Online music platform Bandcamp has announced another fee-free Friday. On July 3, it'll waive its fees so 100% of sales proceeds go to the artists. opbmusic DJ Sarah Donofrio offers these ideas for summer music purchases to support artists.
No matter your age in 2020, this summer has been likened to the summers of our teen years, in that we’re confined to the backyard, we can’t go to licensed venues, and, while the idea of a portable record player conjures up visions of beach parties (like the actual movie Beach Party), vinyl melts in the sun! For this Bandcamp Friday, I searched for CDs and aesthetically pleasing cassettes that travel easy and are therefore road trip essentials.
Signe Pierce / Courtesy of the artist
Caroline Rose
"Superstar," the second album from Caroline Rose, was released the first week of March, and, well, I'm going to pretend it just came out last week, because it's definitely been my feel good album of the summer.
Caroline Rose is also in "Heavy Rotation: Public Radio's Favorite Songs of 2020 (So Far)."
Hanni El Khatib's album "Flight"
Courtesy of the artist
Hanni El Khatib
New releases from Hanni El Khatib and Portland band Pure bathing Culture are available now (PBC is brand new and recorded at Richard Swift's studio in Cottage Grove) and will ship within seven days. Don't forget that while CDs are better for the car, vinyl such as El Khatib's test pressings are collectible and will probably be hard to find after Bandcamp Fridays!
Courtesy of the artist
Bully
If you missed getting new CD or cassette releases the week they came out, Bully and Fontaines DC are giving you a head start by making all audio formats available for pre-order ahead of their late summer drops. Purchase them alongside the digital downloads to tide you over. Much like test pressings and pre-orders, limited editions will not last long this coming Friday. Cassettes are often the first to be scooped up, as far as bandcamp formats anyway, so you'll want to make sure to grab the limited edition one from Black Pumas (other formats are already sold out).
Moses Sumney's album grae
Courtesy of the artist
Moses Sumney
The main travel destination this summer is somewhere driveable, so load up the original satellite radio, a multi-disc changer, and shuffle the best of 2020 on your next road trip. Moses Sumney's latest release, "grae," as well as his debut album are both still available in CD format, and with a combined track listing of 31 songs, he should take you all the way to the coast.
Courtesy of Sub Pop Records
Kyle Craft
And, of course, while you're buying up the latest summer albums, remember to give recent classics a search. Revisit the summer of 2016 with Rough Trade darling and Portland resident Kyle Craft's bubblegum-pink debut cassette, "Dolls of Highland." And while we're reminiscing, like many Bandcamp artists, Chicano Batman's recent discography has been sold out in all forms, so pop "Freedom is Free" back in the discman.