Looking for some Bandcamp Friday recommendations? I've got you covered!

Hey y'all! It's Bandcamp Friday! And in an effort to clear the backlog of albums I keep meaning to write about, here's a bunch of music available through that platform. I've included a wide variety of acts, so I hope there's sometime in here for everyone. Sometimes it's hard for me to know, since my own listing is, erm, a bit more voluminous than the average fan's might be. But every single one of these is worth your time, and if you like any of 'em, remember that all proceeds from sales through Bandcamp today go 100% to the artists!

The Freqs
Poachers

This trio delivers a solid EP of nice, solid, hard-charging—and somewhat tuneful—stoner stylee RAWK. This took me back to the sounds of Double Door circa the early aughts.

Fucked Up
One Day

All the guitar tracks were recorded in one day, and then the band built over that. It ended up being a terrific approach because it resulted in their best "punk" guitar-based album in years. So while it's kind of a "step back" to a more familiar sound, I'm glad they revisited it before they move back onto more epic, experimental fare.

King Tuff
Smalltown Stardust

On their latest album, King Tuff's psych-pop walks the line between the rock and a more sensitive glam vocal style and delivery. This has been a nice breath of fresh air during the harsher winter days, for me.

Megadose
Heating Up

This collection of numbers is definitely fuzzy, but not particularly heavy; adopting one of my preferred approaches to power-pop stuff for the most part. And while most power-pop lyrics tend to fly out of my head, I found Megadose traffics in a shaper vein of words that actually stuck around my brain after the last chord died out. I dig it!

M(h)aol
Attachement Styles

Really cool, super angular indie-guitar-minded aggressive backing tracks, with vox that flit between the seams of sound. The band's energy is undeniable, and singer Róisín Nic Ghearailt delivers her thoughts with an emotion I could palpably feel. Which is unusual for me, these days. 

REXORIA
Imperial Dawn

I've noticed during the pandemic that the one genre that never slowed down high-octane output was the realm of metal. This indicates to me that the entire metal ecosystem grew so self-supporting so long ago it managed to bypass many of the issues that plagued most "mainstream" (and that includes indie these days) music. This slab of power metal is just plain fun, so I think anyone will dig it, regardless of how you feel about the genre in general.

We Are Scientists
LOBES

Hot damn, for the second album in a row, they out-Killers The Killers again. I play this album a LOT. You will too. Fun fact: one of my first interviews for a local, long defunct, arts magazine was with one of the group's early drummers, They, and I, have come a long way since then.

Fireworks
Higher Lonely Power

This last one is free or pay-what-you-want on Bandcamp, but after listening to it, you'll want to throw a coupe bucks the band's way. I picked it up on via a recommendation on a podcast, otherwise I would've missed it entirely! And while it starts as pretty unilluminating hardcore meets emo stuff on the first track, don't let that fool you.After that Fireworks jumps around all over the place! Intriguing to say the least Apparently this has long been in the works, so maybe that explains the variety of approaches? Whatever the reason, I'm glad it resulted in this rollercoaster ride of an LP.