7 Albums To Check Out This Bandcamp Friday; June 2024 Edition

From some particularly heady cosmic rock from White Canyon & the 5th Dimension on Fuzzed Up & Astromoon to immersive ambient cyberpunk worldbuilding from Portland’s Production Unit Xero, there’s a meteor shower of incredible albums to listen to and support this Bandcamp Friday!

Every month, there’s an avalanche of incredible independent releases for Bandcamp Friday, when the platform waives their fees to give 100% of the proceeds to the artists and labels. It started in the real bad days of March 2020 when the world ground to a halt due to COVID-19, as a way for Bandcamp to give back and help support the music communities that keep them alive. It was an immediate smash success, so much so that they’ve kept it going even after the world has re-opened. It’s one of the rare instances where a corporation has forsaken putting profits over people – and everybody wins! They get good press. Artists and labels get more money, which is much-appreciated in these cash-strapped times.

Unsurprisingly, given its popularity and the attention it brings, there are thousands upon thousands of releases. More albums release in a single day than any of us could probably hear in several lifetimes. With this in mind, we’ve combed through the stacks this Bandcamp Friday to find the gems and share the pearls.

This month sees two incredible new releases from Portland’s Heterodox Records, including some ambient cyberpunk worldbuilding from label head Production Unit Xero that ranks among his best. We found a grip of particularly heady trance and psychedelic rock, including some unexpected progressivism from Library of the Occult, that’s sure to blast you into the stratosphere. Add in some sturdy house/techno from the ever-reliable Klasse Wrecks, and you’ve got a helluva stack to get you through the early summer.

Here are 7 albums to check out this Bandcamp Friday.

7 Albums to Check Out This Bandcamp Friday

clippzclippedoutclippingz – silicon based life problems (HTX 134)

One of Heterodox’s earliest artists return with a beautifully blurry blend of techno, IDM, and drum ‘n bass. Like emerging out of a smog cloud into a valley of jade and waterfalls. Life as a silicon-based lifeform can be confusing; it can also be a revelation.

Production Unit Xero – The sky was the color of a television tuned to a dead channel [HTX133]

Heterodox Records labelhead invokes the greatest opening line of all time (tied with The Haunting of Hill House, naturally) for a moody ambient evocation of Neuromancer‘s Chiba City. Exquisite immersive worldbuilding from PUX, as always. Essential listening.

Nicola Cruz – Data Passenger EP (Klasse Wrecks)

Classy EP of sturdy techno/house bangers from Nicola Cruz on the ever-essential Klasse Wrecks.

IO Audio Recordings – 2017 (Fuzzed Up & Astromoon)

Crushingly thick, ferocious trance rock with a kosmische/electro bent. Like hurtling through a traversable wormhole towards a pyramid made of glass. Tranquil yet enervating.

White Canyon & the 5th Dimension – S/T (Fuzzed Up & Astromoon)

SUPER heavy, heady cosmic rays from White Canyon & the 5th Dimension. Shrutti boxes and muscular breakbeats summon the Age of Aquarius.

Pocket Dimension – Pocket Dimension

Charlie Butler opens up a rift in space and time using only a Pocket Operator drum machine on this hypnotic EP for Newcastle-Upon-Tyne’s Cruel Nature Records.

Ivan the Terrible – Time is a Grave (Library of the Occult)

Some unexpected progressive psychedelic rock from Newcastle-upon-Tyne’s Library of the Occult records. Now with 1000% more vibes and sax!