Bandcloud 302

Back in April Bandcamp announced that on the first Fridays in May, June and July they would be waiving their share in order to help artists during the pandemic. Well, today is the first Friday in July. I don’t know if it’s the last Bandcamp Friday, I guess no one wants to talk about it. I’ve got a range of stuff below — lots of compilations, lots of fundraisers. Archival music released upon the world. New stuff made this week. I hope you find something you like. Don’t feel bad if you don’t buy anything though, look after yourself.   

On another note — if you have received this email in error please let me know. Something seems to have happened with my database.

VA - Ariana's Collectivist Fantasies (SWAK CATALOG)
This compilation comes from the South Africa label Swak Catalog (should that be all caps?) and features artists I know and love like Rose Bonica, label heads Aryu Jassika and Jumping Back Slash, Angel Ho and Seventhgaze. It’s raising money for S.W.E.A.T. (Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce) and The African Reclaimers Organization, a group of informal recyclers who work in streets and landfills. There’s a lot of raucous clubby stuff, some dreamy experiments, pop numbers, sparse drums. The fuzzy noise from Seventhgaze in particular is tickling my brain.

Sketch Artist - IAT01
illegal afters tracks is a new label based in Seattle. This first release comes from Sketch Artist, whose tracks are nonetheless fully formed. ‘next one’ features Blade Runner synths over skittery percussion and lush house chords. Superior grooves. There’s some heady percussive styles alongside strange “woos” on ‘ppl’, and the 10-minute ‘adults’ feels like the opening of Yeezus dropped into fluid and dreamy electro/techno.

Broke One - No Man Is An Island
Island man is real... Italian producer Broke One made this recent release on a more introspective tip, citing darker and rawer territories. It’s built around acid basslines that are meant to give an air of familiarity while venturing into these new spaces. It’s a success imho. All proceeds to date and until today are going to BLM.

Rob Winstone - Care
This is another release donating its proceeds, split between BLM and Equal Justice Initiative, a non-profit that provides legal representation for people wrongly convicted, those who cannot afford proper representation and others who may have been denied a fair trial. The album is a broad and varied affair, mournful and melancholy in tone yet varying in its specific approaches. Wild soaring motifs lead into gentle piano over drifting found sound. I had some frustrating and anxiety-inducing work yesterday and this sounded just perfect as I worked through it.

Haruka Salt - Pitch 'n Itch (Single)
It feels weird to be listening to club music right now. Since becoming a parent my nightlife has been seriously been curtailed, but right now it’s non-existent for everyone. Everyone sensible that is. As I’m sure I’ve said before, I grew up listening to trance and prog house mixes on the bus to school so my experience of electronic music outside clubs far outweighs my time on the floor. Anyway. This is a sultry groover of a track, that you could imagine playing at a sunset terrace or in your earphones as you power through the city, walking away from mouth-breathers and people who don’t understand what social distancing means. There’s a full release coming later in the month with more originals and remixes from AceMo and Felipe Gordon.

Yakui - LOW PRESSURE
Yet another great release from Yakui. It's woozy and wonky but also deeply heartfelt and musical. 'Wildberry' really hits me there you know.

Uzuri Recordings Retrospective Charity Compilation - Compiled By Lakuti & Tama Sumo
Uzuri gathers some big hitters from the back catalogue to raise money for Cape Town’s Triangle Project, which works to help “People of Colour at the margins of society”. Names like Stump Valley, Move D and Joe Claussell are probably familiar to you so there’s no doubt that the music is top notch.

Escaflowne - SR32: The Stimulus Pack (w/ Huey Mnemonic Remix)
More club stuff! This one might help if you’re out there running or training. Way way back in March (on the first day of my own personal lockdown) I included a bunch of Looseys from Escaflowne and here he is with a release on Sorry Records. Naturally, it is Very Good. Imagine piano house but it’s techno. Rave breaks. UKG from NYC. Acid melters. And there’s a stomping remix from Huey Mnemonic.

Local Gods - Aghavrick Acid
Oof I don’t know where to begin with this. The first two tracks here were made from field recordings and the percussion is (literally) sticks and stones and more yet it all sounds like it’s been transported down from space. The latter two are long, dreamy and dreary, dank and foreboding but slightly wistful and idealised too. All proceeds are going to the Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland.

Lamin Fofana - Blues
I became aware of Lamin Fofana’s Darkwater quite late in the day on June 5 (my Bandcamp receipt says 11.42pm). This is a new release that follows Darkwater and 2019’s Black Metamorphosis in their explorations of Black identity. The album is accompanied by text from a 1999 edition of Amiri Baraka’s 1963 book Blues People: Blues People: Negro Music in White America. The text states that American culture is defined by “Africanisms” and that (even 20 years after this statement) “there is much work yet to be done to properly bring the music into the open light of international understanding and collective social development and use”… Do I have the words to do that? I try but I don’t always succeed. I barely have the words to express the wonder of the sound itself, yet I present it to you and ask you to listen with open ears.

VA - Music in Support of Black Mental Health
This is a hefty comp from Lara and Mike from Objects Ltd and Planet Mu. It features talented artists from across the electronic spectrum, from Kuedo and Jlin to Beatrice Dillon and AGF, Speaker Music with Ariel Valdez & Catalina Cavelight, Jana Rush and Herva. All black contributors are being paid for their work and all proceeds are being split between “Nilaari”, “Black Thrive”, “The Loveland Foundation”, “BEAM” and “National Queer & Trans Therapists of Colour Network”, a series of initiatives across the UK and US offering therapy and mental health support to the black community.

Ciel - Trojan Horse
Trojan Horse is a good name for a release built on ideas around sampling. Ciel has taken an egalitarian and ~objective~ approach to material, be it Nixon speeches or Chinese drums or Japanese theatre or Mormon bands… No judgment, no fetishisation, just using sounds for sound’s sake. The results are striking, with ululations over cranking drums and delicate melodies, echoey samples of (I think) popular rap stars over Eastern flutes (I can’t be more specific than Eastern as I would probably be wrong), as well as a track that perfectly encapsulates that particular brand of 90s electronica/chillout/techno sound, yet remaining thoroughly 2020.

VA - Home Fitness/家庭保健 Vol. 2 (DCYY/到此一游)
ANOTHER COMP. Seriously, loads of them. The first compilation from this label was aimed at raising money for artists in the no-gigs landscape. This one branches out, with each the label giving money to MB4L and the rest of the money going to charities chosen by the artists. We’ve got AceMo, Chippy Nonstop, Foodman, Jacques Greene and Yu Su to name a handful. There's also a collab from Doc Sleep, rRoxymore and Violet, recording as D0cXyl3t. Because what else would they call themselves...

Deep Aztec - U Know What
I just saw Rose Bonica tweet this and had to include it. Like the Haruka Salt tracks above it's a seriously sumptuous house number with clipped, digitised vocals. 

Bored Lord - Pando
A variety of moods and ideas over 16 electrifying minutes.

Jon Dixon - Times of Change EP
Woooowwweeee, lovely and glorious house music here, I used sumptuous already but it really fits here too. The utter virtuosity on closing track 'Troopcafe' has to be heard to be believed. Life-affirming stuff. I'm getting misty eyed, no lie. 

Ezuri - Omnia
If life-affirming beauty isn't your thing, here's some dank, cavernous doom for you. One of the tracks is even called 'Angst-Ridden', to give an indication of the mood. The artwork is a painting of what appears to be the skull of a unicorn. Quite.

Knopha - Gym
Shanghai-based Chuan put me on to this one. There are three tracks here, two club workouts (pub definitely intended) and an ambient number. The first two are excellent, intricately produced and with fascinating sound design (particularly 'Gym A'). But it's the closing track, 'Stretch', that really won me over. 

VA - Bechdel Volume One
Named after The Bechdel Test, Bechdel was a space in Brighton, UK, open to female-identifying and non-binary performers in experimental music, sound art, noise, spoken word, free jazz, folk and neo-classical genres. It ran between 2016 and 2018 and was established by Ingrid Plum. This compilation features 13 performances from the two venues where the events took place, ranging from poetry and noise to folk and quiet ambient. It's raising money for a trans woman's gender-affirming treatment.

mark s williamson - a hole in the ground
This one is pretty interesting. Williamson went down holes in the ground to record noises and this is the result. Seriously though, he was exploring Royal Observer Corps posts built during the Cold War as spaces to measure radiation. He had planned to create an audio documentary, interviewing veterans who'd worked there, but couldn't bring it all together. It's languished for a while but he's presented the sounds for us to enjoy. Swirling oddities that swim around your brain. I love that kind of thing at the best of times, but the added narrative in this case gives it a truly spoopy edge.

DJCOREY - Dem Workz Vol 1
It's a bold move, reworking Dido's 'Thank You' in a footwork style. Why the f not though. 

Female Band - Dark Thoughts - Long Nights
I shared this with someone and their first response was "probably a dude". It's not though, it's an old alias of Machine Woman, and this short release is kind of old I believe but it's timeless in its sonic weirdness. 

Jenna Camille - The Time is Now
This one came out on Juneteenth and is: "A celebration of blackness, hope and triumph. It is a call to action and a journey of love into the new age." It's a thumping stomp of boom bap instrumental hip-hop beats, a range of moods driven by gorgeous samples.