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1. Bitchin Bajas “Switched On Ra”
2. Benjamin Booker “Witness”
3. The Body and BIG|BRAVE “Leaving None But Small Birds”

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.

Bitchin Bajas, “Switched On Ra”

Chicago’s Bitchin Bajas are a far-out trio that explores warped synthesizer tones, new age drones and strange electronic zones. They also happen to be one of the most interesting and consistent bands in the world. So it was excellent news a few weeks ago when the Bajas revealed they had recorded (and would release) a collection of Sun Ra covers, paying tribute to the late legend of intergalactic jazz by reinterpreting his songs in a style reminiscent of Wendy Carlos’ classic 1968 album “Switched-On Bach.” That collection is out now, and listening to it is like finding a previously undiscovered corner of the cosmos.

Benjamin Booker

“Witness”

The perfect raspy singing voice is a special thing. Janis Joplin had one. Tom Waits has one. Kurt Cobain had one. Benjamin Booker has one, too, and if this were a just world, he’d be as big a star as those other three folks. The New Orleans-based singer-songwriter’s scorching brand of blues is caked in Mississippi Delta mud and punk-rock grit, and both his albums are worth your time. But his second effort, 2017’s “Witness,” comes with a particularly personal and political edge as Booker explores his own experiences with racism in America. Even beyond his rasp, Booker’s is a voice worth hearing.

The Body and BIG|BRAVE

“Leaving None But Small Birds”

The Body is one of the gnarliest, most harrowing noise-metal bands on the planet. BIG|BRAVE is a hulking slab of slow-moving experimental rock. When it was announced that they’d made a collaborative album together, you’d be excused for expecting something loud and abrasive. Instead, the two bands came together at the Machines With Magnets recording studio in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and produced a collection of droning folk songs built from bits and pieces of Appalachian, Canadian and English hymns and traditional tunes, reconfigured to highlight the marginalized and the desperate. The results are stunning, and not heavy … but still heavy.