This is fine.
As the year nears its close, there’s a handful of releases that are worthy of your listening experience. We wanted to run through a couple of them so you had some stuff to enjoy as you browse Bandcamp on the first Friday of the month. You’ll find some mellows jams, some guitar pop, and some powerhouse vocals…all of which we encourage you to enjoy by clicking below! Don’t forget to support your artists and labels.
I missed out on the first new single from Emma Russack, one of my favorite songwriters from the Aussie scene; she’s got a new EP titled 5 Timothee Chalamet Instagram Captions coming out in a few weeks, and I’m definitely loving this new single. If you listen, it almost feels like a little country ballad penned here in Texas, with a kind of wayward swing to it, punctuated by Emma’s sparkling voice. As a middle school teacher, the double entendre of the song isn’t lost on me (nor my students who find it hilarious). As always, her songwriting craft and charms as an artist are on full display; the new EP is out on November 21st via Dinosaur City.
This summer, LA-based artist Death Hags unleashed Big Grey Sun #5 upon the world, a collection of synthetic pop tunes that burned and smoldered, giving off heat in the most pleasantly passive manner. Today, one of the standout tunes get the video treatment, and as folks are looking towards their year-end lists, it’s a chance to remind you of some overlooked gems you might not have hit. I love the subtlety of the beat work, as there’s a throbbing pulse buried way beneath the surface, letting the poppier notes kind of flutter in the foreground as Lola G.’s voice echoes through your listening room. A peaceful bit of synthpop never did you wrong; the whole of the LP is available HERE.
Over the last few years, Audio Antihero has been gathering up a solid stable of acts of great songwriting, such as Frog. Today, they release a new Ep from Leilani Patao, and I was really drawn to the track below, so felt like we could start you on the right foot today. It’s a slow burn, with the vocals and guitar work really low in their presentation; there is a little vocal lift that highlights Patao’s ability to weave in subtle melodies into her songwriting, and those little nuances are what will keep you coming back to Daisy. If you’re interested in the whole EP, you can stream the whole thing HERE.
I’ve already been hyping the new Marauder LP, Flaschentrager, and you can now hear another gem of post-punk revelry to create your own anticipation. The infectiousness greets you immediately, snapping you into the groove with a bounding rhythm section that propels you into a full on body-boogie. The vocals embrace that sort of cavernous dissonance, operating like an echo fading in and out bf ghostly hallways. Upbeat and dark, you’ll come back to live off the energy of the tune again and again. Flaschentrager is out on next Friday via Feel It Records, and you’ll want to grab a copy!
It seems like just yesterday that Natalie Jane Hill was wowing us with Azalea, her debut LP when she was in the Austin area. Here we are a few years later, and she’s got her third LP on deck, along with a new place to call home. It took me less than 20 seconds to fall in love with this single, as her heavy notes breathed life through my speakers. When her voice stretches for higher notes, there’s a lonesome bit of guitar hanging out in the distance, providing its own lonesome narrative to balance Natalie’s performance. As spirited as the first 2 minutes are, Hill switches it in the back 45 seconds, letting the thematic element of “never left me” dwell in the presence of the listener’s brain. Really excited ot hear more from Hopeful Woman, out via Dear Life Records on January 26.
When you open with a wall of noise, you get to pick your path; you can take the road to continued volume or peel back the layers and reveal that saccharine centerpiece. On the latest Bliss Abyss track, they go for the latter, though they keep the noise present, for when they need to kick it around in between verses. Those verses swing huge, packing an alt rock vibe that would have made the band a household name back in the 90s. For now, we can revel in their joyous melodies and feedback, grinning as the waves crash against us over and over again.
We haven’t heard from Kiwi Jr since their 2022 album Chopper, but yesterday they popped back into our brains with fresh tunes. I think Jeremy Gaudet is one of those songwriters that come few and far between, toying with mundane source material and turning it into glorious pieces of poetry, not unlike Jason Lytle. Musically, the group are bringing their steady power-pop side into play, using chugging rhythms and angular notes to create indie vibe that feels like a train running out of steam as it heads to the cliff. Lots of buzz about this yesterday, and seeing as it’s my jam, I couldn’t let it pass without some love.
Seeing as I don’t currently live in Australia, it’s hard to keep up with the continually fruitful music scene, particularly that of Melbourne. Luckily, there are folks like the good people of Bedroom Suck Records, always sharing their latest discoveries, like the band Kisses. The group are crafting a blend of indie folk and slowcore, not unlike much of the fog pop from the Bay Area, though you can clearly hear the folk inclinations in the Aussie group’s sound, particularly with that violin sliding up and down the track. I loved how even in the slowest moments, the song finds its own movement, with just little brushes of the drums and a billowing vocal that quietly stuns. Can’t wait to see what the group comes up with next?
Okay, so typically I don’t cover a lot of covers because covering covers can be cumbersome. But, this new cover from Love Burns covers lots of territory I adore, whether that’s the band itself (hi Phil), the band they’re covering, Zimt, or the label responsible for 2025’s great collection of cover songs, Kleine Untergrund Schallplatten; I love them all. One large difference you’ll notice instantly is that Phil has chosen to offer up the track in English, as opposed to the original German (you can hear the original HERE). Additionally, the sonic approach is quite different, with the new version stripping the tune of its rhythm section, inevitably making this more ballad than pop song; it also makes it sound an awful lot like a Robert Forster solo effort. If you love any of it, check out KUS or see if there are any copies of Stadtbibliothek left!
