Bandcamp Friday September 2022

Bandcamp Fridays are back, and so are my purchase recommendations for them.

Selected Works is a weekly (usually) newsletter by the Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa (Wellington, New Zealand) based freelance music journalist, broadcaster, copywriter and sometimes DJ Martyn Pepperell, aka yours truly. Most weeks, Selected Works consists of a recap of what I’ve been doing lately and some of what I’ve been listening to and reading, paired with film photographs I’ve taken + some bonuses. All of that said, sometimes it takes completely different forms.

For those unfamiliar, Bandcamp Friday is a sometimes monthly event where Bandcamp waive its revenue share from sales to help support artists and labels affected by the pandemic. The next Bandcamp Friday is today, September 2nd 2022 from midnight to midnight Pacific time. When I remember, I like to put together a recommendation list. Against all odds and a bit late in the piece, today is one of those days.

Sometimes you’ve just got to wait and see.

Jeff Mills on Live Performance: Kiana Mickles speaks to the Detroit techno legend about the intricacies of live improvisation, the artistic value in making mistakes and continuing Tony Allen's legacy with his ensemble, Tomorrow Comes The Harvest, for Resident Advisor.

Late ‘70s drum machine lounge-folk from provincial Washington. Come for the flute-folk cover of ‘Dreams’ by Fleetwood Mac, stay for the country/western machine crooner music of “Waiting For The Dawn”. We’ve Been There was digitally reissued in 2021 by Numero Group, but what’s an extra year and a half after over four decades?

Rina Sawayama, Pop Therapist: The British-Japanese singer talks about laughing through trauma, how self-love can be a trap, and her festival-ready second record, Hold the Girl. Vrinda Jagota for Pitchfork.

I wrote about this one a couple of weeks ago, but it’s too good not to spotlight again. patten’s latest is a three-tracker of furiously fun dance music for clubs with proper sound systems. Shades of UK Garage, 2-Step, instrumental grime, post-dubstep, and a whole lot of WHOOOMP.

Recognise - Heavee: Chicago footwork artist Heavee steps up for the Recognise mix series, and speaks to Arielle Lana LeJarde for DJ Mag about following in the footsteps of their mentor DJ Rashad by releasing an EP on Hyperdub, and how cartoons and video games helped lead him to a life in electronic music.

A sweet little modern RnB/rap cut from Auckland, New Zealand-based singer-songwriter Holly Afoa aka Aunty Rae. Expect spoken word verses, deeply soulful hooks, dreamy production from nahsafe, and a guest rap from LB.

A very fun little two-tracker from new ESP Institute signee Jasper James. For some reason, I’m not allowed to embed the Bandcamp link, but you can check it out over here. Think long-form mid-tempo, sitting somewhere in a percussion-heavy intersection between house and techno, with a little bit of a UK garage shuffle.

This is nice. London-based Frenchman Matthieu Beck delivers an exquisite collection of drum machine sophisti-pop for Hamburg, Germany’s consistently remarkable Growing Bin Records. From the opening notes of ‘Island’, Here Alone is like walking in sunshine. Thing is, you’re not actually walking, you’re watching a grainy Super8 home video of yourself walking in sunshine. You’re there, but you’re not. It’s kinda like that.

Self-portrait: Dominic Hoey, the author of one of the most exciting New Zealand novels of the year, writes about his life for Newsroom.

Looks like this one is a collection of lost x-rated film soundtrack music from late ‘80s Belgium. One part new beat, one part proto-house, and a dash of Italo house. The end result is three muscular club tracks for those who still search for the Balearic beat, plus a couple of remixes by T-Woc and Alexander Arpeggio. Yet more killer work from Madrid’s Glossy Mistakes label.

‘Music makes you fall in love with people’ - Marlon Williams on his ‘Māori disco bop’: The singer talks about moving home, his upbeat new sound, the euphoria of performing and putting out a ‘sunny New Zealand record’. Jenny Valentish for The Guardian.

Not Leonce dropping another killer two-tracker for all the club DJs out there. For some reason, I can’t embed this one into my newsletter either, but you can listen here. Across ‘Banana Runtz’ and ‘Entropic’, steady grooves meet syncopated percussion, hypnotic melodies and a nice bass rumble.

Dub Controller: Multi-instrumentalist/producer/engineer Dennis “Dubmaster” Bovell and his homegrown dub technique helped spawn the romantic Black British reggae subgenre “lovers rock,” made some of the greatest dubs cut outside of Jamaica, and bridged the gaps between punk and reggae with his rock productions. David Katz for Wax Poetics.

Does Cosmic afro minimal electronic winds recorded in 1970s San Francisco sound like your kinda thing? The EM Records reissue of Isophonic Boogie Woogie by Roland P. Young offers all of the above and more. The in sound from waaaaaayyyy out.

A Promise to our Future: A response to Dawn Raids, Oscar Kightley’s first play, restaged in 2022. Faith Wilson for The Pantograph Punch.

Just plugging this one more time, two tracks of exquisite modern rhythmic soul/boogie from the Auckland, New Zealand-based label Mānuka Recordings. The singer is Summer Vee, who I’m sure you’ll all be hearing a lot more from very soon. Just listen to how well she inhabits these songs. Production on both tracks was handled by Kenny Sterling, with drums from Julien Dyne (BBE) and saxophone from JY Lee. It’s a throwback, but it’s also fresh.

FIN.