Low

1. Damu the Fudgemunk “Conversation Peace”
2. Bill Baird “Dead Man”
3. Low “HEY WHAT”

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.

Damu the Fudgemunk, “Conversation Peace”

Washington, D.C., producer and multi-instrumentalist Damu the Fudgemunk already appeared in this column in June of 2020 for his role in “Ocean Bridges,” a collaborative album with jazz legend Archie Shepp and rapper Raw Poetic. Here, he continues his streak of projects that are both unconventional and highly listenable. “Conversation Peace” is built out of samples collected from the archives of the cult-fave record label KPM, which released “library music” — versatile instrumental music intended for use in radio, film and TV — in the 1960s and ’70s. Damu takes these bits and pieces and reconstitutes them seamlessly into a hip-hop album that is modern with an old-school feel, super soulful and, above all, cool, cool, cool.

Bill Baird, “Dead Man”

Here’s the beauty of Bandcamp: I was sitting at my computer, staring at the carousel of album covers flipping by on the platform’s homepage. The carousel shows you what albums have recently been purchased on the site — not just by your friends or people algorithmically aligned with your tastes, but by everyone all over the world. I clicked on cover art that looked interesting to me and it was “Dead Man” by Bill Baird, a singer and writer of psychedelic pop songs whose name I’ve never even heard before. Turns out Baird is pretty darn good at making the kind of fuzzy, catchy rock ’n’ roll I’d hook straight into my veins if I could. I’m glad to have found him!

Low, “HEY WHAT”

Low formed in 1993, right in the middle of the post-Nirvana alt-rock boom and just ahead of the 1994 punk revival. In response to the sounds around them, the Minnesota-based band focused on playing quietly and slowly, and wrapping male/female harmonies around songs that unfolded at a glacial pace. Since then, they’ve stayed busy exploring a range of different sounds and, oh, just become one of the very best rock bands in America. Their latest album, “HEY WHAT,” is their 13th, and it continues the band’s recent move toward big, blown out, buzz-rock hymns from the future built, as always, around the interwoven, crystalline vocals of Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker. What a band.