Five picks for the last Bandcamp Friday

December 3 is Bandcamp Friday, the day of the month on which Bandcamp gives all profits from that day’s sales (after processing fees) to the artists and creators who made them. Begun in March 2020, the first Friday of the dedicated month was a gesture adopted to support artists in difficulty, shaken by the inability to tour and countless other difficulties related to the pandemic. Already known for its competitive revenue sharing within the music streaming industry, Bandcamp’s sales proved to be very popular and resulted in many new and deep cuts from artists who suddenly had more incentives to publish works according to one. monthly calendar.

In August, Bandcamp announced that it would continue Bandcamp on Friday until the end of 2021, so this Maybe the last Friday special on books. However, the company has certainly extended the limit before, both in December 2020 and May 2021. WW contacted Bandcamp to confirm it’s the last one and we haven’t had a response yet, but in August the company wrote:

“On Bandcamp Fridays, on average 93% of your money goes to the artist / label (after payment processing fees). When you make a purchase on another day of the month, an average of 82% reaches the artist / label. Every day is a good day to directly support artists on Bandcamp!

Whether it’s the last Friday or not, here’s our list of choices to consider, starting locally and branching out. Not all are new, but they come highly recommended and most donate a portion of the proceeds to good causes, starting their own revenue-sharing device.

Artists Constellate PDX – Enter

This release of ambient club tracks deconstructed by local Portland producers is meant to simulate the arc of a night, from dancefloor ecstasy to the long, calm descent. None of the names are very well known, but so much the better for diving into Portland’s eclectic electronic music community. Profits are split between the performers and Holocene, the longtime Portland club that served as a hub for the local electronic scene for nearly twenty years.

Mo Troper – Revolver

As Beatles fever sweeps the nation thanks to Peter Jackson’s new documentary To recover, it’s high time to revisit the local power-pop author (and sometimes WW contributor) Cover of Mo Troper’s full album from 1966’s Revolver. It’s a little more grungy than the original, with Troper’s wonderfully cuddly voice taking the place of the Four Beatles, and there’s “Rain” and “Paperback Writer”, which is more than you could possibly get. say about the original. All proceeds will go to the PDX Defense Fund and Austin Mutual Aid.

Bitchin Bajas – Lit Ra

This album of interpretations of Sun Ra’s songs by the synth-drone-minimal-psychedelic trio of Chicago Bitchin Bajas is available only on digital and on tape. A portion of the proceeds goes to the Prison + Neighborhoods Arts Education Project, a Chicago-based organization that connects art teachers with prisoners at Stateville, Illinois, maximum security prison. The tape itself is gorgeous, drenched in heady hues of purples and yellows, but even more impressive are the 51 minutes of slow, black-lit synthesized jazz that occupies it.

The Bonnie “Prince” Billy catalog

The prolific Louisville artist releases his music for Drag City, a label notoriously and understandably wary of distributing his music to streaming services. BPB is one of those super cohesive artists whose work is good enough but doesn’t really have a masterpiece to dominate them all. Some would disagree and cite the years 1999 I see a darkness, but at least as good are the sorry 1995s So get up, 2008’s country Lie down in the light and 2011 Wolfroy goes to town (which stars a young Angel Olsen).

Africa Area – hybtwibt?

The duo Space Afrika from Manchester, UK deconstruct the dystopian aesthetic, leaning over the hazy sounds of the Blade runner soundtrack while examining what it means to fetishize poverty and surveillance. Last years hybtwibt?, based on a live performance on NTS Radio, throws us all the synth pads and soaring pianos you could ask for this kind of music while centering sampled black vocals speaking candidly about their experiences. hybtwibt? benefits a number of pro-black causes, including the NAACP and the global Black Lives Matter network.