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1. Rubblebucket, “Earth Worship”
2. Upupayāma, “The Golden Pond”
3. Mamalarky, “Pocket Fantasy”

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.

Rubblebucket, “Earth Worship”

Remember when Rubblebucket used to roll through in Bend every year or two? Throughout the 2010s, the Brooklyn, New York, band played the Century Center, a party on the loading docks at the eastside 10 Barrel, Players Bar & Grill (R.I.P., sweet dive of my heart) and a Cinco de Mayo celebration in the middle of Wall Street. Then they laid low for a while as they dealt with health issues and core members Kalmia Traver and Alex Toth pursued solo music. You’d be forgiven for thinking Rubblebucket was gone for good, but you’d be wrong: The band just released its sixth album, “Earth Worship,” in October, and it’s a deliriously fun and funky blend of indie-pop, off-kilter dance music, weird jazz, electronic embellishments and kaleidoscopic vibes. Come on back to Bend, Rubblebucket! We’re still here.

Upupayāma, “The Golden Pond”

Back in the thick of the pandemic — think late 2020, early 2021 — the self-titled debut album from Upupayāma was a bright light in dark times. “The self-titled debut album from who?” you ask. “Upupayāma,” I reply, feeling as awkward about this conversation as I did when I had to tell my dad we were listening to a band called Smashing Pumpkins in the car 25 years ago. (His response: “Oooookaay.”) Upupayāma is a one-man musical exploration helmed by Italian multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Alessio Ferrari, who specializes in a particularly meandering brand of psychedelic folk and rock flecked with the sounds of the sitar, flute, erhu and such. Upupayāma’s second album “The Golden Pond” just came out, and it’s a nine-song set of cosmic hymns and killer jams that will appeal to fans of Japanese kindred spirits Kikagaku Moyo, Swedish psych legends Träd, Gräs & Stenar and other eternal travelers of the fringe.

Mamalarky, “Pocket Fantasy”

Have you ever ridden the Goofy’s Sky School mini-roller coaster at Disney California Adventure Park? If you have, you know it’s for kids and therefore doesn’t go particularly high or fast, but boy is it herky and jerky. There are no fewer than six 180-degree turns that make you feel disoriented (and sore) at best, and like you’re about to plummet to the ground below at worst. I bring this up because Mamalarky is the Goofy’s Sky School of indie-pop bands. This Los Angeles quartet is preternaturally gifted when it comes to creating catchy dream-pop, and they also can’t resist indulging their experimental tendencies, packing their songs with unexpected chord progressions, odd noises, sudden rhythmic shifts and song structures that zig, zag and then zig again.