So as you might already know, Bandcamp has decided to make a stand for human rights this Friday (3rd Feb) and donate 100% of their share of any music bought to the ACLU. If you want further infomation on how and why they’ve decided to do this, there’s a nice piece by founder and CEO Ethan Diamond explaining their position, alongside some examples of the global music hosted by the organisation.
In support of this move, many bands and artists have decided to follow suit and donate some/all of their proceeds too. There’s already a pretty comprehensive list over at Bandcamp Daily of people taking part, but it doesn’t include all of our favourites and focuses mainly on those donating to the ACLU too. We know that many have been gifting proceeds to other causes (Planned Parenthood, Southern Poverty Law Center, Forward Together, Sister Song etc. etc.) pretty much since the election, so we wanted to make sure they got a mention for their generosity too. Therefore, you buy any/all of the below and rest assured that the acts will make a donation to some great organisation along with Bandcamp’s ACLU end of the deal.
Also, though not wanting this descend into self-promotion (the ship has sailed on that front anyway), we released a benefit compilation back in 2015 in support of Worldreader. For the next 24 hours, every penny (minus postage) will be donated to the ACLU. Digital downloads are set at ‘name your price’, tapes are available for as little as £1, and we have a super limited number of postcard artwork prints left too. We’ve included some examples at the end of the post, but can see most of the prints here, or by clicking on the individual songs on Bandcamp. If you like any in particular send us a message and we’ll mail them out for a small donation.
(Also, we understand that not everyone is in a position to make financial contributions, but there are plenty of ways to help. Even if you just support minority artists, writers and thinkers, as we suggested in a recent piece in response to the Women’s March movement).
Advance Base / Casiotone For the Painfully Alone – You know Owen Ashworth is pretty much a genius, right? Most recent album Nephew in the Wild supports this notion.
Alanna McArdle (in support of Right to Remain)
Andrew Weathers – A perfect blend between traditional folk and weird ambient stuff
Andrew Younker – new release Microchasm is like a digital dream.
Anti- – including great new albums from Japandroids and Peter Silberman, plus that exceptional John K. Samson record
ATO Records – Margaret Glasby, Okkervil River, Hurray For The Riff Raff…
Ba Da Bing Records – e.g. Claire Cronin’s beautiful album, Julie Byrne‘s new gem
Barsuk Records – who have a great compilation, Sad!, featuring David Bazan, Say Hi etc.
Beat Radio – You could say we believe in Brian Sendrowitz
Benjamin Shaw – Whatever his moniker, wherever in the world he’s hiding, Benjamin Shaw’s music will make your day a little easier.
The Burning Hell – The prolific Mathias Kom has something for everyone
Cellar Door Tapes – Plenty to explore here, though wished bone are an underappreciated diamond.
The Chairman Dances – Time Without Measure is as timely as it is brilliant, as we explained a few months ago.
Cryostasium – Blow off some steam with this black metal
Dicktations – The band’s cut will be donated to CAIR or a charity of your choice, so it’s as good a time as ever to grab their latest album, Super Paradise.
Disposable America – Scientifically-proven to have the best logo/tag-line in the indie music sphere, so obviously their music is great. Lillith’s Apology Plant is out today, if you want to be cutting edge.
Dogbreth – With 100% off their takings going to No More Deaths/No Mas Muertes, their latest (excellent) record Second Home is doubly alluring.
Drunk With Love Records – An interesting, exciting label putting out experimental DIY music. Surf the tag to check out our reviews
Emperor X – Matheny is splitting his proceeds between five non-profits: Syrian Arab Red Crescent, Women’s Refugee Commission, Union of Concerned Scientists, B’Tselem and Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Father/Daughter Records – maybe new Diet Cig, Vagabon, Nnamdi Ogbonnaya, or all of the above?
Fire Talk Records – We liked the latest Nassau EP, Hoss.
Flannelgraph Records – Whole host of stuff to keep you busy
Folkadelphia – You could dig into these sessions and compilations for days and days
Forged Artifacts – The Bombshells are cool, as are Some Pulp, ahem and a ton of others.
Foxes in Fiction – Hildebrand released Virgos to Waste, a set of rare, one-off and unreleased recordings in support of the Southern Poverty Law Centre.
Fox Food Records (donating to Samaritans) – Too much good stuff to rec, but our pals Nice Legs have a new release on vinyl! Alternatively, cruise the Fox Food tag to read our previous reviews.
Friends For Equality – Nancy Kells of Spartan Jet Plex went to town on this compilation, as we discussed here
Full Spectrum Records – A wide spectrum of odd, weird music. AKA the best music
GoldFlakePaint – The king of our musical jungle has put out some killer compilations over the years which will introduce you to a shed load of new talent.
The Grey Estates – Talking of blogging royalty, everyone’s favourite purple website also plays the compilation game. We wrote about why Sugar Rush is good and important a while back.
Hallelujah the Hills – We loved their most recent album so much, I spoke to Ryan Walsh for Bandcamp
Jacob Furr – Latest record Sierra Madre is one we’ve been meaning to tell you about
Kill Rock Stars – A good time to get acquainted with Horse Feathers
Land Animal Tapes – The perfect excuse to grab that new Travis Trevisan release.
Lost Tribe Sound – We’re continually blown away by the likes of William Ryan Fritch, Western Skies Motel and Seabuckthorn
Mat Riviere – Some fuzzy, not-doom pop music, just what the doctor ordered.
Merge Records – The new Alison Crutchfield record is great, but there’s also the likes Titus Andronicus, Mount Moriah, The Mountain Goats…
Mexican Summer – Quilt released a superb album last year
Mike Pace & the Child Actors – Get Soft is probably my favourite release of the year so far, for reasons explained here.
Negative Fun Records – A veritable gold mine of good music
Old Earth – WTD fav Todd Umhoefer has put together a special charity bundle just for today. Surf the tag for our thoughts on why Old Earth rules
Old Flame Records – Shark? will add a little energy to your day
Paper Garden Records – The latest ARMS record is a beauty
Paul Lawton – The Ontario musician has put up a whole load of ‘lost’ recordings from a whole host of his bands and monikers especially for ACLU day
Peter Mulvey – Mulvey teamed up with friends to release a benefit compilation in support of various good organisations.
Petridisch – If you’re looking for weird, experimental spins on classical compositions, look no further.
Pinegrove (Donating to Southern Poverty Law Center)
Radiator Hospital – Torch Song is a special record, today’s a great day to welcome it into your life
Rhyme Sayers – An embarrassment of hip-hop riches to delve into here
Run for Cover – Elvis Depressedly, LVL UP, Spencer Radcliffe, Modern Baseball etc.
Sam Moss – His latest album, Fable, is just lovely
Skinny Blonde – The band have gone a step further than most, promising to donate 100% of all Bandcamp sales/Spotify and Apple Music revenue etc. to the ACLU and Planned Parenthood until Trump is no longer president. Read our thoughts on their music and get involved.
Sorority Noise – Numerous albums worth your time here, as our reviews attest.
Space Mountain – If you haven’t got Big Sky yet, what on earth are you waiting for?
Specialist Subject – The new American Enthusiasm is great (and kind of appropriately named for this whole idea)
Sub Pop – If you haven’t already, now’s a good time to grab some stuff by Damien Jurado, Low, Wolf Parade, Father John Misty etc.
Wake The Deaf – As stated above, we usually donate to Worldreader, but for 24 hours the ACLU will get every penny after postage.
Wilder Maker – The Everyday Crimes Against Objects Of Desire trilogy is fantastic, as we can attest
The World is a Beautiful Place & I am No Longer Afraid to Die – Released a special track in support of the ACLU
Here are some of the artwork prints we mentioned at the beginning, from the likes of (in order) Mouni Feddag, Jean De Wet, William Exley, Heather Swenson, Rachael Perisho and Mina Hamada. They’re all postcard size on nice sturdy card. Not many of each left, but let us know if you have a favourite and we’ll sort something out.
Pssst, a little secret… we’re changing our name really soon, so all this WTD-branded stuff will be super rare and collectable.