An Ode to Bandcamp




     It is true. I have been a pirate, I deserve to be hanged by the British colonies for my plundering and pilfering of delights of the ears and the eyes…

     Ok well this is all a bit dramatic, but it is true. Any way I could download music or videos, I did. For the purposes of this post, we'll focus on music. It wasn't until a few months ago, until just after I married Justine that we had a conversation about the various forms of downloading entertainment and as these things go, Justine caused me to look at things differently. And for the better. It was then that I started to try and only listen to music legally. Spotify has been a big aid in this pursuit, and while the amount that artists are paid on Spotify is a drop in the ocean, Spotify is a great place to listen to music and find new music.

     If you've clicked on this post, you have probably expected me to talk about Bandcamp, or even just wondered what Bandcamp is. Well, Bandcamp is a free to register, expertly designed, and artist-friendly platform with which to find and share music and allows artists to upload their own music for free, but also allows the artist to put any price tag on their music; even including a very often seen "Name Your Price" level, allowing users to pay whatever they want for the album in question. It puts the listener and artist in direct contact with each other, many times after I have purchased something, I've received a friendly thank you from the person I had bought the music from, granted they might  not be "popular" but rather likely independent and making music because they love it.

     Now, to make this post fun and not just a block-of-text ramble on the more ethical business model that is Bandcamp, I will highlight some select releases that are available exclusively digitally on Bandcamp:

Lord Lovidicus - Kyndill og Steinn


     Oh boy. Dungeon Synth... The weirdest genre which I love. Great Dungeon Synth can be found in droves on Bandcamp, much of it for free and in a weird sort of aspect of the genre, almost all of it is "good" by the genre's own standards. But worry not, there will definitely be a dedicated blog post for Dungeon Synth quite soon.

     Dungeon Synth as a genre is meant to evoke the feeling of classic RPG games or tabletops such as Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, or Magic: The Gathering. The Lo-Fi fantasy aesthetic of much of Dungeon Synth artists such as Lord Lovidicus, Barak Tor, and Morannon has become the soundtrack for my reading of the Malazan: Book of the Fallen series. I just said a lot of lame words, but I don't care.

     Anyway, Lord Lovidicus is one of the more well-respected artists in the very niche Dungeon Synth genre and Kyndill og Steinn is considered one of LL's greatest releases, and "Ghost Wind Within the Mist" has stayed in my regular Bandcamp rotation since I bought it, it's serene melancholy never fails to make for good work or reading music. I myself have been influenced by LL, and over the summer of 2017 made a really crappy Tolkien themed Dungeon Synth track; linked here.

Favourite Track: Ghost Wind Within the Mist



     One of the greatest tragedies on Bandcamp is Amerigo Gazaway. By this I mean that he is one of the greatest producers I can think of, but I have only ever seen him advertised and even just known on Bandcamp. Linked here is one of his mashup albums, the subjects in which can be seen on the cover here, Common and Stevie Wonder. 

     This combination works so well, and has been in regular rotation throughout the summer months of the last couple years. One of the most fascinating aspects of this project is how well Common's beats work underneath Stevie Wonder's vocals, and how well Common's rapping talent(criminally underrated today) works over the classic instrumentation of the inimitable Wonder. 

     Gazaway has released several other albums of mashups which deserve their recognition as well, including two volumes of  Mos Def/Marvin Gaye albums which again are simply beautiful.

Favourite Track: The Sixth Superstition


Nest - Trail of the Unwary



     Nest is one of my favourite artists of all time, and would find his way into my top 5 undoubtedly. Aslak Tolonen, the genius behind the music draws his inspiration from his motherland Finland's natural beauty through his primary instrument, the 15-string Kantele. The Kantele is a "lap-harp" which if you pictured in your head is a harp on your lap, then you were completely correct.

     By far my favourite release of his, Trail of the Unwary has roots in Native American music as well as through Finnish traditional music. Percussion through the chiming Kantele and animal skin drums is the driving force of Trail of the Unwary. Nest has this uncanny ability through the atmosphere he creates to transport you to another world, and this album embodies the idea that music can be an "escape".

     Though I am thankful Nest is available on Bandcamp, he deserves as much recognition on other streaming platforms and is one of my most desired additions to the massive Spotify library. This album exudes the beauty of nature, and has some of the most primal sounding and dark folk music I have ever heard. I have the opportunity to see Tolonen play his music in Dublin in August, and I cannot wait to hear these beautiful collection of songs in a live setting.

Favourite Track: Across the Waters

Nahtrunar - Mysterium Tremendum


     Anyone who has read any of my metal reviews or best of lists on the blog so far might remember that Traditional Black Metal bores me quite a bit very often. Nahtrunar has become a recent exception to that mostly-truth.

     They have a sort of melody to their sound which can remind me more of Atmospheric Black Metal and their riff structures are never boring which definitely does its job of keeping my attention. Any of the longer tracks on Mysterium Tremendum are practically tied for favourites, which is an attest to the strength of the album as a whole. If I had to pick, "Wilder Flug" does play to my interests quite well when it comes to an otherwise standard Black Metal song.

     Bandcamp in general is a great home for Black Metal, with artists such as: Mylingar(terrifying, but great), Abstracter, Spectral Wound, and Urfaust to name a few. Bandcamp also releases every once in a while an article showcasing bands from a specific scene, here's Iceland for example.

Seckou Keita - 22 Strings


     One of my favourite uses for Bandcamp is the amazing plethora of World music. I set out to use their "filter" which looks like this* to find something I might love in ten minutes. I definitely succeeded. 

*

     Seckou Keita is an artist I discovered literally ten minutes ago, as of writing this. He is a Kora player from Senegal, and a breathtaking musician at that.  I will let his album bio speak for itself below, but I am already in love with this album and the simple beauty that its creator has designed.

"Seckou gives us the Kora in its purest guise, a wondrous instrument that can soothe the bloodlust of warriors and take the human spirit to a place of deep meditation, stillness and beauty. The title of the album says it all. Centuries ago, when the Djinns, the spirits of the African bush, gave the first ever Kora to the griot Jali Mady 'Wuleng' (Jali Mady 'The Red') it had 22 strings. Then, when Jali Mady died, his fellow griots took one string away in his memory. But back in its birthplace in southern Senegal and Guinea Bissau, the 22-stringed Kora survives, with the extra string giving the instrument special advantages in terms of tonal reach and groove. For Seckou Keita, that one extra string represents home: the place where his heart resides."

Favourite Track: genuinely do not know, this album is still too fresh in my mind.

Vindkaldr - Ambient I


     Finally, we end this gathering of albums with my favourite Bandcamp exclusive release. Vindkaldr is another Dungeon Synth artist, who leans more towards the side of ambient music. Ambient I is a perfect collection of the saddest songs I've ever heard, this album is sonic peace.

     This album has an impressive variety of sounds for one that flows so cohesively. Track after track, you forget about time and a 13 minute track will be over before you know it. "The Fairy That Disappeared" is the clear standout here for me, with enough movements and emotions to sound like an entire album in itself. The synthesised harps and viola play off each other wondrously and leave you breathless.

     I always find myself looking at Vindkaldr's artist page in hopes that he has released another ambient album, although to no avail. But I can hope, after all if there's an Ambient I then there must be an Ambient II at some point right?

 

     This supremely diverse catalogue of music is just the surface of Bandcamp, and there is new music released every minute. This platform is the greatest one for budding musician and record label signed band to exist on the same playing field and bring music to all who want it.

     Comparing Spotify to Bandcamp was not my intention with this post, simply due to the fact that the two platforms are very different. While I will always listen to Spotify over Bandcamp (mostly due to the fact that Prince, Van Morrison, and Opeth simply don't sell their music on Bandcamp), the latter will always be the superior platform to me: Bandcamp's "Fair Trade Music Policy" is really something to be admired, and could be a real point of inspiration for any aspiring musician, and make any music fan feel like they are really supporting something sustainable and transparent. Cause to be quite honest, they are.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Track Roundup: May

Best Albums of 2018

Track Roundup: April