Bandcamp Roulette is a feature from contributor Secat that scours Bandcamp for interesting, new, and under-the-radar releases. This edition features albums from Xoma18, Opus Nigrum, and bunq.
Welcome back to another fab edition of BR, the best PR for the UTR! This time, I’ve got 3 projects that all contain more than meets the eye (or the ear):
Xoma18 – –
Charming, low stakes J-house in the vein of Shinichiro Yokota and Soichi Terada. There’s a pleasing, unexpected focus on melancholic atonality and melodic structures that are just the slightest bit off in each of –‘s 7 tracks that elevates this release beyond your usual fare; it exists on some strange border between restraint and indiscretion, with towering, meaty basslines and percussion accented by tinny, discrete synths and pads that echo softly into that good night. A prickly kiss on the cheek; thick black thread sewn through tissue paper; trembling water held above the rim of a glass by surface tension. Intensely, inherently, wonderfully danceable.
Listen if: you’re rockin out with a cold, cold can of sparkling water at your neighbor’s rooftop garden and you can feel it’s about that time to bust a move to the utmost
Favorite Tracks: “-1”, “-4”
Opus Nigrum – Rizoma
Evil Grouper makes spooky, chilling soundscapes out of half-whispered vocal runs and harsh, spiraling feedback loops to create an engrossing project that’s reverential and evocative of its musical forebears while still bringing something new and beautifully indistinct to the table. The quiet murmuring of a live crowd occasionally punctuates the music, offering a compellingly discordant aftertaste to noises and expressions that feel private in nature. Best viewed from a distance; take care not to disturb.
Listen if: you’re about to have one of those dreams where your teeth fall out
Favorite Tracks: “Dos”, “Tres”, “Rugido/ruido”
bunq – Live in Mancuso
A throbbing techno odyssey built around gorgeous modular synthesis work and exquisite timbral interchange of clinical KSSH TWHOMP *BMMM* sounds (look, sometimes words are hard for music). Full of absolutely SUMPTOUS caramel flan dessert textures; the noise is SILKEN. It offers no resistance to your spoon. Please, for the love of God, dig in.
Listen if: you woke up from that dream but it turns out you’re in another dream now where you’re in hell and the devil is your dad asking why you don’t come home more often
Favorite Tracks: “bunqOLA01”, “bunqOLA03”, “bunqOLA06”
There, have at ’em!
… And, if you don’t clean your plate, there’ll be consequences, young’n!
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Secat is a musician and writer based in Houston, Texas. To see more of their work, you can follow them on Twitter (@secatsecat) or check out their personal blog at secatsecat.home.blog.
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