I don’t know what it is about electronic music, but a synthesizer just has a way of getting to my soul. As we’ve advanced our Bandcamp Interview Series, we’ve gotten to know quite a few artists whose style and sound are just so groovy. One of our dear favorites, and a friend of the site, is Opus Science Collective. The compositions that this British mastermind/one-man-band weaves are really quite special as they run the gamut from jazzy to ambient to vapor wave. Yet the key component bringing them all together are those silky, smooth synths. We’ve been a fan of his work and style as he likes to have some…
-
-
Interview…Chrylo on Future Funk, Upbeat Grooves, and Wicked Mecha
When we find a Bandcamp artist we like, we lock on like a high-velocity missile and seek to get them on our podcast as quickly as possible. That brings us to our guest today. It was 100% fun times chatting with future funk dynamo Chrylo. The UK may be known for its foggy days and dreary weather, but if you throw some headphones on and queue up this awesome artist’s catalog, you’ll redline your fun meter. His beats just explode out of your headphones!! A digital soundscape artisan, he also designs his album covers which is vastly impressive. The detail and the era he sets them in (late ’90s/early ’00s)…
-
Interview…Ultraboss on New Year, New Sounds & New Pursuits
When a musician is firing on all cylinders, it can be a thing of beauty. Time and again, we’ve been in awe of the raw power and supreme control of soloists, bands or even a full orchestra. How they elicit emotion and really move the mercury is attributed to their skill, and in many cases they can become immortal with just a single note. When they’re on, they’re on, and you’ll remember the sound forever. That brings us to our guest today. With lightning fast fingers, Ultraboss (the moniker for Austria-based PJ D’Atri) is one of the best shredders on the planet. However, his compositions are even more lethal and…
-
Interview…Talking Synths and Sensibility with Highway Superstar
When it comes to indie music, we go all in, and love finding new artists, new tunes, and new styles. Our lifeline to life-changing sounds has and continues to be Bandcamp. This go-to platform and community is home to hundreds of thousands of folks who are likely to produce your next favorite earworm. We have a solid list of folks whose works have become part of our DNA. While they may not be household names, they live rent free in our heads and on our turntables. As such, we were excited to speak with Highway Superstar about his otherworldly creations and soundscapes. The musical alter ego of Alex Karlinsky (the…
-
Interview…Composer Colin Stetson on the Musical Terror of ‘Uzumaki’
Today, we got to speak with super stylish saxophone wizard Colin Stetson. He’s made a name for himself with vast soundscapes and unnerving compositions in films like Color Out of Space, The Menu and Hereditary. He’s also got a new one coming next month from Hulu called Hold Your Breath where he similarly works his unsettling magic in an intimate, small-scale picture. But the topic du jour is the palette he crafted for the unbearably beautiful yet grotesque adaptation of the Japanese manga Uzumaki. Here are some notes from the official Milan Records press release about the show and the soundtrack. A captivating masterclass in psychological horror and obsession, Uzumaki…
-
Music Review…Jasmine Myra’s Mellifluous and Radiant Sounds on ‘Rising’
Jasmine Myra is a UK-based jazz musician who continues her hot streak with the sultry and sophisticated sounds on her sophomore album. Rising sports some more subdued compositions, and they are quite different in texture and timbre than her 2022 release. We spoke to Myra last year to talk all about Horizons and had such a great time chatting about her interests and background. It’s been just about two months since Rising was released, and Jasmine has recently finished a pretty robust touring schedule, and yet she’s already got the itch to start work on her next release. But for now, let’s talk about this one which is quite the…
-
Interview…Jasmine Myra on Spiritual Jazz, Personal Journeys, and ‘Horizons’
As an art form, music does what it does best when it moves you. But just what does it move us to do? Do we climb a snow-capped mountain because we listened to Vince DiCola‘s music for Rocky IV? Do we enlist in the military after hearing “God Bless the U.S.A.” by Lee Greenwood? What about when the music is so mellow, you just want to have a coffee with the person who made it and get to know them better? Well, that last one is why we’re here today. Jasmine Myra is a Leeds-based composer, saxophonist, and bandleader – while she may look incredibly youthful, make some no mistake,…
-
Interview…Kilamanzego on Identity, Electronic Sounds and ‘Black Weirdo’
If you’re on the hunt for new music, and are open to a palette expanding paradigm shift, you can’t do any better than Kilamanzego [“kill-a-man’s-ego”]. The moniker for Kay Oko (an experimental electronic music producer, vocalist, and visual artist based in Philadelphia) becomes her performer name – which initially was almost “Kilimanjaro” to pay homage to her African culture – that playfully and confidently makes a bold statement of women’s empowerment as a unique force in the electronic scene. We first heard her work on Bandcamp and were instantly hooked. After per-ordering her newest work, the pull-no-punches album called “Black Weirdo” has been playing non-stop in the car, my headphones…
-
Interview…Barry Burns on Mogwai, Signature Sounds, and Never Reading the Manuals
When it comes to one-of-a-kind sounds, look no further than the Scotland-based, post-rock band, Mogwai. They hit your ear drums with a one-two punch of style and experimentation, and always take you on a true musical journey. We first stumbled on them while I was visiting Japan in 2006. Maybe it was the reference to Gremlins that caught our eye, but once we heard “Auto Rock” we were hooked. Over the years, they have lent their skill and sonic textures to film, shows, documentaries and rocked out plenty of stadiums. In 2016 however, they really outdid themselves with the score to Kin by our friends Jonathan & Josh Baker. Not content…
-
Interview…Ultraboss on Strings, Shredding, Bach and Yacht Rock
For those of you on the hunt for new music and sounds you’ve likely never heard, Bandcamp has your fix. It’s an independent music platform that touts and supports thousands of artists from around the globe. My handle is RidgeRacer4, and over the years I’ve been introduced to hundreds of amazing sounds and albums. But the rabbit hole goes infinitely deeper. There’s literally a never-ending sound reservoir that keeps getting filled with more unique music each day. One artist we’ve really taken to is synth and six-string prodigy, Ultraboss. His real name is PJ d’Atri and PJ lives in Austria. Since I’ve been so drawn to the music on Bandcamp,…
