bandcamp friday recommendations (apr 2025 edition)
This is something I always meant to do a writeup for back in the Cohost days but never got around to: Bandcamp Friday is coming up! You can buy music and all of the money goes to the artists! So here are some cool artists on Bandcamp, in no particular order.
- Johanna Warren. Johanna is a singer-songwriter with an amazing voice and a lot of cool albums to choose from. If you like unaccompanied guitar and voice, she's more than worth your time--and while in many cases I'm not as into live albums, I'd recommend either or both of her Rockfield Sessions live studio albums, which really capture the magic.
- The Beths. New Zealand-based indie rock! They are reminiscent, in the best way, of mid-to-late-2000s indie music, it rules to see a band putting out new music in that vein. Expert in a Dying Field is a real solid album. (Fun fact: when my sister took me to the Death Cab for Cutie shows at Key Arena a while back, she was mainly there to see the Beths open. They are super fun live.)
- Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Melodic Canadian post-rock legends, it's pretty likely you already know about them, but if not, hey, check them out, they rule!) F#A# infinity is a very good album to start with. They're all good, though. Bleak, apocalyptic, hopeful.
- The Decemberists. These were one of the mid-2000s indie band that made it real big with their folk-inflected stylings; they decided to make their own label for their newest album and I guess that means most of their stuff is on Bandcamp now. (Not everything, but a lot of it.) I've been really digging their new album, As It Ever Was, So Will It Be Again.
- Lena Raine. Lena Raine is the musician behind Celeste. I have really enjoyed everything she's released (and I do mean everything, she is I think the only artist I've ever just clicked the "buy everything" button for on Bandcamp)--the Celeste OST is a masterpiece, of course--but she recently released EARTHBLADE - Across the Bounds of Fate, the OST for the now-canceled game Earthblade, and not only is she giving half the proceeds to Trans Lifeline, it kind of slaps? You should check it out.
- Jason Webley. A Pacific Northwest folk-punk icon, Jason's brand of stomping accordion is inimitable, and everything he touches is magic. My favorite is Counterpoint, but Only Just Beginning is also very strong, and the weird collaborative projects of Margaret and 100 Years Ago Tomorrow are fascinating stories and a great way to find even more cool musicians.
- Deer Tick. Americana-tinged rock, this is one of those bands that will always inextricably make me think of the person who introduced me to them, so it's fortunate that she's cool as hell, because I really like them. Born on Flag Day is an album that lives in my brain more or less constantly.
- Harvey Danger. Cheating a little here, since they broke up in 2009, but Harvey Danger were my very favorite band for many, many, years, and while they only have their final album, Little By Little, on here (plus a single from that album, and also the album includes the bonus CD), that album rules. You probably know them from the 90s alt-rock anthem "Flagpole Sitta", but they went on to become mainstays of the Seattle indie scene until their breakup in 2009. Give Little By Little a listen--this band is so good.
There's so much more! Sub-Radio, and The Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band both have some stuff on there and they are both bands I've really enjoyed live. There's probably more I'm just forgetting. If you check any of these out, I would love to hear what you think.