Five Picks for Bandcamp Friday

Here are five new tracks from locals and beyond.

Noveller Red Room remix (courtesy of Noveller)
By Suzette Smith


Old news to some, but today is Bandcamp Friday: a day (the first Friday of the month) when the music sharing platform waives its share of revenue from sales. That means more money goes to the bands, which seems like a pretty good deal. It’s also nice, in this busy world, to have a day when you set out to discover new music—and where artists have an incentive to release new works.

Here are five new tracks from locals and beyond:

Launderette

A recent daytime set at the Dundee Campout saw Launderette’s Fernando Irizarry covered in fake blood and rolling around in the grass in front of the farm fest’s small stage. So you know this group’s satisfying “retrofuturist punk” synth goth sounds go deeper than their outfits. For Bandcamp Friday, Launderette reissues their sold-out Dressing for Pleasure EP cassette.

Moon Glyph

At the end of August, psychedelic cassette and record label Moon Glyph put forth a shimmering compilation of songs from musicians it’s worked with—past, present and future. Sounds range from spaced out to glitchy. Of note are Mark Tester (who has a new album out on Moon Glyph at the end of September) and local favorite Pulse Emitter. But really just put the thing on and get tingly.

Amulets

The solo project of Portland audio-visual artist Randall Taylor, Amulets employs handmade tape loops and live processed guitar loops to create live, lush soundscapes and immersive drones. Today he’s re-releasing a third edition of his April release Blooming on cassette, “housed in a frosty shell.”

Noveller

Though the atmospheric and addictive Sarah Lipstate hails from Los Angeles, the Pacific Northwest quality of Noveller’s recent Twin Peaks covers—debuting today—cannot be ignored. Lipstate’s version of the theme is booming and all-encompassing. Do yourself a favor and also give her new album Aphantasia a listen—she just released it at the beginning of August.

Andy Shauf

The furthest reach on the list for a Portland connection doesn’t really have one. But many have remarked that Andy Shauf can obviously note Elliott Smith as an influence—something to which Shauf always readily agrees. Shauf is surveying new territory, though. After his incredible Raymond Carver-esque Neon Skyline failed to gain traction in a broken, shut-down 2020, every single release from the Saskatchewan-accented folk singer feels like the one that might finally get Shauf off the ground, out of obscurity, and into the middle-sauce homes and situations his songs describe.



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