June marks the first month where Bandcamp is no longer doing their Bandcamp Friday series, but as many of us are creatures of habit I’m certain I’m not alone in wanting to still buy a bunch of music today anyway. If you need more of an incentive to buy on Bandcamp, an estimated 82 percent of revenue goes to the artists and labels. Here are some releases I’ve been listening to recently that I would highly recommend adding to your cart, especially since some of them are exclusive only to the site.
Miami duo INVT are putting out extremely high-quality music at a ridiculous pace—this is the eleventh release under their name since the beginning of 2020. They bounce around all sorts of styles with ease, so no two projects are exactly the same. Prendida’s sound palette is very much inspired by UK Garage and dubstep but with sort of a psychedelic, dream-like quality attached to it. One of the strongest electronic releases of the year without question, they are absolutely at the top of their game right now.
Think Ozzfest meets Bangface—this collection of breakbeat and jungle-infused reinterpretations of many late 90s and early 00s nu metal favorites from Oakland’s Bored Lord is a highly intriguing concept on paper and works even better in execution. Play this at the rave at your own risk, mosh pits might break out.
Jam City’s solo music has gravitated towards vocal-driven pop music over the last few years, but if you’re still yearning for his Night Slugs-era material this EP is for you. Under the DJC name, he gives us five bass-heavy hip hop and dancehall-influenced club bangers that prove he has not lost a step at all.
A lot of the best R&B of the past decade has come out of the UK, and a new artist to keep an eye on is London’s Sola—she has a very distinctive voice that immediately stands out when you first press play. She self-produced this EP that takes cues from garage, neo-soul and dubstep—the end result culminates in one of the strongest R&B releases of the past year.
Bay Area rapper DÆMON has a knack for spitting over some left-field production—his first LP was self-produced, but this time he calls on Xzavier Stone & Modulaw to handle the beats. The latter also recently worked with Brodinski on an EP, so if you’re familiar with his sound from the last few years that’s a good indicator of what to expect with this album—hard-hitting, spaced-out beats coupled with exceptional rapping on every track.
This project marks a departure for the legendary footwork producer—here he experiments with slower tempos by incorporating influences from genres such as house, dubstep, dancehall, and techno. It’s a complete outlier in his catalog, but it’s definitely one of his best and helps cement his status as one of the strongest producers of the past decade.
Sección de Ritmo – No Drama Llama
Always expect the unexpected with the Jamaican collective Equiknoxx – the first release of 2021 on their label is some jungle-influenced 160 bpm dancehall by the mysterious Sección de Ritmo. Whoever they are, they have a very unique and impressive debut release and hopefully more material is on the horizon.
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Saint Audio 