THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 2021 • THE BULLETIN
ALL THINGS MUSIC
GO! MAGAZINE • PAGE 5
Bandcampin’: good stuff for the ears
BY BEN SALMON
For The Bulletin
B
andcamp is an online music platform
used largely by independent artists
and record labels to stream songs and
sell merchandise. It’s also a vibrant virtual
community teeming with interesting sounds
just waiting to be discovered. Each week, I’ll
highlight three releases available on the site
that are well worth your time and attention.
If you find something you dig, please con-
sider supporting the artist with a purchase.
MADVILLAIN
“Madvillainy”
On New Year’s Eve, 2020 dealt music lov-
ers one last blow when Jasmine Dumile,
wife of the revered underground rapper MF
DOOM, announced that her husband died
on Halloween. DOOM was never the most
famous MC in the game, but he was highly
influential, and he was known as a rapper’s
rapper, singularly skilled on the mic and
capable of making vibrant, intricate word-
play sound effortless. He was also famous
for faithfully wearing a metal mask in pub-
lic as part of his supervillain persona. Most
of DOOM’s solo albums are on Bandcamp
and are worth a million listens, but the gen-
eral consensus is that this 2004 collabora-
tion with producer Madlib, under the name
Madvillain, is the best thing he ever did.
Plug in some headphones, give it a spin and
pour one out for the man with the metal
face.
SUDAN ARCHIVES
“Sink”
In non-pandemic years, one of my favor-
ite things to do is to attend the annual Pick-
athon music festival, held each summer in a
magical woodlands (actually just someone’s
farm) near Portland. Of course, Pickathon
was canceled in 2020, and who knows if it’ll
happen in 2021, which means the last time
I was there was 2019, and one of the best
acts I saw that year was Sudan Archives, aka
Brittney Parks of Los Angeles. She stood out
because there was no one else like her at the
festival: Parks is a self-taught violinist who
pairs that instrument’s versatile rasp with
hip-hop beats, R&B vibes, electronic experi-
mentation and traditional African melodies.
The result is an intoxicating blend that you
might label something like avant-dance-folk
‘n’ soul. “Sink” is her excellent 2018 EP that
I chose to highlight here at least in part be-
cause of its incredible cover art.
STURGILL SIMPSON
“Cuttin’ Grass, Vol. 1 (The Butcher Shoppe
Sessions)”
or’s Guide to Earth” — the Kentucky-born
singer-songwriter Sturgill Simpson threw
the world a curveball in 2019 by pivoting
to muscular synth-rock on his much-an-
ticipated album “Sound & Fury.” Then he
apparently ditched his major record label
(Elektra) and declared his distaste for the
music industry and his intent to go back to
being a fully independent artist. Step one
in that journey: Hunker down in Nashville
with some of Earth’s finest pickers and re-
cord bluegrass versions of his old songs.
Both volumes of “Cuttin’ Grass” are on
Bandcamp, and they’re well-crafted, highly
listenable reminders that a great tune is a
great tune, no matter how you play it. And
Simpson’s got a whole bunch of great tunes
to his name.
After releasing three excellent albums full
of cosmic country music and soulful roots-
rock — and nabbing the Best Country Al-
bum Grammy for his 2016 release “A Sail-
e e
Ben Salmon is a Bend-based music journalist and host of
Left Of The Dial, which airs 8-10 p.m. Thursdays on KPOV,
88.9 FM and streams at kpov.org. You can find him on
Bandcamp and Twitter at @bcsalmon.
The Junebugs
Thursday • January 14 • 6 PM
Livestream Series Kick Off!
Join the PDX trio for a
boot-stompin house party
featuring fi ery bluegrass
and rockin’ renditions of the
American songbook.
Links and info at