Tag: bandcamp

  • Top music from September 2022

    Top music from September 2022

    Welcome to the monthly music round-up for September — the month in which the weather in Oslo turns to a crisp fresh coldness and the scalves and hats start to appear.

    But what’s been blaring from my speakers and down into my earholes? Let’s take a closer look at the Last.fm monthly report.


    Games We Play

    I can’t quite remember how I first heard of Games We Play, but the pop-punk band signed to Fueled By Ramen (Warner Music Group) in 2022 and released an EP.

    It’s upbeat and catchy and angsty and everything I loved about blink-182 when I first heard them. This artist hit No.1 in my Artist charts.

    Their online presence is full of holes and abandoned profiles – almost as if they are currently being spun through the industry washer and dryer to give them a clean image.

    Listen to Get A Job (EP)

    Apple Music · YouTube · Songlink


    The Lemons

    Want to discover a fun, charming, garage-pop band hailing from Chicago with songs less than two minutes long and available to buy on Bandcamp, you say?

    Hello, It’s The Lemons!

    This band is fun. This album is fun. It was my most-listened to album for the month. Definitely spend 27 seconds listening to Ice Cream Shop.

    Listen to Hello, We’re The Lemons!

    Apple Music · Spotify · Bandcamp · Songlink


    Florist

    I love the lo-fi indie pop sounds of Florist, aka Emily Sprague, and previously saw her play a solo show in 2019 when I was visiting Seattle.

    This September, the track Blue Mountain Road from the 2017 album If Blue Could Be Happiness was crowned my most-listened to track.

    Listen to If Blue Could Be Happiness

    Apple Music · Spotify · Bandcamp · Songlink


    Whilst the above mentioned tracks were the big three; Top Artist, Top Album, Top Track — notable mention must go to the following:

    Brand New – The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me

    When autumn rolls around, so does this album. It placed 3rd in my album charts. I recommend popping on some headphones and cranking this one up. (Listen)

    Arlo Parks

    A super British musician and poet from South London and my 3rd place artist for the month. The album Collapsed in Sunbeams has been one of my favourite as of recent years. (Listen)

    And that’s the lot! See you again next month and if you have any music recommendations, pop them in the comments below 👇

  • Top music from August 2022

    Top music from August 2022

    I’ve been a Last.fm user since about 2004 and each month they generate a listening report for you to see an overview of what you’ve been listening to.

    As an excuse to have more content for my blog, I’m going to share a few highlights each month from the listening report – so I get a bit more reflection of what I’ve been listening to, and you get some listening recommendations.


    Panic! At The Disco

    Emo-pop outfit Panic! At The Disco topped the artist charts. With the release of their new album Viva Las Vengeance – which was also my most-listened to album of the month too.

    Definitely not a favourite Panic! album for me. A grower? Well, time will tell. But when an artist I like puts out a new release, I like to keep an open mind and give it a listen.

    Listen to Viva Las Vengeance

    Apple Music · Spotify · More options on Songlink

    Album artwork for Panic! At The Disco - Viva Las Vengeance

    The Mountain Goats

    Indie-folk The Mountain Goats released a new album titled Bleed Out and I gave it a listen-or-two, placing it second in the album chart for August.

    The Mountain Goats style doesn’t really change too much from one album to the next, but John Darnielle writes some lovely songs and has a trademark voice, meaning almost any album by The Mountain Goats scratches an itch.

    Listen to Bleed Out

    Apple Music · Bandcamp · Spotify · More options

    The album artwork for Bleed Out by The Mountain Goats. It pictures a murder scene, illustrated, with several bleeding bodies covered with sheets.

    Dry Cleaning

    My most-listened to track for the month was Scratchcard Lanyard and comes from London-based post-punk band Dry Cleaning.

    It’s one of the bands that I discovered through a playlist I compiled inspired by Manchester’s leading independent record store; Top Albums of 2021.

    A good song on a good album. Songs from this album keep creeping into my top tracks and curated playlists, so they’re clearly one of the bands I keep coming back to.

    Listen to New Long Leg

    Apple Music · Bandcamp · Spotify · More options

    The album artwork for New Long Leg by Dry Cleaning.

    And that’s the big-three from the month.

    As an aside and important footnote to this post, my ex-colleague Bruce Lawson released an album which topped my New Artists chart. This is available on Bandcamp for just £2 and other streaming services to stream for free.

    For more music-related posts, curated playlists and recommendations, check out the Music category on my blog.

  • A Gut Feeling 🎶

    A Gut Feeling 🎶

    One of my favourite bands, Cassels, have pushed their upcoming release to their Bandcamp page, available as a digital download, on CD and vinyl.

    With a release date of 1st January 2022, it’s a pre-order listing – but you should jump over to Bandcamp and give the available tracks a listen and support the band by hitting that BUY button.

    That’s all.

  • SPIJØNGET (Chapter One)

    SPIJØNGET (Chapter One)

    I recently discovered this EP by Lwandile Nkanyuza (aka ByLwansta) on the album-artwork-based music-streaming service Sleevenote.

    SPIJØNGET (Chapter One) by ByLwansta

    ByLwansta is a rapper, record producer, art director and graphic designer from South Africa. SPIJØNGET is a three-part series of hip-hop/rap recordings and this is the first of those three releases.

    If you’ve got a spare 18 minutes of listening time, then you can stream/buy the EP on Bandcamp, Apple Music, Spotify, TIDAL or search the web for other options.

    Let me know in the comments or shoot me a message:
    What have you been listening to recently?

  • Whole Damn Body

    Whole Damn Body

    Today (one of) my favourite bands Los Campesinos! released music exclusively on Bandcamp.

    Whole Damn Body is a collection of remastered 7″ records and standalone tracks created at the time of the album Hello Sadness.

    The cover art to the EP Whole Damn Body by Los Campesinos!

    This is the first time these 7 tracks, some of them cult fan favourites, have been available for a decade – and the first time to be available to officially stream and buy digitally.

    Shoppers can also buy a ‘Old Zippo Lighter’ enamel badge, limited to a run of 300, which comes with instant download link for the EP.

    Go get it! Support the band.

    Fans unable to afford the release can email the band directly to get a free download code: band(at)loscampesinos(dot)com