Naujawanan Baidar.jpeg

1. Various artists, “After Hour: A tribute to Golden Hour by Kacey Musgraves”
2. Ancient Shapes, “Ancient Shapes”
3. Naujawanan Baidar, “Khedmat Be Khalq”

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.

Various artists, “After Hour: A tribute to Golden Hour by Kacey Musgraves”

Country-pop crossover star Kacey Musgraves’ 2018 album “Golden Hour” is a modern classic that just seems to get better with age, so it is no surprise that there is a whole generation of young musicians in excellent bands who love it, too. Here, then, is a tribute to Musgraves’ masterpiece featuring Weakened Friends, Mint Green, Pronoun, Future Teens and more good indie/pop/punk/rock bands from the eastern half of the United States. Highlights include a bracing take on “Love is a Wild Thing” by the ever-reliable Chicago band Ratboys, as well as Olivia Barton’s delicate take on Musgraves’ quietly devastating “Mother.”

Ancient Shapes, “Ancient Shapes”

The chameleonic Canadian country-pop-rocker Daniel Romano is a Bandcampin’ fave, for sure; I have written about his various musical exploits in this column before. But I’ve never covered his punk offshoot Ancient Shapes, which has released three albums that prove Romano — best known by most for traditional twang and glam-rock — does punk better than most punk bands, too. This one is Ancient Shapes’ debut, and it’s packed with buzzsaw guitars and speedy tempos, plus miles and miles of Romano’s swaggering vocal and melodic style. Buy everything this man is involved in!

Naujawanan Baidar, “Khedmat Be Khalq”

Bandcamp has an excellent (in my opinion) editorial component, called Bandcamp Daily. (Full disclosure: I write for it.) And right now, the Daily is in end-of-year mode, compiling lists of 2022’s best albums in categories like metal, soul, country, club music and so on. Just for fun, I dropped into the Best Experimental Music of 2022 and picked out something that looked interesting to me: “Khedmat Be Khalq,” an album that brings together traditional Afghani sounds and psychedelic guitars in a cloud of distortion and noise. Discoveries like this are why my first stop for new-to-me music continues to be Bandcamp.