Bandcamp Roulette is a feature from contributor Secat that scours Bandcamp for interesting, new, and under-the-radar releases. This edition features albums from Randaru, Meltway, and ChXnSxCh.
Randaru — À SUIVRÈ / SYNK
Minimal, sticky, glossy tech house from Ukraine: a dark dancefloor submerged in Vaseline. Both tracks on this release, despite their subdued sonic palettes—a deep, cavernous bass thwob here, a clicking percussive skeleton there—make the absolute most of their time, and Randaru does a pitch-perfect job at controlling their pacing and evolution. Like crumpled origami placed in water, the mood swells, unfolds, bursts; sultry vocal samples and warbling sine waves echo brightly, tall, lit lampposts that signal to one another from across canyons of darkness. There’s not much in these songs to anchor yourself to; they function more like abysses. You descend, and you descend; up becomes an impossibility.
Pair with: ill-advised spelunking expeditions; making slow, soapy circles with your mop on the linoleum
Favorite track: “synk”
Meltway – Everytime
Wistful, shoegaze’d dreamy Danish indie pop, with all the familiar elements you might expect from such a genre combination: wafer-thin, unintelligible vocals, heavy reverb, guitars drenched in feedback, and so on and so forth. In spite of this seeming predictability, Everytime carries with it some certain ineffable quality that makes it a genuinely exciting, euphoric listen; you know this sound, but you know not where it will take you. There’s a distinct forward motion to each track, and Meltway is never mired down with the worthless noodling or flat, unchanging dynamics that tend to detract from the projects of their peers. “All killer, no filler” feels almost inappropriate to say for something of this genre, but it’s the most apt note for what Everytime delivers. Kick up your feet; you will remain entertained.
Pair with: fresh carnival cotton candy; partially-filled ashtrays
Favorite tracks: “Strangers Dream”, “From Blue”, “I Want to Forget”
ChXnSxCh – >°))))彡
The most interesting (so, naturally, the hardest to pin down semantically) project of this trio, >°))))彡 is a catalog of previously unreleased work from Los Angeles(?)-based artist ChXnSxCh. As one might expect from an archival release, the artist’s core folky, confessional sound veers chaotically through dozens of genre filters picked up and discarded over the years: Mezzanine-esque trip-hop, spoken-word tabla breakcore, moody post-punk; it’s a beautiful, puzzling snapshot of a lush musical life filled with fascinating pockmarks and idiosyncrasies. >°))))彡 may not be the most stylistically unified album out there, but it’s all the better for it. Ultimately, I’m just thankful that it’s been given a platform; according to label THEJJC.ORG, ChXnSxCh’s work “would otherwise not exist on the Internet” were it not available here, and that’d be a damn shame.
…Also, the album cover is fucking RAD.
Pair with: butt-quality boxed wine; ankle socks with holes worn in the heels
Favorite tracks: “Dessicant Silicangel [DANGEROUS: DO NOT EAT]”, “ʻThe Proof’”, “jawmoansneon (Shakshouka)”
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.
Counterzine 