Incredibly, it’s been three years since the streaming platform Bandcamp launched its “Bandcamp Friday” initiative.
If you’re unfamiliar with the event, it’s straightforward: To help musicians amid the uncertainties of the ongoing pandemic, Bandcamp selects a day where the company forgoes its revenue share.
This allows the platform to pass on to bands an average of 93 percent of money spent on music and merch. As of Feb. 3, per Bandcamp, the initiative has generated more than $91 million from nearly 1.5 million fans. The next “Bandcamp Friday” is March 3.
To help you prep, we’ve rounded up recent releases from five North Texas acts you might want to hear — and support. (You can also check out our prior “Bandcamp Friday” recommendations here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.)
The Moths TX, “Mr. Easy/Nanjing”
Denton quintet The Moths TX — guitarist-vocalist Keith Bach, guitarist Danny Conrad, percussionist Blake Lindstrom, cellist-guitarist Andrew Buck and bassist Badger Darkes — bills itself as “a nocturnal rock and roll band,” which doesn’t quite hint at the pleasurable, ambitious scope of these two tracks. “Mr. Easy” has a stop-start rhythm which evokes mid-‘60s psych-rock, as “Nanjing” unfurls as a fuzzed-out, otherworldly epic.
Saille Branch, Honky Tonk Nights
Dallas singer-songwriter Branch bills his sound as “true Texas outlaw country music,” and nothing in either song here makes him a fabulist. The title track has a decayed grandeur (thanks to staggering, crashing percussion) which that almost makes bleary-eyed last call feel majestic. “Crossing County Lines” is an upbeat shuffle that finds the fun in breaking laws with your buddies.
Memorrhage, Old Wave EP
From its opening moments, Memorrhage grabs you by the throat and refuses to let go. Dallas-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Garry Brents concocts a lacerating brand of nu-metal (which lyrically concerns itself with, among other topics, “cybernetics … and body horror”) that all but bruises your brain. The opener “Old Wave” toggles between pummeling maximalism and spare interludes, while “Purple Graft” has an appealing, sinister undertow.
Tarif, Soul Loops & Coffee Vol. 4
Fort Worth artist, producer and DJ Tarif returns with the fourth installment of a series he began in Nov. 2021. Soul Loops & Coffee — “a product of long drives at night [and] lots of good coffee,” as he writes on his Bandcamp page — is less an album than a carefully sustained mood. Glitchy, vibey and deeply arresting, these nine instrumental tracks are fleeting (the longest is just two minutes) but make an impression.
Deathscassette, Loser’s Mind
A cursory scouring of the internet couldn’t turn up much in the way of biographical information about this Arlington-based act, which, according to the Deathcassettes Bandcamp page, assembled the dozen tracks comprising Loser’s Mind from last summer to this winter “in an intimate setting — my computer and four-track.” Despite the minimalism at work, Loser’s Mind will burrow deep into yours.
Preston Jones is a North Texas freelance writer and regular contributor to KXT. Email him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter (@prestonjones). Our work is made possible by our generous, music-loving members. If you like how we lift up local music, consider becoming a KXT sustaining member right here.
