If you follow this blog in even the slightest of ways, you’ll know that we love Bandcamp. In our eyes, even though some problems exist, they’re hands down the best solution for artists seeking to do business online. Like how we view Heavy Blog, Bandcamp views itself as part of a community, more than just a place where money and products exchange hands; this is music after all and no matter how much finance rules the day, there are still plenty of other elements which make it up. True to this perspective, Bandcamp has declared that all of their share of the proceeds on this day, Friday the 3rd of February 2017, will be donated to the ACLU to help in the fight against what is to come in the United States (sidenote: you should absolutely go to the announcement post on their site to find a great curated list of artists from the countries affected by the “Muslim ban”).
What exactly is coming? How can we distill such a momentous event into a few words? Civil liberties is a good term for that. It elevates the discussion above partisan lines for, supposedly, even the staunchest of American conservatives should care about such liberties. They are not only the ideological fuel behind the very existence of the United States but also one of the reasons it rose to such prominence during its first two centuries. It’s easy to be cynical; American history is far from missing its own bloody hands, scorched earth and atrocity. Indeed, it’s very birth is inherently tied to some of the worst acts in human history. However, it has also been, for decades, a symbol of the struggle to be something more, to at least attempt to shake off the past and move forward together, however haphazardly.
Until now. Whether you’re Republican, Democrat, European, Christian, Jewish, straight, gay, trans, or any other of the wondrous multitudes of denominations we humans divide ourselves into, Trump’s rise to power should worry you. It should worry you because it could very well be the death knell of the struggle for a better place, where civil liberties attempt to rein in the cruelty and callousness of humanity’s more prominent attributes. For that, the ACLU is great; instead of concerning itself with idealism and a shining city on a hill, it goes to court and challenges. The organization digs its legal heels and refuses to allow things to just happen, to allow civil liberties to be eroded. And that costs money; a lot of money. Litigation is a costly business, almost on purpose. It enables certain layers of society to hold the rest in a paper stranglehold.
Just this past week we saw how important the ACLU still is. One of the first to confront the so called “Muslim ban” enacted by the indifferent pen of Donald Trump, it began the long and arduous legal battle against this administration. With not only the presidency but also Congress and Senate painted in the most extreme and reckless red imaginable, their work will grow seven-fold; now they must take on the legislative branch as well. Thus, and despite of the already remarkable success their fundraising has seen in the past week, Bandcamp’s contribution to the ACLU is admirable. We’re here to do our share; below you’ll find a list of artists that are worthy of your support on this Friday.
Have you been sleeping on their music for a year? Good chance to rectify that. Have you always debated whether you should buy a certain album? Why not now? Hear something new you like? Throw some money at it and, by proxy, at an organization fighting The Good Fight™. All entries come with genre definitions, to ease your journey even further through this uniquely massive amount of music. Entries marked with an asterisk represent artists or labels which are going one step further: not only Bandcamp’s share of these purchases goes towards the ACLU but also the artist/label’s share. That means that these entries donate 100% of their worth to the ACLU.
We hope you find things you enjoy in this list and are able to give through them. If not, consider setting up a donation for the ACLU in any case. It’s a good way to pitch in in a fight which often seems hopeless. And, as always, play it loud. Play it loud, while we still can, so that we may always be able to continue doing so.
A Constant Knowledge of Death – Vol. II: Organic Emotions (post metal)*
Acid Wash – Big Heavy World (traditional heavy metal)
Aenaon – Hypnosophy (avant-garde/black)
airøspace – analogues (experimental hip hop, underground hip hop)
Akhyls – The Dreaming I (atmospheric black metal)
Astronoid – Air (shoegaze/thrash)*
Arcturus – Arcturian (avant-garde)
Battle Trance – Blade of Love (avant-garde jazz/post-minimalism)
Bestia Arcana – To Anabainon Ek Tes Abyssu (experimental black metal)
Blazon Stone – War of the Roses (power/speed metal)
Botanist – VI: Flora (experimental blackgaze)
Car Bomb – Meta (mathcore)
Caspian – Dust and Disquiet (post-rock)
Cory Branan – Adios (pre-order) (singer-songwriter/Americana/country)
Coma Cluster Void – Mind Cemeteries (technical/brutal death metal)
Coma Regalia – En Seperata (screamo)
Combatwoundedveteran – I Know a Girl Who Develops Crime Scene Photos (noisecore)
Convulsing – Errata (death metal)
Cyborg Octopus – Learning To Breathe (progressive metal)
Dalek – Asphalt for Eden (experimental hip hop)
Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society – Real Enemies (jazz/experimental)
Dreadnought – Bridging Realms (experimental doom)
Dumbsaint – Panorama, in ten pieces (post-metal)
Elder – Lore (heavy psych/doom)
Endalok – Úr Draumheimi Viðurstyggðar (avant-garde Icelandic black metal)
Equip – I Dreamed of a Palace in the Sky (vaporwave, video game soundtrack)
Eximperituserqethhzebibšiptugakkathšulweliarzaxułum – Prajecyrujučy Sinhuliarnaje Wypramieńwańnie Daktryny Absaliutnaha J Usiopahłynaĺnaha Zła Skroź Šaścihrannuju Pryzmu Sîn-Ahhī-Erība Na Hipierpawierchniu Zadyjakaĺnaha Kaŭčęha Zasnawaĺnikaŭ Kosmatęchničnaha Ordęna Palieakantakta, Najstaražytnyja Ipastasi Dawosiewych Cywilizacyj Prywodziać U Ruch Ręzanansny Transfarmatar Časowapadobnaj Biaskoncaści Budučyni U Ćwiardyniach Absierwatoryi Nwn-Hu-Kek-Amon, Uwasabliajučy Ŭ Ęfirnuju Matęryju Prach Ałulima Na Zachad Ad Ękzapłaniety PSRB 1620-26b (death metal)
Forest Swords – Engravings (experimental electronic)
Gire – Gire (avant-garde)*
Grouper – Ruins (ambient/singer-songwriter)
The Heads Are Zeros – All the Men I Love Are Dead (mathcore, noisecore)
Hell Fire – Metal Masses (traditional heavy metal)
Iron Chic –Ys (punk)
Jared Grabb – Masters (pre-order) (singer-songwriter/indie)
Jr. Juggernaut – Witch’s Hand (indie/alt-rock)
Kauan – Sorni Nai (post-rock)*
Krallice – Prelapsarian (avant-garde/experimental black metal)
LIL UGLY MANE – MISTA THUG ISOLATION (experimental hip hop, Southern rap, Memphis rap)
LORN – Arrayed Claws (black metal)
Maeth – Shrouded Mountain (experimental doom/post metal)
Mammoth – Deviations (progressive metal, jazz fusion)
Mastery – Valis (experimental black metal/free improvisation)
Maze of Sothoth – Soul Demise (death metal)
Mesarthim – The Great Filter (atmospheric black metal)
Messa – Belfry (doom metal)
Migrations in Rust – Two Shadows (ambient)
Monobody – Monobody (jazz/math rock)
Mountain – Evolve (post-rock)
NYN – Eventuality (progressive death metal)*
Of Modern Architecture – Wilderness (progressive metalcore)
Outrun the Sunlight – Terrapin (post-metal)
Pallbearer – Fear and Fury (doom)
Perturbator – The Uncanny Valley* (retrowave)
The Palindrome Sequence – Modern Renaissance (progressive deathcore)
Pharmakon – Bestial Burden (power electronics/death industrial)
Pile – Dripping (post-hardcore)
Polar Bear – Same as You (spiritual jazz)
P.O.S. – Chill, dummy (hip hop)
Rain Temple – 新しい日の誕生 (vaporwave, ambient, dreampunk)
Resurrecting Id – Resurrecting Id (jazz, djent, progressive metal)*
Rocka Rollas – Pagan Ritual (power/speed)
SANATANA – BRAHMAVIDYA (symphonic power metal)
Sannhet – Revisionist (post-metal)*
A Sense Of Gravity – Atrament (progressive death metal)
SERDCE – Timelessness (progressive death metal)* [Blood Music]
Shopping – Why Choose (post punk)
Sick Shit – Reclaimed EP (Powerviolence)
Siddiq and Vektroid – Midnight Run (experimental hip hop, vaporwave)
sleepmakeswaves – Love of Cartography (post-rock)
So Hideous – Laurestine (post-black metal)
Spectral Lore – III (atmospheric black metal)
Street Sects – End Position (industrial/noise)
Sunrot/Inertia – Split (blackened sludge/noise)
Tangled Thoughts Of Leaving – Yield To Despair (post-metal, jazz, drone)
Telepathy – 12 Areas (post-metal)
Telos – Telos (mathcore)
Travis Laplante & Peter Evans – Secret Meeting (avant-garde jazz/free improvisation)
Unreqvited – Disquiet (atmospheric black metal)
VIRTA – Hurmos (jazz, post-rock)
Vivid Illusion – Circumnavigation | A (post metal/rock)*
Wacław Zimpel – Lines (post-minimalism)
We Lost The Sea – Departure Songs (post-metal)
William Elliott Whitmore – Radium Death (singer-songwriter)
Wvrm – Heartache (grindcore)
Young Fathers – White Men Are Black Men Too (experimental pop)