Back in December, it was announced that Bandcamp's monthly Bandcamp Friday series (where on the first Friday of each month, the platform waives their cut of sales) would be continuing through at least May 2021 in an effort to continue supporting vulnerable artists while they're losing income and unable to tour.

Today, February 5, marks the first Bandcamp Friday since last year (as there wasn't a date in January). Like on past dates, today, a handful of artists have Bandcamp-exclusive releases and merchandise available today only. Find a list of some of those releases below.

ALLEN GINSBERG’S THE FALL OF AMERICA: A 50TH ANNIVERSARY MUSICAL TRIBUTE

Tons of cool artists have come together to release a 20-song musical tribute to Allen Ginsberg's The Fall of America: Poems of these States 1965-1971 to celebrate the poetry collection's 50th anniversary. All proceeds will be donated to Head Count. It includes contributions by Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore & Lee Ranaldo, Yo La Tengo, Devendra Banhart, Andrew Bird, Angelique Kidjo, and more. Read more about it here.

THURSTON MOORE – SCREEN TIME

In addition to appearing on the Allen Ginsberg tribute, Thurston Moore put a new 10-song project out on Bandcamp today called screen time.

DISAPPEARS, STEVE SHELLEY, & WHITE/LIGHT – LIMITED EDITION 2XLP

More Sonic Youth related stuff: last year, Disappears shared a "lost" 2009 collab album that they made with Sonic Youth's Steve Shelley and members of White/Light. Today, you can purchase a limited edition, handmade 2XLP vinyl edition of the collaboration, available via Shelley's Vampire Blues label. Act fast, because there's only 350 available.

MARISSA NADLER – "SLEEPWALK" (SANTO & JOHNNY COVER) & "LONELY PEOPLE" (AMERICA COVER)

Marissa Nadler has put her trademark haunting twist on covers of Santo & Johnny's classic '50s ballad "Sleepwalk" and America's '70s soft rock classic "Lonely People," both of which sound genuinely stunning in her hands.

VARIOUS ARTISTS – EARBUDZ VOL. 1

Today, No Earbuds released a benefit cover compilation that is stacked with artists that they've worked with. The 20-song tracklist includes Roger Harvey & Anika Pyle (covering Antarctigo Vespucci), Caracara (covering Bartees Strange), Proper. (covering AJJ), Into It. Over It. (covering Queen of Jeans), From Indian Lakes' Joe Vann (covering Dogleg), Pkew Pkew Pkew (covering Chris Farren), glass beach (covering Jeff Rosenstock), and more.

JASON ISBELL AND THE 400 UNIT – LIVE AT BROOKLYN BOWL, NASHVILLE, TN – 12/31/20

Jason and the 400 Unit have released a live album of the New Year's Eve show they livestreamed from Nashville this year. As is usually the case with Isbell's Bandcamp live albums, one track is streaming for free and you have to purchase to hear the rest.

WE ARE THE UNION – "FRESH FRUIT FOR ROTTING PUNK ROCK STARS"

For the Bandcamp release of We Are The Union's new single, 100% of profits will go to Mutual Aid Network Los Angeles, "a grassroots community initiative that is organizing and redistributing supplies, services, emergency cash assistance, and additional resources to the Los Angeles community."

LINGUA IGNOTA – ANGUS DEI

Lingua Ignota put out a four-song collection of "noise/blown out recordings, including interpretations of songs by powerviolence band Iron Lung and classical composers Handel and JS Bach. The Handel piece ("Where'er You Walk") features Alexis Marshall of Daughters reading "I Know, You Walk" by Herman Hesse.

SORRY – A NIGHT AT THE WINDMILL

UK post-punks Sorry released a live album that was recorded at Brixton Windmill in October 2020, and all proceeds from the album will benefit the venue. Purchase it on vinyl (or digital, for no less than $925) at Bandcamp.

CURVE – FATE – BOOTLEG SERIES VOL 7

UK alt-rock/shoegaze vets Curve have put out a new edition of their bootleg series, featuring five versions of "Fate," two of "Coast Is Clear," and two of "Die Like A Dog." The description reads, "These mixes are the RAW un-mastered mixes Alan [Moulder] made at the Church studios. The running order appears as is on the DAT. As per previous DAT bootleg releases these are similar mixes with various adjustments. File under Curve collectors item. The bonus live mixes are included as they appear on the original tape. Special thanks to Gavin Miller for DAT extractions and Michael Schultz for making it happen."

MARK MULCAHY – POACHING AND MEDDLING

"This is a live recording of a festival I played in Norway," says Miracle Legion/Polaris frontman Mark Mulcahy. "Just myself and my top man Kenneth. Accompanied and chaperoned by Spellchex, we spent some time time in Oslo. We flew even more north and then drew the lucky red marble and went on first. It was my first trip to Nords and who knew what they wanted. Well, it turns out these little Vikings were ready to understand the Massachusetts ways of rockemusikk. The show, the day, was a dumbfounder. Marvelous beyond luck. It started with a beautiful show of me own and ended with an inspiring set by ZZ Top. An arc of time for the history books. We skipped the Fårikål and got some sleep. The next day we headed over the mountains by train to the plane back home. One day in Norway!"

RYLEY WALKER & KIKAGAKU MOYO – DEEP FRIED GRANDEUR

Ryley Walker's new collaboration with Japanese psych band Kikagaku Moyo, Deep Fried Grandeur, is officially available today (via Husky Pants Records). On Bandcamp, you can purchase either a digital or vinyl copy. Ryley writes:

So, the group game together at Le Guess Who? Festival in Utrecht, Netherlands in 2018. I was asked by the organizers to find another group on the festival to collaborate with for a one off performance. I was immediately drawn to Kikagaku Moyo. We share similar guitar scuzz and riff heavy improvising when playing live. Seemed like the most fun and natural thing to do. I was in the middle of a european tour, so had my full backing band. So with KM and me, 9 mother fuckers total on stage wailing

It was a lot of SOUND. So we passed the live recordings off to cooper crain of CAVE and bitchin bajas to tweak the levels and add some sprinkles. He shaped the raw recordings into a cohesive piece that works for a 40 min slab. We had an afternoon of rehearsal and it mostly just drinking espresso, smoking cigs and saying "man, we'll be fine"

And it was great.

NO JOY – "DRONE 6" (MOTHERHOOD DEMOS)

No Joy released a demo from the sessions for last year's Motherhood, and wrote:

This was a total one-take-stream-of-consciousness demo that I wrote and recorded in December 2016. There were no lyrics, no planning; I just let the "tape" roll and played whatever I was feeling.

I sat with the track for a year but couldn't figure out where to take it next. I've known Daryl (Palumbo) and TJ (Penzone) for like 20 years, as a good chunk of my younger years was spent in Long Island going to hardcore shows. I ran into TJ on the Quicksand tour and we talked about how him, Daryl and I should try working together on music. We remotely started playing around with the track and I sent them my "stream of consciousness" files. The vocal take on there is the first and only one I did. They added so many new sounds and dimensions. and it really began to shine.

For whatever reason, it didn't get worked on any further during the Motherhood sessions. I keep coming back to it all these years later, loving how both incredibly rough and soaring it sounds at the same time. I don't think this is the last we'll see of this tune.

ACTIVITY - "WHITE PHOSPHORUS"

Following last year's debut album, Unmask Whoever, Activity share this unreleased track. Frontman Travis Johnson says "Nutcracker" was "one of the first things we wrote together, the first thing we recorded, but it didn’t fit on the record in some ways. Another with references to disease and inoculation and lack of getting outside that’s totally coincidental. Just about a particularly gross/unhealthy situation I had to get myself out of and luckily did."

RUSSIAN BATHS – "RESPONDER (NIGHT)"

Russian Baths have released a reworked "Night" version of their track "Responder," a single off their 2019 debut album. As Luke Koz explains, "I guess it's also an exploration of the big 80s breakup love ballads of the Patti Smyth featuring Don Henley variation, but the dark sexual politics of the heartbreak are more explicit. This is the night version — I was listening to a lot of the xx and Sinead O'Connor when we wrote it and when re-recording it, I was listening to PJ Harvey almost exclusively. I wonder if this bleeds into the atmosphere."

THE BLOW – ENTIRE CATALOG ++ RARITIES

Today, The Blow have official taken charge of their Bandcamp and have stocked it with "rare old items as well as some new goods with the band's entire catalog available to download." Check out everything here.

AVEY TARE – "PANDEMIC DREAM #4"

Avey Tare shares a new track, recorded in coronavirus lockdown in June with the Moog Subharmonicon Synth. All proceeds from Bandcamp Friday will go to Beloved Asheville.

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