Poison Joy

I know, I know, I’ve said it before: “This could be the last Bandcamp Friday,” and “Let’s buy mp3s like it’s 1999,” which doesn’t even make sense, because nobody was buying mp3s in 1999. (The iTunes store didn’t launch until 2003. Wild, right?)

ANYWAY, given the very real possibility this is the last of these, I do think it’s a good moment to look back at what Bandcamp Friday has meant. This is my 19th post on a fee-free Friday, and I can honestly say these events have changed my listening significantly. I fell back in love with having music files on my computer, and with curating a digital library. I started sharing mix CDs with people again — whether or not they could play them. (Sorry not sorry.) I bought a whole bunch of great songs and albums that I’ll listen to for the rest of my life. I’m pretty sure I have enough Ohbliv and DJ Harrison tracks to soundtrack a trip to the moon, which sounds like a pretty awesome time, now that I’ve typed it out. And while these events haven’t necessarily revolutionized the landscape of how we pay for and consume music, I do think there’s meaning and progress in the way we’ve been able to regularly rally around the idea of supporting artists directly. Whatever 2022 has in store, I’m going to keep seeing the Bandcamp Friday glass as half full.

Enough retrospection. You can live in this very moment by checking out and supporting the artists below — I certainly plan to.

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Opin — Hospital Street II
I’m pretty sure “Another batch of improvised live jams recorded at our practice space 2020-2021” is my love language.

Poison Joy — Life On The Shelf Takes On New Meaning
I really dug Poison Joy’s Fortune Passes Everywhere tape. Looking forward to getting similarly ensconced in these 17 tunes.

Kate Bollinger — “Yards / Gardens”
So excited Kate is the mystery guest for the December 11 Benét/Matthew E. White show at the Broadberry!

ragenap — “piper (intro)”
ragenap has been a true Bandcamp Friday MVP. So many drone-y, drawn out gems. Check them out if you haven’t already.

DJ HARRISON — Tales from the Old Dominion
I included this in last month’s post, but today’s release day, so it bears repeating. So excited for this. Be sure to check out his HearRVA Liner Notes episode, if you haven’t already.

PJ Sykes — “Fuzz Off!”
Guitars! Guitars and more guitars!

A New Dawn Fades — I See The Nightbirds Deluxe Reissue
More instrumental Cherub Records awesomeness. The reissue includes unreleased recordings from the Nightbirds sessions and live tracks from the group’s final show in 2008.

Tyler Meacham & Margox — “Winter Song”
A Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson cover, with proceeds benefiting CancerLINC.

roadkillroy — “This Time Next Year”
So I know it’s tacky to plug your own band in your music blog, but it’s for another good cause! Last year we donated proceeds to Mutual Aid Distro Richmond, and that’s the plan this year as well.

Fall is in the air, y’all. You know what else is in the air? mp3s — flying via WiFi from one spot on the interweb to another, payments bypassing Bandcamp’s bank account completely owing to the fact that it’s another bright and beautiful fee-free Friday.

Here are a few recommendations to start your October off right. Keep scrolling for a list of more releases I have my eye on, which I’ll keep updating as awesome stuff comes out of the Bandcamp Friday woodwork:

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Poison Joy — Fortune Passes Everywhere

Kicking things off with a crucial heads up for the cassette crowd: $5 will get you this wonderfully wooly set of jams from Poison Joy, which I can confirm make for excellent walking-around-at-night-with-headphones-in accompaniment. I’m especially fond of “Discovery,” a nine-minute exploration in which low end takes center stage via an ascending motif that sticks with you long after the song is over.

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Angélica Garcia — Echo Eléctrico

Another cassette heads up: As a writing this, just five tapes of Angélica Garcia’s upcoming Echo Eléctrico album are left on Bandcamp. The EP consists of reimagined traditional Mexican ranchera songs, and you can hear the first one to be released, entitled “Malagueña,” below.

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Bartees Strange, Ohmme & Eric Slick / Anjimile — Province/Ever New

The stunning second installment in the new Psychic Hotline singles series has me falling back in love with “Province” from TV on the Radio’s Return to Cookie Mountain album, and falling in love for the first time with Beverly Glenn-Copeland’s stunning song “Ever New.” Speaking of Bartees Strange, if you didn’t pick up a copy of his Live Forever album at his recent show at the Camel, click here to fix that. (A snazzy new vinyl pressing is on the way.) And click here to snag his new single, “Weights.” Bartees is busy, y’all.

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Spacebomb House Band, Deau Eyes — “Send Me No Roses“

Spacebomb House Band and Deau Eyes pair perfectly covering country classic “Send Me No Roses,” which was on Tammy Wynette’s 1967 debut album, Your Good Girl’s Gonna Go Bad. I love where SHB is going with these takes on country classics; the previous entry in the series was an also-excellent version of Patsy Cline’s “Back in Baby’s Arms,” with Erin Rae providing vocals. Crossing my fingers for a collection of these covers down the road.

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Landon Elliott — “Bigger Fish“

I was so thrilled to see Landon Elliott had a new tune out, and I was incredibly moved by the accompanying video, which was directed, produced, and filmed by Landon himself. The song and video are unflinching in their own ways — two distinct vantage points from which to view Elliott’s honest and precise artistry.

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Punch Brothers — Hell on Church Street

Punch Brothers paying tribute to Tony Rice is a whole heaping cup of “Yes plz.” Can’t wait to hear more of the album. The orange vinyl version has already sold out and been replenished once on Bandcamp, so if those copies are gone again and the vinyl color matching the plumage of the bird on the album cover is your thing, keep checking back, maybe?

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Various — 20 Years of Cherub Records

Bonus! I’d expected to see this go up next week, but the Cherub Records 20th anniversary comp is live now!

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Other releases I have my eye on today:

DJ Harrison — Route 10 Mix
Justin Golden — “It Ain’t Much”
Sylvan Esso — Soundtrack for MASS MoCA
DarkTwaine_ — Wilderness

You Hear That

est. 2011

Buy from Bandcamp today… again!