Bandcamp Roundup #2
Some more notable local releases
A special edition, the live music listings will be out tomorrow as usual.
A few months ago I did this roundup of current Bellingham releases on Bandcamp. Well, there’s another Bandcamp Friday1 coming right up on December 3rd so I thought it was time to list some more. Again, this is not a definitive list, or ranked in any way, it’s just stuff I’ve come across that has been released in the last few months which I thought others might enjoy. If you have suggestions for anything I’ve missed, please send them my way, or comment here:
Rebirth, by Stilvettas gives you that straight ahead hard rock you may not even have realized you were missing. Loud but melodic guitars, vocal harmonies, high energy.
Calm Chaos, by Circuit Navigator is smart, haunting, psychedelic rock. My personal favorite is the bluesy choogle of “My Brain”.
Luna by Fossil Fire comes out this Friday and they will be celebrating with a show at the Shakedown. They’ve released three tracks so far and I’m really looking forward to hearing the rest. It’s melodic indie rock with some surprising twists and a prominently featured cello. (They also do a Frightened Rabbit cover, which it turns out is a very effective way to pander to my specific musical taste.)
Nice Thing to Say, by Darling Clyde is an EP of beautiful, quiet, mostly acoustic folk/ pop built around the voice of Brianna D.
Wildflower, by Pass the Sugar is a high quality take on subtle, glitchy, electronic pop. The vocals are heavily processed and typically pretty quiet, so it works as background music for those times when lyrics would be distracting, but there’s also enough going on that it’s worth giving your full attentions sometimes too.
The last two albums are, from what I can tell, the two that seem to have gained the greatest traction outside our fair city, getting reviewed in music blogs and magazines all over the place. Great to see!
Songs from The Protest Route by Analog Brass combines wild brass band instrumentation with some cool hip hop vocal features. Essentially they managed to capture the feeling of a street protest, mix it with a party, and get it all down on record. That’s no mean feat. They’ve also been one of the hardest working bands around this year, playing shows all the time in all kinds of venues and even busking around Seattle.
Feral by Cat Valley shows the band expanding beyond their punkish roots to incorporate beautiful harmonies and a wide variety of instrumental approaches, bringing in some classic rock, pop, and surf influences. Full of surprises, with thought provoking lyrics.
Also, if you missed it before, I put together a playlist on Spotify with every local act I could find on there. It’s roughly grouped by genre to help you find whatever you might be looking for. Check it out:
I hope you find something you enjoy in all of this! If you do, please let us know in the comments!
For the uninitiated, that just means all proceeds from Bandcamp sales on that day go directly to the artist. Basically it’s a great time to send a few bucks to your favorite locals and add some new music to your collection.
Thanks for posting this! Love to hear about the great artists and release coming from Bellingham!
Hey Jesse, here is our bandcamp url https://theunknowns7.bandcamp.com/ We will have a new release in a few days.