COVID-19Music

9 bandcamp releases to buy today in support of the artists

March 20, 2020

Proving itself to be a company that walks the walk when it comes to supporting indie artists, Bandcamp is waiving its fees for the thousands of artists with projects on the platform today (March 20th) until 12:00 A.M. PST. At a time when artists the world over have lost gigs and the sustainable income that comes from ticket and on-site merch sales because of the COVID-19 crisis, this gesture means that fans can put additional coins in our favorite artists’ pockets right now.

We here at AFROPUNK love to see the dollar circulate in the community, so we’re offering our suggestions of must-have music for you, the discerning Bandcamp buyer and patron of the independent art community. Check our picks below.

AKAI SOLO

Call this Brooklyn rapper’s output “stream of Black consciousness music.” With a delivery that’s part hungry-underground-emcee-in-a-cypher and part sage-speaking-from-the mountain-top, AKAI is a world creator. On Ride Alone, Fly Together, we enter his realm of off-kilter yet hypnotizing samples and the musing of an artist who sees the world through abstract and kaleidoscopic lenses.  — timmhotep aku  PURCHASE NOW

Pink Lotion

The product of singer-songwriter Rachael Ferguson and Shabazz Palaces and Knife Knights producer Eric Blood, Pink Lotion’s Lusters is an electro-R&B hybrid that feels like the ’80s and the year 3000 all at once. — timmhotep aku   PURCHASE NOW

JWords

This 23-minute EP is an exciting project from the New Jersey-bred electronic producer on the never-miss Never Normal Records label. On SIN SENAL, the Afro-Latina’s inventive approach to electronica yields tracks that will stimulate the body and the brain alike. — timmhotep aku   PURCHASE NOW

Mykki Blanco

Mykki Blanco is rightly a legend to this community. Her first single in several years finds the legend collaborating with a string section. Never one to bow to expectations, Mykki’s latest is glorious in ways we never knew Mykki could be. — Nathan Leigh   PURCHASE NOW

Beauty Pill

The long-running DC indie outfit never shies away from addressing difficult topics with honesty, curiosity and a touch of dark humor. Their latest effort was recorded as a soundtrack to a play about mental illness, and it’s a stunning blend of warped atmospheres, inventive electronica, and jagged indie rock. The band is reportedly at work preparing their next full studio effort, and with the world crashing around our heads, we could all use a bit more Chad Clark in our lives. — Nathan Leigh   PURCHASE NOW

Algiers

I called it back in January; still the best album of 2020. Your move, everyone else. You’ve got 2 months in quarantine to make your masterpiece. — Nathan Leigh   PURCHASE NOW

Irreversible Entanglements

One of the albums of the year thus far from a monster quintet. Is it spiritual punk? Is it punk jazz? Is it poetic truth-telling in the midst of the apocalypse? All of the above. — Piotr Orlov PURCHASE NOW

Maurice Fulton/Bubbletease Communications

Born in Baltimore, living in Sheffield, England, Maurice Fulton is one of the great house musicians (producer and DJ) of his generation, and his corona drop is a classic mix from 2009. — Piotr Orlov   PURCHASE NOW

Tanesha the Wordsmith

One of 2019’s great undersung albums by a singular talent from the Bay Area, full of spoken word jeremiads over an organic electronic history of Black American sounds. — Piotr Orlov   PURCHASE NOW

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