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1. Street Gnar, “Study Wall”
2. Death Cab for Cutie, “First Show, Acoustic at The Pacer House, Bellingham WA. 11/22/97”
3. Weird Nightmare, “Weird Nightmare”

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.

Street Gnar, “Study Wall”Street Gnar is from my hometown of Lexington, Kentucky, and I don’t think they exist anymore. Or if they do, they are dormant or on extended hiatus, or perhaps they’ve been picked up by the breeze and carried away to some other dimension for a while. Maybe they’ll be back? I hope so. And by “they” I mean one person, really, a songwriter named Case Mahan who steered this wisp of a project through the early 2000s, when it was busy recording and releasing albums of deeply chilled, slanted and disenchanted guitar-pop that feels translucent but then sticks to your ribs, which you didn’t expect. Heck, maybe they’re stuck there now, and you don’t know it. Anyway, to summarize: Street Gnar rules, long live Street Gnar.

Death Cab for Cutie, “First Show, Acoustic at The Pacer House, Bellingham WA. 11/22/97”Death Cab for Cutie has a new album coming out soon, their 10th, and they will back it up with a tour of large venues filled with fans of the band. But on Bandcamp, you can find an interesting and charming reminder that Death Cab was once just big enough to fill a living room with buddies. This recording of their first show — made on a dictation machine in late 1997 — captures frontman Benjamin Gibbard and his mates running through early DCFC faves in an acoustic arrangement, occasionally stopping to remind the audience that they have tapes for sale for $3. Whether you’re a mega-fan of the band or just curious to hear how they sounded back then and how they’ve evolved, “Pacer House” is worth some spins.

Weird Nightmare, “Weird Nightmare”Alex Edkins is the guy behind Weird Nightmare and he’s also the frontman for the great Canadian rock band METZ. Both are noisy but in very different ways. Where the heavy and aggressive METZ sounds like a washing machine full of frayed nerves and fighting hammers tumbling down a long flight of stairs, Weird Nightmare makes pop music coated in a layer of fuzz and retrofitted with serrated edges. The project’s debut album — recorded entirely by Edkins during pandemic isolation — recalls all the catchiest parts of classic indie rock bands like The Wrens, Sugar, Guided By Voices of Superchunk. Now, some of you might be going, “Whoa, whoa, whoa … like WHO?” I know! This is good. You should listen to it.