Jeff T Byrd - Nighty Night
Nighty Night
Jeff T Byrd
December 23, 2021
Another friday, another wonderful day where you can spend a little bit of money on music with true passion and creative freedom at its core. As Bandcamp have announced that they will waive their revenue share one friday a month until the end of 2020, labels and artists from all over the world are readying themselves to treat both their established fanbases and newcomers with exclusive music and merch.
We thought we’d give you a little assistance, and show you some of the things we’re excited about getting our hands on.
PROJECT BLUEBELT #2 – The Big Fresh Collective
All the way from New Zealand, The Big Fresh Collective compile four fast-paced tunes to blast you into the weekend. The catch? Each track samples a legendary game from the Sega Dreamcast. The four artists featured have ripped a song from its context in the virtual world and souped it up for your listening pleasure.
Take the example above, PAPLOCO turns the intensity levels up on this Sega Rally theme tune, housey piano chords are met with rattling percussive breaks. The strange, stylophone-sounding lead is now a confident laser-focused synth riff that glides over the fast-paced beats.
The compilations allows you to pay what you want, but who wouldn’t chuck a couple of quid at the collective for this hyperactive Dreamcast time capsule?
AERODYNAMIC – dynamic frequency / / Future Memories
You can always count on the fact that there’ll be some killer vaporwave being released on a Bandcamp friday. This one comes from Texas-based label holoJamz, a split project featuring artists dynamic frequency and Future Memories.
The first half of AERODYNAMIC features a slew of commercial fragments seeping out of an old television set. dynamic frequency lets these samples play out in all their uncanny brilliance before jerking them back aggressively in a way that almost juxtaposes the project’s title.
The latter part of it features Future Memories bringing a smoother sound that conjures images of starlit roads stretching out to nowhere. Twinkling pianos and wistful guitar notes abound.
The two halves are a stark contrast, feeling like a strange and hypnagogic journey, awoke by blaring radio muzak, and then lulled again to sleep by the blurry sights and sounds of the unconscious mind.
Fantasy EP – Chavinski
Electronic heavyweights Lobster Theremin have put up a brand new EP for pre-order! Chavinski’s Fantasy EP promises fun dance-floor hits if this preview track is anything to go by. Rushin features dizzying house piano supporting vocal samples that maintain a exciting momentum. A gentle voice croons the title of the track as expert percussion and fragmented samples summon an undeniably carefree, deep house energy.
The vinyl is up for pre-order for measly tenner, an incredibly fair price for what’s sure to be an EP that helps more than a few through nights in lockdown.
Collectathon – Tovatronica
From artists using Dreamcast bangers as their muse, to an artist creating a lush N64 game OST out of her imagination, we present Tovatronica’s Collectathon. This incredible project gifts the listener with over half an hour of crisp, dreamy video game music.
There is slithering organs in the Swamp World, congratulatory trumpets in Boss Defeated and pacy lounge pads as you scour the Options Menu. And who among us can resist the pull of water level music?! Tovatronica sends glistening notes cascading toward the listener, the calming gush of the water soothing overhead. The track and many others on the album serve up a wonderfully novelty premise, with deeper and more thought-out musicianship than the bright yellow banana artwork infers. And you can make this amazing artwork your own physical property by purchasing the cassette!
OVERLUV – Ivy Hollivana
Dreampop from the always-compelling Ivy Hollivana. This EP came out at the end of July and showcases Ivy’s style perfectly. Floating, heartfelt vocals over a dynamic instrumentals that whippet from emotive piano ballads to hard-hitting breakbeats. In DIVINE LIGHT, Ivy laments over twinkling keys and slamming, digitised kick drums. ‘I hope this isn’t a manic breakdown’ she sings; a sentiment that many of us can relate to at this current time!
Ivy is renowned for wearing her heart on her sleeve in her live and recorded performances, and OVERLUV is a wonderful example of this meeting production with depth and energy.
Breathe – Zer0 れい
New material from Belgium’s biggest vaporwave artist! Zer0 れい’s Breathe finds the artist deep-diving into expansive soundscapes, the minimalist instrumentation showcasing an almost sub-aquatic pressure on each track found here.
Mirrored is a perfect example of this. The commanding echoes of guitar-like synth sounds seem to drift over an empty seabed. Sibilant noises are excreted from the percussive aspects of the track, like our own steady breathing as we walk with the artist across the dark depths of a forgotten world.
What’s more, an exclusive batch of tapes is being made especially for listeners to own this masterpiece, complete with breathtaking gold foil printing.
Fish Get Battered – Dexta
Lets wrap this up with something sure to perk up your friday! South-London based Dexta injects a heaping help of resonant bass over rattling percussion. Keeping his finger on the switch at all times, he splashes pops and clicks over the the track that seem to bounce off instantly. Most likely due to the fact that the percussion fires with the searing energy of a buzz saw.
His claim that ‘THIS DUBPLATE WILL SELF DESTRUCT IN 24H (OR SO…)’ seems all too real as this beat might burn a hole in Bandcamp’s coding, get it while you can.
Do you have something coming out or on preorder today? Email at to us at listencorp@outlook.com, we’d love to hear and add it to our collection!