I just got into Bandcamp recently and I really want to expand my knowledge base on music. Most of what I listened to was either popular 80’s rock or several subgenres of EDM, but I’m slowly (re)introducing some genres like: Jazz, Country, Folk, and maybe Hip Hop.
Toss me a suggestion if you got one.
King Gizzard and the lizard wizard.
- Paper mache dream balloon
- polygondwanaland
- changes
Always the right answer
Their use of micro-tones is awesome, Flying Microtonal Banana is a fantastic album!
Their range is so impressive. I especially have been enjoying Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms, and Lava! One of my favorite albums of the last year, and has some elements of jazz fusion/funk (though I guess you wouldn’t exactly call it a jazz album lol).
Can’t go wrong with King Gizzard https://kinggizzard.bandcamp.com/
Well, I could drop recs all day, so I’ll just limit it to a few random albums I like.
- No collection is complete without the Legendary Buck 65, who came out of hiatus last year. Super Dope is good, but you can always check out his other releases.
- this beautiful nerd core delight: Burgonomic by Word burglar
- Somos Maquina
- VvvV The Wreck and S/T
- Gypsophila
- Who cares by Jessica93
- GY!BE
Ups for God Speed You Black Emperor
All masterpieces in my opinion:
Rock/Pop: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars by David Bowie
Instrumental: Eulogy for Evolution by Olafur Arnalds
Hip Hop/Rap: A Grand Don’t Come For Free by The Streets
Rock: Brothers by The Black Keys
I recommend to you: Mammal Hands.
Fantastic. I suggest Go Go Penguin as well.
Second that
Rock - I’ve got a pretty wide range in guitar tastes, Slash has a solo album which is just so good and has you respecting artists you’d never imagine. Alice in Chains of course, but even after the death of Layne Staley they reunited and had some pretty fun albums, Black Fades to Blue and The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here (my fav post album). The Dire Straits and The Doors are classics of course, I find a lot of inspiration from them in Jane’s Addiction and Soundgarden. They’re so very different of course but they’ve got some roots.
But man I mean 311, Rise Against, Three Days Grace, Pantera, Velvet Revolver, Operation Ivy, Pennywise, Flogging Molly, Dropkick Murphy’s, Incubus, Iron Maiden. Some of them had issues but they made some rocking music.
I am also a big fan of Authority Zero.
Oh and a kickass soundtrack by Tsueno Imahori for Trigun Badlands Rumble.
Electronic - I’m a big fan of the vaporwave and future funk scene. Vaperror’s manapool (all of them though really!), bl00dwave, St. Pepsi, and Blank Banshee are all classics. I would just start with their first albums :) For the more darkwave/synthwave I always want to give a shout to Xetrovoid, who has done some game music composition and he just has such awesome atmospheric music. It’s heavy metal electronica, basically. Magic Sword is also a lot of fun!
Jazz - Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew was released on March 30th 1969, just a few months ago was it’s anniversary :) I gave it a listen on the day and it was very enjoyable.
Hip Hop - I struggled as a teen with hip hop due to where I grew up and it encouraged me to delve deep into what really made me interested in lyrical composition. Check out Deltron 3030 - a concept album done by Oakland CA’s Del Tha Funkee Homosapien. It’s a masterpiece.
In addition to him, I cannot recommend the Flobots enough. You may remember their hit “Handlebars”, but they are so much more than just that single. And in the context of the rest of the album, that song is much more powerful. Johnny 5 also has an EP called Onomatopoeia which is stellar, but very heavy. It also has some of the same struggles with the hip hop scene that I felt growing up, which felt vindicating. I’d just say listen to their discography, a few times over. They are… Very informative.
Not quite hip hop but nerdcore: Schaffer the Darklord. He has 3 albums comprised of very well written and rapped songs that cover stories about battling fonts, the tin man, clone fucking, cats, zombie Jesus, and going on insatiable drug benders. And after two of those albums, he’s got a lovely apology tour style album that goes into his struggles with addiction and the lifestyle. All genuinely good music jokes aside, it’s just fun and funny and sometimes touching.
For country and folk you should check out the labels “paradise of bachelors” and “Tompkins square”. Good mix of new and reissues. There’s a book called “penguin guide to jazz” that can help you cherry pick some albums to listen to to figure out which types of jazz / which players you like. For rock check out what came out in the 60s and late 70s. 77-80 was a wild time for rock/punk! I don’t know edm… have you tried “gas”? He’s got some great albums.
I’d check old album reviews from tinymixtapes (sadly defunct now). They had a section called “Eureka!” that was a fantastic way to stay abreast of new albums, especially electronic and hip-hop.
favourites of mine in the folk category:
- Solas an Lae - The Light of the Day by Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin & Ultan O’Brien A simple combination of a powerful voice, beautiful fiddle and some really moving songs. https://eoghanultan.bandcamp.com/album/solas-an-lae-the-light-of-the-day
And if you like that there’s also:
- The Deepest Breath by Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin https://eoghanoceannabhain.bandcamp.com/album/the-deepest-breath
Also worth checking out:
- Anything by Lankum: The first folk band I got into on bandcamp, aka the start of a terrible addiction. They play traditional music with entirely their own style. Pulls your head and feelings all sorts of ways. Some of it is quite bleak but all of it is great. https://lankum.bandcamp.com/
But if by folk you were specifically thinking of the Scottish smallpipes then of course you want this incredible album:
- Carry Them With Us by Brìghde Chaimbeul https://brighdechaimbeul.bandcamp.com/album/carry-them-with-us
Edited: bloody formatting!
It makes me so happy when I see someone else recommending Brìghde! I got sold on The Reeling years ago because I read about it on Quietus, and she has been a fav of mine ever since.
Ooh I’ve only heard what she’s put out on bandcamp so far, will need to look out that album too
For folk I’ve gotta recommend The Mountain Goats! Specifically their earlier stuff, the newer is maybe a little less folk and more just indie rock (but also very good). The Sunset Tree and Tallahassee are what people usually recommend for the first album, but We Shall All Be Healed is my absolute favorite, and what I’m recommending.
This album specifically deals with themes of struggle and addiction. They have this very “everything is fucked but we push through” way about a lot of their songs that I just love. My favorite song off this album is Letter From Belgium. This band is an amazing source of emotional support through hard times and the community is fantastic!
“All of the songs on We Shall All Be Healed are based on people John used to know. Most of them are probably dead or in jail by now.”
Check out Funkadelic’s “Maggot Brain”
If you’re interested in Country and Folk but have the range of taste you seem to, you should definitely become aware of Punch Brothers if you’re not already. Basically experimental bluegrass, I’d recommend any of their albums but Phosphorescent Blues might be a good start. The frontman Chris Thile’s also part of Nickel Creek and their new album has a very Punch Brothers feel to it as well.
Ooh completely agree on the recommendation of Punch Brothers. I’d also especially like to thank you for the tidbit of info about Chris Thile being a member of Nickel Creek! Haven’t heard of this band before but will definitely be checking them out.
It was where he got his start 20+ years ago, but both him and Sara Watkins (the fiddler) went on to do some interesting stuff to say the least. Their new album was sort of a reunion.
https://1001albumsgenerator.com
Companion to the subreddit by the same name. Generates an album a day. Based on the book series “1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die”
A fun way to find new stuff you may have missed.
Dijon - Absolutely described as alternative r&b. It feels very funky and is amazing from front to back. I’d try ‘many times’ to get a feel for the album style
I grew up only listening to rock and had a lot of preconceived notions about hip hop until my friend got me interested in a group called atmosphere. Very relatable to most rock songs and has a different type of beat then a lot of stereotypical rap music. After that check out some other artists on the rhymsayers label, I have really been feeling Alsop rock’s drums on the wheel. If that piques your interest just keep exploring, there’s a lot of creative artists in the hip hop genre! Some more suggestions old Kanye albums, Tyler the creator, wu tang klan, method man, Kendrick Lamar, Doom, Mac Miller, a$ap rocky, kid Cudi, Freddie gibs, Denzel curry, Logic, Pasha T.
