Nick Goes On Bandcamp Episode 1
Bandcamp.com sure is a website. Each month, Nick’s gonna be reviewing Bandcamp discoveries and essentials in a list format; below’s his first installment.
Awkward Pop Songs — Jank
https://ohnoitsjank.bandcamp.com/album/awkward-pop-songs
Jank is a Philly-based, poppy emo band in the vein of Algernon Cadwallader and Cap’n Jazz. On first glance at the tracklist for Awkward Pop Songs, you can tell you’re in for a good time, with youthful, brash song titles like “Ouran Highschool Toast Club,” “Spilt to Bill,” and “\/\/eed is Tight.” The best part about this band is that they don’t take themselves too seriously. From references to anime and video games, to blatantly ripping off Title Fight, you can tell it was just as much fun to make this album as it is to listen to it. Aside from all the jokiness, these guys are great musicians and very talented songwriters, with songs that will be stuck in your head all day.
I’m Playing… Elephant Music — Chalklit
https://chalklit.bandcamp.com/album/im-playing-elephant-music
This great debut from New York Alt-rockers Chalklit (who are part of the newly formed East Coast DIY label Chandelier Collective) draws from grunge, psych rock, and punk/post-punk; it’s an EP that grabs your attention and takes you for a ride from start to finish. Whether it be the mathy intro on “Red Dot,” the spoken-word on “What is Change,” or the Mudhoney-esque chorus on “Terry,” every song brings something new to the album, making the EP fresh and diverse. These guys are definitely worth checking out if you’re looking for something unique yet familiar at the same time.
PatrickViolence Demo — Goolagoon
https://goolagoonhc.bandcamp.com/releases
This is a demo full of, in the band’s own words, “A stinking mud puddle of crusty jams.” Clocking in at around ten minutes in total, most songs on this EP start with a sample from some classic Spongebob episode, followed by music that’s fast, angry, basically everything you could want from a powerviolence record. Don’t be fooled though, this is not a joke band — well it is, kinda, but it’s actually really well done. Who would have thought that Spongebob and powerviolence could mix so well?
Monster — Garbage Water
https://garbagewater.bandcamp.com/album/monster
One day, I noticed that the same guy was commenting on all the music I was listening to on YouTube, so I stalked him and found that he made impressive music under the Garbage Water moniker. 16 year-old Danny Keyes’ bedroom pop full length, entitled Monster, is clearly inspired by great indie acts of new and old, such as Elliott Smith, Beck, Car Seat Headrest, Teen Suicide and Alex G. It’s full of catchy acoustic guitar-driven lo-fi songs about sadness and self reflection. Keyes experiments on songs like “Gud Fur Da Soul,” which sounds like (and I mean this in the best way possible) an acapella on acid; and “I for I,” where he pitch-shifts his voice to sound like a young child. Highlights on the album include those mentioned tracks, along with “Into/Keera!” and “Used To Be” — I can’t get any of them out of my head.
— Nick Sullivan
