With Bandcamp Friday’s return, it is time to start highlighting a couple of Japanese artists and labels in an article. In the past, there were suggestions done in a sort of a shortlist or series of tweets. But it has been time to put it all into an article to spread the word some more. Be sure to check out the article published in August.
Bandcamp Friday is a way you can support artists that have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The upcoming edition of Bandcamp Friday is planned for the 3rd of September. Time to focus on five suggestions with short introductions, so you can directly dive into the music.
Makoto Kawabata
Makoto Kawabata is a guitarist and multi-instrumentalist and the leader of Acid Mothers Temple. Kawabata regularly posts new digital releases on his Bandcamp. Considering we are talking about a musician who has been making music since the late 70s, you can probably imagine that there is plenty of choice of releases to enjoy. There are just under 150 digital albums online, linked below is his latest release.
ACM:::
ACM::: stands for A Concrete Mur and can be best described as an artistic production group formed by performing arts composers, visual artists, directors, screenwriters and actors among others. Officially started in the spring of 2021, they have presented a couple of tracks and a music video. Last month on Bandcamp Friday, the group released a new song, linked below.
Kirye
Tokyo-based progressive melodic post-rock band Kirye got formed in the autumn of 2018. The first mini-album by the band, titled NETAMI, was released in October 2020 and was a year in the making. Currently a six-piece, the band focuses on writings songs where technical play highlights melodic lyricism.
OMOIDE LABEL
OMOIDE LABEL is a netlabel based in Japan, founded by composer and arranger YZOX in 2013, and offers all kinds of artists the opportunity to publish music through this label. This ensures that a diversity of (electronic) music genres can be found on this label. They also regularly release samplers. Currently, more than 170 works in digital format can be downloaded on OMOIDE LABEL’s Bandcamp.
The Betrayed
In April of this year, the music unit The Betrayed released its second EP, titled Proud of your color, made while the band members were under a semi-lockdown situation. Formed in 2020, the band consists of guitarist and vocalist Ryo Fujimura and drummer Syu. To date, there are five releases, including a couple of unplugged live performances. They have joined the first online edition of AnimeCon with a virtual showcase organised by HIGHFeeL and AVO Magazine.
It is good to know that on Bandcamp Fridays, an average of 93% of your money reaches the artist or label (after payment processor fees). On other days, an average of 82% reaches the artist or label. Who are you going to support on the upcoming Bandcamp Friday?
