After Bandcamp Friday ended last December, we had to wait a month before Bandcamp came with the announcement that it is back for the coming months. It is time to highlight 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. Since August, the suggestions were done in specific articles and we will continue with that for the coming months! Be sure to check out the articles published in August last year, September, October and November and December of last year.
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 4th of February. Time to focus on five suggestions with short introductions, so you can directly dive into the music.
Lang
Last December, the five-piece screamo post-hardcore band Lang released a split with the Spanish post-hardcore band Boneflower, 3 years after releasing their second album, and this is what you could pick up on their Bandcamp. You can also get their music on vinyl through Dog Knights Productions. Spain is also the location where Lang recorded an album in 2018 and they were also planning to tour Europe with another Spanish band Viva Belgrado, but it didn’t happen due to the pandemic. Hopefully, they will get a second chance in the near future.
ASK I FALL
After the current members of ASK I FALL met and bonded over their common passion for metal music, they decided to start the band in 2020. The band members all come from different countries and have different backgrounds, vocalist Rid comes from Italy, guitarist Nishiva from Japan, drummer Robin and bass player Zack come from France. The multinational metalcore band released their first EP in 2021, titled CHROMA. They have since released a single called Where We Belong.
Small Circle of Friends
Small Circle of Friends are a multi-genre artist duo consisting of Satsuki Mutoh and Azuma Riki and got formed in 1994. They combine the sounds of hip-hop, soul, electronic, and jazz in their music. Apart from the music they create for this project, they also started the side projects STUDIO75 and Detective Takei Fumira. The most recent release under the name Small Circle of Friends was the 12th full album, titled cell. A lot of their music including the side-projects are put on one Bandcamp page.
pisica
Visual producer, VJ, designer, composer and keyboard player Keiko Kobori is the person behind the project pisica. The music of pisica is an atmospheric journey through electronic minimalism and techno, with here and there some noise. The most recent release by pisica is the mini-album seducer where the musician decided to add sound samples taken from nature. It has been a while that she has released some music, but you might want to check out her latest release or any of her other work.
Miles Apart Records
Miles Apart Records is an independent label that got founded in 2013 and is based in Osaka. Over the years, they have produced an extensive catalogue of releases from indie pop and rock bands. For fans of cassette tapes, this might be the label for you as they have quite a few in stock. From the latest release, an EP from Happypills, a bedroom solo project from Fukuoka-based musician Yuki Kondo to the compilation cassette tape from Miles Apart Records itself, there’s a lot to choose from.
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?
