Bandcampin’: Good stuff for the ears

Published 3:30 pm Tuesday, August 17, 2021

Amy Rigby.jpeg

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.

Say Sue Me, “Where We Were Together”

Indie pop has had its share of hot spots over the decades — London; Glasgow; Olympia, Washington; Dunedin, Florida; Athens (the one in Georgia). No one has ever mentioned Busan, South Korea. Or if they did, I missed it. Maybe there are a bunch of killer indie pop bands there, or maybe there’s just one: Say Sue Me, a fresh-faced quartet whose 2018 album “Where We Were Together” is a charming blend of jangling guitars, sugary melodies and modern melancholy, with a hint of surf-rock and ’60s vibe in the mix. Endlessly listenable and effortlessly lovely.

Drug Church, “Cheer”

Speaking of 2018 (as we were in the Say Sue Me blurb above), Drug Church is a punk band that totally rules, and they proved it that year with the release of their third album, “Cheer.” (They proved it again in June with their excellent new “Tawny” EP.) This New York band plays the kind of songs you feel in your chest: tightly wound, muscular and unmistakably melodic. They’re like the midpoint between the epic hardcore of F—– Up and the brawny indie-rock of Archers of Loaf, and if that sounds appealing to you, we should probably hang out.

Amy Rigby, “The Old Guys”

Speaking of 2018 (as we were in the Say Sue Me blurb and Drug Church blurbs above), Amy Rigby is one of America’s most overlooked and underappreciated songwriters, and that year she released one of her best albums, called “The Old Guys.” Rigby got her start in New York City, where she recorded with Last Roundup and The Shams before going solo. Ever since then, she’s been cranking out collections of well-crafted pop-rock that deserve a little more ink and attention. “The Old Guys” is no exception.

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