To be honest, we’re very happy that you’re here, considering how big an evening last night was, in terms of new music releases: Chance the Rapper’s hotly anticipated new mixtape, Coloring Book, was released, Schoolboy Q dropped a new track featuring Kanye West, and Post Malone’s August 26th mixtape also came out.
It’s doubtful you’ve had the chance to listen to all of those yet, so again, thanks for being here and reading. But before you duck out and listen to the aforementioned releases, stick around for a minute and check out the also-good albums featured on Bandcamping this week, starting with:
5. Crush by Haunt
Genre: indie pop, lo-fi
If you like: Tanlines, Youth Lagoon, Hellogoodbye
Lo-fi bedroom pop had its moment, which arguably has come and gone, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t still be good. It still sounds like it operates in the same universe, which means that Haunt is a worthwhile group with a light, fun EP on their hands. It’s perfect for laying down and vibing out on an overcast day, as its slow synths are ideal for fostering cloud-gazing daydreams.
4. War カセット by ãƒãƒ•ãƒˆ tapes
Genre: electronica, vaporwave
If you like: Vektroid, Moby
Yes, we know that vaporwave died like 4 years ago, and we know that virtually everybody who considers themselves a “serious” consumer of music hates it, but when we heard this, we thought, “This sounds just fine.” ãƒãƒ•ãƒˆ tapes brings the percussion to the forefront more than most vaporwave producers do, which helps give the work more of an electronica feel and less of an ephemeral one.
3. Slow Grind by Beach Skulls
Genre: indie rock, garage psych,
If you like: Best Coast, Cage The Elephant, Beach Fossils
Summer’s coming, so the release of this album is perfect timing. The vibes are super sunny, but there’s an edge to it as well. That edge is definitely soft and drenched in reverb, but it’s there and prevents this from being just another aimless surf pop record.
2. Ghosts & Bubblegum by Oh My Love
Genre: electronic, indie pop,
If you like: CHVRCHES, Daft Punk, Sound Tribe Sector 9
Female vocals tend to do a nice job at providing a bright contrast to a dark electro backing, and that’s part of what makes Oh My Love work so well. The Madison, Wisconsin duo (who are opening for Ra Ra Riot in July, by the way) strike a good mix of dark synth sounds with booming drums that rarely venture into EDM territory, but are just as propulsive.
1. St Howard by St Howard
Genre: indie folk
If you like: Ray LaMontagne, Sufjan Stevens, Bon Iver
St Howard is one of the few artists who needs to be making folk music right now. Howard Finster has an engaging and rustic voice, and he varies up the instrumentation and uses it in interesting and effective ways, giving off a near-electronica vibe on “Splendor” despite its totally organic sound.
And now another album we were also into:
Honorable Mention
RE//EOT by ELEPHANTS ON TAPE
Genre: electronic, house
If you like: Four Tet, Macintosh Plus, Boards of Canada
That’s it for now, but until next week, let us know in the comments which of these albums were your favorites, what we missed, and what we should look forward to. If you missed out on last week’s list, you can find it here (and the complete Bandcamping archives are here).
