Our Picks for Bandcamp Friday: Metal, Electronic and Hip-Hop

Following a month’s break in January, music platform Bandcamp resume their highly successful campaign to support artists as directly as possible with Bandcamp Friday. The first outing to take place this year, Bandcamp will continue to forego its cut so that all purchases made on this day go directly to artists and labels hosting music on the platform.

So far, the platform says they’ve raised over $40 million across nine Bandcamp Fridays. Currently, the campaign will continue to run for the first Friday of each month until May. Here are some new and upcoming releases that we recommend:

Consolidate – Fresh Water Vol. 1

 

Marking five years since the creation of their label, Bengaluru’s Consolidate have put out a compilation to celebrate their roster as well as experimenters they admire. The compilation note says, “Some of the songs within are indicators for the tangents our artists are on, others are one-off experiments, sketches and some leftovers from the back catalogue.” There’s lo-fi rock by Kambalalala, luscious pop-hop from Disco Puppet, buoyant electronica courtesy of zthtx, a dancefloor-ready banger by YNZN.P and a sample-friendly offering fromboss Rahul Giri aka _RHL.

Transcending Obscurity – 2021 Label Sampler

 

Although there are no longer any Indian bands on metal label Transcending Obscurity, they’re still very much a DIY company running out of Mumbai, founded by Kunal Choksi. Their annualsampler record is a suitably mammoth collection of 38 songs, featuring gnashing metal from as far as Lithuania (Crypts of Despair) and Greece (Abyssus, Sarcastic Obedience) to Spain (Nasty Surgeons), Finland (Revulsion) and Australia (Vahrzaw, Arkheth). Speaking of mammoth, there’s also highly relevant artwork to go with the sampler, designed by U.S. artist Mark Riddick and available as merch.

Su Real, Dutty Deedz, MC Altaf, DJ Skip – “Hi Uncle”

 

Real Dutty Beats is the tag team of producers Su Real and Dutty Deedz and they offer up a swerving, zooming new track called “Hi Uncle,” for Mumbai firebrand rapper MC Altaf to spin an affable anecdote about the accessibility of hip-hop and how he and other peers (he namechecks multilingual rap crew Swadesi) have made a living writing, releasing and performing music. Featuring additional scratching from DJ Skip, Altaf makes it easy every time.

Project MishraM – Meso

 

Bengaluru prog Carnatic metallers Project MishraM scale dizzying new heights on their upcoming debut album Meso, slated for release later this month. Konnakol, djent assaults, rap and more come together in an all-out battering, heavy combo. With the album out on February 26th, the seven-piece act have so far released “Kanakana,” featuring Scottish meme lord, metal artist and growler Kieran McLaughlin aka Kmac2021.

Various Artists/Krunk Kulture – Thandai – Flavours of the East

 

The third compilation from Mumbai music agency Krunk’s label Krunk Kulture takes its name from another popular beverage – Thandai. Following up Kaala Khatta and Ganga Jamuna, the new 18-track compilation rounds up electronic music producers from India, France, Japan and the U.S.. Everyone from Bengaluru producer Akrti to Mumbai’s Noni-Mouse add their tracks, as does Pulpy Shilpy, dance-pop group Fopchu, producer Chrms with rapper/singer Rae Mulla and more.

Bloodkill – Throne of Control

 

Mumbai thrash metallers Bloodkill have been around since late 2016 and they’ve now put together their gnarly debut album Throne of Control. The band says in a statement that the eight-track album “has an underlying story of how things are bitterly different from what it looks on the surface. Two sides of the same coin, narcissism, corrupted governance and the presence of duality in everything is what the album is all about.” Recorded by go-to producer Keshav Dhar (of prog band Skyharbor), Bloodkill go straight for the jugular with Throne of Control, an unsparing record, as any good thrash band would deliver.