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1. Lavendar Country, “Lavendar Country”
2. Norm Chambers, “Seaside Resonance”
3. Low, “C’mon”

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 waiting to be discovered. Each week, I’ll highlight three releases available on the site that are worth your time and attention. If you find something you dig, please consider supporting the artist with a purchase.

This week, we’re focused on the works of three incredible artists who’ve passed away in the past couple of weeks.

Lavender Country, “Lavender Country”

Patrick Haggerty died on Oct. 31 after having a stroke. He was 78 years old, which means he was nearly 30 when his band Lavender Country recorded what is now widely recognized as the first openly gay country music album in 1973. Haggerty wasn’t just a country artist; he was “a fearless first-generation gay liberation activist,” according to the Paradise of Bachelors record label, which reissued “Lavender Country” in 2014, shining new light on Haggerty and his band. As a piece of music, the album is a blend of traditional country, breezy ‘60s/’70s psych-folk and Haggerty’s knack for entwining radical lyrics and his clever sense of humor. As a cultural work, it stands as a monument to a man whose courage a half-century ago continues to reverberate today.

Norm Chambers, “Seaside Resonance”

Norm Chambers died on Oct. 30 after a battle with sinus cancer. Under his own name and others — mostly Panabrite, but also Jürgen Müller — Chambers spent the past couple of decades making sublime synthesizer music and releasing it through respected independent record labels such as Immune Recordings, Constellation Tatsu and Aguirre Records. Based in Seattle, Chambers created much of his work using analog synths, giving his music a warmth and emotional heft often missing from that kind of music. And because of his affinity for burbling tones, hypnotic rhythms and woozy vibes, his songs often felt like otherworldly dispatches from some subaquatic paradise. “Seaside Resonance” captures what made Chambers special, but you could drop in at any point of his catalog and find worlds worth discovering.

Low, “C’mon”

Mimi Parker died on Nov. 5 after a battle with ovarian cancer. She was the drummer of one of the best rock bands of the past 30 years, Low from Duluth, Minnesota. Parker was half of Low’s core, alongside its other half, her husband Alan Sparhawk. Together, they created a staggering musical legacy built from patient, dynamic rock songs, often minimalist but increasingly experimental in recent years, without ever losing their deep Midwestern roots. Parker’s spare drumming and reassuring voice — sometimes in the lead, often harmonizing with Sparhawk — are essential elements of the Low experience. Whether there will ever be another Low album is up to Sparhawk. If there isn’t, they have left us with an absolute treasure trove of incredible albums. Listen to 2011’s “C’mon” or listen to any of them. Rest in peace, Mimi. Long live Low.