Time marches endlessly on, bringing April to a close and us to another Bandcamp Friday. Founded in March 2020, Bandcamp Fridays are a 24-hour-period wherein Bandcamp waives their revenue share and instead passes those funds directly to artists and labels.
For your consideration, we’ve rounded up some recent West Coast offerings. Ranging from Vancouver, B.C., down to Los Angeles, this something-for-everyone selection of West Coast artistry should be an excellent starting point to kick off your Bandcamp Friday digging session.
Tom Marsi (Bay Area)
ONETWOTHREE EP [Clasico Records]
File Under: Club, Breakbeat
Bay Area’s inimitable Tom Marsi joins Clasico Records with ONETWOTHREE, a three-track EP laden with cheeky breakbeats, elastic basses, and an overarching sense of adrenaline and determination.
Self-described as “an afferent offering of exhilaration, meant to rush, move, and make,” Marsi’s ONETWOTHREE delivers as promised, her go-time productions laced with an undercurrent of something deeper; the uncontainable, uncontrollable thrum of connection and energisation through dance in the face of uncertainty.
AWood (Vancouver, B.C.)
AWood 001 [Self-Released]
File Under: Tech House
AWood, who hails from Vancouver, self-released AWood 001 with a debut vinyl pressing as a birthday gift to themself. While the records have quickly all been spoken for, you can still nab the digitals for your collection.
The vinyl’s final track remains forthcoming in a separate digital release, and in the meantime, AWood 001 provides a sweet little trio of groovy tech house heaters. Deep, punchy basslines and warm dub chords roll along against buoyant, high-tempo percussion. It’s cheerful but not overwhelming, energetic but not exhausting. Big Goldilocks energy here - AWood 001 is juust right.
Dorraa (Victoria, B.C.)
Lado / Polyanka [Turbo Club AV]
File Under: Folk-Techno, Leftfield Bass
Toronto-based musician Dorraa has released a three-tracker on Victoria, B.C.’s Turbo Club AV imprint, in which she explores her Eastern European roots, sampling heavily from Russian wedding songs and Bulgarian folk music, weaving throughout themes “centered around the cyclicity of life”.
On Lado / Polyanka, Dorraa combines traditional vocal samples and instruments with hints of acid, a contemporary deployment of sub bass, and club-ready polyrhythms. Very exciting!
ri (Seattle)
ATTENTION [Self-Released]
File Under: Club, Breaks, Drumline
ATTENTION is exactly what this two-sider from Seattle’s ri deserves. “Designed to shake the room, first and foremost” - okay, true, I think these tracks will do exactly that. SWEAT TOOL and YOP DAT are broken-beated, deconstructed, heavy-hitting club tracks full of ratcheting, rattling drums, staccato whistles, and coy, beguiling vocal chops. Sinister bass lurches between gasps of empty space as ri showcases their ability to shell out weird, freaky, bone-shaking club tracks. I just know this one’s been going off at Timbre Room.
Marteka Fair (Portland)
Nekyia [Vertebrate]
File under: Techno
Marteka Fair joins Portland’s Vertebrate Recordings with her latest offering, Nekyia: a five-track collection of deeply physical, hypnotic, psychedelic techno. The opening track, “shadow work”, gets right into it - grabbing its listener and pulling them immediately into a dark earthiness. This is the techno one forgets themselves to; steady, insistent grooves met by eerie textures and chirping, bat-like patterns that swirl overhead.
Vertebrate is a charity label, self-described as “a voice for the voiceless”, pledging to donate all income to wildlife conservation. How fitting that Nekyia feels so much like digging hands through thick soil on a cavernous midnight excursion, surrounded by the curious eyes of unseen creatures in the dark.
discnogirl (Bay Area)
it’ll pass [Program Audio]
File Under: Club, Breaks, Bass
I was trying to keep this article to one artist per city, but I can’t in good conscience pass up the opportunity to shout discnogirl and his latest release, it’ll pass, published on San Francisco’s program audio (which also released a killer compilation at the end of March - check that out, as well).
Five tracks of dark, sexy club tools; moving through their runtime with a particular fierceness - culminating in a wobbly, sunshiney remix from the aforementioned Tom Marsi. What is going on in the Bay? I wanna go!
it’ll pass is an excellent EP, my personal favorite track being drumcrush with its no-nonsense, 4x4 kick pattern that holds everything together against shaky bass, sharp, cutting hats, and a whispered - or hissed? - vocal sample.
loveli (Bellingham)
isn’t it loveli? [self-released]
File under: downtempo bass, dubstep
Bellingham’s loveli enters the chat with a downtempo 140 roller. Like cloudwatching on a spring afternoon, isn’t it loveli? unfolds itself slowly into an array of deep, morphing vocals that obfuscate themselves across a rich expanse of sub-bass; languorous and precise. Dubby percussions roll by as bright chords echo out, slicing through a moody atmosphere.
Nikes (Los Angeles)
Low Tide [Self-Released]
File Under: footwork, 160
Low Tide gives me the feeling of a sticky summer evening spent on a stoop somewhere lost in time, lazily forming a plan of action for the night ahead. It’s laid-back, but never boring. Warm, jazzy, and atmospheric, the tracks on Low Tide are perfect for that cool-out moment when you’d like to incite some fuzzy emotion. Simply put, it’s just lovely, and well worth the support.
If you end up missing this edition of Bandcamp Friday, you’ll have another chance on August 7th, and I’m sure we’ll be back with another round of recommendations for you.
Until then, happy digging!
List curated by Kate Camacho.