1. Peter Gabriel, “Peter Gabriel 1 (Car)”
2. Shabazz Palaces, “Black Up”
3. Obliterations, “Poison Everything”

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.

Peter Gabriel “Peter Gabriel 1 (Car)”

When Peter Gabriel left Genesis in 1975, he wrote an open letter to fans to explain that the band “we had built as a co-op to serve our song writing became our master and had cooped us up inside the success we had wanted.” Free of those constraints, Gabriel’s first solo album unquestionably marks a fresh start for the adventurous English singer-songwriter. Working with famed producer Bob Ezrin and members of the prog-rock band King Crimson, Gabriel put together a motley collection of tracks that bridge the gaps between pop, rock, soul and his own irrepressible interest in the theatrical. “Peter Gabriel 1 (Car)” is an album powered by Gabriel’s newfound freedom to take any risk and follow any whim, and while it’s not perfect, it is an interesting listen that opened the door to one of the most successful solo careers of the late 20th century.

Shabazz Palaces

“Black Up”

Digable Planets were a breath of fresh air in the early ’90s, scoring an MTV staple, a top 15 hit and a Grammy award with their singsong jazz-rap single “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat).”

Two years later, they split up, citing creative differences. And then, more than a decade later, one-third of Digable Planets — Ishmael Butler — reemerged across the country, under a different name, exploring a different sound. These days, Shabazz Palaces is an ambitious and successful indie-rap act with five albums to its name, but back in 2011, it was a new and unknown entity that gave Butler the space he needed to make wobbly, cosmic hip-hop built from unconventional parts: restless rhythms, zip-zap synths, subterranean bass, progressive lyrics and visionary vibes. The result is a dense, dark debut album that was so far ahead of its time, we’re still trying to catch up 10 years later.

Obliterations

“Poison Everything”

Just about every day, somewhere, a group of folks who have long passed the prime age for playing in a rock ’n’ roll band get together and jam, often just for fun and/or to escape from the drudgery of adult life. That’s basically how Obliterations started, except these middle-aged guys got together to jam just for fun and to take a break from their other bands. And it turns out that when guys from other killer bands get together to jam, it can lead to something very good. Obliterations is made up of members of Black Mountain, Night Horse, Saviours and Pink Mountaintops, and together they’ve released only one album so far (in 2014), but it is one seriously savage slab of charred thrash metal and hardcore punk that manages to tuck a few hooks in amongst the ferocity.