Split record between two Western Mass bands (neither of whom I heard before leaving). Wood Spider is in the French chanson tradition--with more screaming/yelling/passion (whatever you want to call it).
Niko & the Juggler Meadow Family Band is more psychedelic folk--direct to tape, so sound quality is not as balanced. Name your price--even free.
Could we develop a clear lexicon for the cost of these Bandcamp offerings? Something like:
Free: no e-mail necessary, downloads directly from album page.
For email: requires email address/zip code before providing link.
Email for link: link is sent to email address.
Free/NYOP: Name your own price, but artist encourages free download.
NYOP: Name your own price--no explicit encouragement to purchase for nothing.
[Price]: what the artist asks for
Stream: streams only
Off-site: links to another site to purchase and download.
A label called A Future Without has a series of samplers on Bandcamp. I have not worked through them yet, but can report on volume 7. There are several genres represented, and so your tastes may vary what seems worthwhile. For myself, I would recommend from this one maybe giving track 2 (Kabuki Mono - Imagination Over Understand) a listen if you like guitar-based post-rock, and track 4 (Rafiralfiro - In Limbo (ft.Victor A.Stoicita)) if you like electronic-acoustic dance-ish stuff - I found both enjoyable.
Free/NYOP.
I'll report on the others as I get chance to listen, unless someone else gets there first.
Update: Volume 6 bored me utterly. Mostly unmemorable down-to mid-tempo electronica. Last track a little more interesting perhaps.
The Yellowbirds are a sort of folksy avant-pop band from NYC whose EP The Color features the single "The Rest of My Life" ($1 for the single, streaming-only for the album, at least until the release date next month). They sound a little bit like what the Everly Brothers might sound today after they'd been listening to a little Belle and Sebastian.
really freakin' good so far, but I don't know what to compare it too. Can and Vision Creation New Sun era Boredoms are touch points, but there's a bit of Konono No. 1 and synth drone in there too.
Name your price:
Note: no minimum price, but your first aboombong purchase of $5 or more will provide you with an access code for exclusive bonus material not otherwise available.
Motion Sickness of Time Travel (Rachel Evans) - Red Tide & The Fire Cult to Your Dream Child - (Hooker Vision - 2010)
"Rachel Evans presents her most uplifting work yet. Shimmering drones, minimal pulses, and distant, soaring vocals drift together as if suspended on a breeze."
An artist called Blamstrain just changed all their recordings to Free/NYOP. Until a day or so ago this was a time-limited new year special - now it says it is permanent; seems maybe it was bringing in better results. A lot of it is techno that does not grab me. But this one, Selected Ambient Dub Works 06-09 has some tracks worth listening to if you like dark-ish dubby ambient. I suggest tracks 2, 9, 7, and 1, roughly in that order. Another by the same artist, Disfold, is supposed to be in the same vein - have not explored it yet. [Edit: Actually, it's worth a listen too. Especially if you like Basic Channel-esque ambient, aquatic techno. Added the image and link below]. But I have been enjoying the above-mentioned tracks.
Free/NYOP.
Never heard any of her work but have enjoyed her articles & interviews on Hypebot; needless to say, I'll be buying the album based on the cover art, it seems like the right way to start off.
elwoodicious - That's her too. I follow her on Twitter and she posted a pic of a bunch of signed copies. She was adding fun comments too like "I'm naked under these" with an arrow pointing to the only clothing you see. You then need to get Amanda Palmer Plays the Popular Hits of Radiohead on Her Magical Ukulele. It's fantastic, and only $0.89. Then get the s/t Dresden Dolls album, then....
This is some pretty good country-inflected folks music. A little old timey here and there; sombre, perhaps par for the course of a concept album. My initial impression is Josh Ritter with band minus the Leonard Cohen influence, though that's a bit crude. NYOP
BTW, thanks for adopting by notation system for pricing. I find it very useful for sorting what I can get get right away and what I must give some thought.
Mediations between You and I by Listen Like Thieves
Some of the tags are "crowded house elbow fiona apple gomez neil finn pop" and that probably gives you some idea. I'm on the third track and it sounds good, although not exactly world-changing. Free.
Edit after listening to the whole thing: definitely worth a download. The musician on electric guitar and banjo (there's quite a lot of banjo) on this 2010 release is Arthur Lee, but I'm pretty sure it's not the Arthur Lee I'm used to listening to. I do hate it though when people mistakenly use "I" as the object of a preposition because they've had it drilled into them that if it sounds right to a native English speaker's ear it must be wrong and has to be changed.
Not listening yet, but I certainly will, and buy it, too. Jeremy Messersmith is very good, I'm curious about what remixes would sound like, and "100% of your purchase of this album will go to benefit Doctors Without Borders." NYOP, not free, of course.
Edit after listening to most of the tracks: Some are creative, some quite close to the original, and one I hated. Not a bad ratio!
Not impressed by every track here, but track three is really very, very nice. Happy music, which given that ambient stuff lately can seem like a sea of melancholia is a welcome thing from time to time. NYOP.
From a recommendation on the Dying for Bad Music blog: New Animals s/t. Alt-folk/bedroom chamber pop--sorta like an evil Dream Academy with an aesthetic similar to early Magnetic Fields. The first two songs grate a little, so give it a chance. Free
It's not jazz. It's for fans of Mazzy Star or Red House Painters.
Hey, Mojave Bird, if you're out there reading this, please take the jazz tag off your site. The fact that you put it on there tells me you either are clueless about what jazz is or that to get your page to come up in as many searches as possible you put the jazz tag on there and fuck any jazz fans that are looking for actual jazz. Either way, you can go fuck yourselves.
That aside, even though I'm not into that whole band playing in a distant basement lo-fi vocal and sparse piano with the occasional electronic flourish kinda music anymore, it's a free album and some people here might actually like it.
But god damn, searching the jazz section of bandcamp is a depressing clusterfuck.
Comments
Urgent banjo/accordion/guitar Americana with a slightly gruff alto. Definitely for fans of Sarah Jarosz. Name Your Price (even free).
ETA: Sorry--links are corrected.
Split record between two Western Mass bands (neither of whom I heard before leaving). Wood Spider is in the French chanson tradition--with more screaming/yelling/passion (whatever you want to call it).
Niko & the Juggler Meadow Family Band is more psychedelic folk--direct to tape, so sound quality is not as balanced. Name your price--even free.
Aidan Baker & thisquietarmy - Orange EP - "cough up some money or give us your email"
- A must for Baker fans.
Free: no e-mail necessary, downloads directly from album page.
For email: requires email address/zip code before providing link.
Email for link: link is sent to email address.
Free/NYOP: Name your own price, but artist encourages free download.
NYOP: Name your own price--no explicit encouragement to purchase for nothing.
[Price]: what the artist asks for
Stream: streams only
Off-site: links to another site to purchase and download.
Free/NYOP.
I'll report on the others as I get chance to listen, unless someone else gets there first.
Update: Volume 6 bored me utterly. Mostly unmemorable down-to mid-tempo electronica. Last track a little more interesting perhaps.
edit: On the Goddamn Radio is also full of gritty goodness. Not recommended for headphone listening. Free/NYOP, Creative Commons License.
...btw, this is not to be confused with Memory Cassette's Call and Response EP (on eMusic), which appears to be completely unrelated.
really freakin' good so far, but I don't know what to compare it too. Can and Vision Creation New Sun era Boredoms are touch points, but there's a bit of Konono No. 1 and synth drone in there too.
Name your price:
- Oh boy Oh boy !
Motion Sickness of Time Travel (Rachel Evans) - Red Tide & The Fire Cult to Your Dream Child - (Hooker Vision - 2010)
"Rachel Evans presents her most uplifting work yet. Shimmering drones, minimal pulses, and distant, soaring vocals drift together as if suspended on a breeze."
- Absolutely Wonderful !
Free/NYOP.
[url==http://store.blamstra.in/album/selected-ambient-dub-works-06-09#]
@ Brighternow - thanks for the heads up on Orsi and Seaworthy - firmly on my 'buy soon' list!
- Free (with an email)
I continue to have a huge crush on her.
Craig
elwoodicious - That's her too. I follow her on Twitter and she posted a pic of a bunch of signed copies. She was adding fun comments too like "I'm naked under these" with an arrow pointing to the only clothing you see. You then need to get Amanda Palmer Plays the Popular Hits of Radiohead on Her Magical Ukulele. It's fantastic, and only $0.89. Then get the s/t Dresden Dolls album, then....
Craig
Great stuff for the experimental/avantgarde inclined. Free EP.
Finally decided to check this one out, too. Hot damn is it awesome. NYOP
And it looks like all the Dresden Dolls stuff is NYOP, too.
Eastward by Hudson
This is some pretty good country-inflected folks music. A little old timey here and there; sombre, perhaps par for the course of a concept album. My initial impression is Josh Ritter with band minus the Leonard Cohen influence, though that's a bit crude. NYOP
BTW, thanks for adopting by notation system for pricing. I find it very useful for sorting what I can get get right away and what I must give some thought.
Mediations between You and I by Listen Like Thieves
Some of the tags are "crowded house elbow fiona apple gomez neil finn pop" and that probably gives you some idea. I'm on the third track and it sounds good, although not exactly world-changing. Free.
Edit after listening to the whole thing: definitely worth a download. The musician on electric guitar and banjo (there's quite a lot of banjo) on this 2010 release is Arthur Lee, but I'm pretty sure it's not the Arthur Lee I'm used to listening to. I do hate it though when people mistakenly use "I" as the object of a preposition because they've had it drilled into them that if it sounds right to a native English speaker's ear it must be wrong and has to be changed.
Edit after listening to most of the tracks: Some are creative, some quite close to the original, and one I hated. Not a bad ratio!
From Giant Sand's Howe Gelb
Not surprisingly, it sounds like Giant Sand (albeit looser).
$2.22
saying goodbye EP by Grand Canonical Ensemble
Not impressed by every track here, but track three is really very, very nice. Happy music, which given that ambient stuff lately can seem like a sea of melancholia is a welcome thing from time to time. NYOP.
From a recommendation on the Dying for Bad Music blog: New Animals s/t. Alt-folk/bedroom chamber pop--sorta like an evil Dream Academy with an aesthetic similar to early Magnetic Fields. The first two songs grate a little, so give it a chance. Free
(Edited to correct)
Mojave Bird...
http://mojavebird.bandcamp.com/album/mojave-bird
It's not jazz. It's for fans of Mazzy Star or Red House Painters.
Hey, Mojave Bird, if you're out there reading this, please take the jazz tag off your site. The fact that you put it on there tells me you either are clueless about what jazz is or that to get your page to come up in as many searches as possible you put the jazz tag on there and fuck any jazz fans that are looking for actual jazz. Either way, you can go fuck yourselves.
That aside, even though I'm not into that whole band playing in a distant basement lo-fi vocal and sparse piano with the occasional electronic flourish kinda music anymore, it's a free album and some people here might actually like it.
But god damn, searching the jazz section of bandcamp is a depressing clusterfuck.
I am not adapting well to my post-emu life.
Guh.
Bear down.
You can never heal the urge for jazz at Bandcamp, but there are some salves.
James Hamilton's Causeway Suite: Big Band in the Kenton style. Free/NYOP
Jason Parker Quartet s/t: serviceable hard bop. NYOP
No Jazz, but more like guitar-based, Chet Atkins C&W instrumentals: Tony Savarino's Guitaring. NYOP