing on March 1, 2024. I discovered them a couple of years ago thanks to Bandcamp and have found that their last two albums have really grown on me. The two singles available from this album (“Autogenic” & “Roadtrip”) have piqued my interest enough that I purchased the entire deluxe version of this album without having heard the rest of it. I’m not too worried about being disappointed in four weeks.

Cathedralis “We Are Violence”

Argentinian dark house music? I don’t really know exactly how to describe this act, but I bought a previous release and like that this release is dark, electronic, and dancy, so of course it’s right in my wheelhouse. Good stuff!

Melt Motif “Red Velvet Ant”

Again, another band that’s hard to describe other than dark, electronic, and dancy, but again, that’s something I just really like. I guess this one is more chill than straight up dancy, but I am more than OK with that as well.

Sleek Teeth “Gone”

Recently I’ve discovered a whole host of these new “post-punk” and “synthpop” bands that worship at the altar of Depeche Mode, OMD, The Pet Shop Boys, as well as EBM and futurepop acts like Front 242 and VNV Nation. Yes, it kind of sounds like it came from the 80s, but with a modern twist. I love it!

Teen Mortgage Teen Mortgage

This, however, is NOT electronic, chill, nor dancy. This is straight up fuzzy punk, but still catchy AF. They’re playing in Detroit in a few weeks and I am considering going because this is just so much fun to listen to.

TR/ST TR/ST EP

More of that dark, electronic, and dancy sound that I love so very much.

worriedaboutsatan JÆJA

OK, this is dark and electronic as well, but less dancy and perhaps not as dark as Melt Motif but more chill. Have I confused you, yet? I have a few releases by worriedaboutsatan and it’s weird because some of them are very hit or miss with me. Some of his releases I instantly cop, like this one and others, but there are some where I’m like, nah, I’m good. Luckily this one is solidly more of the former. At just two tracks it doesn’t seem very long, but musically it’s over 30 minutes long. This is something that I like to put on while I’m working or reading and just enjoying, even more so with headphones on.

Urban Heat Wellness

Remember those “post-punk” bands I noted above? This is another one of them, only this is a full album from Urban Heat. I literally discovered them last week via Instagram of all places, but I love the deep voice of the singer and again the evident DNA of synth-bands from the past, but with a fresh take. Are the lyrics kind of juvenile and not particularly deep? Well, yeah, but that’s part of what makes it sounds like 80s synth-pop. I find this terribly catchy and I can’t stop listening to it, much to my partner’s chagrin.

I think I dropped about $40 this month, which is not insignificant, but I stopped myself from purchasing much more, from acts like Mass Minor, Nils Frahm, and Matte Blvck, and others. I’m sure you’ll see some of their releases this coming year, perhaps even after the next Bandcamp Friday.