Tens of thousands of releases are dropped on Bandcamp each year. The year 2021 has been a special one for indie/DIY music: not only because of the flood of amazing DIY releases – most recorded during, and as a result of, the pandemic.
Additionally, the exodus of DIY artists and bands from platforms like Spotify to Bandcamp has been a real industry shakeup, and we support that.
The Bandcamp allure didn’t end there: the platform also offers interaction with fans, lower costs and better profits for artists; vinyl, cassette and bundles, and the increasing popularity of Bandcamp Daily, the platform’s daily blog showcasing selected releases from DIY/small label indie artists and bands from an array of genres and sub-genres.
The following are some of our favorite DIY releases from Bandcamp that were submitted to our inbox via our music submission page.
Billboards – Cincinnati, Ohio
Everstill – New York, New York
The Strange Heroes – Minneapolis, Minnesota
Corrected Proofs – Chicago, Illinois
Quitt – Mainz, Germany
Billboards is an indie rock duo out of Cincinnati comprised of multi-instrumentalists Ryan Rockwell and >Eric Tuffendsam, both of who play guitar, bass, and keys. The duo’s latest single, “Run,” is, “a song about losing weight, and how it affects your brain, amongst other things. This song, like the other three on the EP is about finding something good in something bad.”
The duo’s influences include Kid Cudi, Chance the Rapper, Blink 182, and Coin.
The long-time friends have been recording together in one form or another for some two decades.
http://instagram.com/billboardsband
New York City indie multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Sara Aridi and drummer Luca Bertaglia– who record under the moniker Everstill – recently dropped the booming new single release, “Proxemics.”
The song, according to Aridi, “describes a pattern of obsessing over love interests that she repeatedly comes to realize are just distractions from existential fears and doubts she has to face. She weaves her melodic guitars and soothing vocals with Luca Bertaglia’s pulsating drums, building up to a powerful outro in which she finally confronts herself.”
The pair draw from a range of influences in compositions that are at once melancholic and euphoric. Aridi and Bertaglia, who hail from Lebanon and Italy, respectively, met in 2016 while playing in an alt-prog band and reconnected in 2020 to bring Aridi’s songs to life. Their debut album, "Longing," comes on the heels of their first two singles, "In Your Dreams" and "Waiting," which immediately landed coverage on platforms in the US and UK.
The single is from the duo’s debut Longing. Their musical influences are Warpaint, Wolf Alice, Interpol, Kurt Vile, Foo Fighters, and Nine Inch Nails.
High energy garage rock bellows on the new single, “White Wolf Black Sheep,” by The Strange Heroes. The Minneapolis indie trio, founded in 2012, will drop a self-titled album next month.
This dynamic and energetic trio features Brandon Lee (guitar/vocals); Taylor Ellis (drums) and Kaitlin Boedigheimer (bass).
Major musical influences include The White Stripes, The Beatles, The Stooges, among others.
Corrected Proofs – “Radio”
Chicago-based musicians Christopher Dean Hayes (guitars, bass, vocals) and Anthony Krecioch (drums), aka, Corrected Proofs have released a single, “Radio”, that tugs on the heartstrings.
The duo launched their musical project during the lockdown and have delivered the results. They are influenced by bands like The Weakerthans, Worriers, Against Me!, Sharks, Cheap Girls, Signals Midwest.
Mainz, Germany quartet Quitt have released the album “Ethik fallt,” and here’s a notable composition off of it.
“On “Alleine grinsen,” the musicians magnetically shuffle such genres as post-rock and post-punk. Their music moves from retreat psychedelia in the realm of Spacemen 3 to guitar vibrations and a fine dynamic a la Sonic Youth, while sometimes sounding like an alluring, strange light inside mountains.”
The wistful, warm melodies and the German lyrics are introspective and metaphorical.