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1. Oso Oso “Basking in the Glow”
2. Steve Palmer “Useful Histories”
3. Gong Gong Gong “Phantom Rhythm”

Bandcamp is an online music platform used largely by independent artists and record labels to stream songs and sell merchandise. It’s also a vibrant virtual community teeming with interesting sounds just waiting to be discovered. Each week, I’ll highlight three releases available on the site that are well worth your time and attention. If you find something you dig, please consider supporting the artist with a purchase.

“Basking in the Glow”

https://osoosoband.bandcamp.com/album/basking-in-the-glow

Oso Oso’s Jade Lilitri is far from a household name, but the modest New Yorker is one of the very best writers of catchy pop-rock songs on the planet. For proof, take a spin through his near-perfect 2019 album “Basking in the Glow,” which boasts 10 tracks that soar like wondrous, well-oiled melody machines. As a lyricist, Lilitri skillfully bounces around between frustration, hope and ennui, and as a guitarist, he’s quick with riffs that are razor sharp but radiant. His greatest strength, though, is his seemingly endless supply of memorable melodies. On that front, Lilitri’s hit-to-miss ratio so far is out of this world.

“Useful Histories”

https://stevepalmer-sob.bandcamp.com/album/useful-histories

On his second album “Useful Histories,” adventurous Minneapolis-based guitarist Steve Palmer brings together two genres that are both rooted in the 1960s and ’70s and both unafraid of droning on (in a good way). One is the experimental, acoustic fingerpicking style known as American Primitive guitar. The other is hypnotic, pulsating German krautrock. In between is Palmer, who conjures up quite a psychedelic collision of the two, particularly on opening track “Statesboro Day.” At just over 11 minutes long, the song isn’t slow, but it seems to bloom in slow motion as Palmer weaves a tapestry of motorik rhythm, burbling bass, gentle noise and electric guitars that spiral into the heavens. It’s one of the best tracks of 2020, on one of the best albums of 2020.

“Phantom Rhythm”

https://gonggonggong.bandcamp.com/album/phantom-rhythm

The most interesting thing about Gong Gong Gong’s “Phantom Rhythm” is probably that at its core, it’s a gritty, glowering blues record made by a band from Beijing, China. You don’t hear too many of those, do you? Me neither. Or maybe the most interesting thing about this album is that it feels so deeply, viscerally rhythmic, even though there is no drummer in the band. Gong Gong Gong is a duo that plays guitar and bass, but they do it so forcefully, it gives their music a “locomotive chug,” to steal a perfect descriptor from their Bandcamp page. Anyway, what’s most interesting about “Phantom Rhythm” doesn’t really matter. What matters is it totally rules.