Crate Digging is Uproxx Music’s monthly exploration of the depths of DIY music distribution platform Bandcamp, in an effort to unearth some hidden gem albums that just might find their spot among your favorites.
There are a bunch of albums coming out in the next few weeks or months that we’ve been eagerly anticipating, but sometimes the best records are the ones that come out of nowhere to unexpectedly grab you by the collar, make unceasing eye contact and absolutely demand your attention. They can come from anywhere, and for years now, Bandcamp has been one of those anywheres.
The DIY music distribution platform is a breeding ground for talent, but also for a lot of weird nonsense. Every month, I filter the latter out of the former and find the best underground music the internet has to offer, and the findings in March were strong.
5. The Library Band — Non-Fiction
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If you’re pushing yourself as an acoustic-based act, you better be bringing it, because every doe-eyed college sophomore has an acoustic guitar and knows a few chords just fine. New York’s The Library Band brings it, and they might make you want to get a library card. The group goes through a variety of moods on the six-track release, but they sound like they’re having the most fun on opener “My Keys Go.” The guitar work is dexterous and airy, and the carefree vibes border on Jack Johnson levels of chill. The hook is almost goofy in its simplicity — “I have my car / But where did my keys go? / I know it all / But then what do I know?” — but the back and forth between the vocals and the quick-fingered guitar results in a song that is super, super fun and easy to listen to.
4. Chillscape — Temptations
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If there’s a relative lack of rappers on Bandcamp, their absence is made up for with hip-hop beat makers. There’s ton of lo-fi, pitch-shifted piano-based beats infesting the platform like bedbugs on a motel mattress, but sometimes there are producers who make instrumental work that doesn’t sound like it’s missing a rapper, but is in fact just fine on its own. The UK’s Chillscape is one of those producers. Temptations isn’t a terribly long EP, but it spends enough time churning out hip-hop-driven ambient electronica with robust bass parts that it’s worth the endeavor.
3. Neiv — Canyon Dreams
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I’d have to imagine there’s a ton of reverb to be found in the Swiss Alps, and one of the local groups, Neiv, is channeling it into their music just fine. The amount of reverb on the band’s latest record isn’t for the faint of heart, but for U2 fans whose favorite album is The Unforgettable Fire, you’re in luck. Really, there’s more immediacy on the album than I’m giving it credit for: Tracks like “Indian Spring” and “Take Me To The Sun” have a real sense of propulsion and melody that pierce the giant wall off sound that’s busy rattling your bones and finds a home in your brain’s pleasure centers.
2. Press Club — Late Teens
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It feels like we’re in something of a golden age when it comes to female-fronted energetic rock bands, and Australia’s Press Club is a welcomed member of that club. Their debut record begins with the epic crescendo of “Crash,” which is patient in its build-up and enthusiastic in its cathartic explosions of energy and rock fuzz. They’re no stranger to an epic sing-along chorus either, like the one on album highlight “Suburbs” which features plenty of “oh-ohs” and rapid-fire guitar riffs to flail your shoulder-length hair too. Having energy is one thing, but having the maturity to channel those kinetic forces into something structured and seemingly chaotic without actually being chaotic is a rare talent, one that Press Club can rightfully claim to have.
If I’m being frank, I switched the top album on this month’s list back and forth between this and the next one multiple times, and I probably only stopped because I had a deadline to produce a finished column. They’re both deserving.
1. Wyatt Blair — Smoke & Mirrors
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While The War On Drugs are busy bringing Bruce Springsteen’s classic arena anthem rock into this century, Los Angeles’ Wyatt Blair is resurrecting New Wave like INXS and Billy Idol’s brand of synthy punk into something that’s unmistakably 2018. On the Smoke & Mirrors opening track “(Living In) Los Angeles,” Blair begins things with some giant-sounding and mega-’80s drums to go with his jangly R.E.M. guitars and personality-drenched vocals. It’s an unceasingly appealing vibe that would come off as so kitschy and insufferable if it was pulled off poorly. Fortunately, Blair knows exactly what he’s doing and avoids sounding like an outdated mess. Ultimately, strong songwriting trumps all, and that combines with Blair’s keen sense of aesthetic results in a real winner of an album.
