Hello and welcome to FTA’s list of what we are excited for this Bandcamp Friday, aka every music nerds favorite day! A bunch of us weighed in on what we’ve been into lately and we’ve got plenty of goodies old and new for you to dig into over a wide range of genres. But don’t take our word for it, dive into these tracks/albums and judge for yourself. Feel free to let us know what you think and tell us your suggestions.
Check out some of our past lists here: April 2022, May 2022, June 2022, September 2022, October 2022, November 2022, December 2022, February 2023, March 2023 and April 2023.
Kate Hoos- Editor In Chief
Goblin Daycare– Q: EP? A: EP!! If you follow me on social media, you’ll likely know my nickname at work (and increasingly otherwise) is “the Goblin,” so you can imagine my reaction when I first saw the name of this band and that I thought it was very funny; of cooooourse I had to listen! The project of “Mama Goblin” (I’m okay sharing names here, ha!) it’s billed as “lo-fi punk for low-life punks/bedroom punk,” and sounds like it was recorded in said bedroom’s closet beneath a layer of cozy blankets. It’s fast and freaky and indeed very lo-fi—in all the best ways—with standout songs about killing landlords, “Landlordocide!” and hating cops “Officer Down!:)” so right in line with my world view too. This is a really fun way to spend eight minutes and thirteen seconds.
Necking– Cut Your Teeth. In the last year or so, it seems like I keep hearing a ton of great stuff coming out of Canada (Bad Waitress, The Dog Indiana, Hot Garbage and Gloin to name a few), and when I recently watched an episode of a popular TV show on Showtime (aka Yellowjackets) I discovered yet another addition to my list. Necking performs their song “Big Mouth” in a scene on the show and while watching I thought “this is pretty good I should look it up,” which I did after the episode. Turns out the full album, Cut Your Teeth, is in fact really good and right in the wheelhouse of bands I already like anyway. The song in the show, “Big Mouth,” is definitely a standout, but my favorites from the album are “Still Exist” and “No Playtime.”
As an unabashed champion of all things DIY and local bands forever, I tip my hat to the music supervisor from Yellowjackets for picking a Vancouver local to get the nod to be on the show instead of bringing in a bigger more well known act. Here’s hoping a new album and perhaps a visit to NYC will not be too far off in the future for this “febreze punk” foursome.
Promyki– jeb jeb jeb. It’s noisy and raw, a bit lo-fi and also a little bit weird, almost like a riot grrrl band from 1992 and a noise rock band (from a nebulous time period) jammed in a blender. And I fucking love it. I was recently introduced to this Polish band via a music sharing “club” aka group on Facebook (one of the last remaining reasons I remain on that trash heap of a platform truth be told) and loved this, their brand new EP just released in March. They have a solid album, Plastik, which came out in 2022 that I also recommend. How do we get this band across the ocean and into a dive bar in Brooklyn? Asking for a friend.
Jenifun- Webmistress
The Anchoress– Versions EP 3. There’s just so much good stuff coming out of Wales right now. The Anchoress being one of them and so absolutely sublime.
Maid of Ace– Maid of Ace. Great stuff from England’s south coast.
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs– Land of Sleeper. So loud, so good, such decent blokes too! I say this album, and especially the first track “Ultimate Hammer” on repeat! Check out our coverage from their recent NYC debut.
Kate Bell-Contributing Writer
Constant Smiles– Kenneth Anger.
Display Homes– What If You’re Right & They’re Wrong?
Dorthia Cottrell– Death Folk Country.
Hard Nips– Master Cat.
Scam Likely– Getting Worse.
Telehealth– Content Oscillator.
Worriers– Warm Blanket.
Kyle Ostrander- Contributing Photographer
REZN– Solace. REZN released this album in March, and it’s six tracks of sludge metal goodness filled with heavy guitars, psychedelic vocals, and even the occasional saxophone. The whole album is great, but the standout track for me is the title-track, Solace. Recommended if you like Sleep, Monolord, or Dozer.
Mike Borchardt- NYC Scene Editor
Catty– Scratch.
Gorgeous– Egg.
Red Tank!– Dreams & Monsters.
Ray Rusinak-Contributing Photographer
Lachlan Denton– Furnishings. Lachlan Denton hails from Melbs (as the Ausies call it). Sort of a follow up to his 2019 release, A Brother, which dealt with the grief of losing his brother the previous year, Furnishings continues with this grieving process. This time its four years down the road and we find Lachlan in the acceptance stage of the process. Furnishings provides the listener with a beautiful lo-fi set of songs which still has the sadness of loss looming over it but with a feeling of hopefulness and optimism creeping through the edges.
LoOn, The Jansen, & The Caroline’s– Flowery Melancholia. This six-song, three-way split-EP released on Indonesia’s Paska Records offers up a nice mix and indicative representation of what each of these three bands have to offer. (Side note: I was drawn to this EP solely based on the name off of the record label. Paska is also the name for Slovakian Easter bread and it brings fond memories to my brain). With Flowery Melancholia you get the fluffy feel good power pop of LoOn (think late Veronica Falls) and The Caroline’s (RIYL Allo Darlin‘) juxtaposed with the somewhat heavier and rockier feel of The Jansen (imagine The Ramones singing in Indonesian).
The Sprouts– Eat Your Greens. This Melbourne quartet makes jangly bedroom powerpop for the sad and lonely crowd. Simple melodies accompanied by just as simple instrumentation make this album sound like it was in fact recorded in a bedroom using Garageband. But in the case of Eat Your Greens, less is very much more and better; the lack of sonic clutter suits the material just perfectly. If you’re already a fan of the so-called Melbourne sound, Eat Your Greens ought to be an album that’ll tickle your fancy. And if you’re not, but still love some good old understated jangly power pop, use this one to start your journey down that Aussie rabbit hole.