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How India’s Transcending Obscurity Records Became a Global Metal Monolith
The catalog of India’s aptly-named, decade-old Transcending Obscurity Records, packs an ambitiously-wide geographical variety. Bands with recent and upcoming releases on the label hail from Australia,...
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The Best 12” Dance Singles on Bandcamp: September/October 2019
As we near winter in the Northern Hemisphere and clubbing season comes into full effect, we’ve been treated to a barrage of high quality dance music to help keep us moving during the colder months....
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A Guide to Will Oldham’s Various Personas
Photography by Ryo MitamuraWill Oldham is starting to regret using half a dozen band names. During his ‘90s beginnings on Drag City, the cult-favorite singer-songwriter released records as Palace...
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The Essential Alt-Pop of Cascine
In the winter of 2010, Jeff Bratton took a sabbatical from his corporate job in Los Angeles and flew to Sweden. There, he met the owners of his favorite record label—a small indie named Service, whose...
View ArticleAlbum of the Day: Teebs, “Anicca”
Producer Teebs—born Mtendere Mandowa—has been both a cult figure in the L.A. beat scene since his 2010 Brainfeeder debut, Ardour. Two albums followed—2011’s Collections and 2014’s E S T A R A—but he’s...
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This Week’s Essential Releases: Dark Shoegaze, Symphonic Metal, Jazz and More
Welcome to Essential Releases, our weekly roundup of the best music on Bandcamp. Each week, we’ll recommend crucial new albums that were released between last Friday and this Friday, plus pick an...
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Hidden Gems: Brain Candle, “Ocean of Storms”
In our series Hidden Gems, writers share their favorite Bandcamp discoveries. The Philadelphia band Brain Candle bill their doomy, dismal strain of sludge metal on their Bandcamp page as...
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The Best Soul on Bandcamp: October 2019
This month’s exciting group of soul artists bravely sing about heartbreak, self-love, and mental health. Anais ChantalBirdie Anais Chantal has a breathtaking voice—rich and sophisticated, with both a...
View ArticleAlbum of the Day: Panic Girl, “Cake on Jupiter”
“Himalayan Tea”, the lush, ambient roller from Munich-based artist Panic Girl, opens the door to a world where the ordinary meets the ethereal. The effect is something like magical realism: On...
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Have a Nice Life On Their Anxiety-Driven Third Album, “Sea of Worry”
Deathconsciousness, the 2008 debut from Connecticut duo Have A Nice Life, is the last album you’d expect to go viral: 85 minutes of eclectic lo-fi home recordings from central Connecticut, somewhere...
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Unraveling the Mystery of Peter Ivers
Photography by Moshe Brakha Who the hell was Peter Ivers? There are a lot of answers to that question: ’60s avant-garde bandleader, ’70s “pop” singer/songwriter, ’80s New Wave firebrand, film...
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Ice Cream’s Cool Pop Bites Back
How do feminist performers grapple with the male gaze? For Toronto pop duo Ice Cream, the answer is to stare right back at it. Band members Amanda Crist and Carlyn Bezic have been toeing the line of...
View ArticleAlbum of the Day: Various Artists, “No Other Love: Midwest Gospel (1965-1978)”
Hearing the deep gospel arcana gathered on No Other Love feels a little like receiving a transmission from a distant star. But the raw humanity in every second of this lovingly curated compilation is...
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The Best Jazz on Bandcamp: October 2019
In a year in which I’ve repeatedly said, “This is one of the very best things to be released in 2019,” I keep finding new reasons to say it yet again. And as a testament to the enduring strength of...
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Madison McFerrin Is Making Unapologetic “Soulcapella”
“I have music in my head twenty-four seven,” Madison McFerrin says with a chuckle. “I’m trying to figure out how to turn it off sometimes.” It’s a Wednesday afternoon and the singer-songwriter is in...
View ArticleAlbum of the Day: Ecker & Meulyzer, “Carbon”
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault was created with the goal of restoring Earth’s agriculture in the case of a catastrophic, global event. As of November 2015, they had 867,801 seed samples. It’s housed...
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Chris Orrick Comes Face to Face With His Own Obituary
On March 2 of this year, a man named David Burney logged into Facebook and posted the following: “My friend Chris Orrick died this week. I don’t know what to say. He had his demons. Don’t we all? But...
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Modern Gagaku: Six Experimental LPs Inspired By Japanese Classical Music
Gagaku is the oldest vein of classical music in Japan. With an arsenal of droning mouth organs (shō), harrumphing drums (Tsuri-daiko), and reverberating lute (biwa), it’s an instantly recognizable...
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A Guide to Chicago’s Closed Sessions Label
Inset image – Jamila WoodsClosed Sessions is the brainchild of DJ and blogger Alex “RTC” Fruchter and sound engineer Michael Kolar. The pair started the label and management company in response to the...
View ArticleAlbum of the Day: Afuma, “Songs From the Shore”
On Songs From the Shore, Afuma—the duo of guitarists Taketo Shimada and Stefan Tcherepnin—explore both death and the afterlife. That weighty subject matter is echoed by the sound of musicians’ lap...
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