Banner image courtesy to Bandcamp.
Today marks the third Bandcamp Friday of 2021! To date, Bandcamp Friday’s have generated $48 million dollars paid directly to artists and labels — that’s massive, and that’s just from the first Friday of every month! It’s clear that many music lovers are showing their appreciation loudly through financial compensation. We have to keep it up as the future of in-person, live music performance is still a bit shaky.
Check out our playlist of song selections for April 2021 below, and remember that if you purchase them on Bandcamp today, the artists will receive approximately 93% of the revenue.
There are a variety of genres and sounds for you to choose from! Read a bit about each song and find the direct Bandcamp links hyperlinked below:
Minneapolis-based, Irish-born fiddle player, composer, and producer Danny Diamond teamed up with guitar and bouzouki player Brian Miller for a collaborative album. Joyful, bright and buoyant, their playing compliments each other very well in “Love Will You Marry Me? / The Dogs Among the Bushes / The Fairy Reel.”
In “Rectifiya” (explicit), Chicago interdisciplinary artist keiyaA sings about putting herself and her own needs first: “I will never reel in my shine, wear a shade,” she sings. Throughout the song keiyaA asks herself “who rectified me?,” layered over music made from her microKORG synthesizer — a tool that gives her music a distinct sound.
Parisian Neo-soul and “Afropean Soul” sister duo Les Nubians created a compilation of songs from their 2011 studio album “NÜ REVOLUTION” for people to listen to in confinement: “Quarantine NÜ LOVE.” “VOGUE NAVIRE” — or “Sail On” in English — is a solemn but assured song about comforting a lover through the harshness of a long-distance relationship. Classic to their sound, the song has beautiful layered harmonies between the sisters.
Singer, songwriter and producer Nicolas Ratany’s debut single “Cycles I” (explicit) describes the battle between feeling defeated from ending up in the same place, and maintaining hope for something better to come: hope wins in this song as Nicolas sings “holding on, I’m never letting go.” Oceanic in sound along with lively electric guitar, the ‘cycles’ are heard clearly in the instrumental and vocals alike.
Somehow, serpentwithfeet manages to make music that sounds like it has glitter and silk in it. “Hyacinth” is emblematic of that. It’s a gracious song about wishes for a lover being granted: “I think my green thumb has led me to a real one,” he sings. This song is a beautiful choice to welcome the morning sunshine in.
“Dovetail Nicely” by Minneapolis-formed jazz trio The Bad Plus is a bright and springy piece highlighted with beautiful, melodic piano. The alternating rhythms in the song complement each other well, making clear why ‘dovetail’ is in the title.
Smooth, calming, and somewhat melancholy, soft-rock song “Julia” by Minneapolis-based Yellow Ostrich seems to explore what it means to be in a different place from a lover, similar to “VOGUE NAVIRE.” But the difference is that “Julia” describes what it means to be honest about not being on the same page as someone, even when you want to be: “I can’t see eye to eye, cause we’re in different times.”
If you do buy some of these songs, please let us know via email, Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook! Happy listening!